KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.29
- We are learning how from SB 2.2, how hard it is for one to overcome the gross and subtle body coverings through the mechanical process. A yogi and a devotee, both are transcendentalists, one is endeavoring in a very difficult way and another is practicing devotion which is happily performed and never ending.
- “For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.”
- “But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them, I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.”
- One may say – since fear is caused by ignorance, it can be dispelled by knowledge and there is no need to worship the Supreme Lord. The living entity falsely identifies with his material body, family, society and so on, and he simply has to give up this false identification. Then what will māyā be able to do?
- The living entity, called jīva-tattva, is one of the potencies of the Supreme Lord, but the constitutional position of the living entity is taṭa-stha, or marginal. Being minute, every living entity is eternally dependent upon the supreme living entity, Kṛṣṇa.
- “Among all the eternally conscious beings there is one supreme eternal living being who is supplying the needs of all the innumerable others.” “Kṛṣṇa is the only independent controller; all other living entities depend upon Him.” Just as the finger is part and parcel of the body and therefore must always be engaged in bodily service, we as parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa have the eternal duty of engaging in the unalloyed service of the Lord.
- The potency of the Lord that enlightens us in the Lord’s service is called cit-śakti.
- When the living entity develops a spirit of independence he is forced to come to the material world, where he enters into various types of petty and undesirable behavior that create a fearful situation for him.
- The bahiraṅgā-śakti, the illusory potency of the Supreme Lord, covers all trace of the cit-śakti and imposes one material body after another upon the living entity for his gross sinful enjoyment.
- As further punishment, the living entity who has given up his loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa loses all power to perceive the eternal, blissful form of the Supreme Lord, who is his actual shelter.
- Instead the living entity becomes attached to many temporary, phantasmagorical forms, such as his personal body, the bodies of his family members and friends, his nation, his city, with its buildings and cars, and innumerable types of ephemeral material scenery. In such a state of gross ignorance the idea of returning to one’s original identity no longer even crosses the mind.
- The illusory potency of the Supreme Lord is duratyayā; (BG 7.14) it is impossible to escape without the direct mercy of Kṛṣṇa.
- The example given is that when the sun is covered by clouds, no man-made apparatus can remove them from the sky, but the sun itself, which created the clouds, can immediately burn away the cloudy covering and reveal itself. (Brilliant example SP is giving). Similarly, when we become covered by the illusory potency of the Lord we identify with our temporary material body, and thus we are always in fear and anxiety.
- Devotees have no need to fear the bondage of material existence. That fear goes away of its own accord for one who engages in devotional service.”
- Srila Prabhupada explained that the results of all devotional activities performed in the holy dhama are magnified a thousand times. Therefore, one can make rapid advancement if one lives offenselessly in the holy dhama.
- But if we commit offenses, the results of those offenses are also magnified one thousand times. Therefore, one is advised to carefully avoid committing any offenses in the holy dhama.
- India is full of holy dhams. India is a land of dharma. On this land there is so much sinful activity happening cow killing, intoxication, abortion… They are performing wholesale sins. The sinful reactions are 1000 times more than anywhere else. We are now seeing the reactions. There will be more coming due to the wholesale sins being committed there. People are unnecessarily suffering due to ignorant sinful lives. If we always focus on the outward problems, we will never have a real solution. Getting to the real cause will give us the real solution. The real solution is, people in India have to take up Krsna Consciousness seriously. The government has to educate people about Krsna Comsciousness and people in India have to follow the principles of Bhagavad-gita, and the state religion should be declared Krishna Consciousness as propesed by Srila Prabhupada in his letter to Gopal Krishna March 1969.
SB 2.2.29 TRANSLATION
The devotee thus surpasses the subtle objects of different senses like aroma by smelling, the palate by tasting, vision by seeing forms, touch by contacting, the vibrations of the ear by ethereal identification, and the sense organs by material activities.
CLASS NOTES:
Beyond the sky there are subtle coverings, resembling the elementary coverings of the universes. The gross coverings are a development of partial ingredients of the subtle causes. So the yogī or devotee, along with liquidation of the gross elements, relinquishes the subtle causes like aroma by smelling. The pure spiritual spark, the living entity, thus becomes completely cleansed of all material contamination to become eligible for entrance into the kingdom of God.
What we learned so far in the Second chapter of Canto 2 is how difficult it is for one to overcome the gross and subtle body coverings through the mechanical process. Yogi and devotee, both are transcendentalists, one is endeavoring in a very difficult way and another is practicing devotion, without having to go through the technical difficulty of the processes. The same result can be achieved by chanting, eating, dancing, organizing festivals, celebrating holy festivals, accepting bonafide spiritual master, and always depending on the advice given by siksha and diksha gurus. The ultimate guru is Krsna. Yogi has a difficult process, devotee has a easy and happy transcendental process. Raja Vidya guhyam…. Raja vidya… happily performed and unending. On the other hand, one who is trying to achieve the impersonal brahman, advancement is very difficult.
