KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.8 TODAY (04/07/21):
- The all-pervading Personality of Godhead resides as Paramātmā in the heart of each and every living entity.
- The measurement of the localized Personality of Godhead is estimated to expand from the ring finger to the end of the thumb, more or less eight inches.
- The form of the Lord described in this verse with distribution of different symbols — beginning from the lower right hand up and down to the lower left hand with lotus, wheel of a chariot, conchshell and club respectively — is called Janārdana, or the plenary portion of the Lord who controls the general mass.
- There are 24 other forms of the Lord with varied situations of the symbols of lotus, conchshell, etc., and they are differently known as Puruṣottama, Acyuta, Narasiṁha, Trivikrama, Hṛṣīkeśa, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Hari, Padmanābha, Vāmana, Madhusūdana, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu-mūrti, Adhokṣaja and Upendra.
- There are many other hundreds and scores of different forms of the Lord, and each and every one of them has a particular planet in the spiritual sky, of which this material sky is only a fragmental offshoot.
- The Lord exists as puruṣa, or the male enjoyer, although there is no comparing Him to any male form in the material world. But all such forms are Advaita, nondifferent from one another, and each of them is eternally young.
- Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in one’s own heart by His omnipotency. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence.
- The poet William Wordsworth wrote the beautiful poem entitled “The Rainbow”. The last two lines of the poem are gems of poetic wisdom: “The child is the father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be, Bound each to other by natural piety.” - Wordsworth describes what he learned and experienced in his childhood guided as an adult to experience a continuum of natural piety. This implies that in the future, he may also be bonded with others whose “natural piety” is the quality of religious devotion for God.
- Natural piety every day becomes a reality if we follow the culture of acting for the welfare of others by teaching them the inestimable value of love and devotion to God. This is expressed in the Sanskrit proverb “Para Upakara – do good for the benefit of all”.
- What is the highest good one can do? It is to gift a person with the highest truth of reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. The highest truth is our eternal relationship with God (Krishna) which uproots all suffering and raises one to a permanent life of eternity, bliss, and knowledge.
- It begins by learning to do good deeds for the welfare of all by getting relatives and friends holy gifts. “Dadati pratigrhnati…”
- All humanity practices this “Give and Take” custom in an impure way. If they can be trained to do this “Give and Take” policy in a spiritual way, the whole world can transform into the Kingdom of God on Earth.
SB 2.2.8 TRANSLATION:
Others conceive of the Personality of Godhead residing within the body in the region of the heart and measuring only eight inches, with four hands carrying a lotus, a wheel of a chariot, a conchshell and a club respectively.
CLASS NOTES:
MEASUREMENT OF PARAMATMA & THIS FORM IS CALLED JANARDHANA
The all-pervading Personality of Godhead resides as Paramātmā in the heart of each and every living entity. The measurement of the localized Personality of Godhead is estimated to expand from the ring finger to the end of the thumb, more or less eight inches. The form of the Lord described in this verse with distribution of different symbols — beginning from the lower right hand up and down to the lower left hand with lotus, wheel of a chariot, conchshell and club respectively — is called Janārdana, or the plenary portion of the Lord who controls the general mass.
DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE LORD
There are many other forms of the Lord with varied situations of the symbols of lotus, conchshell, etc., and they are differently known as Puruṣottama, Acyuta, Narasiṁha, Trivikrama, Hṛṣīkeśa, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Hari, Padmanābha, Vāmana, Madhusūdana, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu-mūrti, Adhokṣaja and Upendra. These twenty-four forms of the localized Personality of Godhead are worshiped in different parts of the planetary system, and in each system there is an incarnation of the Lord having a different Vaikuṇṭha planet in the spiritual sky, which is called the paravyoma.
There are many other hundreds and scores of different forms of the Lord, and each and every one of them has a particular planet in the spiritual sky, of which this material sky is only a fragmental offshoot. The Lord exists as puruṣa, or the male enjoyer, although there is no comparing Him to any male form in the material world. But all such forms are advaita, nondifferent from one another, and each of them is eternally young. The young Lord with four hands is nicely decorated, as described below.
Now we are going to learn about the description of paramatma. He is an expansion of Ksirodakasayi -> Garbodakasayi ->Maha Vishnu….
Maha Vishnu is engaged in the yoga nidra.
It is quite a gigantic scope for individuals to understand therefore they think it is some mythology or fantasy. This is the reality and the Supreme Lord is Krsna.
All these details are described by Lord Chaitanya to Rupa & Sanatana Gosawami.
Can people understand by their own? No they cannot. They cannot understand that they are the soul. To understand the soul you have to hear BG, SB. Krishna explains about soul as the first spiritual instruction in BG.
(SB 2.2.5) ONE MUST RENDER SERVICE UNTO THE SUPERSOUL SITUATED IN ONE’S OWN HEART
Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in one’s own heart by His omnipotency. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence.
This very important information. If we understand it our life is changed.
