KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.10.19:
- The activities of the sense organs are controlled by the will of the Supreme. The senses are, so to speak, offering a license for the conditioned souls, who are to use them properly under the control of the controlling deity deputed by the Supreme Lord.
- One who violates such controlling regulations has to be punished by degradation to a lower status of life.
- After death the next body is offered by superior control, not blindly. A human being, therefore, must be on his guard as to what sort of body he is going to have in the next life. An irresponsible life of indiscrimination is risky, and that is the declaration of all scriptures.
- In the Bhāgavatam, First Canto, second chapter, it is also confirmed that one who engages in devotional service of Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, has complete transcendental knowledge and renunciation, and there is no further explanation for these attainments. Ahaitukī – without reason, they come.
- To anyone who has full faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the spiritual master, all the import of the Vedic literatures is revealed.
- One cannot be sure of entrance into the spiritual realm – in either the impersonal brahma-jyotir effulgence of the Lord or the Vaikuṇṭha planets within that Brahman effulgence – unless he is surrendered unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. The surrendered souls are called akuto-bhaya.
- They are doubtless and fearless, and their entrance into the spiritual kingdom is guaranteed.
- Devotional service is most important because there is danger in every step in this material world. At any moment our life can be finished. We may be walking along very nicely, but at some moment we may slip and break our neck; therefore this planet is called Martyaloka, the planet of death, the place where death is a certainty.
- Everyone wants health and security, but actually there is no security. There is simply a struggle for existence. People are struggling for security, but in reality this is all foolishness.
- People are always fearful because they have forgotten or rejected Kṛṣṇa. We have forgotten that we are Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servants, His eternal parts and parcels, and that we have a most intimate relationship with Him.
- In the material world we are situated in asat, a nonpermanent situation. When a child has lost his father and mother, he is always in a fearful condition. He cries in the street, “Where is my father? Where is my mother?”
- If we no longer want to be in such a fearful condition, we have to take shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is begging us to come to Him because we are all His sons. He says, “You are rotting here by repeatedly committing sins. You are changing from one body to another, and you are thinking that you are a human being, an American, this or that. The next moment you may become a dog or an insect.
- Knowledge, jñāna, means understanding our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. A wise man asks, “What is my duty to Kṛṣṇa?” Once we understand our relationship with Kṛṣṇa and our duty to Him, we naturally become reluctant to engage in material activities.
- Bhakti means surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. Without surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, we cannot understand our situation. Kṛṣṇa reserves the right of not being exposed to fools and rascals. He is simply meant for the devotees. We cannot understand Kṛṣṇa without becoming devotees.
- According to the śāstras, there is śreyas and preyas. Śreyas is the ultimate goal. We should act in such a way that ultimately we will become happy. However, if we want immediate happiness and disregard the future, we want preyas. Preyas is for unintelligent people and children.
- The śāstras instruct us to aim for śreyas and not be captivated by preyas. The supreme śreyas is bhakti-yoga.
SB 2.10.19 – 2/22/22
When the Supreme desired to speak, speeches were vibrated from the mouth. Then the controlling deity Fire was generated from the mouth. But when He was lying in the water, all these functions remained suspended.
The peculiarity of the gradual development of the different senses is simultaneously supported by their controlling deities. It is to be understood, therefore, that the activities of the sense organs are controlled by the will of the Supreme. The senses are, so to speak, offering a license for the conditioned souls, who are to use them properly under the control of the controlling deity deputed by the Supreme Lord. One who violates such controlling regulations has to be punished by degradation to a lower status of life. Consider, for example, the tongue and its controlling deity, Varuṇa. The tongue is meant for eating, and men, animals and birds each have their different tastes because of different licenses. The taste of human beings and that of the swine are not on the same level. The controlling deity, however, awards or certifies a particular type of body when the particular living entity develops a taste in terms of different modes of nature. If the human being develops taste without discrimination, as does the swine, then the controlling deity is certainly certified for the next term to award him the body of a swine. The swine accepts any kind of foodstuff, including stools, and a human being who has developed such indiscriminate taste must be prepared for a degraded life in the next life. Such a life is also God’s grace because the conditioned soul desired a body like that for perfectly tasting a particular type of foodstuff. If a man gets the body of a swine it must be considered the grace of the Lord because the Lord awards the facility. After death the next body is offered by superior control, not blindly. A human being, therefore, must be on his guard as to what sort of body he is going to have in the next life. An irresponsible life of indiscrimination is risky, and that is the declaration of all scriptures.
People have no idea of what is going on in the universe. People are taught to be irresponsible.
Example Atkins diet and Atkins died by walking and slipping but later discovered that he had heart attack and he helped the meat industry grow..
We are susceptible to dying. We may die at any moment. We are like a drop on a slippery leaf..
Example – A devotee father driving and someone knocks you down and you die..
