Author: JayaSri Devi Dasi

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.8

1. The acts of the Supreme Lord, in the creation of just this one universe, appear inconceivably wonderful. There are innumerable universes, and all of them aggregated together are known as the created material world. And this part of His creation is only a fractional portion of the complete creation. 
2. The material world is only one part of His energy, the remaining three parts consist of the vaikuṇṭha-Jagat or spiritual world described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mad-dhāma or sanātana-dhāma, or the eternal world. 
3. Lord creates the material world and winds up the creation. Whereas, Vaikuṇṭha world, is neither created nor annihilated (eternal)
4. The Lord exists with His dhāma, or in other words with His eternal name, qualities, pastimes, entourage, and personality, which are all a display of His different energies and expansions. 
5. The Lord is called anādi, or having no creator, and ādi, or the origin of all.
6. All this is inconceivable,even for the great scholars and such scholars present theories contradictory to one another. 
7. They have no complete information even about this one universe, as to how far this limited space extends, or how many stars and planets are there, or the different conditions of those innumerable planets. 
8. “Russia’s well-known professor of astronomy Boris Vorontsov-Veliaminov said that there must be an infinite number of planets in the universe inhabited by beings endowed with reason. “It could be that life similar to that on earth flourishes on such planets.”
9. This adaptability of an organism to different varieties of planets is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as vibhūti-bhinnam; Vibhūti means “specific powers,” and bhinnam means “variegated.”
10. Scientists who are attempting to explore outer space and are trying to reach other planets by mechanical arrangements must know for certain that organisms adapted to the atmosphere of earth cannot exist in the atmospheres of other planets.
11. One has to prepare himself to be transferred to a different planet after being relieved of the present body, as it is said in BG 9.25: “Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods, those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings, and those who worship Me will live with Me.”
12. Mahārāja Parīkṣit, being a great emperor, a descendant of the Pāṇḍavas and a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, was quite able to know considerably about the creation of the world, but that much knowledge was not sufficient. He said therefore that even greatly learned scholars fail to know about that, even after great effort.
13. The Lord is unlimited, and His activities are also unfathomed. With a limited source of knowledge and with imperfect senses, any living being, even lord Brahmājī, the highest perfect living being within the universe, can never imagine knowing about the unlimited. 
14. We can know something of the unlimited when it is explained by the unlimited, as has been done by the Lord Himself in the unique statements of the Bhagavad-gītā, and it can also be known to some extent from realized souls like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who learned it from Vyāsadeva, a disciple of Nārada, and thus the perfect knowledge can descend by the chain of disciplic succession only, and not by any form of experimental knowledge, old or modern.
15. (SB 5.5.5) As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance.

1. (BG 7.17) Of these, the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.
2. (BG 7.18) All these devotees are undoubtedly magnanimous souls, but he who is situated in knowledge of Me I consider to be just like My own self. Being engaged in My transcendental service, he is sure to attain Me, the highest and most perfect goal.
3. (SB 10.2.32) A person who doesn’t have knowledge of devotional service may think himself liberated, but actually he is not. 
4. The point is to know Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, as everything and surrender unto Him. Karmīs do not know this, but a devotee who is one hundred percent engaged in the devotional service of the Lord knows fully what is karma and jñāna;
5. Therefore a pure devotee is no longer interested in karma or jñāna. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. The real bhakta is untouched by any tinge of karma and jñāna. His only purpose in life is to serve the Lord.

SB 2.4.8 TRANSLATION
O learned brāhmaṇa, the transcendental activities of the Lord are all wonderful, and they appear inconceivable because even great endeavors by many learned scholars have still proved insufficient for understanding them.

CLASS NOTES: 

THE ACTS OF THE SUPREME LORD, IN THE CREATION OF JUST THIS ONE UNIVERSE, APPEAR INCONCEIVABLY WONDERFUL. 

And there are innumerable universes, and all of them aggregated together are known as the created material world. And this part of His creation is only a fractional portion of the complete creation. The material world stands as a part only (ekāṁśena sthito jagat).

Supposing that the material world is a display of one part of His energy, the remaining three parts consist of the vaikuṇṭha-Jagat or spiritual world described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mad-dhāma or sanātana-dhāma, or the eternal world. 

