KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.18
- Pure devotees of the Lord are Absolutely in harmony with the Personality of Godhead, or in other words, they always think of the Lord as their only dependable friend and well-wisher.
- A pure devotee of the Lord no longer wastes valuable time in discriminating the Brahman from non-Brahman because he knows perfectly well that the Lord Parabrahman, by His Brahman energy, is interwoven in everything, and thus everything is looked upon by a devotee as the property of the Lord.
- The devotee tries to engage everything in His service and does not create perplexities by falsely lording it over the creation of the Lord. He is so faithful that he engages himself, as well as everything else, in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.
- In everything, the devotee sees the Lord, and he sees everything in the Lord.
- With our material eyes and senses, we cannot see the Lord, who is all spirit. We cannot even detect the spiritual spark which exists within the material body of the living being. We look to the outward covering of the body or subtle mind of the living being, but we cannot see the spiritual spark within the body. So we have to accept the living being’s presence by the presence of his gross body.
- Similarly, those who want to see the Lord with their present material eyes or with the material senses are advised to meditate on the gigantic external feature called the virāṭ-rūpa. However, the correct way of seeing is seeing with our ears and not eyes. We can see the lord with our ears, by hearing from the bonafide sources about the description of the lord.
- The Lord is eternally existent in His transcendental form, which is neither gross nor subtle like that of the living being; His body is never to be compared to the gross and subtle bodies of the living being. All such conceptions of God’s body are imaginary.
- The living being has his eternal spiritual form, which is conditioned only by his material contamination.
- Whenever a person experiences, by self-realization, that both the gross and subtle bodies have nothing to do with the pure self, at that time he sees himself as well as the Lord.
- Self-realization means becoming indifferent to the needs of the gross and subtle bodies and becoming serious about the activities of the self.
- By ignorance, self-interest is calculated in terms of the gross and subtle bodies, and therefore a whole set of activities is spoiled, life after life.
- When, however, one meets the self by proper culture, the activities of the self begin. Therefore a man who is engaged in the activities of the self is called jīvan-mukta, or a liberated person even in the conditional existence.
- This perfect stage of self-realization is attained not by artificial means, but under the lotus feet of the Lord, who is always transcendental.
- The Lord covers the living being in the mystery of forgetfulness, and thus the living being misinterprets the gross body and subtle mind to be his own self. And by culture of transcendental knowledge, when the living being prays to the Lord for deliverance from the clutches of forgetfulness, the Lord, by His causeless mercy, removes the living being’s illusory curtain, and thus he realizes his own self.
- He then engages himself in the service of the Lord in his eternal constitutional position, becoming liberated from the conditioned life. All this is executed by the Lord either through His external potency or directly by the internal potency.
SB 2.2.18 TRANSLATION:
The transcendentalists desire to avoid everything godless, for they know that supreme situation in which everything is related with the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu. Therefore a pure devotee who is in absolute harmony with the Lord does not create perplexities, but worships the lotus feet of the Lord at every moment, taking them into his heart.
SPIRITUAL ABODE
In the Bhagavad-gītā, mad-dhāma (“My abode”) is mentioned several times, and according to the version of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa there exists the unlimited spiritual sky, wherein the planets are called Vaikuṇṭhas, or the abode of the Personality of Godhead. In that sky, which is far, far beyond the material sky and its sevenfold coverings, there is no need of the sun or the moon, nor is there the necessity of electricity for illumination, because the planets are self-illuminating and more brilliant than the material suns.
PURE DEVOTEES OF THE LORD ARE
- Absolutely in harmony with the Personality of Godhead, or in other words, they always think of the Lord as their only dependable friend and well-wisher.
- They do not care for any mundane creature, up to the status of Brahmā, the lord of the universe. Only they can definitely have a clear vision of the Vaikuṇṭha planets.
- Such pure devotees, being perfectly directed by the Supreme Lord, do not create any artificial perplexity in the matter of transcendental understanding by wasting time in discussing what is Brahman and what is non-Brahman, or māyā, nor do they falsely think of themselves as one with the Lord, or argue that there is no existence of the Lord separately, or that there is no God at all, or that living beings are themselves God, or that when God incarnates Himself He assumes a material body.
- Nor do they concern themselves with many obscure speculative theories, which are in actuality so many stumbling blocks on the path of transcendental understanding.
- A pure devotee of the Lord no longer wastes valuable time in discriminating the Brahman from non-Brahman because he knows perfectly well that the Lord Parabrahman, by His Brahman energy, is interwoven in everything, and thus everything is looked upon by a devotee as the property of the Lord.
- The devotee tries to engage everything in His service and does not create perplexities by falsely lording it over the creation of the Lord. He is so faithful that he engages himself, as well as everything else, in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. In everything, the devotee sees the Lord, and he sees everything in the Lord.
