KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.7.36:
- The less intelligent persons of the Age of Kali would be not only short-lived, but also perplexed with so many problems of life due to the awkward situation of the godless human society.
- Real advancement of knowledge means progress of knowledge in self-realization.
- But in the Age of Kali the less intelligent men mistakenly consider the short lifetime of one hundred years (now factually reduced to about forty or sixty years) to be all in all.
- They are less intelligent because they have no information of the eternity of life; they identify with the temporary material body existing for forty years and consider it the only basic principle of life. Such persons are described as equal to the asses and bulls.
- The Lord, as the compassionate father of all living beings, imparts unto them the vast Vedic knowledge in short treatises like the Bhagavad-gītā and, for the graduates, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
- The Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata are also similarly made by Vyāsadeva for the different types of men in the modes of material nature. But none of them are independent of the Vedic principles.
- As advised in BG13.8–12. One should culture knowledge in the following way:
- HUMILITY – One should become a perfect gentleman and learn to give proper respect to others. Humility means that one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others.
- PRIDELESSNESS – One should not pose himself as a religionist simply for name and fame.
- NON VIOLENCE – One should not become a source of anxiety to others by the actions of his body, by the thoughts of his mind, or by his words. It means not to put others into distress.
- TOLERANCE – One should learn forbearance even in the face of provocation from others. It means that one should be practiced to bear insult and dishonor from others.
- SIMPLICITY – One should learn to avoid duplicity in his dealings with others. Simplicity means that without diplomacy one should be so straightforward that he can disclose the real truth even to an enemy.
- ACCEPTING SPIRITUAL MASTER – One should search out a bona fide spiritual master who can lead him gradually to the stage of spiritual realization, and one must submit himself to such a spiritual master, render him service and ask relevant questions. / Because a bona fide spiritual master is a representative of Kṛṣṇa, if he bestows any blessings upon his disciple, that will make the disciple immediately advanced without the disciple’s following the regulative principles. Or, the regulative principles will be easier for one who has served the spiritual master without reservation.
- CLEANLINESS – Cleanliness is essential for making advancement in spiritual life. There are two kinds of cleanliness: external and internal. External cleanliness means taking a bath, but for internal cleanliness one has to think of Kṛṣṇa always and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Maha Mantra This process cleans the accumulated dust of past karma from the mind
- STEADINESS – One must be fixed in the tenets of the revealed scriptures.
Steadiness means that one should be very determined to make progress in spiritual life. Without such determination, one cannot make tangible progress. - SELF CONTROL – self-control means that one should not accept anything which is detrimental to the path of spiritual progress. One should become accustomed to this and reject anything which is against the path of spiritual progress. This is real renunciation.
- RENUNCIATION IN THE MATTER OF SENSES – One should not accept more than what he requires for the maintenance of the body. One should not cater to the demands of the senses, which are not necessary. The senses should only be gratified to keep the body fit so that one can discharge his duty in advancing in spiritual life.
- ABSENCE OF FALSE EGO – One should not falsely identify himself with the gross material body, nor should one consider those who are related to his body to be his own. False ego means accepting this body as oneself. When one understands that he is not his body and is spirit soul, he comes to his real ego.
- Bhagavad-gītā is simply expounding the science of devotional service. Devotional service is the main and sole objective. Unintelligent commentators on the Bhagavad-gītā try to divert the mind of the reader to other subjects, but there is no other subject in Bhagavad-gītā than devotional service.
SB 2.7.36 TRANSLATION:
The Lord Himself in His incarnation as the son of Satyavatī [Vyāsadeva] will consider his compilation of the Vedic literature to be very difficult for the less intelligent persons with short life, and thus He will divide the tree of Vedic knowledge into different branches, according to the circumstances of the particular age.
Herein Brahmā mentions the future compilation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for the short-lived persons of the Kali age. As explained in the First Canto, the less intelligent persons of the Age of Kali would be not only short-lived, but also perplexed with so many problems of life due to the awkward situation of the godless human society. Advancement of material comforts of the body is activity in the mode of ignorance according to the laws of material nature. Real advancement of knowledge means progress of knowledge in self-realization. But in the Age of Kali the less intelligent men mistakenly consider the short lifetime of one hundred years (now factually reduced to about forty or sixty years) to be all in all. They are less intelligent because they have no information of the eternity of life; they identify with the temporary material body existing for forty years and consider it the only basic principle of life. Such persons are described as equal to the asses and bulls. But the Lord, as the compassionate father of all living beings, imparts unto them the vast Vedic knowledge in short treatises like the Bhagavad-gītā and, for the graduates, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata are also similarly made by Vyāsadeva for the different types of men in the modes of material nature. But none of them are independent of the Vedic principles.