HE CREATES AND AGAIN WINDS UP THE CREATION (ONLY MATERIAL WORLD)

This action is applicable only in the material world because the othe greater part of His creation, namely the Vaikuṇṭha world, is neither created nor annihilated; otherwise the Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma would not have been called eternal. The Lord exists with His dhāma, or in other words with His eternal name, qualities, pastimes, entourage and personality, which are all a display of His different energies and expansions

THE LORD IS CALLED ANĀDI, OR HAVING NO CREATOR, AND ĀDI, OR THE ORIGIN OF ALL.

We think in our own imperfect way that the Lord is also created, but the Vedānta informs us that He is not created. Rather, everything else is created by Him (nārāyaṇaḥ paro ’vyaktāt)

MODERN SCIENTISTS HAVE INSUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THIS.

for the common man these are all very wonderful matters for consideration. Even for great scholars they are inconceivable, and thus such scholars present theories contradictory to one another. Even for the insignificant part of His creation, this particular universe, they have no complete information as to how far this limited space extends, or how many stars and planets are there, or the different conditions of those innumerable planets. Modern scientists have insufficient knowledge of all this. Some of them assert that there are one hundred million planets scattered all over space. 

“Russia’s well-known professor of astronomy Boris Vorontsov-Veliaminov said that there must be an infinite number of planets in the universe inhabited by beings endowed with reason.

“It could be that life similar to that on earth flourishes on such planets.

“Doctor of Chemistry Nikolai Zhirov, covering the problem of atmosphere on other planets, pointed out that the organism of a Martian, for instance, could very well adapt itself to normal existence with a low body temperature.

“He said that he felt that the gaseous composition of Martian atmosphere was quite suitable to sustain life of beings which have become adapted to it.”

THIS ADAPTABILITY OF AN ORGANISM TO DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF PLANETS IS DESCRIBED IN THE BRAHMA-SAṀHITĀ AS VIBHŪTI-BHINNAM; 

i.e., each and every one of the innumerable planets within the universe is endowed with a particular type of atmosphere, and the living beings there are more perfectly advanced in science and psychology because of a better atmosphere. Vibhūti means “specific powers,” and bhinnam means “variegated.” Scientists who are attempting to explore outer space and are trying to reach other planets by mechanical arrangements must know for certain that organisms adapted to the atmosphere of earth cannot exist in the atmospheres of other planets (Easy Journey to Other Planets). 

ONE HAS TO PREPARE HIMSELF, THEREFORE, TO BE TRANSFERRED TO A DIFFERENT PLANET AFTER BEING RELIEVED OF THE PRESENT BODY, AS IT IS SAID IN THE BHAGAVAD-GĪTĀ (9.25):
yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino ’pi mām
“Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods, those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings, and those who worship Me will live with Me.”

MAHĀRĀJA PARĪKṢIT’S STATEMENT REGARDING THE WORKINGS OF THE CREATIVE ENERGY OF THE LORD DISCLOSES THAT HE KNEW EVERYTHING OF THE PROCESS OF CREATION. WHY THEN DID HE ASK ŚUKADEVA GOSVĀMĪ FOR SUCH INFORMATION?

Mahārāja Parīkṣit, being a great emperor, a descendant of the Pāṇḍavas and a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, was quite able to know considerably about the creation of the world, but that much knowledge was not sufficient. He said therefore that even greatly learned scholars fail to know about that, even after great effort. 

THE LORD IS UNLIMITED, AND HIS ACTIVITIES ARE ALSO UNFATHOMED. 

With a limited source of knowledge and with imperfect senses, any living being, up to the standard of Brahmājī, the highest perfect living being within the universe, can never imagine knowing about the unlimited. We can know something of the unlimited when it is explained by the unlimited, as has been done by the Lord Himself in the unique statements of the Bhagavad-gītā, and it can also be known to some extent from realized souls like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who learned it from Vyāsadeva, a disciple of Nārada, and thus the perfect knowledge can descend by the chain of disciplic succession only, and not by any form of experimental knowledge, old or modern.

Important point here is – anything about Krsna is amazing and inconceivable to mundane persons. The most mundane people are the scientists and philosophers. Because they try and understand the material world through speculation, They claim to be logical and rational, but they are not, unfortunately they are considered to be experts in understanding of this material world, but their understanding is very piece meal… very sketchy and very incomplete. 