TEACHINGS OF LORD KAPILA – TEXT 43
The yogīs, equipped with transcendental knowledge and renunciation and engaged in devotional service for their eternal benefit, take shelter at My lotus feet, and since I am the Lord, they are thus eligible to enter into the kingdom of Godhead without fear.
One who wants to be liberated from the entanglement of this material world and go back home, back to Godhead, is actually a mystic yogī. The words explicitly used here are yuktena bhakti-yogena. Those yogīs, or mystics, who engage in devotional service are first-class yogīs. They are described in Bhagavad-gītā as constantly thinking of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. These yogīs are not without knowledge and renunciation. To become a bhakti-yogī means to automatically attain knowledge and renunciation. That is the consequent result of bhakti-yoga. In the Bhāgavatam, First Canto, second chapter, it is also confirmed that one who engages in devotional service of Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, has complete transcendental knowledge and renunciation, and there is no further explanation for these attainments. Ahaitukī – without reason, they come. Even if a person is completely illiterate, the transcendental knowledge of the scriptures is revealed unto him because of his devotion. To anyone who has full faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the spiritual master, all the import of the Vedic literatures is revealed. One doesn’t have to seek separately; the yogīs who engage in devotional service are full in knowledge and renunciation. If there is a lack of knowledge and renunciation, it is to be understood that one is not engaged in full devotional service. The conclusion is that one cannot be sure of entrance into the spiritual realm – in either the impersonal brahma-jyotir effulgence of the Lord or the Vaikuṇṭha planets within that Brahman effulgence – unless he is surrendered unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. The surrendered souls are called akuto-bhaya. They are doubtless and fearless, and their entrance into the spiritual kingdom is guaranteed.
Revelation theology – surrender, regulated life, chanting in brahma muhurta, mangal arti, eating only prasadam, hearing class.. Now you are ready to face the world. You are now vaccinated with transcendental knowledge.
Devotional service is most important because there is danger in every step in this material world. At any moment our life can be finished. We may be walking along very nicely, but at some moment we may slip and break our neck; therefore this planet is called Martyaloka, the planet of death, the place where death is a certainty. Regardless of how strong or healthy one may be, one cannot avoid death. One may exercise on the beach daily, but one may die at any moment. There is no guarantee. Everyone wants health and security, but actually there is no security. There is simply a struggle for existence. People are struggling for security, but in reality this is all foolishness. People are always fearful because they have forgotten or rejected Kṛṣṇa. We have forgotten that we are Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servants, His eternal parts and parcels, and that we have a most intimate relationship with Him. In the material world we are situated in asat, a nonpermanent situation. When a child has lost his father and mother, he is always in a fearful condition. He cries in the street, “Where is my father? Where is my mother?” If we no longer want to be in such a fearful condition, we have to take shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is begging us to come to Him because we are all His sons. He says, “You are rotting here by repeatedly committing sins. You are changing from one body to another, and you are thinking that you are a human being, an American, this or that. The next moment you may become a dog or an insect.” People are always thinking that they are secure, and this is called māyā, illusion.
Everyone is struggling – competing for sense gratification, competing for jobs.. struggle for existence..
People suffer because – they forgot their relationship with Krsna
The purpose of life is to become an IT guy.. That is what kids are learning and they want to right away start to earn 140k.. – Failure of education
The goal is to be a devotee.. And I might earn my living by doing IT but that is not the purpose of my life..
Knowledge, jñāna, means understanding our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. A wise man asks, “What is my duty to Kṛṣṇa?” Once we understand our relationship with Kṛṣṇa and our duty to Him, we naturally become reluctant to engage in material activities. This is called vairāgya, detachment from material activities. Jñāna and vairāgya can be awakened by bhakti-yoga. Bhakti means surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. Without surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, we cannot understand our situation. Kṛṣṇa reserves the right of not being exposed to fools and rascals. He is simply meant for the devotees. We cannot understand Kṛṣṇa without becoming devotees.
Material life means sex. People work hard all day in order to have a little sex at night. In the material world everyone is suffering from the sharp arrow of Cupid. Madana, Cupid, shoots his arrow into men and women to make them mad after one another; however, when one actually sees Kṛṣṇa, he sees Madana-mohana, the charmer of Cupid. Then one is no longer pierced by Cupid’s arrow. This means that one actually becomes fearless. One can then enter into bhakti-yoga and renounce this material world. According to the śāstras, there is śreyas and preyas. Śreyas is the ultimate goal. We should act in such a way that ultimately we will become happy. However, if we want immediate happiness and disregard the future, we want preyas. Preyas is for unintelligent people and children. A child enjoys playing all day; he does not want to be sent to school to be educated. Education is śreyas, the ultimate goal. No one is interested in this. The śāstras instruct us to aim for śreyas and not be captivated by preyas. The supreme śreyas is bhakti-yoga.