THE CHILD IS THE FATHER OF THE MAN
The poet William Wordsworth wrote the beautiful poem entitled “The Rainbow”. The last two lines of the poem are gems of poetic wisdom:
“The child is the father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be,
Bound each to other by natural piety.”
Wordsworth describes what he learned and experienced in his childhood guided as an adult to experience a continuum of natural piety. This implies that in the future, he may also be bonded with others whose “natural piety” is the quality of religious devotion for God.
NATURAL PIETY – “PARA UPAKARA – DO GOOD FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL”.
Natural piety every day becomes a reality if we follow the culture of acting for the welfare of others by teaching them the inestimable value of love and devotion to God. This is expressed in the Sanskrit proverb “Para Upakara – do good for the benefit of all”.
WHAT IS THE HIGHEST GOOD ONE CAN DO?
It is to gift a person with the highest truth of reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. The highest truth is our eternal relationship with God (Krishna) which uproots all suffering and raises one to a permanent life of eternity, bliss, and knowledge. It begins by learning to do good deeds for the welfare of all by getting relatives and friends holy gifts.
There are 6 ways to express love:
- Giving charity to devotees
- Accepting from devotees whatever they may offer
- Opening one’s mind to devotees
- Inquiring from them about confidential service of the Lord
- Honoring Prasada or spiritual food, given by devotees
- Feeding devotees with Prasada
This is a “Give and Take” policy that can be extended to all people beginning by devotees who always practice giving Prasada to receptive persons + gradually instruct how they can give in return according to the above-mentioned 6 exchanges of spiritual love.
All humanity practices this “Give and Take” custom in an impure way. If they can be trained to do this “Give and Take” policy in a spiritual way, the whole world can transform into the Kingdom of God on Earth.
If we learn KC in childhood, every day in our life will be KC. It is happily learned. It can’t be forced. How can it be happily learned? It has to become natural habits that the whole family does together. Waking up early, chanting, singing, eating prasadam, reading scriptures..
“Susukkam khartum avyayam”… it is pleasurable and happy. There is singing dancing, gift-giving, and gift-taking. Temple is for these six forms of loving exchange. If done properly the whole culture of giving and taking is established.
(BG 9.2) PUREST KNOWLEDGE
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ
su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam
This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.
If a child respects parents, he will very easily respect guru and Krsna. If a child does not respect parents then they keep their distance from guru and Krsna and get attracted to demoniac persons. How did Srila Prabhupada establish his authority? He offered prasadam with love and affection. In the beginning, he was distributing pieces of apple as prasadam as he had no money… later on chapatis, dal sabzi, he taught them how to cook, chanting, dancing, and feasting as first things… later philosophy
(NOI 4) SIX TYPES OF EXCHANGES
dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam
Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda, and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.
Once the person becomes interested and purified by these exchanges, one can be taught the highest knowledge –
(BG 13.19) PERFECT KNOWLEDGE CAN BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE UNALLOYED DEVOTEES OF THE LORD DIRECTLY. OTHERS ARE UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND.
Thus the field of activities [the body], knowledge and the knowable have been summarily described by Me. Only My devotees can understand this thoroughly and thus attain to My nature.
The Lord has described in summary the body, knowledge, and the knowable. This knowledge is of three things: the knower, the knowable, and the process of knowing. Combined, these are called vijñāna, or the science of knowledge. Perfect knowledge can be understood by the unalloyed devotees of the Lord directly. Others are unable to understand. The monists say that at the ultimate stage these three items become one, but the devotees do not accept this. Knowledge and development of knowledge mean understanding oneself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are being led by material consciousness, but as soon as we transfer all consciousness to Kṛṣṇa’s activities and realize that Kṛṣṇa is everything, then we attain real knowledge. In other words, knowledge is nothing but the preliminary stage of understanding devotional service perfectly. In the Fifteenth Chapter, this will be very clearly explained.
Once the trust is established you teach the knowledge. The actual way to learn about the body is by reading Bhagavad Gita.
Knowledge – Knower, knowable., the process of knowing
Knowledge – 20 points
Knowable – Krishna and his expansion
verses 13.8 through 13.12 – describe the process of knowledge for understanding both types of the knower of the field of activities, namely the soul and the Supersoul.
Verse 13.13 through 13.18 – describe the soul and the Supreme Lord, or the Supersoul
It is especially described here that only the unalloyed devotees of the Lord can understand these three items clearly. So for these devotees, Bhagavad-gītā is fully useful; it is they who can attain the supreme goal, the nature of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. In other words, only devotees, and not others, can understand Bhagavad-gītā and derive the desired result.
Srila Prabhupada made devotees everywhere – Australia, Africa, Armenia, turkey… This process works and is reproducible – It is real science.
We are trying to bring people to KC. This all begins by give and take. Once the person trusts you they believe in whatever you say. How to gain the trust of a person – through affection & giving.
Exchanging gifts in developing a relationship.
Once they are a little bit purified, they can go directly to Krsna Consciousness.
This is the way to preach….