Los Angeles Dec 6th  1968 BG 2.26 

Srila Prabhupada talks about the Darwin’s theory. 

People who believe in Darwinism do not believe in the soul and they do not believe in the transmigration of the soul. They have their own theories which are not definite and scientifically proven. Darwin was quoted as saying  “there is nothing wrong with speculation in science. Science means observation, experimentation, finding a pattern and coming up with a theory. “ The atheistic theory is by the combination of matter, living symptoms become possible. There is no proof of it. They never were able to prove that by combining matter they can produce life or a living being .. Srila Prabhupada says –  “let them make one small ant.”  They convinced many generations of kids and educated in nonsense schools that there is no soul and matter is the origin of everything… There is no way we can except such phony knowledge. Even from the point of view of History, at the max they went only 3000 – years back and Darwin says life came into existence only 10000 years ago… SB says that  – 5000 years ago there was battle of kurukshetra,,,, millions of years ago there was battle between Rama and Ravana. Need to understand SB to learn history , species of things and races of people… 

Chemical theory of life.. Can they produce life, they have all the elements. SP asked Bhakti Swaroop Damodar maharaj /… “ Ask him if we give him all the chemicals, can he produce living being… “  He cannot do it but he is teaching a theory that life came from chemicals… 

BG 2.26 

If, however, you think that the soul [or the symptoms of life] will always be born and die forever, you still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.

Even if you accept that life is a bottle of chemicals, do you lament if the bottle of chemicals breaks. It is called Vaibhsika philosophy… in the olden days. OUr children are being trained in modern education, they are becoming stupid.. 

(SB 5.5.5) AS LONG AS ONE DOES NOT INQUIRE ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL VALUES OF LIFE, ONE IS DEFEATED AND SUBJECTED TO MISERIES ARISING FROM IGNORANCE.

parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto

yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam

yāvat kriyās tāvad idaṁ mano vai

karmātmakaṁ yena śarīra-bandhaḥ

As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance. Be it sinful or pious, karma has its resultant actions. If a person is engaged in any kind of karma, his mind is called karmātmaka, colored with fruitive activity. As long as the mind is impure, consciousness is unclear, and as long as one is absorbed in fruitive activity, he has to accept a material body.

Very profound verse. We have lot of people who say, I do not believe in religion, I will just do good and stay positive. But they eat meat, they gamble, they do illicit sex, they are committing sinful activties through panchasuna.. How can they do good to others… Their aim is to go to heavenly planets for enhanced sense gratification… 

GENERALLY PEOPLE THINK THAT ONE SHOULD ACT VERY PIOUSLY IN ORDER TO BE RELIEVED FROM MISERY, BUT THIS IS NOT A FACT.

 Even though one engages in pious activity and speculation, he is nonetheless defeated. His only aim should be emancipation from the clutches of māyā and all material activities. Speculative knowledge and pious activity do not solve the problems of material life. One should be inquisitive to understand his spiritual position. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (4.37):

yathaidhāṁsi samiddho ’gnir

bhasmasāt kurute ’rjuna

jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi

bhasmasāt kurute tathā

“As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.”

Unless one understands the self and its activities, one has to be considered in material bondage. 

Unless we are trained in SB & BG we will be stupid our whole life, even if we do pious activities. Pious or impious activities you cannot get out of birth and death life cycle… If one cannot attain the love of Krsna in this life… and get out of this birth death…

A person who understands who they are in relationship to Krsna they know that Devotional service is the essence and perfection of life. No knowledge only engage in Dev service you will make progress.. If you have knowledge and no dev service then it is Shrama evahi kevalam… Having knowledge and dedication to devotional service is the best.. It is described in BG 7.17, BG 7.18 

BG 7.17 

OF THESE, THE ONE WHO IS IN FULL KNOWLEDGE AND WHO IS ALWAYS ENGAGED IN PURE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE IS THE BEST. FOR I AM VERY DEAR TO HIM, AND HE IS DEAR TO ME.

BG 7.18 

ALL THESE DEVOTEES ARE UNDOUBTEDLY MAGNANIMOUS SOULS, BUT HE WHO IS SITUATED IN KNOWLEDGE OF ME I CONSIDER TO BE JUST LIKE MY OWN SELF. BEING ENGAGED IN MY TRANSCENDENTAL SERVICE, HE IS SURE TO ATTAIN ME, THE HIGHEST AND MOST PERFECT GOAL.

