Author: JayaSri Devi Dasi

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.20 TODAY (06/13/21):

1. Since Śukadeva Gosvāmī is one of the prominent gata-vyalīkas, who are freed from all misconceptions, he, therefore, expresses his own realized perception of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as being the sum total of all perfection,  the Personality of Godhead.
2. Everyone is seeking the favor of the goddess of fortune, but people do not know that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the beloved husband of all goddesses of fortune.
3. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the principal head of all such goddesses of fortune, and therefore She is the pleasure counterpart of the Lord and is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa.
4. All these goddesses of fortune are manifestations of His transcendental pleasure potency (hlādinī-śakti) in His internal energy, and when the Lord manifested Himself on this earth He partially displayed the activities of His pleasure potency in His rāsa-līlā just to attract the conditioned souls, who are all after the phantasmagoria pleasure potency in degraded sex enjoyment. 
5. The pure devotees of the Lord like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who was completely detached from the abominable sex life of the material world, discussed this act of the Lord’s pleasure potency certainly not in relation to sex, but to relish a transcendental taste inconceivable to the mundaners who are after sex life.
6. Lord Caitanya was a strict sannyāsī, so much so that He did not allow any woman to come near Him, not even to bow down and offer respects. He never even heard the prayers of the deva-dāsīs offered in the temple of Jagannātha because a sannyāsī is forbidden to hear songs sung by the fair sex
7. In the Vedic rituals, there are recommendations for performing different types of sacrifice in order to achieve the greatest benefit in life. Such benedictions as the results of performing great sacrifices are, after all, favors given by the goddess of fortune, and the Lord, being the husband or lover of the goddess of fortune, is factually the Lord of all sacrifices also.
8. Lord is the final enjoyer of all kinds of yajña; therefore Yajña-pati is another name of Lord Viṣṇu.
9. Lord is Dhiyām-pati, or the Lord of intelligence. All living beings are not equally endowed with the same quality of intelligence because behind such development of intelligence is the control of the Lord, as declared in the Bhagavad-gītā 15.15.
10. The conditioned souls strive to become lords of the material world. The result is that instead of attaining an unconditional life of full freedom, the mad conditioned soul is entangled again and again in different types of bondage in material bodies.
11. Everything we see in the material manifestation is but the creation of the Lord. Therefore He is the real proprietor of everything in the universes.
12. The conditioned soul can enjoy a fragment of this material creation under the control of the Lord, but not self-sufficiently. That is the instruction in the Īśopaniṣad. One should be satisfied with things awarded by the Lord of the universe. It is out of madness only that one tries to encroach upon another’s share of material possessions.
13. ISO Mantra 1 – Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.
14. There is nothing in the universe that does not belong to either the parā or the aparā prakṛti; therefore everything is the property of the Supreme Being.
15. Factually, the Lord is the husband of all the women in His creation, but a conditioned soul under the control of the Lord feels proud to be the husband of one or two wives.
16. The annihilation of the Yadu dynasty was a material show created by the Supreme Lord; otherwise the Lord and the members of the Yadu dynasty are all eternal associates. The Lord is therefore the guide of all devotees, and as such Śukadeva Gosvāmī offered Him due respects with love-laden feelings.
    
    

SB 2.4.20 TRANSLATION:

May Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the worshipable Lord of all devotees, the protector and glory of all the kings like Andhaka and Vṛṣṇi of the Yadu dynasty, the husband of all goddesses of fortune, the director of all sacrifices and therefore the leader of all living entities, the controller of all intelligence, the proprietor of all planets, spiritual and material, and the supreme incarnation on the earth (the supreme all in all), be merciful upon me.

CLASS NOTES: 

Since Śukadeva Gosvāmī is one of the prominent gata-vyalīkas, who are freed from all misconceptions, he, therefore, expresses his own realized perception of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as being the sum total of all perfection,  the Personality of Godhead.

EVERYONE IS SEEKING THE FAVOR OF THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE, BUT PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW THAT LORD ŚRĪ KṚṢṆA IS THE BELOVED HUSBAND OF ALL GODDESSES OF FORTUNE.

 In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord, in His transcendental abode Goloka Vṛndāvana, is accustomed to herding the Surabhi cows and is served thereby hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune. All these goddesses of fortune are manifestations of His transcendental pleasure potency (hlādinī-śakti) in His internal energy, and when the Lord manifested Himself on this earth He partially displayed the activities of His pleasure potency in His rāsa-līlā just to attract the conditioned souls, who are all after the phantasmagoria pleasure potency in degraded sex enjoyment. 

The pure devotees of the Lord like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who was completely detached from the abominable sex life of the material world, discussed this act of the Lord’s pleasure potency certainly not in relation to sex, but to relish a transcendental taste inconceivable to the mundaners who are after sex life. Sex life in the mundane world is the root cause of being conditioned by the shackles of illusion, and certainly, Śukadeva Gosvāmī was never interested in the sex life of the mundane world. Nor does the manifestation of the Lord’s pleasure potency have any connection with such degraded things. 

LORD CAITANYA WAS A STRICT SANNYĀSĪ
so much so that He did not allow any woman to come near Him, not even to bow down and offer respects. He never even heard the prayers of the deva-dāsīs offered in the temple of Jagannātha because a sannyāsī is forbidden to hear songs sung by the fair sex. Yet even in the rigid position of a sannyāsī He recommended the mode of worship preferred by the gopīs of Vṛndāvana as the topmost loving service possible to be rendered to the Lord. And Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the principal head of all such goddesses of fortune, and therefore She is the pleasure counterpart of the Lord and is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa.


LORD IS THE FINAL ENJOYER OF ALL KINDS OF YAJÑA (YAJÑA-PATI IS ANOTHER NAME OF LORD VIṢṆU.)
In the Vedic rituals, there are recommendations for performing different types of sacrifice in order to achieve the greatest benefit in life. Such benedictions as the results of performing great sacrifices are, after all, favors given by the goddess of fortune, and the Lord, being the husband or lover of the goddess of fortune, is factually the Lord of all sacrifices also. He is the final enjoyer of all kinds of yajña; therefore Yajña-pati is another name of Lord Viṣṇu. It is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā that everything is done for the Yajña-pati (yajñārtāt karmaṇaḥ), for otherwise, one’s acts will be the cause of conditioning by the law of material nature. 

Those who are not freed from all misconceptions (vyalīkam) perform sacrifices to please the minor demigods, but the devotees of the Lord know very well that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the supreme enjoyer of all performances of sacrifice; therefore they perform the saṅkīrtana-yajña (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ), which is especially recommended in this Age of Kali. In Kali-yuga, the performance of other types of sacrifice is not feasible due to insufficient arrangements and inexpert priesthood.

LORD IS DHIYĀM-PATI, OR THE LORD OF INTELLIGENCE.

Living beings are proportionately endowed with intelligence in terms of their previous activities. All living beings are not equally endowed with the same quality of intelligence because behind such development of intelligence is the control of the Lord, as declared in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15). As Paramātmā, Supersoul, the Lord is living in everyone’s heart, and from Him only does one’s power of remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness follow (mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca). One person can sharply remember past activities by the grace of the Lord while others cannot. One is highly intelligent by the grace of the Lord, and one is a fool by the same control. Therefore the Lord is Dhiyām-pati, or the Lord of intelligence.

There is no equality in the material world. Gandhi gave the terminology mahajan to low-class people in India. Artificially you cannot make people equal for political motives. That is a failure. But spiritually there is equality, everyone is part and parcel of Krsna and everyone has the equal opportunity to become Krsna conscious and serve the lord.

THE CONDITIONED SOULS STRIVE TO BECOME LORDS OF THE MATERIAL WORLD. 

Everyone is trying to lord it over the material nature by applying his highest degree of intelligence. This misuse of intelligence by the conditioned soul is called madness. One’s full intelligence should be applied to get free from the material clutches. But the conditioned soul, due to madness only, engages his full energy and intelligence in sense gratification, and to achieve this end of life he willfully commits all sorts of misdeeds. The result is that instead of attaining an unconditional life of full freedom, the mad conditioned soul is entangled again and again in different types of bondage in material bodies.

Everything we see in the material manifestation is but the creation of the Lord. Therefore He is the real proprietor of everything in the universes. The conditioned soul can enjoy a fragment of this material creation under the control of the Lord, but not self-sufficiently. That is the instruction in the Īśopaniṣad. One should be satisfied with things awarded by the Lord of the universe. It is out of madness only that one tries to encroach upon another’s share of material possessions.

It is also described the ISOpanishad – “Isavasyam idam sarvam… “

ISO MANTRA 1
īśāvāsyam idaḿ sarvaṁ
yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā
mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam

Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.

However, both the living entities and inanimate objects are controlled by the laws of nature and ultimately by the Lord’s potency.

There is nothing in the universe that does not belong to either the parā or the aparā prakṛti; therefore everything is the property of the Supreme Being.

FACTUALLY, THE LORD IS THE HUSBAND OF ALL THE WOMEN IN HIS CREATION, BUT A CONDITIONED SOUL UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE LORD FEELS PROUD TO BE THE HUSBAND OF ONE OR TWO WIVES.

The Lord of the universe, out of His causeless mercy upon the conditioned souls, descends by His own energy (ātma-māyā) to reestablish the eternal relation of the conditioned souls with Him. He instructs all to surrender unto Him instead of falsely claiming to be enjoyers for a certain limit under His control. When He so descends He proves how much greater is His ability to enjoy, and He exhibits His power of enjoyment by, for instance, marrying sixteen thousand wives at once. The conditioned soul is very proud of becoming the husband of even one wife, but the Lord laughs at this. The intelligent man can know who is the real husband.Factually, the Lord is the husband of all the women in His creation, but a conditioned soul under the control of the Lord feels proud to be the husband of one or two wives.

THE LORD IS THE GUIDE OF ALL DEVOTEES

All these qualifications as the different types of pati mentioned in this verse are meant for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī has therefore especially mentioned the pati and gati of the Yadu dynasty. The members of the Yadu dynasty knew that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is everything, and all of them intended to return to Lord Kṛṣṇa after He had finished His transcendental pastimes on the earth. The Yadu dynasty was annihilated by the will of the Lord because its members had to return home with the Lord. The annihilation of the Yadu dynasty was a material show created by the Supreme Lord; otherwise the Lord and the members of the Yadu dynasty are all eternal associates. The Lord is therefore the guide of all devotees, and as such Śukadeva Gosvāmī offered Him due respects with love-laden feelings.

QUESTION: If there is equality spiritually. Why then Madhurya rasa is highest than other relationships. 

There is a big cup and a small cup. The Big cup and the small cup are filled with water and now both are full. Then there is no difference. It is like that in all relationships the living entity is fully satisfied. Madhurya rasa is highest because it encompasses all the other rasas within it.

Noone is limiting you except your desire. Krsna is not saying you can go only upto here. Every moment there is competition between measurement and expansion. You can never actually get bored. The opposite is true in the material world.. As soon as you are born you are dying.. Groth is dying of something.. People have all the opposite opinions, that is why there is frustration, desperation, hatred, envy, they do not understand what is the purpose of material world. We think purpose of the material world… is for sense gratification. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.19:

1. The Supreme Lord, although the Lord of all followers of different paths of self-realization, is perfectly realized only by the devotees because they are above all pretensions (the pretensions are desiring to be a jnana yogi, mystic yogi, karma yogi… having desire to merge into Brahman… having any desire other than to please Krsna)
2. The devotees of the Lord, only want to serve the Lord, because they know that the Lord is great and as living entities, they are eternally subordinate parts and parcels of the Lord. This perfect realization of the self by the devotee helps him to become desireless, to desire nothing for his personal self, and thus the devotees are called niṣkāmī, without any desire. 
3. A living entity, by his constitutional position, cannot be void of all desires,  but the niṣkāmī devotees of the Lord desire everything for the satisfaction of the Lord. They are completely dependent on the orders of the Lord and are always ready to discharge their duty for the satisfaction of the Lord.
4. Because Arjuna was without any pretension, he changed his decision and satisfied the Lord by agreeing to fight (kariṣye vacanaṁ tava), and thus he became desireless.
5. The devotee is completely peaceful because he has no demand for himself and is always ready to serve the desire of the Lord. He is is happy in the service of the Lord, and in fact, he does not even desire liberation from the so-called material bondage. The devotees of Kṛṣṇa have no material desires, and therefore they are in perfect peace.
6. As long as one has the material body, the demands of the body for sense gratification will continue. The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires, because of his fullness. A Kṛṣṇa conscious man is not in need of anything, because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. 
7. The proof of a Kṛṣṇa conscious man – one who has lost all inclinations for material sense gratification, although the desires are present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the ocean, and therefore enjoy full peace.
8. Whereas those who are after fruitive results for their pious activities, those who desire salvation…. etc., are always restless. because they want something for themselves.
9. Persons acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are never deviated from the path of entirely understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 
10. The beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is association of persons who are Kṛṣṇa conscious. Such association is spiritual and puts one directly in touch with the Supreme Lord, and, by His grace, one can understand Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 
11. At the same time, one can really understand the constitutional position of the living entity and how the living entity forgets Kṛṣṇa and becomes entangled in material activities. 
12. By gradual development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in good association, the living entity can understand that due to forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa he has become conditioned by the laws of material nature.
13. He can also understand that this human form of life is an opportunity to regain Kṛṣṇa consciousness and that it should be fully utilized to attain the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord.
14. One must follow in the footsteps of great authorities like Brahmā, Śiva, Nārada, Manu, the Kumāras, Kapila, Prahlāda, Bhīṣma, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Yamarāja, Janaka and Bali Mahārāja. By mental speculation, one cannot ascertain what is religion or self-realization.

