KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.7.31:
- The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were always engaged in thinking of Kṛṣṇa, in constant meditation on the Personality of Godhead in a particular form of samādhi, or trance of bhakti-yoga. They had no fear of the miseries of material existence.
- They were extensively busy in the hard labor of their day’s work, and due to the day’s hard labor they were engaged in sound sleep at night.
- So practically they had very little time to devote to meditation or to the other paraphernalia of spiritual activities. But factually they were engaged in the highest spiritual activities only.
- Everything done by them was spiritualized because everything was dovetailed in their relationship with Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
- One should discharge one’s duty on Lord Kṛṣṇa’s behalf, and all one’s actions will be saturated with Kṛṣṇa thought, the highest pattern of trance in spiritual realization.
- Lord in BG 3.9 says – Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain free from bondage.
- The rituals and sacrifices mentioned in the karma-kāṇḍa division of the Vedic literature are meant to encourage gradual development of self-realization.
- Self-realization means understanding Kṛṣṇa and one’s eternal relationship with Him.
- “O my Lord, a person who is chanting Your holy name, although born of a low family like that of a caṇḍāla [dog-eater], is situated on the highest platform of self-realization.
- One must be intelligent enough to understand the purpose of the Vedas, without being attached to the rituals only, and must not desire to be elevated to the heavenly kingdoms for a better quality of sense gratification.
- To be elevated to the spiritual position, one should not act for any material gain. Acts should be performed for the ultimate gain of being transferred to the spiritual kingdom, back to home, back to Godhead.
- In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that any activity which leads to devotional service to the Lord should be accepted. That is the highest criterion of religion.
- A devotee of the Lord should accept any kind of work, sacrifice or charity (yajna, dana, tapa) which will help him in the discharge of devotional service to the Lord.
- In the material world, by the spell of māyā, or illusion, this eternal relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is forgotten, and so the living being is conditioned under the law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest.
- The Bhagavad-gītā, being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the essence of all Vedic wisdom. It is nicely presented by the Lord Himself for all who have very little time to go through the vast Vedic literatures like the Upaniṣads, Purāṇas and Vedānta-sūtras.
- The Bhagavad-gītā can be consulted in all critical times, not only for solace from all kinds of mental agonies, but also for the way out of great entanglements which may embarrass one in some critical hour.
- One can derive the same benefit from the Bhagavad-gītā as Arjuna did in the personal presence of the Lord.
- BG 4.19 – One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every endeavor is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker for whom the reactions of work have been burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.
- A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions.
SB 2.7.31 TRANSLATION:
Lord Kṛṣṇa saved His foster father, Nanda Mahārāja, from the fear of the demigod Varuṇa and released the cowherd boys from the caves of the mountain, for they were placed there by the son of Maya. Also, to the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, who were busy working during daytime and sleeping soundly at night because of their hard labor in the day, Lord Kṛṣṇa awarded promotion to the highest planet in the spiritual sky. All these acts are transcendental and certainly prove without any doubt His Godhood.
Nanda Mahārāja, the foster father of Lord Kṛṣṇa, went to take his bath in the river Yamunā in the dead of night, mistakenly thinking that the night was already over; thus the demigod Varuṇa took him to the Varuṇa planet just to have a look at the Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa, who appeared there to release His father. Actually there was no arrest of Nanda Mahārāja by Varuṇa because the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were always engaged in thinking of Kṛṣṇa, in constant meditation on the Personality of Godhead in a particular form of samādhi, or trance of bhakti-yoga. They had no fear of the miseries of material existence. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed that to be in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead by full surrender in transcendental love frees one from the miseries inflicted by the laws of material nature.
This is verse Bg 3.9
(BG 3.9) perform work for Lord’s satisfaction
Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain free from bondage.
You can perform daily activities for your satisfaction or You can perform daily activities for the satisfaction of Krsna.. There is a huge difference between both. This describes the sublime concept – Great art of work as said in BG 2. Verse – Yoga koshalam..
Greatest artistic component is to dovetail everything you do for the service of Krsna..
(BG 2.49)
All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.
The rituals and sacrifices mentioned in the karma-kāṇḍa division of the Vedic literature are meant to encourage gradual development of self-realization. And the purpose of self-realization is clearly stated in the Fifteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15): the purpose of studying the Vedas is to know Lord Kṛṣṇa, the primeval cause of everything. So, self-realization means understanding Kṛṣṇa and one’s eternal relationship with Him.
If you look up the definition of Self realization in the dictionary -..it says fulfilment of one’s potential.. All the meanings of words in dictionary are incomplete and misleading. You can only understand yourself through the relationships you have..
The relationship of the living entities with Kṛṣṇa is also mentioned in the Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā (15.7). The living entities are parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa; therefore, revival of Kṛṣṇa consciousness by the individual living entity is the highest perfectional stage of Vedic knowledge. This is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.33.7) as follows:
“O my Lord, a person who is chanting Your holy name, although born of a low family like that of a caṇḍāla [dog-eater], is situated on the highest platform of self-realization. Such a person must have performed all kinds of penances and sacrifices according to Vedic rituals and studied the Vedic literatures many, many times after taking his bath in all the holy places of pilgrimage. Such a person is considered to be the best of the Āryan family.”