You get knowledge by sitting an hearing every morning SB as prescribed in vedic way… step by step… We should not waste even 1 moment, we should be enthusiastic in hearing the class, doing devotional service and enthusiastic in giving up illicit activities. 

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32) it is also said: ye ’nye ’ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. A person who doesn’t have knowledge of devotional service may think himself liberated, but actually he is not. 

This is the situation of Mayavadis, they think they are liberated by attaining Brahman, but that is not the case, as there is no devotional service. There Dev. Service in the material world and spiritual world and there is no Dev. Service in Brahman. It is worse than hell. Even in hell you can do DS but not in Brahman, although it is eternal… 

Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: such people may approach the impersonal Brahman effulgence, but they fall down again into material enjoyment because they have no knowledge of devotional service. As long as one is interested in karma and jñāna, he continues enduring the miseries of material life — birth, old age, disease and death. Karmīs certainly take on one body after another. As far as jñānīs are concerned, unless they are promoted to the topmost understanding, they must return to the material world. As explained in Bhagavad-gītā (7.19): bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. The point is to know Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, as everything and surrender unto Him. Karmīs do not know this, but a devotee who is one hundred percent engaged in the devotional service of the Lord knows fully what is karma and jñāna; therefore a pure devotee is no longer interested in karma or jñāna. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. The real bhakta is untouched by any tinge of karma and jñāna. His only purpose in life is to serve the Lord.

Even though there are so many yogis like durvasa muni there is nothing like Ambarish maharaj, Prahlad Maharaj, Narada muni… Even though Arjuna did not do any yoga asana yet he is called the greatest yogi. Yoga is not asanas physical postures, it is connecting with Krsna. 

This purport is very important , How He is unique and no one is equal or greater to Him. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.7

1. The Supreme Lord is the chief eternal being amongst all other eternal individual beings (nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām). He maintains innumerable other individual living beings (eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān). 
2. All living entities, both in the conditioned state and in the liberated state, are maintained by the Almighty Supreme Lord.
3. Such maintenance is effected by the Lord through His different expansions of Self and three principal energies, namely the internal, external and marginal energies. 
4. The unconditioned marginal potency acts in the spiritual kingdom, and the Lord, by His different plenary expansions, maintains them in different transcendental relations displayed in the spiritual sky. 
5. The one Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself in many (bahu syām), and thus all diversities are in Him, and He is in all diversities, although He is nevertheless different from all of them. (acintya-bhedābheda-tattva)
6. The process of thinking of Kṛṣṇa, is very easy. The Lord is puruṣa, a person – we think of the person Rāma and the person Kṛṣṇa. And whether one thinks of Rāma or of Kṛṣṇa, what He is like is described BG 8.9
7. BG 8.9 – One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.
8. Intelligent persons, avoiding useless argument and speculation, should accept what is stated in scriptures like the Vedas, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and follow the principles they set down. This will lead one to understanding.
9. Pure devotees accept and know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore they completely surrender unto Him and engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service of the Lord.
10. In conditioned life we are committing sins at every step, even without knowing it. The reason we are sinning unknowingly is that we have been in ignorance from our very birth. Despite so many big, big universities, none of them is teaching ātma-tattva, the science of the soul. 
11. The human being is given all facilities for a comfortable life by the laws of nature because the human form of life is more important and valuable than animal life. 
12. Why is man given a better life than that of the swine and other animals? Why is a highly placed government servant given better facilities than those of an ordinary clerk? The answer is that a highly placed officer has to discharge duties of a higher nature. Similarly, the duties human beings have to perform are higher than those of animals, who are always engaged in simply feeding their hungry stomachs.
13. This foolishness will continue until one comes to the platform of understanding self-realization. One continues to be foolish like an animal and is subjected to transmigration from one body to another in different species of life. This is the result of ignorance.
14. We are given this human form of life not to work hard like asses, swine and dogs but to attain the highest perfection of life.
15. We should work to dissipate our ignorance through the cultivation of transcendental knowledge. Whether you are pious or impious, you have to enter into the womb of some mother. And that tribulation is very severe. Whether you take birth in a very rich and aristocratic family or from an animal womb, the pangs of birth, old age, disease, and death continue.The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant to give you an opportunity to solve these four problems
16. The material world is sometimes compared to an ocean, and the human body is compared to a solid boat designed especially to cross this ocean. The Vedic scriptures and the ācāryas, or saintly teachers, are compared to expert boatmen, and the facilities of the human body are compared to favorable breezes that help the boat ply smoothly to its desired destination.
17. If, with all these facilities, a human being does not fully utilize his life for self-realization, he must be considered ātma-hā, a killer of the soul. Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns in clear terms that the killer of the soul is destined to enter into the darkest region of ignorance to suffer perpetually