SB 2.4.19 TRANSLATION: 

He is the Supersoul and the Supreme Lord of all self-realized souls. He is the personification of the Vedas, religious scriptures and austerities. He is worshiped by Lord Brahmā and Śiva and all those who are transcendental to all pretensions. Being so revered with awe and veneration, may that Supreme Absolute be pleased with me.

CLASS NOTES: 

THE SUPREME LORD, THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD, ALTHOUGH THE LORD OF ALL FOLLOWERS OF DIFFERENT PATHS OF SELF-REALIZATION, IS KNOWABLE ONLY BY THOSE WHO ARE ABOVE ALL PRETENSIONS.

Everyone is searching for eternal peace or eternal life, and with an aim to this destination everyone is either studying the Vedic scriptures or other religious scriptures or undergoing severe austerity as empiric philosophers, as mystic yogīs or as unalloyed devotees, etc. But the Supreme Lord is perfectly realized only by the devotees because they are above all pretensions.

 Those who are on the path of self-realization are generally classified as karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs, or devotees of the Lord.

1. The karmīs, who are much attracted by the fruitive activities of the Vedic rituals, are called bhakti-kāmī, or those who desire material enjoyment.
2. The jñānīs, who try to become one with the Supreme by mental speculation, are called mukti-kāmī, or those who desire liberation from material existence.
3. The mystic yogīs, who practice different types of austerities for attainment of eight kinds of material perfection and who ultimately meet the Supersoul (Paramātmā) in trance, are called siddhi-kāmī, or those who desire the perfection of becoming finer than the finest, becoming heavier than the heaviest, getting everything desired, having control over everyone, creating everything liked, etc. All these are abilities of a powerful yogī.
4. But the devotees of the Lord do not want anything like that for self-satisfaction. They want only to serve the Lord because the Lord is great and as living entities they are eternally subordinate parts and parcels of the Lord. This perfect realization of the self by the devotee helps him to become desireless, to desire nothing for his personal self, and thus the devotees are called niṣkāmī, without any desire.

A LIVING ENTITY, BY HIS CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION, CANNOT BE VOID OF ALL DESIRES 

(the bhukti-kāmī, mukti-kāmī and siddhi-kāmī all desire something for personal satisfaction), but the niṣkāmī devotees of the Lord desire everything for the satisfaction of the Lord. They are completely dependent on the orders of the Lord and are always ready to discharge their duty for the satisfaction of the Lord.

BECAUSE ARJUNA WAS WITHOUT ANY PRETENSION, HE CHANGED HIS DECISION AND SATISFIED THE LORD BY AGREEING TO FIGHT (KARIṢYE VACANAṀ TAVA), AND THUS HE BECAME DESIRELESS.

The examples of Brahmā and Lord Śiva are specifically cited here because Brahmājī, Lord Śiva, Śrīmatī Lakṣmījī and the four Kumāras (Sanaka, Sanātana, etc.) are leaders of the four desireless Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas. They are all freed from all pretensions. (Unalloyed devotees)

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 19.149) it is said:

kṛṣṇa-bhakta — niṣkāma, ata eva ‘śānta’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī, sakali ‘aśānta’

THE DEVOTEE IS COMPLETELY PEACEFUL BECAUSE HE HAS NO DEMAND FOR HIMSELF AND IS ALWAYS READY TO SERVE THE DESIRE OF THE LORD.

Those who are after fruitive results for their pious activities, those who desire salvation and identity with the Supreme, and those who desire material perfections of mystic power are all restless because they want something for themselves, but the devotee is completely peaceful because he has no demand for himself and is always ready to serve the desire of the Lord.

Wonderful purport by SP as always. He is exemplary in his writing. Everything he writes and says is exemplary…  This is also explained in BG 7.30

(BG 7.30) IN THE TRANSCENDENTAL ASSOCIATION OF KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS, ONE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW THE SUPREME LORD IS THE GOVERNING PRINCIPLE OF THE MATERIAL MANIFESTATION AND EVEN OF THE DEMIGODS.
Those in full consciousness of Me, who know Me, the Supreme Lord, to be the governing principle of the material manifestation, of the demigods, and of all methods of sacrifice, can understand and know Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even at the time of death.

  
Persons acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are never deviated from the path of entirely understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 

Everyday they try and learn something new about Krsna. When they become advanced, every hour, every minute, every second… 

In the transcendental association of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can understand how the Supreme Lord is the governing principle of the material manifestation and even of the demigods. Gradually, by such transcendental association, one becomes convinced of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and at the time of death such a Kṛṣṇa conscious person can never forget Kṛṣṇa. Naturally he is thus promoted to the planet of the Supreme Lord, Goloka Vṛndāvana.

There is a saying that one should die in his boots. Hindus think that there are many GOds and they are all equal. Phony liberals, they want to make everything equal. How can you say Jeff Bezos equal to everyone, animals equal to humans, insects equal to plants… you see nothing is equal in the material world. However, the only thing that is equal everyone has an equal chance to become Krsna conscious. That is equal for everyone… The focus is on having an association with genuine devotees.

THE BEGINNING OF KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS IS ASSOCIATION OF PERSONS WHO ARE KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUS. 

Such association is spiritual and puts one directly in touch with the Supreme Lord, and, by His grace, one can understand Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At the same time one can really understand the constitutional position of the living entity and how the living entity forgets Kṛṣṇa and becomes entangled in material activities. 

We have to understand both knowledge and ignorance… vidya Vinaya sampanne… Humble sage sees everyone with equal vision. In ISO it is said that one must learn both  vidya and avidya… A devotee is satisfied by spreading the glories of Krsna to those who do not know about Krsna. 

By gradual development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in good association, the living entity can understand that due to forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa he has become conditioned by the laws of material nature. He can also understand that this human form of life is an opportunity to regain Kṛṣṇa consciousness and that it should be fully utilized to attain the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord.

Good association and not bad association. Bad association – association with lose devotees who are not steady, sometimes they want to earn more money, sometimes they want to be Krsna Consciousness, Sometimes illicit activities. Sometimes they come for service and sometimes they do not.

HE WHO IS ACTUALLY ELEVATED IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS DOES NOT CARE FOR THE DIFFERENT PROCESSES.

Many subjects have been discussed in this chapter: the man in distress, the inquisitive man, the man in want of material necessities, knowledge of Brahman, knowledge of Paramātmā, liberation from birth, death and diseases, and worship of the Supreme Lord. However, he who is actually elevated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not care for the different processes. He simply directly engages himself in activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thereby factually attains his constitutional position as an eternal servitor of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In such a situation he takes pleasure in hearing and glorifying the Supreme Lord in pure devotional service. He is convinced that by his doing so, all his objectives will be fulfilled. This determined faith is called dṛḍha-vrata, and it is the beginning of bhakti-yoga, or transcendental loving service. That is the verdict of all scriptures. 

(BG 2.70) A PERSON WHO IS NOT DISTURBED BY THE INCESSANT FLOW OF DESIRES CAN ALONE ACHIEVE PEACE,
A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

Everyday we are bombarded by some advertisements or messages which can hook us to desires… ex: Earn online masters degree, buy and sell houses… take a bite of the bait and be hooked up, Radio, internet, social media, as soon as you bite the bait you get hooked… 

Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is always, especially during the rainy season, being filled with much more water. But the ocean remains the same – steady; it is not agitated, nor does it cross beyond the limit of its brink. That is also true of a person fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 

Example – Haridas Thakur – Prostitute and Mayadevi tried to tempt him, but he was not disturbed and he made them chant.. .. “Param Dristva Nivartante… “ Higher taste..

AS LONG AS ONE HAS THE MATERIAL BODY, THE DEMANDS OF THE BODY FOR SENSE GRATIFICATION WILL CONTINUE. THE DEVOTEE, HOWEVER, IS NOT DISTURBED BY SUCH DESIRES, 

because of his fullness. A Kṛṣṇa conscious man is not in need of anything, because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. 

A devotee diminishes his material necessities to bare minimum.. 

THEREFORE HE IS LIKE THE OCEAN – ALWAYS FULL IN HIMSELF.

Desires may come to him like the waters of the rivers that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in his activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by desires for sense gratification. That is the proof of a Kṛṣṇa conscious man – one who has lost all inclinations for material sense gratification, although the desires are present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the ocean, and therefore enjoy full peace. 

OTHERS, HOWEVER, WHO WANT TO FULFILL DESIRES EVEN UP TO THE LIMIT OF LIBERATION, WHAT TO SPEAK OF MATERIAL SUCCESS, NEVER ATTAIN PEACE. 

The fruitive workers, the salvationists, and also the yogīs who are after mystic powers are all unhappy because of unfulfilled desires. But the person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is happy in the service of the Lord, and he has no desires to be fulfilled. In fact, he does not even desire liberation from the so-called material bondage. The devotees of Kṛṣṇa have no material desires, and therefore they are in perfect peace.

Everyone is repeating om shanti om shanti… at the end of pooja, but there is no shanti.. Because as soon as the puja is done they are again after material desires…

Question:
Answer: Brahma and Shiva are affected by material nature, because they are in contact with material nature. Durga Devi is Shiva’ss wife and Brahma because of his powerful position, he can be affected sometimes by the mode of passion. Hence you can see them getting affected sometimes. One should not try and imitate Mahajans and one should not criticize them. Even if they make a mistake they will come back… and are determined in devotional service..

BG 4.16
Even the intelligent are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction. Now I shall explain to you what action is, knowing which you shall be liberated from all misfortune.

It is said that one cannot ascertain the ways of religion simply by imperfect experimental knowledge. Actually, the principles of religion can only be laid down by the Lord Himself. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (Bhāg. 6.3.19). No one can manufacture a religious principle by imperfect speculation. One must follow in the footsteps of great authorities like Brahmā, Śiva, Nārada, Manu, the Kumāras, Kapila, Prahlāda, Bhīṣma, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Yamarāja, Janaka and Bali Mahārāja. By mental speculation one cannot ascertain what is religion or self-realization. Therefore, out of causeless mercy to His devotees, the Lord explains directly to Arjuna what action is and what inaction is. Only action performed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can deliver a person from the entanglement of material existence.


BG 9.30
Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination.

On the other hand, one should not misunderstand that a devotee in transcendental devotional service can act in all kinds of abominable ways; this verse only refers to an accident due to the strong power of material connections. Devotional service is more or less a declaration of war against the illusory energy. As long as one is not strong enough to fight the illusory energy, there may be accidental falldowns. But when one is strong enough, he is no longer subjected to such falldowns, as previously explained. No one should take advantage of this verse and commit nonsense and think that he is still a devotee. If he does not improve in his character by devotional service, then it is to be understood that he is not a high devotee.

Brahma and Shiva they rectify their mistake immediately and they are genuine devotees. If we use this verse to continually break the rules and regulations, then we are rascal number one. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.18 TODAY (06/11/21):

1. Even those who are constantly engaged in sinful acts are all corrigible to the standard of perfect human beings if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord.
2. Jesus Christ and Muhammad, two powerful devotees of the Lord, have done tremendous service on behalf of the Lord on the surface of the globe.
3. According to Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, if the leadership of world affairs is entrusted to the devotees of the Lord, then by the grace of the Almighty Lord there can be a thorough change of heart in human beings all over the world because the devotees of the Lord are able authorities to effect such a change by purifying the dust-worn minds of the people.
4. The devotees are interested only in seeing that the people are not misguided by political propaganda and that the valuable life of a human being is not spoiled in following a type of civilization that is ultimately doomed.
5. If the politicians would be guided by the good counsel of the devotees, then certainly there would be a great change in the world situation by the purifying propaganda of the devotees, as shown by Lord Caitanya.
6. Lord Caitanya recommended that simply by glorifying the Lord’s holy name, a tremendous change of heart can take place by which the complete misunderstanding between the human nations created by politicians can at once be extinguished. 
7. A Vaiṣṇava is powerful enough to turn even the Kirāta, Huna, Pulinda, Yavan, malechas etc. into a Vaiṣṇava.
8. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.32) it is said by the Lord that there is no bar to becoming a devotee of the Lord (even for those who are lowborn, or women, śūdras or vaiśyas), and by becoming a devotee everyone is eligible to return home, back to Godhead.
9. The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge in the transcendental science of Kṛṣṇa (Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam).
10. Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart.
11. Without any reference to the particular custom of a country, one can be accepted to the Vaiṣṇava cult spiritually, and there is no hindrance in the transcendental process. 
12. By the order of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the cult of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Bhagavad-gītā can be preached all over the world, reclaiming all persons willing to accept the transcendental cult. 
13. The Vaiṣṇava never accepts another Vaiṣṇava on the basis of birthright, just as he never thinks of the Deity of the Lord in a temple as an idol. And to remove all doubts in this connection, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has invoked the blessings of the Lord, who is all-powerful (prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ). 
14. “One should not consider the Deity of the Lord as worshiped in the temple to be an idol, nor should one consider the authorized spiritual master an ordinary man. Nor should one consider a pure Vaiṣṇava to belong to a particular caste, etc.” (Padma Purāṇa)
15. Lord, being all-powerful, can, under any and every circumstance, accept anyone from any part of the world, either personally or through His bona fide manifestation as the spiritual master. 
16. Lord Caitanya accepted many devotees from communities other than the varṇāśramites, and He Himself declared, to teach us, that He does not belong to any caste or social order of life, but that He is the eternal servant of the servant of the Lord who maintains the damsels of Vṛndāvana (Lord Kṛṣṇa). That is the way of self-realization.