The age of kali is the most difficult time for people. The whole culture is organized to forget Krsna. Culture is how to do things. Most people earlier refrained from eating meat. Now people are crazy to eat meat. Whenever one does not follow the principles of Sanatana Dharma has to degrade..
Example- Gandhi never followed the vedic path fully. He eclectcally chose things from Jainism, islam..
He was living like a Yogi.. his actions were different
Unless people follow vedic dharma. Dharma is occupational duty. Sanatana Dharma is an occupational duty that has to be done eternally.
In schools they do not teach that we are eternal.. They only think that they the 60-100 years of life is what it is and one has to make the most to get all the sense gratification.
Unless we understand the real knowledge we will waste our life. It will be disaster. Unless we understand our relationship with Krsna which is the ultimate purpose of life, understanding other relationships in this material world is a disaster.
The real knowledge is described in Bhagavadgita. Unless we learn this we are the biggest victimizer of ourselves.
BG 13.8-12 (20 point of knowledge)
Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.
This is also described in ISO Mantra 10
ISO 10 –
The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.
As advised in Chapter Thirteen of the Bhagavad-gītā (13.8–12), one should culture knowledge in the following way:
(1) HUMILITY – One should become a perfect gentleman and learn to give proper respect to others. –
Knowledge begins with humility
Humility is the first point in the knowledge
This is also described in Lord Chaitanya’s teachings.
Proper respect to all living entities including animals.
Humility means that one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others.
The material conception of life makes us very eager to receive honor from others, but from the point of view of a man in perfect knowledge – who knows that he is not this body – anything, honor or dishonor, pertaining to this body is useless. One should not be hankering after this material deception. People are very anxious to be famous for their religion, and consequently sometimes it is found that without understanding the principles of religion one enters into some group which is not actually following religious principles and then wants to advertise himself as a religious mentor. As for actual advancement in spiritual science, one should have a test to see how far he is progressing. He can judge by these items.
(2) PRIDELESSNESS – One should not pose himself as a religionist simply for name and fame.
Show bottle pandit – Is interested in his own glorification than glorifying the God. All the man Gods and women Gods in India are puffed with false pride and enamored by the glory and accolades given to such a false person. That is a sign that they are in a very sick mentality.. Example – Nithyananda in the temple his picture is above the altar
(3) NON VIOLENCE – One should not become a source of anxiety to others by the actions of his body, by the thoughts of his mind, or by his words.
Many times people become agitators to others by saying and doing things.
Nonviolence is generally taken to mean not killing or destroying the body, but actually nonviolence means not to put others into distress. People in general are trapped by ignorance in the material concept of life, and they perpetually suffer material pains. So unless one elevates people to spiritual knowledge, one is practicing violence. One should try his best to distribute real knowledge to the people, so that they may become enlightened and leave this material entanglement. That is nonviolence.
(4) TOLERANCE – One should learn forbearance even in the face of provocation from others.
Tolerance means that one should be practiced to bear insult and dishonor from others. If one is engaged in the advancement of spiritual knowledge, there will be so many insults and much dishonor from others. This is expected because material nature is so constituted. Even a boy like Prahlāda, who, only five years old, was engaged in the cultivation of spiritual knowledge, was endangered when his father became antagonistic to his devotion. The father tried to kill him in so many ways, but Prahlāda tolerated him. So there may be many impediments to making advancement in spiritual knowledge, but we should be tolerant and continue our progress with determination.
(5) SIMPLICITY – One should learn to avoid duplicity in his dealings with others.
Simplicity means that without diplomacy one should be so straightforward that he can disclose the real truth even to an enemy.
Lord Caitanya’s closest followers used diplomacy.. But it was not to cheat the lord. Sometimes devotees may be diplomatic to lead people to Krsna. But otherwise one should be very honest, truthful and straightforward.