(BG 12.5) ADVANCEMENT IS VERY TROUBLESOME FOR THOSE WHO ARE ATTACHED TO THE IMPERSONAL FEATURE
For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.
(BG 12.6-7) KRSNA IS THE SWIFT DELIVERER OF THE DEVOTEES FROM MATERIAL ENTANGLEMENT
ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām
But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them, I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
Why should we undertake something which is not possible to do in kali yuga? We should follow something our acharyas have said. This is the special benediction of lord Caitanya knowing very well how difficult it is to be Krsna Consciousness in Kali-yuga, He prescribed chanting and dancing as the means to achieve the
On the other hand, All of us have gone through a horrible experience of becoming attached to the material world. This is explained in the following verse.
(SB 11.2.37) FEAR ARISES WHEN A LIVING ENTITY MISIDENTIFIES HIMSELF AS THE MATERIAL BODY
Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is affected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.
This is a very significant verse. It explains how we become entangled in the material world is explained in this verse. Sridhara swami is from Rudra sampradaya.
According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī the objection may be raised that since fear is caused by ignorance, it can be dispelled by knowledge and there is no need to worship the Supreme Lord. The living entity falsely identifies with his material body, family, society and so on, and he simply has to give up this false identification. Then what will māyā be able to do?
BG 7.14
“This divine energy of Mine consisting of the three modes of material nature is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”
The living entity, called jīva-tattva, is one of the potencies of the Supreme Lord, but the constitutional position of the living entity is taṭa-stha, or marginal. Being minute, every living entity is eternally dependent upon the supreme living entity, Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed in the Vedic literature as follows: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānāṁ/ eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān
“Among all the eternally conscious beings there is one supreme eternal living being who is supplying the needs of all the innumerable others.” (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.1.12) Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja has stated, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya: “Kṛṣṇa is the only independent controller; all other living entities depend upon Him.” (Cc. Ādi 5.142) Just as the finger is part and parcel of the body and therefore must always be engaged in bodily service, we as parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa (mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ) have the eternal duty (sanātana-dharma) of engaging in the unalloyed service of the Lord.
Jivas’ position is marginal. Because we are less than atomic particles which are part and parcel of Krsna. We are eternally dependent on the Lord. We are eternal and Krsna is eternal. Difference is, He is the maintainer. He is the supreme absolute truth… independent controller… We are sanatana, we are eternal…
The potency of the Lord that enlightens us in the Lord’s service is called cit-śakti. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments that when the living entity develops a spirit of independence he is forced to come to the material world, where he enters into various types of petty and undesirable behavior that create a fearful situation for him.
The bahiraṅgā-śakti, the illusory potency of the Supreme Lord, covers all trace of the cit-śakti and imposes one material body after another upon the living entity for his gross sinful enjoyment. As further punishment, the living entity who has given up his loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa loses all power to perceive the eternal, blissful form of the Supreme Lord, who is his actual shelter. Instead the living entity becomes attached to many temporary, phantasmagorical forms, such as his personal body, the bodies of his family members and friends, his nation, his city, with its buildings and cars, and innumerable types of ephemeral material scenery. In such a state of gross ignorance the idea of returning to one’s original identity no longer even crosses the mind.
LIVING ENTITY COMES TO THE CONCLUSION OF RELATIVITY AND ASSUMES THAT GOD AND WORSHIP OF GOD ARE SIMPLY BY-PRODUCTS OF THE RELATIVE, CONTRADICTORY INTERACTIONS OF NATURE’S MODES.
By the laws of God the three modes of material nature are constantly in conflict, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. When the living entity is bewildered by the interactions of the modes of material nature, he comes to the conclusion of relativity and assumes that God and worship of God are simply by-products of the relative, contradictory interactions of nature’s modes.
In the name of anthropological, sociological or psychological perspective, the living entity falls deeper and deeper into the darkness of materialistic ignorance, dedicating himself to mundane piety, economic development, sense gratification, or speculation in which he regards the Absolute as lacking variety and personality, which he assumes to be products of the interactions of nature’s modes.
If you read philosophy you see that atheists say that everything is relative. It is also stated in BG 16.8. If you come to these kinds of conclusions, then your only hope is sense gratification in this life. One will waste life running after sense gratification and they die. They are cursed by the misinformation. Modes are in conflict and bewilder people and they think everything is relative. When you say everything is relative and there is no absolute, you will end up doing all wrong things as everything is relative. Devotees believe in supreme absolute truth. We infact daily repeat “asamsayam samargram…” that is understanding the supreme absolute truth personality of Godhead.