SB 2.4.18 TRANSLATION

Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.

CLASS NOTES:

The above-mentioned historical names are different nations of the world. Even those who are constantly engaged in sinful acts are all corrigible to the standard of perfect human beings if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord. Jesus Christ and Muhammad, two powerful devotees of the Lord, have done tremendous service on behalf of the Lord on the surface of the globe. And from the version of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī it appears that instead of running a godless civilization in the present context of the world situation, if the leadership of world affairs is entrusted to the devotees of the Lord, for which a worldwide organization under the name and style of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has already been started, then by the grace of the Almighty Lord there can be a thorough change of heart in human beings all over the world because the devotees of the Lord are able authorities to effect such a change by purifying the dust-worn minds of the people in general. The politicians of the world may remain in their respective positions because the pure devotees of the Lord are not interested in political leadership or diplomatic implications. The devotees are interested only in seeing that the people, in general, are not misguided by political propaganda and that the valuable life of a human being is not spoiled in following a type of civilization which is ultimately doomed.

If the politicians, therefore, would be guided by the good counsel of the devotees, then certainly there would be a great change in the world situation by the purifying propaganda of the devotees, as shown by Lord Caitanya. As Śukadeva Gosvāmī began his prayer by discussing the word yat-kīrtanam, so also Lord Caitanya recommended that simply by glorifying the Lord’s holy name, a tremendous change of heart can take place by which the complete misunderstanding between the human nations created by politicians can at once be extinguished. And after the extinction of the fire of misunderstanding, other profits will follow. The destination is to go back home, back to Godhead, as we have several times discussed in these pages.

A VAIṢṆAVA IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO TURN INTO A VAIṢṆAVA EVEN THE KIRĀTA, ETC.

According to the cult of devotion, generally known as the Vaiṣṇava cult, there is no bar against anyone’s advancing in the matter of God-realization. A Vaiṣṇava is powerful enough to turn into a Vaiṣṇava even the Kirāta, etc., as above mentioned. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.32) it is said by the Lord that there is no bar to becoming a devotee of the Lord (even for those who are lowborn, or women, śūdras or vaiśyas), and by becoming a devotee everyone is eligible to return home, back to Godhead. The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge in the transcendental science of Kṛṣṇa (Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam). Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart. Though a person be even the most sinful man, he can at once be purified by systematic contact with a pure Vaiṣṇava. A Vaiṣṇava, therefore, can accept a bona fide disciple from any part of the world without any consideration of caste and creed and promote him by regulative principles to the status of a pure Vaiṣṇava, who is transcendental to brahminical culture.

WITHOUT ANY REFERENCE TO THE PARTICULAR CUSTOM OF A COUNTRY, ONE CAN BE ACCEPTED TO THE VAIṢṆAVA CULT SPIRITUALLY, AND THERE IS NO HINDRANCE IN THE TRANSCENDENTAL PROCESS.

The system of caste, or varṇāśrama-dharma, is no longer regular even amongst the so-called followers of the system. Nor is it now possible to reestablish the institutional function in the present context of social, political and economic revolution. Without any reference to the particular custom of a country, one can be accepted to the Vaiṣṇava cult spiritually, and there is no hindrance in the transcendental process. So by the order of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the cult of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Bhagavad-gītā can be preached all over the world, reclaiming all persons willing to accept the transcendental cult. Such cultural propaganda by the devotees will certainly be accepted by all persons who are reasonable and inquisitive, without any particular bias for the custom of the country. The Vaiṣṇava never accepts another Vaiṣṇava on the basis of birthright, just as he never thinks of the Deity of the Lord in a temple as an idol. And to remove all doubts in this connection, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has invoked the blessings of the Lord, who is all-powerful (prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ). As the all-powerful Lord accepts the humble service of His devotee in devotional activities of the arcana, His form as the worshipable Deity in the temple, similarly the body of a pure Vaiṣṇava changes transcendentally at once when he gives himself up to the service of the Lord and is trained by a qualified Vaiṣṇava. The injunction of Vaiṣṇava regulation in this connection runs as follows: arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ śrī-viṣṇor nāmni śabda-sāmānya-buddhiḥ, etc. “One should not consider the Deity of the Lord as worshiped in the temple to be an idol, nor should one consider the authorized spiritual master an ordinary man. Nor should one consider a pure Vaiṣṇava to belong to a particular caste, etc.” (Padma Purāṇa)

The conclusion is that the Lord, being all-powerful, can, under any and every circumstance, accept anyone from any part of the world, either personally or through His bona fide manifestation as the spiritual master. Lord Caitanya accepted many devotees from communities other than the varṇāśramites, and He Himself declared, to teach us, that He does not belong to any caste or social order of life, but that He is the eternal servant of the servant of the Lord who maintains the damsels of Vṛndāvana (Lord Kṛṣṇa). That is the way of self-realization.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.17:

1. Advancement of learning, a charitable disposition, political, social or religious leadership of human society, philosophical speculations, the practice of the yoga system, expertise in the Vedic rituals, and all similar high qualities in man serve one in the attainment of perfection only when they are employed in the service of the Lord. 
2. Without such dovetailing, all such qualities become sources of trouble for people in general. 
3. Everything can be utilized either for one’s own sense gratification or in the service of one other than oneself.
4. There are two kinds of self-interest also, namely personal selfishness and extended selfishness. 
5. People, in general, have no knowledge that the self-interest of a living being attains perfection only when such an interest coincides with the interest of the Lord.
6. Unless the body is being properly maintained to realize one’s relation with God, all good efforts to maintain body and soul together are similar to the attempts of the animals to maintain body and soul together. 
7. The purpose of maintaining the human body is different from that of the animals. Similarly, advancement of learning, economic development, philosophical research, study in the Vedic literature or even the execution of pious activities (like charity, opening of hospitals, and the distribution of food grains) should be done in relation with the Lord. 
8. The aim of all such acts and endeavors must be the pleasure of the Lord and not the satisfaction of any other identity, individual or collective (saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam). 
9. The expert leaders of a godless human civilization cannot bring about a fruitful result in all their different attempts at educational advancement or economic development unless they are God-conscious. 
10. And to become God-conscious one has to hear about the all-auspicious Lord, as He is described in literature like the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
11. BG 9.27 – Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me.
12. BG 9.28 – In this way you will be freed from bondage to work and its auspicious and inauspicious results. With your mind fixed on Me in this principle of renunciation, you will be liberated and come to Me.
13. SB 5.18.12 – All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord’s external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?

SB 2.4.17 TRANSLATION: 

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the all-auspicious Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa again and again because the great learned sages, the great performers of charity, the great workers of distinction, the great philosophers and mystics, the great chanters of the Vedic hymns and the great followers of Vedic principles cannot achieve any fruitful result without the dedication of such great qualities to the service of the Lord.

CLASS NOTES: 

Advancement of learning, a charitable disposition, political, social or religious leadership of human society, philosophical speculations, the practice of the yoga system, expertise in the Vedic rituals, and all similar high qualities in man serve one in the attainment of perfection only when they are employed in the service of the Lord.

Without such dovetailing, all such qualities become sources of trouble for people in general. Everything can be utilized either for one’s own sense gratification or in the service of one other than oneself.

Unless the body is being properly maintained to realize one’s relation with God, all good efforts to maintain body and soul together are similar to the attempts of the animals to maintain body and soul together. 

The purpose of maintaining the human body is different from that of the animals. Similarly, advancement of learning, economic development, philosophical research, study in the Vedic literature or even the execution of pious activities (like charity, opening of hospitals, and the distribution of food grains) should be done in relation with the Lord. 

The aim of all such acts and endeavors must be the pleasure of the Lord and not the satisfaction of any other identity, individual or collective (saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam). 

In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.27) the same principle is confirmed where it is said that whatever we may give in charity and whatever we may observe in austerity must be given over to the Lord or be done on His account only.

The expert leaders of a godless human civilization cannot bring about a fruitful result in all their different attempts at educational advancement or economic development unless they are God-conscious. And to become God-conscious one has to hear about the all-auspicious Lord, as He is described in literature like the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Without KC all other endeavors even though they look good, feel good, they are NO Good. Therefore BG explains without any equivocation, one should do everything for KRsna. 

9.27
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me.

9.28
śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ
mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ
sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā
vimukto mām upaiṣyasi

In this way you will be freed from bondage to work and its auspicious and inauspicious results. With your mind fixed on Me in this principle of renunciation, you will be liberated and come to Me.

This is the whole theme of BG. Arjuna was working for his family members and Krsna has to correct him… 

SB 5.18.12
yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā
sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ
harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā
manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ

All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord’s external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?

Aham mameti,- I, me and mine
We can generally be not inclusive by being selfish.
We can be inclusive by being KC..


(BG 9.32) Inclusiveness
māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
ye ’pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim

O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth – women, vaiśyas [merchants] and śūdras [workers] – can attain the supreme destination.

It is clearly declared here by the Supreme Lord that in devotional service there is no distinction between the lower and higher classes of people.  
(KC is all inclusive )

In the material conception of life there are such divisions, but for a person engaged in transcendental devotional service to the Lord there are not. Everyone is eligible for the supreme destination.  
(This is called equality)

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.4.18) it is stated that even the lowest, who are called caṇḍālas (dog-eaters), can be purified by association with a pure devotee. Therefore devotional service and the guidance of a pure devotee are so strong that there is no discrimination between the lower and higher classes of men; anyone can take to it.
(But the bar is not lowered.)

The most simple man taking shelter of the pure devotee can be purified by proper guidance. According to the different modes of material nature, men are classified in the mode of goodness (brāhmaṇas), the mode of passion (kṣatriyas, or administrators), the mixed modes of passion and ignorance (vaiśyas, or merchants), and the mode of ignorance (śūdras, or workers). Those lower than them are called caṇḍālas, and they are born in sinful families. Generally, the association of those born in sinful families is not accepted by the higher classes. But the process of devotional service is so strong that the pure devotee of the Supreme Lord can enable people of all the lower classes to attain the highest perfection of life. This is possible only when one takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa. As indicated here by the word vyapāśritya, one has to take shelter completely of Kṛṣṇa. Then one can become much greater than great jñānīs and yogīs.

BG 9.34
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ

Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.

In this verse it is clearly indicated that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only means of being delivered from the clutches of this contaminated material world. Sometimes unscrupulous commentators distort the meaning of what is clearly stated here: that all devotional service should be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Unfortunately, unscrupulous commentators divert the mind of the reader to that which is not at all feasible. Such commentators do not know that there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa’s mind and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary human being; He is Absolute Truth. His body, His mind and He Himself are one and absolute. It is stated in the Kūrma Purāṇa, as it is quoted by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī in his Anubhāṣya comments on Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Fifth Chapter, Ādi-līlā, verses 41–48), deha-dehi-vibhedo ’yaṁ neśvare vidyate kvacit. This means that there is no difference in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, between Himself and His body. But because the commentators do not know this science of Kṛṣṇa, they hide Kṛṣṇa and divide His personality from His mind or from His body. Although this is sheer ignorance of the science of Kṛṣṇa, some men make profit out of misleading people.

There are some who are demonic; they also think of Kṛṣṇa, but enviously, just like King Kaṁsa, Kṛṣṇa’s uncle. He was also thinking of Kṛṣṇa always, but he thought of Kṛṣṇa as his enemy. He was always in anxiety, wondering when Kṛṣṇa would come to kill him. That kind of thinking will not help us. One should be thinking of Kṛṣṇa in devotional love. That is bhakti. One should cultivate the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa continuously. What is that favorable cultivation? It is to learn from a bona fide teacher. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we have several times explained that His body is not material, but is eternal, blissful knowledge. This kind of talk about Kṛṣṇa will help one become a devotee. Understanding Kṛṣṇa otherwise, from the wrong source, will prove fruitless.

One should therefore engage his mind in the eternal form, the primal form of Kṛṣṇa; with conviction in his heart that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, he should engage himself in worship. There are hundreds of thousands of temples in India for the worship of Kṛṣṇa, and devotional service is practiced there. When such practice is made, one has to offer obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. One should lower his head before the Deity and engage his mind, his body, his activities – everything. That will make one fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa without deviation. This will help one transfer to Kṛṣṇaloka. One should not be deviated by unscrupulous commentators. One must engage in the nine different processes of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa. Pure devotional service is the highest achievement of human society.