DEBAUCHEES OR SAHAJIYAS
Apart from the class of impersonalists or nondevotees, there are also classes who pose themselves as devotees of the Lord but at heart maintain the idea of salvation by becoming one with the impersonal Brahman. They wrongly manufacture their own way of devotional service by open debauchery and mislead others who are simpletons or debauchees like themselves. All these non-devotees and debauchees are, according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī, durātmās, or crooked souls in the dress of mahātmās, or great souls. Such non-devotees and debauchees are completely excluded from the list of transcendentalists by the presentation of this particular verse by Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
Debauchee – excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures
THE IMPERSONAL BRAHMAJYOTI IS ALSO CALLED THE PARAṀ PADAM
So the Vaikuṇṭha planets are factually the supreme residential places called the paraṁ padam. The impersonal brahmajyoti is also called the paraṁ padam due to its being the rays of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, as the sun rays are the rays of the sun. In the Bhagavad-gītā (14.27) it is clearly said that the impersonal brahmajyoti rests on the person of the Lord, and because everything rests on the brahmajyoti directly and indirectly, everything is generated from the Lord, everything rests on Him, and after annihilation, everything is merged in Him only. Therefore, nothing is independent of Him. The specific disturbance created by a durātmā, or crooked soul, is due to his maintaining that the transcendental form of the Lord is something material.
This purport is especially pertinent to what we started yesterday, that is – what differentiates Krsna from other living entities. This is a science extremely important and it takes a lot of time and effort to understand what is the position of Krsna, and once we understand it helps us to build our faith in Krsna and always praise the lord, preach about the lord.
Today we are going to see how Srila Prabhupada is an expert psychologist. This psychology of living entity is fully explained in SB 1.3.31
(SB 1.3.31) HOW TO SEE THINGS CORRECTLY
Clouds and dust are carried by air, but less intelligent persons say that the sky is cloudy and the air is dirty. Similarly, they also implant material bodily conceptions on the spirit self.
Very philosophical verse. This verse is about seeing things correctly and understanding what is an incorrect version. The word philosophy in Sanskrit is darshan. SB corrects us to see things as they are than seeing things what we think they are.
It is further confirmed herein that with our material eyes and senses we cannot see the Lord, who is all spirit. We cannot even detect the spiritual spark which exists within the material body of the living being. We look to the outward covering of the body or subtle mind of the living being, but we cannot see the spiritual spark within the body. So we have to accept the living being’s presence by the presence of his gross body. Similarly, those who want to see the Lord with their present material eyes or with the material senses are advised to meditate on the gigantic external feature called the virāṭ-rūpa. For instance, when a particular gentleman goes in his car, which can be seen very easily, we identify the car with the man within the car. When the President goes out in his particular car, we say, “There is the President.” For the time being we identify the car with the President. Similarly, less intelligent men who want to see God immediately without necessary qualification are shown first the gigantic material cosmos as the form of the Lord, although the Lord is within and without. The clouds in the sky and the blue of the sky are better appreciated in this connection. Although the bluish tint of the sky and the sky itself are different, we conceive of the color of the sky as blue. But that is a general conception for the laymen only.
Slime of material existence … We need to have a clear understanding of things as they are and not as somebody’s speculation and is not contaminated.
SP entered the garden and he said this is illicit art. SP explained that if a man is standing there like a statue naked, the police will come and arrest him. You see how we are being reconditioned by our mind from being spiritual to material. Therefore people study naked bodies. When they are tired of the gross body they go to studying the subtle body through poetry, philosophy…
If we cannot see with the eyes, we can see with the ears. A significant way of seeing is through hearing from bonafide sources. Therefore we have to understand the Virat rupa expertly to help the 99.9 percent of the people in this planet who cannot see the Lord.
What does it mean by the sky is blue? – “The colors we see in the sky come from sunlight that is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere. This process is called Rayleigh scattering. Nitrogen and oxygen make up most of the molecules in our atmosphere, but any gas or aerosol suspended in the air will scatter rays of sunlight into separate wavelengths of light.”
The general conception of layman is – when they see there is dirt in the sky, they say the sky is dirty, the sky is cloudy, but the sky itself is not that. When they see Krsna with 2 handed body playing a flute. They cannot understand. This verse is the epistemology.
(SB 1.3.32) SUBTLE CONCEPTION OF FORM
Beyond this gross conception of form is another, subtle conception of form which is without formal shape and is unseen, unheard and unmanifest. The living being has his form beyond this subtlety, otherwise he could not have repeated births.