BG 16.8 – They say that this world is unreal, with no foundation, no God in control. They say it is produced of sex desire and has no cause other than lust.
There is no cause and effect, no controller, no purpose: everything is unreal.
Factually, although the demons say that life is a dream, they are very expert in enjoying this dream.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE WITHOUT THE DIRECT MERCY OF KṚṢṆA
The illusory potency of the Supreme Lord is duratyayā; (BG 7.14) it is impossible to escape without the direct mercy of Kṛṣṇa (mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te). The example may be given that when the sun is covered by clouds, no man-made apparatus can remove them from the sky, but the sun itself, which created the clouds, can immediately burn away the cloudy covering and reveal itself. (Brilliant example SP is giving). Similarly, when we become covered by the illusory potency of the Lord we identify with our temporary material body, and thus we are always in fear and anxiety.
But when we surrender to the Lord Himself, He can immediately free us from this illusion. The material world is padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām; it is dangerous at every step. When a living entity understands that he is not the material body but an eternal servant of God, his fear is vanquished. As stated by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, atra bhaktaiḥ saṁsāra-bandhān na bhetavyaṁ sa hi bhaktau pravartamānasya svata evāpayāti: “In this bhāgavata-dharma devotees have no need to fear the bondage of material existence. That fear goes away of its own accord for one who engages in devotional service.”
It is impossible to overcome maya without the mercy of Krsna…What is Krsna Consciousness, we seek the mercy of the lord through guru parampara.
What do we identify with? Mayavadis say nothing, But We have to identify with Krsna, He is the source of everything. He is the real focus of our attention.
This is something that we should inform people of India – “In this bhāgavata-dharma devotees have no need to fear the bondage of material existence. That fear goes away of its own accord for one who engages in devotional service.”
Letter to Gopala Krsna March 1969
https://vedabase.io/en/library/letters/letter-to-gopala-krsna-3
To tell you frankly, one of the objects of my missionary activities is to bring to notice of the educated Indian public that devotional service originated from the Indian side in its pure form, propounded by educated public and the leaders of Indian people specifically are deliberately violating all the principles of India’s original spiritual culture, in the name of secular state. When India was divided into Hindustan and Pakistan, there was good opportunity for the Hindu Indians to follow strictly the principles of Bhagavad-gita, and the state religion should have been declared Krishna Consciousness. Mahatma Gandhi was a great advocate of Bhagavad-gita, and when he was alive I requested him to preach but I did not receive any favorable reply from him, because he was too much politically contaminated.
WHY SO MUCH SUFFERING IS GOING ON IN INDIA?
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has listed ten offenses against the holy dhama that we must carefully avoid in orderto be fully benefitted from our visit to or residence in the holy dhama.
- To disrespect one’s spiritual master who reveals the dhama to the disciple
- To think that the holy dhama is temporary.
- To commit violence towards any of the residents of the holy dhama or to any of the pilgrims who come there, or to think that they are ordinary people. Srila Prabhupada writes: “All the inhabitants of Vrindavana are Vaisnavas. They are all auspicious because somehow or other they always chant the holy name of Krishna” (C.C.Adi 5.232, purport).
- To perform mundane activities while living in the holy dhama.
- To utilize the dhama for personal economic development by commercializing deity worship and sankirtana in the holy dhama.
- To think that the holy dhama belongs to a mundane country or province, such as Bengal; to think that the Lord’s dhama is equal to a place connected with some demigod, or to attempt to measure the area of the holy dhama.
- To commit sinful acts while residing in the holy dhama
- To consider Vrindavana-dhama as different from Navadvipa-dhama.
- To blaspheme the sastras that assert the glorious position of the holy dhama.
- To be faithless and think that the glories of the dhama are imaginary.
Srila Prabhupada explained that the results of all devotional activities performed in the holy dhama are magnified a thousand times. Therefore, one can make rapid advancement if one lives offenselessly in the holy dhama. But if we commit offenses, the results of those offenses are also magnified one thousand times. Therefore, one is advised to carefully avoid committing any offenses in the holy dhama.
There are many holy dhamas in India, Lord Rama and Krsna were present there. All of India is a holy dhama… with british, gandhi, Nehru, cities are developed, people are moving from country to cities.. They are performing wholesale sins. The sinful reactions are 1000 times more than anywhere else. There are going to be more waves coming in India due to the wholesale sins being committed. Vaccines, oxygen, hospitals are not the real solution. As long as we focus on outward problems there will not be real solution. Real cause – real remedy. The Real solution is taking to chanting the holy name of the lord. Knowledge is there, but more than knowledge, we have to have the mercy of Krsna which we can get through chanting. People are unnecessarily suffering due to sinful lives.