The Seventh and Eighth chapters of Bhagavad-gītā have explained pure devotional service to the Lord that is free from speculative knowledge, mystic yoga and fruitive activities. Those who are not purely sanctified may be attracted by different features of the Lord like the impersonal brahma-jyotir and localized Paramātmā, but a pure devotee directly takes to the service of the Supreme Lord.

There is a beautiful poem about Kṛṣṇa in which it is clearly stated that any person who is engaged in the worship of demigods is most unintelligent and cannot achieve at any time the supreme award of Kṛṣṇa. 

The devotee, in the beginning, may sometimes fall from the standard, but still he should be considered superior to all other philosophers and yogīs. One who always engages in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be understood to be a perfectly saintly person. His accidental nondevotional activities will diminish, and he will soon be situated without any doubt in complete perfection. The pure devotee has no actual chance to fall down, because the Supreme Godhead personally takes care of His pure devotees. Therefore, the intelligent person should take directly to the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and happily live in this material world. He will eventually receive the supreme award of Kṛṣṇa.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the Ninth Chapter of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā in the matter of the Most Confidential Knowledge.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.16 TODAY (06/09/21): 

1. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa has repeatedly instructed Arjuna, or for that matter everyone concerned with becoming His unalloyed devotee. – “My dear Arjuna, you are very dear to Me, and therefore only for your good, I will disclose the most secret part of My instructions. It is simply this: become a pure devotee of Mine and give yourself unto Me only, and I promise you full spiritual existence, by which you may gain the eternal right of transcendental loving service unto Me. Just give up all other ways of religiosity and exclusively surrender unto Me and believe that I will protect you from your sinful acts, and I shall deliver you. Do not worry anymore.” [alternate translation of the verses BG18.64 -66].
2. Persons who are intelligent take serious notice of this last instruction of the Lord.
3. The culmination of the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā is God-realization, and when one attains this stage of God-realization, he naturally, voluntarily becomes a devotee of the Lord to render Him loving transcendental service.
4. This devotional service to the Lord is always based on love of God and is distinct from the nature of routine service as prescribed in karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga or dhyāna-yoga.
5. One who fully surrenders unto the Lord to render service unto Him, out of spontaneous love for Him, factually assimilates the essence of all knowledge described in the Vedas.
6. One who adopts this method very skillfully attains the perfection of life at once. And this perfection of human life is called Brahma-gati, or the progressive march in spiritual existence. 
7. As enunciated by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī on the basis of Vedic assurances, Brahma-gati means to attain a spiritual form as good as that of the Lord, and in that form, the liberated living being eternally lives on one of the spiritual planets situated in the spiritual sky.
8. Attainment of this perfection of life is easily available to a pure devotee of the Lord without his undergoing any difficult method of perfection. Such a devotional life is full of kīrtanam, smaraṇam, īkṣaṇam, etc.
9. One must adopt this simple way of devotional life in order to attain the highest perfection available in any category of the human form of life in any part of the world. (Krsna Consciousness is a science)
10. Bhakti-yoga is the highest quality of perfection to be achieved by the intelligent person in lieu of performing a large number of spiritual activities. 
11. A handful of real paddy is more valuable than heaps of paddy skins without any substance within. Similarly, one should not be attracted by the jugglery of karma-kāṇḍa or jñāna-kāṇḍa or even the gymnastic performances of yoga, but skillfully should take to the simple performances of kīrtanam, smaraṇam, etc., under a bona fide spiritual master, and without any difficulty attain the highest perfection.
12. Lord Caitanya made it very simple for all of us. He said simply chant the holy name, dance, and eat prasadam to achieve the highest perfection. 

SB 2.4.16 TRANSLATION
Let me offer my respectful obeisances again and again unto the all-auspicious Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The highly intellectual, simply by surrendering unto His lotus feet, are relieved of all attachments to present and future existences and without difficulty progress toward spiritual existence.

CLASS NOTES: 

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa has repeatedly instructed Arjuna, or for that matter everyone concerned with becoming His unalloyed devotee. In the last phase of His instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.64-66) He instructed most confidentially as follows:

sarva-guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ
śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ
iṣṭo ’si me dṛḍham iti
tato vakṣyāmi te hitam

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ’si me

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

ALTERNATE TRANSLATION OF (18.64-66) – “My dear Arjuna, you are very dear to Me, and therefore only for your good, I will disclose the most secret part of My instructions. It is simply this: become a pure devotee of Mine and give yourself unto Me only, and I promise you full spiritual existence, by which you may gain the eternal right of transcendental loving service unto Me. Just give up all other ways of religiosity and exclusively surrender unto Me and believe that I will protect you from your sinful acts, and I shall deliver you. Do not worry anymore.”

PERSONS WHO ARE INTELLIGENT TAKE SERIOUS NOTICE OF THIS LAST INSTRUCTION OF THE LORD.

Knowledge of the self is the first step in spiritual realization, which is called confidential knowledge, and a step further is God-realization, which is called more confidential knowledge.

The culmination of the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā is God-realization, and when one attains this stage of God-realization, he naturally, voluntarily becomes a devotee of the Lord to render Him loving transcendental service.

THIS DEVOTIONAL SERVICE TO THE LORD IS ALWAYS BASED ON LOVE OF GOD AND IS DISTINCT FROM THE NATURE OF ROUTINE SERVICE AS PRESCRIBED IN KARMA-YOGA, JÑĀNA-YOGA OR DHYĀNA-YOGA. 

In the Bhagavad-gītā there are different instructions for such men of different categories, and there are various descriptions for varṇāśrama-dharma, sannyāsa-dharma, yati-dharma (ashram monks) , the renounced order of life, controlling the senses, meditation, perfection of mystic powers, etc., but one who fully surrenders unto the Lord to render service unto Him, out of spontaneous love for Him, factually assimilates the essence of all knowledge described in the Vedas.

Example – Boy and girl – love at first sight.. It happens immediately..
In case of devotees – aslisya va pada ratam.. Pinastu mam… adarsanam… marma hatam… 

ONE WHO ADOPTS THIS METHOD VERY SKILLFULLY ATTAINS THE PERFECTION OF LIFE AT ONCE.

And this perfection of human life is called Brahma-gati, or the progressive march in spiritual existence. (Even the novices in devotional service experience bliss)

As enunciated by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī on the basis of Vedic assurances, brahma-gati means to attain a spiritual form as good as that of the Lord, and in that form the liberated living being eternally lives on one of the spiritual planets situated in the spiritual sky.

Attainment of this perfection of life is easily available to a pure devotee of the Lord without his undergoing any difficult method of perfection. Such a devotional life is full of kīrtanam, smaraṇam, īkṣaṇam, etc., as mentioned in the previous verse. 

One must therefore adopt this simple way of devotional life in order to attain the highest perfection available in any category of the human form of life in any part of the world.

WHEN LORD BRAHMĀ MET LORD KṚṢṆA AS A PLAYFUL CHILD AT VṚNDĀVANA, HE OFFERED HIS PRAYER IN WHICH HE SAID:

Bhakti-yoga is the highest quality of perfection to be achieved by the intelligent person in lieu of performing a large quantity of spiritual activities. The example cited here is very appropriate. A handful of real paddy is more valuable than heaps of paddy skins without any substance within. Similarly, one should not be attracted by the jugglery of karma-kāṇḍa or jñāna-kāṇḍa or even the gymnastic performances of yoga, but skillfully should take to the simple performances of kīrtanam, smaraṇam, etc., under a bona fide spiritual master, and without any difficulty attain the highest perfection.

Lord Caitanya made it very simple… all these yoga systems, Gnana, Karma Kanda are very difficult. No focus on Krishna, more focus on self-improvement. Major difference bet routine following of karma, gnana, karma kanda…

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.15 TODAY (06/08/21):

1. The sublime form of religious performances (chanting, glorifying, hearing, remembering, praying and worshipping the lord) to free oneself from all reactions of sins is suggested in this verse by the greatest authority, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī
2. The devotees need not be disappointed in the physical absence of the Lord. 
3. The devotional process of chanting, hearing, remembering, etc. (either all or some of them, or even one of them), can give us the desired result of associating with the Lord by discharging the transcendental loving service of the Lord.
4. The very sound of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa or Rāma can at once surcharge the atmosphere spiritually.
5. We must know definitely that the Lord is present wherever pure transcendental service is performed, and thus the performer of offenseless kīrtanam has a positive association with the Lord. 
6. One may worship the form of the Lord in a temple, or one may impersonally offer the Lord devotional prayers in a mosque or a church. One is sure to get free from the reactions of sins provided one is very careful about not committing sins willingly in expectation of getting free from the reactions by worshiping in the temple or by offering prayers in the church. 
7. This mentality of committing sins willfully on the strength of devotional service is called nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ, and it is the greatest offense in the discharge of devotional service. 
8. Hearing is very essential in order to keep oneself strictly on guard against such pitfalls of sins. And in order to give special stress to the hearing process, the Gosvāmī invokes all auspicious fortune in this matter.
9. SB 10.14.3 – Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.
10. SB 10.1.4 – Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the paramparā system, that is, it is conveyed from the spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self?
11. BG 9.14 – Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.
12. BG 7.14 – Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination.
13. That is the process of being situated on the spiritual platform. This elevation is possible in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the association of pure devotees, for in the association of great devotees one can be delivered from delusion.
14. If one actually wants to be liberated he must render service to the devotees (mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ); but one who associates with materialistic people is on the path leading to the darkest region of existence 
15. Unless one is reinstated in his own constitutional position, it is not possible to understand the Supreme Personality or to be fully engaged in His transcendental loving service with determination.

SB 2.4.15 TRANSLATION
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the all-auspicious Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, about whom glorification, remembrances, audience, prayers, hearing and worship can at once cleanse the effects of all sins of the performer.

CLASS NOTES: 

The sublime form of religious performances to free oneself from all reactions of sins is suggested herein by the greatest authority, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

KĪRTANAM, OR GLORIFYING THE LORD, CAN BE PERFORMED IN VERY MANY WAYS, 

such as remembering, visiting temples to see the Deity, offering prayers in front of the Lord, and hearing recitations of glorification of the Lord mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā. Kīrtanam can be performed both by singing the glories of the Lord in accompaniment with melodious music and by the recitation of scriptures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā.

THE DEVOTEES NEED NOT BE DISAPPOINTED IN THE PHYSICAL ABSENCE OF THE LORD, THOUGH THEY MAY THINK OF NOT BEING ASSOCIATED WITH HIM
The devotional process of chanting, hearing, remembering, etc. (either all or some of them, or even one of them), can give us the desired result of associating with the Lord by discharging the transcendental loving service of the Lord in the above manner

Even the very sound of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa or Rāma can at once surcharge the atmosphere spiritually. We must know definitely that the Lord is present wherever such pure transcendental service is performed, and thus the performer of offenseless kīrtanam has a positive association with the Lord. Similarly, remembrance and prayers also can give us the desired result if they are properly done under expert guidance. One should not concoct forms of devotional service. One may worship the form of the Lord in a temple, or one may impersonally offer the Lord devotional prayers in a mosque or a church. One is sure to get free from the reactions of sins provided one is very careful about not committing sins willingly in the expectation of getting free from the reactions by worshiping in the temple or by offering prayers in the church.

This mentality of committing sins willfully on the strength of devotional service is called nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ, and it is the greatest offense in the discharge of devotional service. Hearing, therefore, is essential in order to keep oneself strictly on guard against such pitfalls of sins. And in order to give special stress to the hearing process, the Gosvāmī invokes all auspicious fortune in this matter.

The preoccupation here is – Willfully performing sin and trying to atone for them by chanting, worship of the lord, … it is the greatest offense, in the discharge of devotional service… Very important point to remember… 

SB 10.14.3 – IMP VERSE QUOTED BY BRAHMA HIMSELF
jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyām

Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.
This verse was quoted by Ramananda rai to Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

(SB 10.1.4) WHO WILL CEASE HEARING SUCH GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD EXCEPT A BUTCHER OR ONE WHO IS KILLING HIS OWN SELF?
Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the paramparā system, that is, it is conveyed from the spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self?

BG 7.27
O scion of Bharata, O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, bewildered by dualities arisen from desire and hate.

A pure devotee is beyond the dualities, they are neutral and not affected by desire and hate… when someone insults you where is the pain, is it in the heart? If an MRI is done nothing shows up… It is the pain due to the false ego… 

BG 9.14
satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ
yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ
namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā
nitya-yuktā upāsate

Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.

(BG 7.28) UNLESS ONE IS FREE FROM SINFUL REAACTIONS ONE CANNOT TAKE UP DEVOTIONAL SERVICE
yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ
janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ

Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination.

The history of Ajamil is very imp because it shows that by chanting the holy name even once sincerely, all the sins are eradicated.