SB 2.4.7 TRANSLATION: 
Kindly describe how the Supreme Lord, who is all-powerful, engages His different energies and different expansions in maintaining and again winding up the phenomenal world in the sporting spirit of a player.

CLASS NOTES: 

1. the Supreme Lord is described as the chief eternal being amongst all other eternal individual beings (nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām) 
2. the one Supreme Lord maintains innumerable other individual living beings (eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān). 

So all living entities, both in the conditioned state and in the liberated state, are maintained by the Almighty Supreme Lord. Such maintenance is effected by the Lord through His different expansions of Self and three principal energies, namely the internal, external and marginal energies. The living entities are His marginal energies, and some of them, in the confidence of the Lord, are entrusted with the work of creation also, as are Brahmā, Marīci, etc., and the acts of creation are inspired by the Lord unto them (tene brahma hṛdā). The external energy (māyā) is also impregnated with the jīvas, or conditioned souls. The unconditioned marginal potency acts in the spiritual kingdom, and the Lord, by His different plenary expansions, maintains them in different transcendental relations displayed in the spiritual sky. 

1. So the one Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself in many (bahu syām), and thus all diversities are in Him, and He is in all diversities, although He is nevertheless different from all of them. 

That is the inconceivable mystic power of the Lord, and as such everything is simultaneously one with and different from Him by His inconceivable potencies (acintya-bhedābheda-tattva).

Yesterday we learnt that – “Only when one knows Lord Kṛṣṇa’s greatness can one firmly put one’s unflinching faith in Him; “ That is why this question is asked by Parikshit Maharaj to Sukhdev Goswami. Lord is maintaining both a phenomenal and numinous world. We can hear about the greatness of the Supreme Lord from BG 8 and 9th chapters

BG 8.9

One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.

The process of thinking of the Supreme is mentioned in this verse. The foremost point is that He is not impersonal or void. One cannot meditate on something impersonal or void. That is very difficult. The process of thinking of Kṛṣṇa, however, is very easy and is factually stated herein. First of all, the Lord is puruṣa, a person – we think of the person Rāma and the person Kṛṣṇa. And whether one thinks of Rāma or of Kṛṣṇa, what He is like is described in this verse of Bhagavad-gītā.

1. The Lord is kavi; that is, He knows past, present and future and therefore knows everything. 
2. He is the oldest personality because He is the origin of everything; everything is born out of Him. 
3. He is also the supreme controller of the universe, and 
4. He is the maintainer and instructor of humanity. 
5. He is smaller than the smallest. The living entity is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a hair, but the Lord is so inconceivably small that He enters into the heart of this particle. Therefore He is called smaller than the smallest. As the Supreme, He can enter into the atom and into the heart of the smallest and control him as the Supersoul. 
6. Although so small, He is still all-pervading and is maintaining everything. 
7. By Him all these planetary systems are sustained. We often wonder how these big planets are floating in the air. It is stated here that the Supreme Lord, by His inconceivable energy, is sustaining all these big planets and systems of galaxies.
8. The word acintya (“inconceivable”) is very significant in this connection. God’s energy is beyond our conception, beyond our thinking jurisdiction, and is therefore called inconceivable (acintya). Who can argue this point? 
9. He pervades this material world and yet is beyond it. We cannot comprehend even this material world, which is insignificant compared to the spiritual world – so how can we comprehend what is beyond? Acintya means that which is beyond this material world, that which our argument, logic and philosophical speculation cannot touch, that which is inconceivable. 

Therefore intelligent persons, avoiding useless argument and speculation, should accept what is stated in scriptures like the Vedas, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and follow the principles they set down. This will lead one to understanding.