(6) ACCEPTING SPIRITUAL MASTER – One should search out a bona fide spiritual master who can lead him gradually to the stage of spiritual realization, and one must submit himself to such a spiritual master, render him service and ask relevant questions.
As for acceptance of the spiritual master, that is essential, because without the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master one cannot progress in the spiritual science. One should approach the spiritual master with all humility and offer him all services so that he will be pleased to bestow his blessings upon the disciple. Because a bona fide spiritual master is a representative of Kṛṣṇa, if he bestows any blessings upon his disciple, that will make the disciple immediately advanced without the disciple’s following the regulative principles. Or, the regulative principles will be easier for one who has served the spiritual master without reservation.
(7) CLEANLINESS – In order to approach the platform of self-realization, one must follow the regulative principles enjoined in the revealed scriptures.
Cleanliness is essential for making advancement in spiritual life. There are two kinds of cleanliness: external and internal. External cleanliness means taking a bath, but for internal cleanliness one has to think of Kṛṣṇa always and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. This process cleans the accumulated dust of past karma from the mind
Whatever we did in previous life is influencing us now.. Kutam always remains – tendency to be attracted to sense gratification in this life. We see that happening in adolescence.. To stop that and purify – hearing about Krsna everyday and chanting everyday. It is not just the rounds. One has to hear everyday.. Without hearing the rounds will be mechanical..
(8) STEADINESS – One must be fixed in the tenets of the revealed scriptures.
Steadiness means that one should be very determined to make progress in spiritual life. Without such determination, one cannot make tangible progress.
(9) SELF CONTROL – One should completely refrain from practices which are detrimental to the interest of self-realization.
And self-control means that one should not accept anything which is detrimental to the path of spiritual progress. One should become accustomed to this and reject anything which is against the path of spiritual progress. This is real renunciation.
What are the practices – Going to unsavory webpages, seeing movies, reading books that are nonsense, listening to lectures that are nonsense..
Giving a kid access to the internet is giving a key to the road to hell or a loaded gun.
(10) RENUNCIATION IN THE MATTER OF SENSES – One should not accept more than he requires for the maintenance of the body.
The senses are so strong that they are always anxious to have sense gratification. One should not cater to these demands, which are not necessary. The senses should only be gratified to keep the body fit so that one can discharge his duty in advancing in spiritual life. The most important and uncontrollable sense is the tongue. If one can control the tongue, then there is every possibility of controlling the other senses. The function of the tongue is to taste and to vibrate. Therefore, by systematic regulation, the tongue should always be engaged in tasting the remnants of foodstuffs offered to Kṛṣṇa and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. As far as the eyes are concerned, they should not be allowed to see anything but the beautiful form of Kṛṣṇa. That will control the eyes. Similarly, the ears should be engaged in hearing about Kṛṣṇa and the nose in smelling the flowers offered to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process of devotional service, and it is understood here that Bhagavad-gītā is simply expounding the science of devotional service. Devotional service is the main and sole objective. Unintelligent commentators on the Bhagavad-gītā try to divert the mind of the reader to other subjects, but there is no other subject in Bhagavad-gītā than devotional service.
Over eating, Diabetes,
(11) ABSENCE OF FALSE EGO – One should not falsely identify himself with the gross material body, nor should one consider those who are related to his body to be his own.
False ego means accepting this body as oneself. When one understands that he is not his body and is spirit soul, he comes to his real ego. Ego is there. False ego is condemned, but not real ego. In the Vedic literature (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.10) it is said, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am Brahman, I am spirit. This “I am,” the sense of self, also exists in the liberated stage of self-realization. This sense of “I am” is ego, but when the sense of “I am” is applied to this false body it is false ego. When the sense of self is applied to reality, that is real ego. There are some philosophers who say we should give up our ego, but we cannot give up our ego, because ego means identity. We ought, of course, to give up the false identification with the body.
I am a product of matter – is false ego
I am a spirit soul – is real ego
You should identify with the soul and you should identify your family with their soul. It is about seeing the soul in relationship with Krsna not only yourself but also in everyone including your family.
Example – As soon as I was born I had enemies.. I inherited enemies due to my identification with my body , my family mt ethnicity.. This bodily identification ruins,.
Whenever you cheat you cheat yourself ultimately..
Water in the milk
Cars made in USA – made to break os new cars can be brought. Now only japanese cars are the most used.