Those eligible for elevation to the transcendental position are mentioned in this verse. For those who are sinful, atheistic, foolish and deceitful, it is very difficult to transcend the duality of desire and hate. Only those who have passed their lives in practicing the regulative principles of religion, who have acted piously, and who have conquered sinful reactions can accept devotional service and gradually rise to the pure knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then, gradually, they can meditate in trance on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the process of being situated on the spiritual platform. This elevation is possible in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the association of pure devotees, for in the association of great devotees one can be delivered from delusion.

Delusion – Don Qeuote war with windmills. Thinking something which is not true as true is an illusion and acting on that belief is a delusion.

It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.5.2) that if one actually wants to be liberated he must render service to the devotees (mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ); but one who associates with materialistic people is on the path leading to the darkest region of existence (tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam). All the devotees of the Lord traverse this earth just to recover the conditioned souls from their delusion. The impersonalists do not know that forgetting their constitutional position as subordinate to the Supreme Lord is the greatest violation of God’s law. Unless one is reinstated in his own constitutional position, it is not possible to understand the Supreme Personality or to be fully engaged in His transcendental loving service with determination.

Srila Prabhupada glorifies the grand edifice of KC in one paragraph. All main points for success and main points for distress are there in this one purport. This is the greatest literature… 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.14

1. There are two sides of the transcendental manifestations of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Personal Feature (a cowherd boy of Vrindavan) & Impersonal Feature (Brahma Jyothi)
2. The mundaners are more or less captivated by the unlimited expansion of the rays of the Lord, but the devotees are concerned more with His personal form, from which everything is emanating . 
3. The mundaners have insufficient information of even the mundane sky, so what can they think of the spiritual sky? Therefore the mundaners are always far, far away from Him.
4. So the Lord and His residential abode will always remain a myth or a mysterious problem, but for the devotees the Lord will always be available as an associate.
5. The impersonalists, who want to merge in the existence of the Lord, are allowed to merge as one of the spiritual sparks of the brahmajyoti. They have no qualifications for becoming associates of the Lord either in the Vaikuṇṭha planets or in the supreme planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana,
6. A demoniac person who is envious of both the scriptures and the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. he is actually envious of his own self. He denies himself the opportunity to become Krsna Conscious although it is offered to him.
7. Goloka Vṛndāvana, is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mad-dhāma or the sva-dhāma of the Lord. 
8. The Vaikuṇṭha planets and the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet are all self-illuminating, and the rays scattered by those sva-dhāma of the Lord constitute the existence of the brahmajyoti. As confirmed in the Vedas like the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (2.2.10), Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.15) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.14):
9. Perfect knowledge means knowing Kṛṣṇa as the root of this Brahman effulgence. This knowledge can be gained from such scriptures as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which perfectly elaborates the science of Kṛṣṇa. 
10. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection of that supreme illumination. That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south, east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies.”
11. One who is dazzled by the effulgence of the impersonal brahmajyoti cannot know the personal transcendence; therefore in the Īśopaniṣad (15) it is prayed that the Lord shift His dazzling effulgence so that the devotee can see the real reality. 
12. When one realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in full potency after the removal of the hiraṇmaya-pātra, one realizes vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Vāsudeva, is everything – Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. He is Bhagavān, the root, and Brahman and Paramātmā are His branches.
13. There are two sides of the transcendental manifestations of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Personal Feature (a cowherd boy of Vrindavan) & Impersonal Feature (Brahma Jyothi)
14. The mundaners are more or less captivated by the unlimited expansion of the rays of the Lord, but the devotees are concerned more with His personal form, from which everything is emanating . 
15. The mundaners have insufficient information of even the mundane sky, so what can they think of the spiritual sky? Therefore the mundaners are always far, far away from Him.
16. So the Lord and His residential abode will always remain a myth or a mysterious problem, but for the devotees the Lord will always be available as an associate.
17. The impersonalists, who want to merge in the existence of the Lord, are allowed to merge as one of the spiritual sparks of the brahmajyoti. They have no qualifications for becoming associates of the Lord either in the Vaikuṇṭha planets or in the supreme planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana,
18. A demoniac person who is envious of both the scriptures and the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. he is actually envious of his own self. He denies himself the opportunity to become Krsna Conscious although it is offered to him.
19. Goloka Vṛndāvana, is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mad-dhāma or the sva-dhāma of the Lord. 
20. The Vaikuṇṭha planets and the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet are all self-illuminating, and the rays scattered by those sva-dhāma of the Lord constitute the existence of the brahmajyoti. As confirmed in the Vedas like the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (2.2.10), Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.15) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.14):
21. Perfect knowledge means knowing Kṛṣṇa as the root of this Brahman effulgence. This knowledge can be gained from such scriptures as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which perfectly elaborates the science of Kṛṣṇa. 
22. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection of that supreme illumination. That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south, east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies.”
23. One who is dazzled by the effulgence of the impersonal brahmajyoti cannot know the personal transcendence; therefore in the Īśopaniṣad (15) it is prayed that the Lord shift His dazzling effulgence so that the devotee can see the real reality. 
24. When one realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in full potency after the removal of the hiraṇmaya-pātra, one realizes vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Vāsudeva, is everything – Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. He is Bhagavān, the root, and Brahman and Paramātmā are His branches.

SB 2.4.14 TRANSLATION: 

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Him who is the associate of the members of the Yadu dynasty and who is always a problem for the nondevotees. He is the supreme enjoyer of both the material and spiritual worlds, yet He enjoys His own abode in the spiritual sky. There is no one equal to Him because His transcendental opulence is immeasurable.

CLASS NOTES: 

THERE ARE TWO SIDES OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SUPREME LORD, ŚRĪ KṚṢṆA. FOR THE PURE DEVOTEES

1. He is the constant companion, as in the case of His becoming one of the family members of the Yadu dynasty, or His becoming the friend of Arjuna, or His becoming the associate neighbor of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, as the son of Nanda-Yaśodā, the friend of Sudāmā, Śrīdāmā and Madhumaṅgala, or the lover of the damsels of Vrajabhūmi, etc. That is part of His personal features.
2. And by His impersonal feature He expands the rays of the brahmajyoti, which is limitless and all-pervasive. Part of this all-pervasive brahmajyoti, which is compared to the sun rays, is covered by the darkness of the mahat-tattva, and this insignificant part is known as the material world. 

The mundaners are more or less captivated by the unlimited expansion of the rays of the Lord, but the devotees are concerned more with His personal form, from which everything is emanating 

THE MUNDANERS HAVE INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION OF EVEN THE MUNDANE SKY, SO WHAT CAN THEY THINK OF THE SPIRITUAL SKY?

As the sun rays are concentrated in the sun disc, the brahmajyoti is concentrated in Goloka Vṛndāvana, the topmost spiritual planet in the spiritual sky. The immeasurable spiritual sky is full of spiritual planets, named Vaikuṇṭhas, far beyond the material sky. The mundaners have insufficient information of even the mundane sky, so what can they think of the spiritual sky? Therefore the mundaners are always far, far away from Him.  So the Lord and His residential abode will always remain a myth or a mysterious problem, but for the devotees the Lord will always be available as an associate.

Everyone has a relationship with Krsna. Devotees understand this and non devotees do not understand this. Lord establishes relationship with the living entity in 2 ways – impersonal/ personal. Mundaners are envious of Krsna and as aa result they are envious of themselves by refusing being KC. This is explained in BG 16.18. 

(BG 16.18) ONE BECOMES ENVIOUS OF THEMSELVES BY BECOMING ENVIOUS OF KRSNA

Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demons become envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in their own bodies and in the bodies of others, and blaspheme against the real religion.

A demoniac person, being always against God’s supremacy, does not like to believe in the scriptures. He is envious of both the scriptures and the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is caused by his so-called prestige and his accumulation of wealth and strength. He does not know that the present life is a preparation for the next life. Not knowing this, he is actually envious of his own self, as well as of others. He commits violence on other bodies and on his own. He does not care for the supreme control of the Personality of Godhead, because he has no knowledge. 

From the original envy of Krsna, because one envies themselves, one denies the opportunity of being KC although it is offered to them.

SB 2.4.14 

In the spiritual sky His opulence is immeasurable. The Lord resides in all the spiritual planets, the innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, by expanding His plenary portions along with His liberated devotee associates, but the impersonalists, who want to merge in the existence of the Lord, are allowed to merge as one of the spiritual sparks of the brahmajyoti. They have no qualifications for becoming associates of the Lord either in the Vaikuṇṭha planets or in the supreme planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mad-dhāma and here in this verse as the sva-dhāma of the Lord.

DESCRIPTION OF GOLOKA VṚNDĀVANA

Goloka Vṛndāvana, described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mad-dhāma or the sva-dhāma of the Lord.

The Lord’s sva-dhāma does not require any sunlight or moonlight or electricity for illumination. That dhāma, or place, is supreme, and whoever goes there never comes back to this material world.

The Vaikuṇṭha planets and the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet are all self-illuminating, and the rays scattered by those sva-dhāma of the Lord constitute the existence of the brahmajyoti. As further confirmed in the Vedas like the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (2.2.10), Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.15) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.14):

In the sva-dhāma of the Lord there is no need of sun, moon or stars for illumination. Nor is there need of electricity, so what to speak of ignited lamps? On the other hand, it is because those planets are self-illuminating that all effulgence has become possible, and whatever there is that is dazzling is due to the reflection of that sva-dhāma.

ONE WHO IS DAZZLED BY THE EFFULGENCE OF THE IMPERSONAL BRAHMAJYOTI CANNOT KNOW THE PERSONAL TRANSCENDENCE; THEREFORE IN THE ĪŚOPANIṢAD (15) IT IS PRAYED THAT THE LORD SHIFT HIS DAZZLING EFFULGENCE SO THAT THE DEVOTEE CAN SEE THE REAL REALITY.

“O Lord, You are the maintainer of everything, both material and spiritual, and everything flourishes by Your mercy. Your devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, is the actual principle of religion, satya-dharma, and I am engaged in that service. So kindly protect me by showing Your real face. Please, therefore, remove the veil of Your brahmajyoti rays so that I can see Your form of eternal bliss and knowledge.”

Everything the Lord did in Vṛndāvana was for the pleasure of His associates there. The Lord created these pastimes to attract the dry speculators and the acrobats of the so-called haṭha-yoga system who wish to find the Absolute Truth.

Mayavadis, whatever happiness they feel it is negative happiness, it is the absence of distress. SP is showing the nectarean relationship He has with His devotees. At the same time how HE is the maintainer of everything… 

“The Personality of Godhead, who is perceived as the impersonal, blissful Brahman by the jñānīs, who is worshiped as the Supreme Lord by devotees in the mood of servitorship, and who is considered an ordinary human being by mundane people, played with the cowherd boys, who had attained their position after accumulating many pious activities.”

Thus the Lord is always engaged in transcendental loving activities with His spiritual associates in the various relationships of śānta (neutrality), dāsya (servitorship), sakhya (friendship), vātsalya (parental affection) and mādhurya (conjugal love).

SINCE IT IS SAID THAT LORD KṚṢṆA NEVER LEAVES VṚNDĀVANA-DHĀMA, ONE MAY ASK HOW HE MANAGES THE AFFAIRS OF THE CREATION. 

This is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā (13.14–18): The Lord pervades the entire material creation by His plenary part known as the Paramātmā, or Supersoul. Although the Lord personally has nothing to do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, He causes all these things to be done by His plenary expansion, the Paramātmā. Every living entity is known as ātmā, soul, and the principal ātmā who controls them all is Paramātmā, the Supersoul.

Krishna is touching everyone, but we become dull and we do not understand it. We just say it is a nice day and sun is bright… but we do not understand that the lord is embracing us… we attribute it to some kind of material experience..

(CC ADI 7.91) IF A SPIRITUAL MASTER CAN CONVERT EVEN ONE SOUL INTO A PERFECTLY PURE DEVOTEE, HIS MISSION IN LIFE IS FULFILLED.
 ‘It is very good, my dear child, that You have attained the supreme goal of life by developing love of Godhead. Thus You have pleased me very much, and I am very much obliged to You.

According to the revealed scriptures, if a spiritual master can convert even one soul into a perfectly pure devotee, his mission in life is fulfilled.Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura always used to say, “Even at the expense of all the properties, temples and maṭhas that I have, if I could convert even one person into a pure devotee, my mission would be fulfilled.” It is very difficult, however, to understand the science of Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of developing love of Godhead. Therefore if by the grace of Lord Caitanya and the spiritual master a disciple attains the standard of pure devotional service, the spiritual master is very happy. The spiritual master is not actually happy if the disciple brings him money, but when he sees that a disciple is following the regulative principles and advancing in spiritual life, he is very glad and feels obliged to such an advanced disciple.

Arrival Speech – SFO :

So sometimes people gives me very much credit that I have done wonderful throughout the whole world. But I do not know that I am wonderful man. BUT I KNOW ONE THING = THAT I AM SPEAKING WHAT KṚṢṆA HAS SPOKEN. That’s all. I am not making any addition, alteration. Therefore I am presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. This credit I can take, that I don’t making any nonsense addition or alteration. And I see practically it has become successful.