One should have done all kinds of penances and sacrifices to come to the point of chanting a minimum of 16 rounds everyday..
So one must be intelligent enough to understand the purpose of the Vedas, without being attached to the rituals only, and must not desire to be elevated to the heavenly kingdoms for a better quality of sense gratification.
That eliminates over 90 percent of the people who actually do sacrifices, yajnas piligrimages. For better quality of sense gratification.. The purpose of Vedic rituals is described in Bg 17. 25
BG 17.25 (purpose of vedic rituals)
Without desiring fruitive results, one should perform various kinds of sacrifice, penance and charity with the word tat. The purpose of such transcendental activities is to get free from material entanglement.
To be elevated to the spiritual position, one should not act for any material gain. Acts should be performed for the ultimate gain of being transferred to the spiritual kingdom, back to home, back to Godhead.
This is the real definition of Yajna.. Without desiring fruitive results..But unfortunately most of the sacrifices or yajnas done in India by Hindus are for the fruitive results.. Example – One priest came to our temple very early years in Seattle and did a yajna for a person and said that his book has a mantra for anything you want.. This is a direct violation of this verse in BG 17.25.
Yajna, Dana, Tapa – When you perform religious activities with material motive you get more entangled.. In the 18th chapter Krsna continues this theme and SP describes in more detail.
BG 18.6 (Yajna, Dana, Tapa should be performed without any attachment)
All these activities (Yajna, Dana, Tapa) should be performed without attachment or any expectation of result. They should be performed as a matter of duty, O son of Pṛthā. That is My final opinion.
Although all sacrifices are purifying, one should not expect any result by such performances. In other words, all sacrifices which are meant for material advancement in life should be given up, but sacrifices that purify one’s existence and elevate one to the spiritual plane should not be stopped. Everything that leads to Kṛṣṇa consciousness must be encouraged. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also it is said that any activity which leads to devotional service to the Lord should be accepted. That is the highest criterion of religion. A devotee of the Lord should accept any kind of work, sacrifice or charity which will help him in the discharge of devotional service to the Lord.
Over 99 percent of rituals or sacrifices being done in Hinduism is wrong.. That is why there is so much suffering around the world. In Islam, Christinity, Hindusim.. Everywhere people are mislead by the priests or authorities.. This is further explained in SB
SB 1.15.25 – 26 (Why people are conditioned in the struggle for existence, disparity and survival of the fittest.)
O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the burden of the earth, has engaged the stronger Yadu to kill the weaker, and the bigger Yadu to kill the smaller.
In the material world the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest are laws because in the material world there is disparity between conditioned souls due to everyone’s desire to lord it over the material resources. This very mentality of lording it over the material nature is the root cause of conditioned life. And to give facility to such imitation lords, the illusory energy of the Lord has created a disparity between conditioned living beings by creating the stronger and the weaker in every species of life. The mentality of lording it over the material nature and the creation has naturally created a disparity and therefore the law of struggle for existence. In the spiritual world there is no such disparity, nor is there such a struggle for existence. In the spiritual world there is no struggle for existence because everyone there exists eternally. There is no disparity because everyone wants to render service to the Supreme Lord, and no one wants to imitate the Lord in becoming the beneficiary. The Lord, being creator of everything, including the living beings, factually is the proprietor and enjoyer of everything that be, but in the material world, by the spell of māyā, or illusion, this eternal relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is forgotten, and so the living being is conditioned under the law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest.
This is amazing information. Huge meaning of words here. It is explaining why people are suffering. The misinformation that people have accepted as truth is forcing them to suffer unnecessarily. There is such a thing as the spell of maya.. In the morning people wake up late.. Drink coffee.. Listen to bad news rush to the office in traffic.. To pay this bill. That bill. Meet deadlines to get salaries.. Trouble sleeping, anxiety.. What kind of civilization it is.. No time to go to temple or church, always struggling with something..
Example – Truck given to Les Schwab and the catalytic convertor got stolen.. Redmond has changed. It is a very dangerous place.. Devanath.. 5 houses have been vandalized in the last 3 months..
People dont get visas, corona shots and they walk across the border – free stamps to eat food, free houses, free clothes.. Very strange things are happening now.. Why is it happening.. Because of greed. People are hoarding and not sharing.. Half the country of Haiti is coming into USA. They have been exploited by US..
If you look at Goswamis they lived under trees with one cloth and hardly they produced tremendous transcendental literature..
Not every one can be like that.. But one can be minimalist..
SB 1.15.27 (BG for critical hour and a solution for all our problems)
Now I am attracted to those instructions imparted to me by the Personality of Godhead [Govinda] because they are impregnated with instructions for relieving the burning heart in all circumstances of time and space.