BG 9.11
Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be.

1. Supreme Personality of Godhead, although appearing like a human being, is not a common man. The Personality of Godhead, who conducts the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the complete cosmic manifestation, cannot be a human being. He is the original Supreme Personality, as is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā.

1. He is the original Supreme Personality, as is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā. 
2. Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller; there are many controllers undoubtedly, both in the material and spiritual world, but Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller (īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ), and His body is sac-cid-ānanda, nonmaterial.
3. His body is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge
4. Kṛṣṇa’s body is a symbol of complete knowledge and bliss, that He is the proprietor of everything that be and that He can award liberation to anyone
5. The appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this material world is a manifestation of His internal energy. He is the master of material energy.
6. The material energy, although very powerful, is under His control, and whoever surrenders unto Him can get out of the control of this material energy.
7. controller of all the atoms and of the gigantic manifestation of the universal form
8. a form like that of a human being can simultaneously control the infinite and the minute.
9. although He is controlling the infinite and the finite, He is apart from all this manifestation

Although the foolish cannot imagine how Kṛṣṇa, who appears just like a human being, can control the infinite and the finite, those who are pure devotees accept this, for they know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore they completely surrender unto Him and engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service of the Lord.

LAWS OF NATURE
BREAKING THE BONDS OF KARMA

REASON FOR SINNING – IGNORANCE FROM OUR VERY BIRTH 

In conditioned life we are committing sins at every step, even without knowing it. The reason we are sinning unknowingly is that we have been in ignorance from our very birth. This ignorance is prominent despite so many educational institutions. Why? Because despite so many big, big universities, none of them is teaching ātma-tattva, the science of the soul. Therefore people remain in ignorance, and they continue to sin and suffer the reactions.

SB 5.5.3 – As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance. Be it sinful or pious, karma has its resultant actions. If a person is engaged in any kind of karma, his mind is called karmātmaka, colored with fruitive activity. As long as the mind is impure, consciousness is unclear, and as long as one is absorbed in fruitive activity, he has to accept a material body.

THIS FOOLISHNESS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL ONE COMES TO THE PLATFORM OF UNDERSTANDING SELF-REALIZATION. 

Otherwise, all these universities and institutions for imparting knowledge are a continuation of that same ignorance and foolishness. Unless one comes to the point of asking “What am I? What is God? What is this world? What is my relationship with God and this world?” and finds proper answers, one continues to be foolish like an animal and is subjected to transmigration from one body to another in different species of life. This is the result of ignorance.

we do not know what kind of miseries we will have to suffer in our next life because of our sinful activities. So if one does not begin cultivating transcendental knowledge, then one’s life is very risky.  we should work to dissipate our ignorance through cultivation of transcendental knowledge.

You cannot get transcendental knowledge at schools. They think it is bogus and they are laughing at it… BG 13.8 – Amanitvam… adambitvam… “Anything beyond these is ignorance.. “ Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there maybe is ignorance.”
This is a serious indictment of modern civilization. 

ANYTHING YOU DO OUTSIDE THE FIELD OF KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUS ACTIVITIES ENTANGLES YOU IN THE MODES OF NATURE. 

But one who performs pious activities is also entangled. But whether you are pious or impious, you have to enter into the womb of some mother. And that tribulation is very severe. That we have forgotten. Whether you take birth in a very rich and aristocratic family or from an animal womb, the pangs of birth, old age, disease, and death continue.

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant to give you an opportunity to solve these four problems – birth, old age, disease, and death. But if you continue to act sinfully and eat sinfully, then these miseries will continue. Otherwise, you can nullify your sinful reactions by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, as He states in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.66)

Part of surrendering to Kṛṣṇa is being careful not to eat anything that has not been offered to Him. That should be our determination. Even if we have committed some sin, by eating prasādam, food offered to Kṛṣṇa, we will counteract it. If we surrender to Kṛṣṇa in this way, He will protect us from sinful reactions. That is His promise.

This is also explained in
ISO Mantra 3 & 12 of ISO
Mantra 3

The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.

HUMAN LIFE IS DISTINGUISHED FROM ANIMAL LIFE DUE TO ITS HEAVY RESPONSIBILITIES.