I WANT ONE STUDENT WHO FOLLOWS MY INSTRUCTION. I DON’T WANT MILLIONS.

Ekaś candras tamo hanti na ca tara-sahasrasaḥ. If there is one moon in the sky, that is sufficient for illumination. There is no need of millions of stars. So my position is that I want to see that at least one disciple has become pure devotee. Of course, I have got many sincere and pure devotees. That is my good luck. But I would have been satisfied if I could find out one only. There is no need of so-called millions of stars.

To become a rare devotee is a very rare thing, but it is not impossible. THis knowledge of who is Krsna and what is happening in SB canto2, Maharaj Parikshit and Sukhadev Goswami… Potencies of Krsna, how He created the world and how he is expanding and how He is maintaining them…


Everyone has a relationship with Krsna either a personal relationship or impersonal relationship, but they do not know it… 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.12:

1. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the origin of all viṣṇu-tattvas, is addressed here as paraḥ pumān, or Puruṣottama, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.18). He is the complete whole. The puruṣāvatāras are therefore His plenary expansions.
2. Bhakti-yoga is the only process by which one can become competent to know Him. Because the empiric philosophers and mystic yogīs cannot conceive of the Personality of Godhead, He is called anupalakṣya-vartmane, the Lord of the inconceivable way, or bhakti-yoga.
3. “Lord Viṣṇu has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet. Entirely encompassing the whole universe, He still extends beyond it by ten fingers’ breadth. He is in fact this entire universe. He is all that was and all that will be. He is the Lord of immortality and of all that is nourished by food.”
4. (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.
5. (BG 7.19) After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.
6. In the beginning of spiritual realization, while one is trying to give up one’s attachment to materialism, there is some leaning towards impersonalism, but when one is further advanced he can understand that there are activities in the spiritual life and that these activities constitute devotional service. Realizing this, he becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrenders to Him.
7. “In the body of a living being neither the power to speak, nor the power to see, nor the power to hear, nor the power to think is the prime factor; it is life which is the center of all activities.” Similarly, Lord Vāsudeva, or the Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the prime entity in everything. 
8. BG 9.2 – This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.
9. BS 5.37 – I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.
10. BG 8.22 – The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.

SB 2.4.12 TRANSLATION: 
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who, for the creation of the material world, accepts the three modes of nature. He is the complete whole residing within the body of everyone, and His ways are inconceivable.

CLASS NOTES: 

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the origin of all viṣṇu-tattvas, is addressed here as paraḥ pumān, or Puruṣottama, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.18). He is the complete whole. The puruṣāvatāras are therefore His plenary expansions. Bhakti-yoga is the only process by which one can become competent to know Him. Because the empiric philosophers and mystic yogīs cannot conceive of the Personality of Godhead, He is called anupalakṣya-vartmane, the Lord of the inconceivable way, or bhakti-yoga.

This is very important verse because it explains amazing point of God, Krsna, Who is acintya abeda beda taattva. Who is inconceivably simultaneously one and the same. Mundane people think that they can understand by academic study. It may help you understand few things in this world but very limited. You can only understand through bhakti yoga…
Bhakti yoga – Chanting, doing service, eat prasadam, sing and chant.
People who go to church say I go to church, eat meat, do some service,, …
Because the empiric philosophers and mystic yogīs cannot conceive of the Personality of Godhead, He is called anupalakṣya-vartmane, the Lord of the inconceivable way, or bhakti-yoga.
Bhakti yoga is inconceivable to mundane ppl, they do not think that bhakti yoga has anything to do with the truth. They go rounds in life. BHakti yoga is the truth of life…. Absolute truth can only be understood by Bhakti yoga. Absolute truth is a person. For Mayavadis it is nonsense. BUt actually they are nonsense. How can a person is perfect. Krsna is perfect in everyway.
It is explained in BG 8.20 

BG 8.20 –
Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.

Kṛṣṇa’s superior, spiritual energy is transcendental and eternal. It is beyond all the changes of material nature, which is manifest and annihilated during the days and nights of Brahmā. Kṛṣṇa’s superior energy is completely opposite in quality to material nature. Superior and inferior nature are explained in the Seventh Chapter.

No empiricist or materialist can accept this statement. 

BG 7.14
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te

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.

Divine energy – eternal and spiritual…

BG 7.19
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ
After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

Why should we surrender to something mythological… they refuse it like that. That is the original cancel culture. People have been rejecting God from the beginning of Time. To know that Krsna as the cause of all causes and who has no cause is very gibberish for materialists.
Socrates and Plato accept that there is some spiritual realm but they accept it as static and not dynamic… 

 In the beginning of spiritual realization, while one is trying to give up one’s attachment to materialism, there is some leaning towards impersonalism, but when one is further advanced he can understand that there are activities in the spiritual life and that these activities constitute devotional service. Realizing this, he becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrenders to Him. At such a time one can understand that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy is everything, that He is the cause of all causes, and that this material manifestation is not independent from Him. He realizes the material world to be a perverted reflection of spiritual variegatedness and realizes that in everything there is a relationship with the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Thus he thinks of everything in relation to Vāsudeva, or Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Such a universal vision of Vāsudeva precipitates one’s full surrender to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the highest goal. Such surrendered great souls are very rare.

Acceptance Culture / positive culture ( all these are negated today… )-
Supreme absolute truth is person
One can understand Him through devotional service
One has  complete surrender to the lord
Lord Krsna’s mercy is everything
Krsna is the cause of all causes
Material manifestation is not independent of Him
Everything is in relationship with God

What is the highest goal of life? Take care of my family, house, food, car, gadgets… clothes, jewelry, shoes… The more you have, the more people you have. It is the opposite in the Material world.
SP – Karmis everything backed…
How can I be free if I surrender to someone? That is the question they ask. They think they are rational. One person in billions, that is only 7 people in this world are great souls…

“Lord Viṣṇu has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet. Entirely encompassing the whole universe, He still extends beyond it by ten fingers’ breadth. He is in fact this entire universe. He is all that was and all that will be. He is the Lord of immortality and of all that is nourished by food.”

“In the body of a living being neither the power to speak, nor the power to see, nor the power to hear, nor the power to think is the prime factor; it is life which is the center of all activities.” Similarly, Lord Vāsudeva, or the Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the prime entity in everything.   In this body there are powers of speaking, of seeing, of hearing, of mental activities, etc.  But these are not important if not related to the Supreme Lord. And because Vāsudeva is all-pervading and everything is Vāsudeva, the devotee surrenders in full knowledge. 

To understand this we need to go to Brahma Samhita – What is inconceivable in Bhakti YOga – 

(BS 5.37) WHAT IS INCONCEIVABLE IN BHAKTI YOGA
ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis
tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ
goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.

Although the Lord Absolute and His potency are one and the self-same existence, still They exist eternally as separate entities, as Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. In both the ecstatic energy and the transcendental Lord Kṛṣṇa, there exists śṛṅgāra-rasa (amorous love) whose quality is inconceivable. The vibhāva (extension) of that rasa (mellow quality) is twofold, viz., ālambana (prop) and uddīpana (stimulation). Of these ālambana is twofold, viz., āśraya (supported) and viṣaya (supporter). Āśraya signifies Rādhikā Herself and the extensions of Her own form and viṣaya means Kṛṣṇa Himself. Kṛṣṇa is Govinda, Lord of Goloka.

BG 8.21
That which the Vedāntists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns – that is My supreme abode.

The supreme abode of the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as cintāmaṇi-dhāma, a place where all desires are fulfilled. (spiritual desires) The supreme abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa, known as Goloka Vṛndāvana, is full of palaces made of touchstone. There are also trees, called “desire trees,” that supply any type of eatable upon demand, and there are cows, known as Surabhi cows, which supply a limitless supply of milk. In this abode, the Lord is served by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune (Lakṣmīs), and He is called Govinda, the primal Lord and the cause of all causes.

The Lord

1. is accustomed to blow His flute (veṇuṁ kvaṇantam).
2. His transcendental form is the most attractive in all the worlds –
3.  His eyes are like lotus petals, and the color of His body is like the color of clouds.
4. He is so attractive that His beauty excels that of thousands of Cupids.
5.  He wears saffron cloth, a garland around His neck and a peacock feather in His hair. 

In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa gives only a small hint of His personal abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, which is the supermost planet in the spiritual kingdom. A vivid description is given in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Vedic literatures (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.11) state that there is nothing superior to the abode of the Supreme Godhead, and that that abode is the ultimate destination (puruṣān na paraṁ kiñcit sā kāṣṭhā paramā gatiḥ).

When one attains to it, he never returns to the material world. Kṛṣṇa’s supreme abode and Kṛṣṇa Himself are nondifferent, being of the same quality. On this earth, Vṛndāvana, ninety miles southeast of Delhi, is a replica of that supreme Goloka Vṛndāvana located in the spiritual sky. When Kṛṣṇa descended on this earth, He sported on that particular tract of land known as Vṛndāvana, comprising about 168 square miles in the district of Mathurā, India.

BG 9.2
rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ
pavitram idam uttamam
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ
su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.

BG 8.22
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.

It is here clearly stated that the supreme destination, from which there is no return, is the abode of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. The Brahma-saṁhitā describes this supreme abode as ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, a place where everything is full of spiritual bliss. All the variegatedness manifest there is of the quality of spiritual bliss – nothing there is material. That variegatedness is expanded as the spiritual expansion of the Supreme Godhead Himself, for the manifestation there is totally of the spiritual energy, as explained in Chapter Seven. As far as this material world is concerned, although the Lord is always in His supreme abode, He is nonetheless all-pervading by His material energy. So by His spiritual and material energies He is present everywhere – both in the material and in the spiritual universes. Yasyāntaḥ-sthāni means that everything is sustained within Him, within either His spiritual or material energy. The Lord is all-pervading by these two energies.

To enter Kṛṣṇa’s supreme abode or the innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets is possible only by bhakti, devotional service, as clearly indicated here by the word bhaktyā. No other process can help one attain that supreme abode. The Vedas (Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad 1.21) also describe the supreme abode and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Eko vaśī sarva-gaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. In that abode there is only one Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose name is Kṛṣṇa. He is the supreme merciful Deity, and although situated there as one He has expanded Himself into millions and millions of plenary expansions. The Vedas compare the Lord to a tree standing still yet bearing many varieties of fruits, flowers and changing leaves. The plenary expansions of the Lord who preside over the Vaikuṇṭha planets are four-armed, and they are known by a variety of names – Puruṣottama, Trivikrama, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Hṛṣīkeśa, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Vāmana, Padmanābha, etc.

The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) also confirms that although the Lord is always in the supreme abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is all-pervading, so that everything is going on nicely (goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ). As stated in the Vedas (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8), parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate/ svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca: His energies are so expansive that they systematically conduct everything in the cosmic manifestation without a flaw, although the Supreme Lord is far, far away.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.11 TODAY (06/05/21):

1. The devotees of the Lord, while delivering speeches and describing the transcendental attributes of the Lord, do not think that they can do anything independently.
2. They think that they can speak only what they are induced to speak by the Supreme Lord, the master of the senses.
3. The senses of the individual being are not his own; the devotee knows that such senses belong to the Supreme Lord and that they can be properly used when they are employed for the service of the Lord
4. Whatever an individual can do, speak, see, etc., is under the direction of the Lord only. 
5. No one is free to act freely and independently, one should always seek the permission of the Lord to act or eat or speak, and by the blessing of the Lord everything done by a devotee is beyond the principles of the four defects typical of the conditioned soul.
6. A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all.
7. One’s activities depend on the will of the Supersoul, who is seated within the heart as a friend. The Supreme Lord is the supercause. 
8. He who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direction of the Supersoul situated within the heart is naturally not bound by any activity.
9. Those in complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness are not ultimately responsible for their actions. Everything is dependent on the supreme will, the Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
10. By the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master, a living entity can know of his spiritual position, his material body, his senses, how he is entrapped, and how he is under the spell of the material modes of nature, how he is helpless, being in the grip of these modes and by such an understanding he can become fixed in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 
11. Lord informs Arjuna that the desire not to fight arises from false ego. Arjuna thought himself to be the doer of action, but he did not consider the supreme sanction within and without. If one does not know that a supersanction is there, why should he act? 
12. But one who knows the instruments of work, himself as the worker, and the Supreme Lord as the supreme sanctioner is perfect in doing everything. Such a person is never in illusion. 
13. Anyone who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direction of the Supersoul or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even though killing, does not kill. Nor is he ever affected by the reaction of such killing. 
14. When a soldier kills under the command of a superior officer, he is not subject to be judged. But if a soldier kills on his own personal account, then he is certainly judged by a court of law.
15. The Lord is the constant companion of the living entity as Paramātmā, or the Supersoul, and therefore He can understand the desires of the individual soul, as one can smell the flavor of a flower by being near it.
16. The Lord can fulfill all desires, and the Lord, being neutral to everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the minute independent living entities. 
17. However, when one desires Kṛṣṇa, the Lord takes special care and encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain to Him and be eternally happy. 
18. “The living entity is completely dependent in his distress and happiness. By the will of the Supreme he can go to heaven or hell, as a cloud is driven by the air.”
19. Under the spell of ignorance, the living entity claims that the Lord is responsible for his conditional existence. The Vedānta-sūtras (2.1.34) also confirm this. “The Lord neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to.”