As the gross cosmic manifestation is conceived as the gigantic body of the Lord, so also there is the conception of His subtle form, which is simply realized without being seen, heard or manifested. But in fact all these gross or subtle conceptions of the body are in relation with the living beings. The living being has his spiritual form beyond this gross material or subtle psychic existence. The gross body and psychic functions cease to act as soon as the living being leaves the visible gross body. In fact, we say that the living being has gone away because he is unseen and unheard. Even when the gross body is not acting when the living being is in sound sleep, we know that he is within the body by his breathing. So the living being’s passing away from the body does not mean that there is no existence of the living soul. It is there, otherwise how can he repeat his births again and again?
The conclusion is that the Lord is eternally existent in His transcendental form, which is neither gross nor subtle like that of the living being; His body is never to be compared to the gross and subtle bodies of the living being. All such conceptions of God’s body are imaginary. The living being has his eternal spiritual form, which is conditioned only by his material contamination.
We dont see the soul, but we see the effect of the soul which animates the gross and the subtle body. If we are self realized, then when the soul leaves the material body it attains the spiritual body. We must hear SB and BG everyday to clear the misconceptions.
Because we have subtle and gross body and when we see Krsna, we transpose that to Krsna and consider Him to be like us.
(SB 1.3.33) SELF REALIZATION – SEEING SELF AND SEEING THE LORD
Whenever a person experiences, by self-realization, that both the gross and subtle bodies have nothing to do with the pure self, at that time he sees himself as well as the Lord.
The difference between self-realization and material illusion is to know that the temporary or illusory impositions of material energy in the shape of gross and subtle bodies are superficial coverings of the self. The coverings take place due to ignorance.
This means that perfect self-realization is made possible by adoption of godly or spiritual life. Self-realization means becoming indifferent to the needs of the gross and subtle bodies and becoming serious about the activities of the self.
The impetus for activities is generated from the self, but such activities become illusory due to ignorance of the real position of the self. By ignorance, self-interest is calculated in terms of the gross and subtle bodies, and therefore a whole set of activities is spoiled, life after life. When, however, one meets the self by proper culture, the activities of the self begin. Therefore a man who is engaged in the activities of the self is called jīvan-mukta, or a liberated person even in the conditional existence.
This perfect stage of self-realization is attained not by artificial means, but under the lotus feet of the Lord, who is always transcendental.
Srila Prabhupada with one word decimates the material allurements..
Om tad param padam… you have to go to the lotus feet of the lord to understand who you are and why you are here. You do not go to the mall, theatre…
In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that He is present in everyone’s heart, and from Him only all knowledge, remembrance or forgetfulness take place. When the living being desires to be an enjoyer of material energy (illusory phenomena),
Phenomenon – the object of perception
SB teaches us how to see correctly
School teaches us how to see incorrectly.
Whoever repeats Krsna’s words is a guru..
The Lord covers the living being in the mystery of forgetfulness, and thus the living being misinterprets the gross body and subtle mind to be his own self. And by culture of transcendental knowledge, when the living being prays to the Lord for deliverance from the clutches of forgetfulness, the Lord, by His causeless mercy, removes the living being’s illusory curtain, and thus he realizes his own self. He then engages himself in the service of the Lord in his eternal constitutional position, becoming liberated from the conditioned life. All this is executed by the Lord either through His external potency or directly by the internal potency.
This is the real psychology, real truth, are we ready to learn it. When we learn the real truth there is no more sense gratification in this illusory world. This is the study in the psychology. The real definition of it.
Today everyone is trying to feed the needs of the gross and subtle bodies. The way you see it is in the airport shops. In order to get to the immigration, you need to get through the shops of perfume, liquor, book shops, dates… all these are for the gross body and subtle body sense gratification. The whole thing is illusory, all being planned to take us away from Krsna.
PROJECT 2 – UNDERSTANDING OF THE REAL DEFINITIONS OF WORDS GIVEN BY SP.
- Self-realization – means becoming indifferent to the needs of the gross and subtle bodies and becoming serious about the activities of the self.
- Jivan Muktha – a man who is engaged in the activities of the self is called jīvan-Mukta, or a liberated person even in the conditional existence. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-Sindhu (1.2.187) describes this as follows
īhā yasya harer dāsye
karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu
jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate
“A person acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness (or, in other words, in the service of Kṛṣṇa) with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may be engaged in many so-called material activities.” He has no false ego, for he does not believe that he is this material body, or that he possesses the body. He knows that he is not this body and that this body does not belong to him. He himself belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and the body too belongs to Kṛṣṇa. When he applies everything produced of the body, mind, intelligence, words, life, wealth, etc. – whatever he may have within his possession – to Kṛṣṇa’s service, he is at once dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa. He is one with Kṛṣṇa and is devoid of the false ego that leads one to believe that he is the body, etc. This is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.