Those who are cognizant of these responsibilities and who work in that spirit are called suras (godly persons), and those who are neglectful of these responsibilities or who have no information of them are called asuras (demons).

INTELLIGENT HUMAN BEINGS MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THE SOUL OBTAINS A HUMAN FORM AFTER AN EVOLUTION OF MANY MILLIONS OF YEARS IN THE CYCLE OF TRANSMIGRATION. 

The material world is sometimes compared to an ocean, and the human body is compared to a solid boat designed especially to cross this ocean. The Vedic scriptures and the ācāryas, or saintly teachers, are compared to expert boatmen, and the facilities of the human body are compared to favorable breezes that help the boat ply smoothly to its desired destination. If, with all these facilities, a human being does not fully utilize his life for self-realization, he must be considered ātma-hā, a killer of the soul. Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns in clear terms that the killer of the soul is destined to enter into the darkest region of ignorance to suffer perpetually.

Darkest region of ignorance – Universities… Feminists are the crazy people – who support the abortion of foetus… anti manism, Men are taught to be irresponsible… the more sex you have the more man you are… that is the opposite of the truth. Where can you get the real education… of the soul… 

THE HUMAN BEING IS GIVEN ALL FACILITIES FOR A COMFORTABLE LIFE BY THE LAWS OF NATURE BECAUSE THE HUMAN FORM OF LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE THAN ANIMAL LIFE. 

Why is man given a better life than that of the swine and other animals? Why is a highly placed government servant given better facilities than those of an ordinary clerk? The answer is that a highly placed officer has to discharge duties of a higher nature. Similarly, the duties human beings have to perform are higher than those of animals, who are always engaged in simply feeding their hungry stomachs. Yet the modern soul-killing civilization has only increased the problems of the hungry stomach. When we approach a polished animal in the form of a modern civilized man and ask him to take interest in self-realization, he will say that he simply wants to work to satisfy his stomach and that there is no need of self-realization for a hungry man. The laws of nature are so cruel, however, that despite his denunciation of the need for self-realization and his eagerness to work hard to fill his stomach, he is always threatened by unemployment.

WE ARE GIVEN THIS HUMAN FORM OF LIFE NOT TO WORK HARD LIKE ASSES, SWINE AND DOGS BUT TO ATTAIN THE HIGHEST PERFECTION OF LIFE.

 If we do not care for self-realization, the laws of nature force us to work very hard, even though we may not want to do so. Human beings in this age have been forced to work hard like the asses and bullocks that pull carts. Some of the regions where the asuras are sent to work are revealed in this mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad. If a man fails to discharge his duties as a human being, he is forced to transmigrate to the asurya planets and take birth in degraded species of life to work hard in ignorance and darkness.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.6 :