SB 2.4.11 TRANSLATION:
Sūta Gosvāmī said: When Śukadeva Gosvāmī was thus requested by the King to describe the creative energy of the Personality of Godhead, he then systematically remembered the master of the senses [Śrī Kṛṣṇa], and to reply properly he spoke thus.

CLASS NOTES: 

DEVOTEES THINK THAT THEY CANNOT DO ANYTHING INDEPENDENTLY

The devotees of the Lord, while delivering speeches and describing the transcendental attributes of the Lord, do not think that they can do anything independently. They think that they can speak only what they are induced to speak by the Supreme Lord, the master of the senses. The senses of the individual being are not his own; the devotee knows that such senses belong to the Supreme Lord and that they can be properly used when they are employed for the service of the Lord. The senses are instruments, and elements are ingredients, all endowed by the Lord; therefore whatever an individual can do, speak, see, etc., is under the direction of the Lord only. The Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) confirms this: sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca.

No one is free to act freely and independently, and as such one should always seek the permission of the Lord to act or eat or speak, and by the blessing of the Lord everything done by a devotee is beyond the principles of the four defects typical of the conditioned soul.

This is an interesting purport, because it brings up the fundamental concept that no one is independent in this world. This is explained by Krsna in BG. 

BG 15.15
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.

Devotee does not do anything, without the permission of the Lord within and without the spiritual master. However if a person acts independently without the intuition of spiritual master or the lord, they make many mistakes. Even many devotees do not confirm their decisions with the spiritual master aand therefore they make many many mistakes. Imagine the materialists how many mistakes they are making. 

(BG 5.8-9) A KRSNA CONSCIOUS PERSON KNOWS WITHIN HIMSELF THAT HE ACTUALLY DOES NOTHING AT ALL. 
A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, or opening or closing his eyes, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.

A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is pure in his existence, and consequently he has nothing to do with any work which depends upon five immediate and remote causes: the doer, the work, the situation, the endeavor and fortune. This is because he is engaged in the loving transcendental service of Kṛṣṇa. Although he appears to be acting with his body and senses, he is always conscious of his actual position, which is spiritual engagement. In material consciousness, the senses are engaged in sense gratification, but in Kṛṣṇa consciousness the senses are engaged in the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa’s senses. Therefore, the Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always free, even though he appears to be engaged in affairs of the senses. Activities such as seeing and hearing are actions of the senses meant for receiving knowledge, whereas moving, speaking, evacuating, etc., are actions of the senses meant for work. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is never affected by the actions of the senses. He cannot perform any act except in the service of the Lord because he knows that he is the eternal servitor of the Lord.

Position of neutrality and equality
Neutrality – not affected by good or bad reactions, always dedicated to serving Krsna. Materialistic people are always affected by good and bad…
Devotional service is beyond the dualities, because one does not act whimsically, one always acts under the guidance of the Lord and spiritual master and therefore they are protected by  the 5 types of reactions. When a person engaged in activities without reference to Krsna, is always ruled by karma. A person who is krishna conscious is always relied by Krsna.

(BG 18.14) EVERYTHING IS DEPENDENT ON THE SUPREME WILL, THE SUPERSOUL, THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD
adhiṣṭhānaṁ tathā kartā
karaṇaṁ ca pṛthag-vidham
vividhāś ca pṛthak ceṣṭā
daivaṁ caivātra pañcamam

The place of action [the body], the performer, the various senses, the many different kinds of endeavor, and ultimately the Supersoul – these are the five factors of action.

The word adhiṣṭhānam refers to the body. The soul within the body is acting to bring about the results of activity and is therefore known as kartā, “the doer.” That the soul is the knower and the doer is stated in the śruti. Eṣa hi draṣṭā sraṣṭā (Praśna Upaniṣad 4.9). It is also confirmed in the Vedānta-sūtra by the verses jño ’ta eva (2.3.18) and kartā śāstrārthavattvāt (2.3.33). The instruments of action are the senses, and by the senses the soul acts in various ways. For each and every action there is a different endeavor. But all one’s activities depend on the will of the Supersoul, who is seated within the heart as a friend. The Supreme Lord is the supercause. Under these circumstances, he who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direction of the Supersoul situated within the heart is naturally not bound by any activity. Those in complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness are not ultimately responsible for their actions. Everything is dependent on the supreme will, the Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

(BG 14.19) WITH THE ASSOCIATION OF A BONA FIDE SPIRITUAL MASTER, HE CAN SEE HIS REAL POSITION
When one properly sees that in all activities no other performer is at work than these modes of nature and he knows the Supreme Lord, who is transcendental to all these modes, he attains My spiritual nature.

One can transcend all the activities of the modes of material nature simply by understanding them properly by learning from the proper souls. The real spiritual master is Kṛṣṇa, and He is imparting this spiritual knowledge to Arjuna. Similarly, it is from those who are fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that one has to learn this science of activities in terms of the modes of nature. Otherwise, one’s life will be misdirected. By the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master, a living entity can know of his spiritual position, his material body, his senses, how he is entrapped, and how he is under the spell of the material modes of nature. He is helpless, being in the grip of these modes, but when he can see his real position, then he can attain to the transcendental platform, having the scope for spiritual life. Actually, the living entity is not the performer of different activities. He is forced to act because he is situated in a particular type of body, conducted by some particular mode of material nature. Unless one has the help of spiritual authority, he cannot understand in what position he is actually situated. With the association of a bona fide spiritual master, he can see his real position, and by such an understanding he can become fixed in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not controlled by the spell of the material modes of nature. It has already been stated in the Seventh Chapter that one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa is relieved from the activities of material nature. For one who is able to see things as they are, the influence of material nature gradually ceases.


This is an amazing purport by SP. Exactly describes the difference between Materialist and devotees. As long as we are in this material world acting for sense gratification, we are not independent. When we act for the satisfaction of Krsna, we are under the protection of Krsna, independent of the dualities. Otherwise we are slaves, anger, lust, greed and envy… 

(BG 5.14)
The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.

(BG 5.15) MAN PROPOSES AND GOD DISPOSES.
Nor does the Supreme Lord assume anyone’s sinful or pious activities. Embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge.

He does not create a particular situation for any living entity, but the living entity, bewildered by ignorance, desires to be put into certain conditions of life, and thereby his chain of action and reaction begins. A living entity is, by superior nature, full of knowledge. Nevertheless, he is prone to be influenced by ignorance due to his limited power. The Lord is omnipotent, but the living entity is not. The Lord is vibhu, or omniscient, but the living entity is aṇu, or atomic. Because he is a living soul, he has the capacity to desire by his free will. Such desire is fulfilled only by the omnipotent Lord. And so, when the living entity is bewildered in his desires, the Lord allows him to fulfill those desires, but the Lord is never responsible for the actions and reactions of the particular situation which may be desired. Being in a bewildered condition, therefore, the embodied soul identifies himself with the circumstantial material body and becomes subjected to the temporary misery and happiness of life. The Lord is the constant companion of the living entity as Paramātmā, or the Supersoul, and therefore He can understand the desires of the individual soul, as one can smell the flavor of a flower by being near it. Desire is a subtle form of conditioning for the living entity. The Lord fulfills his desire as he deserves: Man proposes and God disposes. The individual is not, therefore, omnipotent in fulfilling his desires. The Lord, however, can fulfill all desires, and the Lord, being neutral to everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the minute independent living entities. However, when one desires Kṛṣṇa, the Lord takes special care and encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain to Him and be eternally happy. The Vedic hymns therefore declare, eṣa u hy eva sādhu karma kārayati taṁ yam ebhyo lokebhya unninīṣate. eṣa u evāsādhu karma kārayati yam adho ninīṣate: “The Lord engages the living entity in pious activities so that he may be elevated. The Lord engages him in impious activities so that he may go to hell.” (Kauṣītakī Upaniṣad 3.8)

First we are put into ignorance by modes of material nature.. Then we becomes bewildered in our desires, then helps in fulfilling those junk desires… 

“The living entity is completely dependent in his distress and happiness. By the will of the Supreme he can go to heaven or hell, as a cloud is driven by the air.”

Therefore the embodied soul, by his immemorial desire to avoid Kṛṣṇa consciousness, causes his own bewilderment. Consequently, although he is constitutionally eternal, blissful and cognizant, due to the littleness of his existence he forgets his constitutional position of service to the Lord and is thus entrapped by nescience. And, under the spell of ignorance, the living entity claims that the Lord is responsible for his conditional existence. The Vedānta-sūtras (2.1.34) also confirm this. Vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇye na sāpekṣatvāt tathā hi darśayati: “The Lord neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to.”

EXISTENTIALISTS –
What are the 5 tenets of existentialism?
Terms in this set (9)
Existence before Essence. people are born as a blank slate create essence through unique experiences.
Impotence of Reason. Passion and emotion.
Alienation or Estrangement from. …
Despair or Anxiety. …
Nothingness or Death. …
Awful Freedom. …
The Absurd. …
Cope.

FAMOUS EXISTENTIALISTS –
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) as an Existentialist Philosopher.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) as an Existentialist Philosopher.
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) as an Existentialist Philosopher.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) as an Existentialist Philosopher. – “existence precedes essence “
Albert Camus (1913-1960) as an Existentialist Philosopher – “The myth of sysophus”

Lets compare this to what Krsna says – If you reject krsna consciousness then your authority is lust, greed, anger, envy…

WHAT DOES AN EXISTENTIALIST BELIEVE?
Existentialism is a philosophical theory that people are free agents who have control over their choices and actions. Existentialists believe that society should not restrict an individual’s life or actions and that these restrictions inhibit free will and the development of that person’s potential.

WHAT IS THE MAIN IDEA OF EXISTENTIALISM?
According to existentialism: (1) Existence is always particular and individual—always my existence, your existence, his existence, her existence. (2) Existence is primarily the problem of existence (i.e., of its mode of being); it is, therefore, also the investigation of the meaning of Being.

WHAT IS THE THEME OF EXISTENTIALISM?
Existentialist Themes (Irvine) To be an existing human being means to be free. In contrast with most everything else in the world, a human being is not determined by ‘laws of nature. ‘ The human being has a unique freedom to determine his or her own behavior.

(BG 18.17) PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND RESPONSIBILITY ARISE FROM FALSE EGO AND GODLESSNESS, OR A LACK OF KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS. (EXISTENTIALISM)

One who is not motivated by false ego, whose intelligence is not entangled, though he kills men in this world, does not kill. Nor is he bound by his actions.

In this verse the Lord informs Arjuna that the desire not to fight arises from false ego. Arjuna thought himself to be the doer of action, but he did not consider the supreme sanction within and without. If one does not know that a supersanction is there, why should he act? But one who knows the instruments of work, himself as the worker, and the Supreme Lord as the supreme sanctioner is perfect in doing everything. Such a person is never in illusion. Personal activity and responsibility arise from false ego and godlessness, or a lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (This is existentialism)  Anyone who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direction of the Supersoul or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even though killing, does not kill. Nor is he ever affected by the reaction of such killing. When a soldier kills under the command of a superior officer, he is not subject to be judged. But if a soldier kills on his own personal account, then he is certainly judged by a court of law.

BG 13.20 (MYSTERY OF THIS MATERIAL CREATION)
Similarly, the living entities are also in Him, and because they are conditioned, they are averse to serving the Supreme Lord. Thus they are not allowed to enter into the spiritual sky. But with the coming forth of material nature these living entities are again given a chance to act in the material world and prepare themselves to enter into the spiritual world. That is the mystery of this material creation. Actually the living entity is originally the spiritual part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, but due to his rebellious nature, he is conditioned within material nature. It really does not matter how these living entities or superior entities of the Supreme Lord have come in contact with material nature. The Supreme Personality of Godhead knows, however, how and why this actually took place. In the scriptures the Lord says that those attracted by this material nature are undergoing a hard struggle for existence. But we should know it with certainty from the descriptions of these few verses that all transformations and influences of material nature by the three modes are also productions of material nature. All transformations and variety in respect to living entities are due to the body. As far as spirit is concerned, living entities are all the same.