Herein Arjuna refers to the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā, which was imparted to him by the Lord on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. The Lord left behind Him the instructions of the Bhagavad-gītā not for the benefit of Arjuna alone, but also for all time and in all lands. The Bhagavad-gītā, being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the essence of all Vedic wisdom. It is nicely presented by the Lord Himself for all who have very little time to go through the vast Vedic literatures like the Upaniṣads, Purāṇas and Vedānta-sūtras. It is put within the study of the great historical epic Mahābhārata, which was especially prepared for the less intelligent class, namely the women, the laborers and those who are worthless descendants of the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and higher sections of the vaiśyas. The problem which arose in the heart of Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra was solved by the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā.
Your problems are dwarfed by the problems of Arjuna..
Again, after the departure of the Lord from the vision of earthly people, when Arjuna was face to face with being vanquished in his acquired power and prominence, he wanted again to remember the great teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā just to teach all concerned that the Bhagavad-gītā can be consulted in all critical times, not only for solace from all kinds of mental agonies, but also for the way out of great entanglements which may embarrass one in some critical hour.
The merciful Lord left behind Him the great teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā so that one can take the instructions of the Lord even when He is not visible to material eyesight. Material senses cannot have any estimation of the Supreme Lord, but by His inconceivable power the Lord can incarnate Himself to the sense perception of the conditioned souls in a suitable manner through the agency of matter, which is also another form of the Lord’s manifested energy. Thus the Bhagavad-gītā, or any authentic scriptural sound representation of the Lord, is also the incarnation of the Lord. There is no difference between the sound representation of the Lord and the Lord Himself. One can derive the same benefit from the Bhagavad-gītā as Arjuna did in the personal presence of the Lord.
BG can solve your problems and my problems just like the problems of Arjuna are solved.. Just this one book.. Can save you.. Arjuna was defeated by dacoits and could not protect the wives of Krsna.. The only solace was to remember the instructions given by Krsna to him.. What are those instructions – ?
BG 4.19 (Instructions from Krsna that helped Arjuna – every endeavor devoid of sense gratification)
One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every endeavor is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker for whom the reactions of work have been burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.
What is that perfect knowledge?
Bg 4.21 (Perfect knowledge – acting only for the bare necessities)
Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions.
A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not expect good or bad results in his activities. His mind and intelligence are fully controlled. He knows that because he is part and parcel of the Supreme, the part played by him, as a part and parcel of the whole, is not his own activity but is only being done through him by the Supreme. When the hand moves, it does not move out of its own accord, but by the endeavor of the whole body. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification.
Supreme desire – Learn BG and teach others.. That is what Krsna wants from us..
He moves exactly like a part of a machine. As a machine part requires oiling and cleaning for maintenance, so a Kṛṣṇa conscious man maintains himself by his work just to remain fit for action in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. He is therefore immune to all the reactions of his endeavors. Like an animal, he has no proprietorship even over his own body. A cruel proprietor of an animal sometimes kills the animal in his possession, yet the animal does not protest. Nor does it have any real independence. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions.
This is what Krsna is teaching to Arjuna.. Arjuna is relieved of his anxiety when he remembers this..
It is not possible for the common man in this age to follow all the rules and regulations of the Vedic rituals, nor is it possible to study all of the Vedānta and the Upaniṣads thoroughly. It requires much time, energy, knowledge and resources to execute the purposes of the Vedas. This is hardly possible in this age. The best purpose of Vedic culture is served, however, by chanting the holy name of the Lord, as recommended by Lord Caitanya, the deliverer of all fallen souls. the best purpose of Vedānta philosophy is served by inoffensively chanting the holy name of the Lord. Vedānta is the last word in Vedic wisdom, and the author and knower of the Vedānta philosophy is Lord Kṛṣṇa; and the highest Vedāntist is the great soul who takes pleasure in chanting the holy name of the Lord. That is the ultimate purpose of all Vedic mysticism.
Here it is clearly mentioned that the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were extensively busy in the hard labor of their day’s work, and due to the day’s hard labor they were engaged in sound sleep at night. So practically they had very little time to devote to meditation or to the other paraphernalia of spiritual activities. But factually they were engaged in the highest spiritual activities only. Everything done by them was spiritualized because everything was dovetailed in their relationship with Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The central point of activities was Kṛṣṇa, and as such, the so-called activities in the material world were saturated with spiritual potency. That is the advantage of the way of bhakti-yoga. One should discharge one’s duty on Lord Kṛṣṇa’s behalf, and all one’s actions will be saturated with Kṛṣṇa thought, the highest pattern of trance in spiritual realization.
This is an amazing verse and purport. This is tell tale of difference between Bhakti Yoga and Dhyana yoga or any other false yogas proposed today..
When you are taking care of cows and growing vegs, grains.. Is hard labor, when doing it for the lord.. One should offer everything to Krsna.. KC – dovetail everything you do for the pleasure of Krsna..