Existentialist Themes (Irvine) To be an existing human being means to be free. In contrast with most everything else in the world, a human being is not determined by ‘laws of nature. ‘ The human being has a unique freedom to determine his or her own behavior.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.10

1. The Personality of Godhead, although one without a second, is infallibly expanded by innumerable forms nondifferent from one another, and although He is the original person, He is still ever young with permanent youthful energy. 
2. The innumerable expansions of the Lord are like lamps of equal power which kindle from one lamp to another. That is the transcendental potency of the Lord. 
3. The Vedas say that He is so complete that even though the whole complete identity emanates from Him, He still remains the same complete whole
4. He is very difficult to know simply by learning the transcendental science of the Vedas, but He is very easily realized by His pure devotees.
5. One cannot have any clear conception of the Lord or His holy name, form, attributes, pastimes, etc., unless one is engaged in His transcendental loving service.
6. One must become a pure, unconditional devotee of the Lord. Only then can one know Him by the strength of devotional service.
7. Brahmā says that the transcendental Absolute is beyond the reach of the Vedas. The Vedas originate in sound and sound originates in the mundane ether. So the Vedas cannot present before us a direct view of the transcendental world (Goloka). 
8. It is only when the Vedas are imbued with the cit potency that they are enabled to deal with the transcendental. 
9. But Goloka reveals itself to every jīva-soul when he is under the influence of the spiritual cognitive potency joined to the essence of ecstatic energy. 
10. BG 10.10 – To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.
11. Mahārāja Parīkṣit admitted in the previous verse that the Lord is inconceivable even for the greatest learned scholars. Why then should he again request Śukadeva Gosvāmī to clarify his insufficient knowledge about the Lord? 
12. The reason is clear. Not only was Śukadeva Gosvāmī vastly learned in the Vedic literatures, but he was also a great self-realized soul and a powerful devotee of the Lord. A powerful devotee of the Lord is, by the grace of the Lord, more than the Lord Himself.
13. The Lord is so merciful upon His pure devotee that He presents His beloved devotee as more powerful than Himself. 
14. For example – Supreme Lord Śrī Rāmacandra attempted to bridge the Indian Ocean to reach the island of Laṅkā, but Śrī Hanumānjī, the unalloyed devotee of the Personality of Godhead, could cross the ocean simply by jumping over it.
15. Another example – The Lord expressed Himself to be unable to save Durvāsā Muni, although the Muni was so powerful that he could reach the Lord directly under material conditions. But Durvāsā Muni was saved by Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, a devotee of the Lord.
16. Not only is a devotee of the Lord more powerful than the Lord, but also worship of the devotee is considered more effective than direct worship of the Lord. The Lord is extremely satisfied with those who offer worship to His pure devotees, and He rewards them accordingly. 
17. A serious devotee must first approach a spiritual master who not only is well versed in the Vedic literatures but is also a great devotee with factual realization of the Lord and His different energies. Without the help of such a devotee spiritual master, one cannot make progress in the transcendental science of the Lord.
18. And a bona fide spiritual master like Śukadeva Gosvāmī does not speak about the Lord only in the matter of His internal potencies but also explains how He associates with His external potencies.
19. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī says that Vaishnavas should not be interested in hearing only about the Lord’s activities (like rāsa-līlā), but must be keenly interested in His pastimes in His features of the puruṣāvatāras in connection with sṛṣṭi-tattva, creational functions. 
20. So one must follow the examples of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the ideal disciple, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the ideal spiritual master.

SB 2.4.10 TRANSLATION: 
Kindly clear up all these doubtful inquiries, because you are not only vastly learned in the Vedic literatures and self-realized in transcendence, but are also a great devotee of the Lord and are therefore as good as the Personality of Godhead.

CLASS NOTES: 

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Supreme Absolute Truth, Govinda, the Personality of Godhead, although one without a second, is infallibly expanded by innumerable forms nondifferent from one another, and although He is the original person, He is still ever young with permanent youthful energy. He is very difficult to know simply by learning the transcendental science of the Vedas, but He is very easily realized by His pure devotees.

This is a compendium of three different verses in Brahma Samhita. 
BS 5.1
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.

BS 5.33
advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam
ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.

The sum and substance of it is that though He possesses diverse and apparently mutually contradictory qualities, still they are in universal harmonious concordance by dint of His unthinkable potency. This is what is meant by cid-dharma (transcendental nature) as distinguished from the material.

HOW CAN THE JĪVA REALIZE SUCH UNPRECEDENTED EXISTENCE?

The limited intellectual function of the jīva is always contaminated by the influence of time and space and is, therefore, not in a position to shake off this limitedness. If the potency of cognitive function does not extend to the realization of the transcendental, what else can? In reply. Brahmā says that the transcendental Absolute is beyond the reach of the Vedas. The Vedas originate in sound and sound originates in the mundane ether. So the Vedas cannot present before us a direct view of the transcendental world (Goloka). It is only when the Vedas are imbued with the cit potency that they are enabled to deal with the transcendental. But Goloka reveals itself to every jīva-soul when he is under the influence of the spiritual cognitive potency joined to the essence of ecstatic energy. The ecstatic function of devotion is boundless and is surcharged with unalloyed transcendental knowledge. That knowledge reveals goloka-tattva (the principle of the highest transcendental) in unison with devotion, without asserting itself separately but as a subsidiary to unalloyed devotion.

These are mutually contradictory qualities. Mundane scholars cannot deal with them as it is not logical. But it is factual. Therefore there is no entry into transcendence for them.. They cannot see a person who is so powerful from whose body the whole Brahman is emanating… Unless we hear about the lord from the pure devotees we cannot understand the lord and we apply our own limitations to the lord. 

Knowledge devoid of devotion is zero… 

(BG10.10) ONLY THROUGH PURE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE TO THE LORD, ONE CAN ATTAIN THE LORD. 
teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.

Just by reading Vedas expertly one cannot become a pure devotee of the lord. This includes all Vedic scholars who are experts in Vedic knowledge but until they meet a pure devotee they cannot become a pure devotee of the lord. Examples – Durvasa muni, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya…. In order to glorify the devotee He lets the devotees do things which He appears to have not done, it is not that he cannot do those things, He lets the devotee do.. Lord Rama gives the chance to Hanuman..

In this one purport today we get an incredible view of Krsna’s inconceivable and panoramic view of His potencies. This is also explained in SB 11.19.20 -24

(SB 11.19.20 -24) PURPOSE OR GOAL FOR THE DEVOTEE
Firm faith in the blissful narrations of My pastimes, constant chanting of My glories, unwavering attachment to ceremonial worship of Me, praising Me through beautiful hymns, great respect for My devotional service, offering obeisances with the entire body, performing first-class worship of My devotees, consciousness of Me in all living entities, offering of ordinary, bodily activities in My devotional service, use of words to describe My qualities, offering the mind to Me, rejection of all material desires, giving up wealth for My devotional service, renouncing material sense gratification and happiness, and performing all desirable activities such as charity, sacrifice, chanting, vows and austerities with the purpose of achieving Me — these constitute actual religious principles, by which those human beings who have actually surrendered themselves to Me automatically develop love for Me. What other purpose or goal could remain for My devotee?

The Lord is extremely satisfied with those who offer worship to His pure devotees, and He rewards them accordingly. Because of the Lord’s generous appraisal of His pure devotees, worship of the pure devotees is described as superior to worship of the Lord Himself. 

1. Ordinary, bodily activities such as brushing the teeth, taking bath, eating, etc., should all be offered to the Supreme Lord as devotional service. 
2. whether one speaks in ordinary, crude language or with learned poetic eloquence, one should describe the glories of the Personality of Godhead.
3. One should spend one’s money for festivals glorifying the Personality of Godhead, such as Ratha-yātrā, Janmāṣṭamī and Gaura-pūrṇimā. One is instructed to spend money to assist the mission of one’s spiritual master and other Vaiṣṇavas. The wealth that cannot be used properly in the Lord’s service and is thus an impediment to one’s clear consciousness should be given up entirely.
4. One should give up The word bhogasya refers to sense gratification, headed by sex enjoyment, and sukhasya refers to sentimental material happiness, such as excessive family attachment.
5. One should offer to brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas first-class foods cooked in ghee. 
6. One should offer the vibration svāhā to Lord Viṣṇu in an authorized sacrificial fire along with grains and ghee.
7. One should constantly chant the holy names of the Lord.

We have to look at the motivation of the people before you accept them as teachers. By their body language and their way of things they teach the service of material lust, greed and anger.. They do not have any feelings for the Lord. People who know things about Krsna, they can also be nonsense. They divide Krsna from His activities in the Spiritual world and the material world. It is therefore important to know both His potencies.  Understanding is only manifested by the service of the lord. Ready to sacrifice everything for the service of the lord. The potential is there for everyone. It is not based on academics, it is based on loving devotional service of the Lord. There is inequality everywhere in the world. There are species with no legs and species with legs, they cannot be equal. But one who is surrendered to the Lord a pure devotee can rise above all the inequalities.. But it cannot be done artificially. Krishna Accepts even Hanuman, who is not even a human that is equity..

(SB 2.4.10) DIFFERENT EXPANSIONS OF THE LORD 

The expansions of different forms of the Lord are –  

from Kṛṣṇa to Baladeva to Saṅkarṣaṇa,
from Saṅkarṣaṇa to Vāsudeva,
from Vāsudeva to Aniruddha,
from Aniruddha to Pradyumna, and then
again to the second Saṅkarṣaṇa, and
from Him to the Nārāyaṇa puruṣāvatāras and innumerable other forms,

The innumerable expansions of the Lord are compared to the constant flowing of the uncountable waves of a river, are all one and the same. They are like lamps of equal power which kindle from one lamp to another. That is the transcendental potency of the Lord. 

The Vedas say that He is so complete that even though the whole complete identity emanates from Him, He still remains the same complete whole (pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate).

THE LORD IS BEYOND THE LIMIT OF CONCEPTION FOR MUNDANE LEARNED SCHOLARS, PHILOSOPHERS OR SCIENTISTS

As such, there is no validity in a material conception of the Lord produced by the mental speculator. Thus He remains always a mystery for the mundane scholar, even if he is vastly learned in the Vedic literatures (vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau). Therefore, the Lord is beyond the limit of conception for mundane learned scholars, philosophers or scientists

HE IS EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE FOR THE PURE DEVOTEE

because the Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.54) that after surpassing the stage of knowledge, when one is able to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, then only can one know the true nature of the Lord.

One cannot have any clear conception of the Lord or His holy name, form, attributes, pastimes, etc., unless one is engaged in His transcendental loving service. The statement of the Bhagavad-gītā that one must first of all surrender unto the Lord, being freed from all other engagements, means that one must become a pure, unconditional devotee of the Lord. Only then can one know Him by the strength of devotional service.

MAHĀRĀJA PARĪKṢIT ADMITTED IN THE PREVIOUS VERSE THAT THE LORD IS INCONCEIVABLE EVEN FOR THE GREATEST LEARNED SCHOLARS. WHY THEN SHOULD HE AGAIN REQUEST ŚUKADEVA GOSVĀMĪ TO CLARIFY HIS INSUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE LORD? 

The reason is clear. Not only was Śukadeva Gosvāmī vastly learned in the Vedic literatures, but he was also a great self-realized soul and a powerful devotee of the Lord. A powerful devotee of the Lord is, by the grace of the Lord, more than the Lord Himself. 

THE LORD IS SO MERCIFUL UPON HIS PURE DEVOTEE THAT HE PRESENTS HIS BELOVED DEVOTEE AS MORE POWERFUL THAN HIMSELF. 

The Personality of Godhead Śrī Rāmacandra attempted to bridge the Indian Ocean to reach the island of Laṅkā, but Śrī Hanumānjī, the unalloyed devotee of the Personality of Godhead, could cross the ocean simply by jumping over it. The Lord is so merciful upon His pure devotee that He presents His beloved devotee as more powerful than Himself. The Lord expressed Himself to be unable to save Durvāsā Muni, although the Muni was so powerful that he could reach the Lord directly under material conditions. But Durvāsā Muni was saved by Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, a devotee of the Lord. Therefore, not only is a devotee of the Lord more powerful than the Lord, but also worship of the devotee is considered more effective than direct worship of the Lord (mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā).

NOT ONLY IS A DEVOTEE OF THE LORD MORE POWERFUL THAN THE LORD, BUT ALSO WORSHIP OF THE DEVOTEE IS CONSIDERED MORE EFFECTIVE THAN DIRECT WORSHIP OF THE LORD (MAD-BHAKTA-PŪJĀBHYADHIKĀ).
The conclusion is, therefore, that a serious devotee must first approach a spiritual master who not only is well versed in the Vedic literatures but is also a great devotee with factual realization of the Lord and His different energies. Without the help of such a devotee spiritual master, one cannot make progress in the transcendental science of the Lord. 

A BONAFIDE SPIRITUAL MASTER EXPLAIN ABOUT BOTH INTERNAL POTENCIES AND EXTERNAL POTENCIES

And a bona fide spiritual master like Śukadeva Gosvāmī does not speak about the Lord only in the matter of His internal potencies, but also explains how He associates with His external potencies.

Maya is always accompanying Krsna. As soon as we deviate from Krsna she enters. We should always be engaged in the service of the lord and fixed in our mind to serve the lord without deviating.. 

ONE SHOULD ALSO BE KEENLY INTERESTED IN THE WORKINGS OF THE LORD’S EXTERNAL POTENCY 

The Lord’s pastimes in the internal potency are displayed in His activities in Vṛndāvana, but the workings of His external potency are directed in His features of Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī offers his good counsel to the interested Vaiṣṇavas when he says that they should not be interested in hearing only about the Lord’s activities (like rāsa-līlā), but must be keenly interested in His pastimes in His features of the puruṣāvatāras in connection with sṛṣṭi-tattva, creational functions, following the examples of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the ideal disciple, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the ideal spiritual master.