1. For every unknown thing, we have to learn and inquire from a learned personality. 
2. The spiritual master, therefore, must be one who is sarva-jña.
3. All inquiries on God which are unknown to the disciple may be made from the qualified spiritual master.
4. Maharaj Praikshit already knows that everything we see is born out of the energy of the Lord. So, he wanted to know the process of creation. 
5. Foolish people say that creative energy is independent and acts automatically, as electrical energy works. But the intelligent man knows that even the electrical energy is generated by an expert engineer in the localized powerhouse, and thus the energy is distributed everywhere under the resident engineer’s supervision.
6. It is clearly said there that material energy is a manifestation of one of many such energies of the Supreme (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate). 
7. The so-called scholars and philosophers of the world may, by mental speculation, present so many utopian theories about the impersonal creation of the universe, but an intelligent devotee of the Lord, by studying the Bhagavad-gītā, can know that behind the creation is the hand of the Supreme Lord, just as in the generating electrical powerhouse there is the resident engineer.
8. The research scholar finds out the cause and the effect of everything, but research scholars as great as Brahmā, Śiva, Indra and many other demigods are sometimes bewildered by seeing the wonderful creative energy of the Lord, so what to speak of the tiny mundane scholars dealing in petty things. 
9. One can compare the long duration of life of the inhabitants of Brahmā’s planet, which is inconceivable to the inhabitants of this planet earth, to the categorical value of the brain of Brahmājī, also inconceivable to any great scientist of this planet. 
10. And with such high brainpower, Brahmājī admits Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the supreme cause of all causes. But persons with tiny brains within this petty planet earth think of the Lord as one of them.
11. Persons with a poor fund of knowledge do not know this, and therefore they have the audacity to deride Him because He comes before us by His causeless mercy occasionally as a human being. 
12. The Lord is not like a human being. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, or the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and there is no difference between His body and His soul. He is both the power and the powerful.
13. Mahārāja Parīkṣit did not ask his spiritual master, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, to narrate Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Vṛndāvana; he wanted to hear first about the creation of the Lord.
14. Neither the king nor the great speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Sukhdev Goswami jumped up like the organizers of Bhāgavatam; both of them proceeded systematically so that both future readers and hearers might take lessons from the example of the procedure of reciting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. 
15. Those who are under the control of the external energy of the Lord, or in other words those who are in the material world, must, first of all, know how the external energy of the Lord is working under the direction of the Supreme Personality, and afterward one may try to enter into the activities of His internal energy.
16. The author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta has warned the neophyte devotees to be seriously on guard against the pitfall of neglecting knowledge about Kṛṣṇa in regard to how great He is. Only when one knows Lord Kṛṣṇa’s greatness can one firmly put one’s unflinching faith in Him; otherwise, like the common man, even the great leaders of men will mistake Lord Kṛṣṇa for one of the many demigods, or a historical personality, or a myth only.
17. The transcendental pastimes of the Lord in Vṛndāvana, or even at Dvārakā, are relishable for persons who have already qualified themselves in advanced spiritual techniques, and the common man may be able to attain to such a plane by the gradual process of service and inquiries.
18. Therefore , the neophyte devotee, instead of jumping at once to the platform of transcendental pastimes presented by the internal energy of the Lord, may know how great the Supreme Lord is by inquiring about the process of His creative energy.

SB 2.4.6 TRANSLATION
I beg to know from you how the Personality of Godhead, by His personal energies, creates these phenomenal universes as they are, which are inconceivable even to the great demigods.

CLASS NOTES: 

FOR EVERY UNKNOWN THING, WE HAVE TO LEARN AND INQUIRE FROM A LEARNED PERSONALITY. 

The question of creation is also one of such inquiries to be made to the right person. The spiritual master, therefore, must be one who is sarva-jña, as stated hereinbefore in connection with Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Thus all inquiries on God which are unknown to the disciple may be made from the qualified spiritual master, and here the practical example is set by Mahārāja Parīkṣit

MAHARAJ PRAIKSHIT ALREADY KNOWS THAT EVERYTHING WE SEE IS BORN OUT OF THE ENERGY OF THE LORD. SO, HE WANTED TO KNOW THE PROCESS OF CREATION. 

It was, however, already known to Mahārāja Parīkṣit that everything we see is born out of the energy of the Lord, as we have all learned in the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (janmādy asya yataḥ). So Mahārāja Parīkṣit wanted to know the process of creation. The origin of creation was known to him; otherwise he would not have inquired how the Personality of Godhead, by His different energies, creates this phenomenal world. The common man also knows that the creation is made by some creator and is not created automatically. 

WE HAVE NO EXPERIENCE IN THE PRACTICAL WORLD WHERE A THING IS CREATED AUTOMATICALLY. MATERIAL ENERGY IS A MANIFESTATION OF ONE OF MANY SUCH ENERGIES OF THE SUPREME. 
Foolish people say that creative energy is independent and acts automatically, as electrical energy works. But the intelligent man knows that even the electrical energy is generated by an expert engineer in the localized powerhouse, and thus the energy is distributed everywhere under the resident engineer’s supervision. 

It is clearly said there that material energy is a manifestation of one of many such energies of the Supreme (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate).

The so-called scholars and philosophers of the world may, by mental speculation, present so many utopian theories about the impersonal creation of the universe, but an intelligent devotee of the Lord, by studying the Bhagavad-gītā, can know that behind the creation is the hand of the Supreme Lord, just as in the generating electrical powerhouse there is the resident engineer.

The research scholar finds out the cause and the effect of everything, but research scholars as great as Brahmā, Śiva, Indra and many other demigods are sometimes bewildered by seeing the wonderful creative energy of the Lord, so what to speak of the tiny mundane scholars dealing in petty things. 

As There Are Differences In The Living Conditions Of Different Planets Of The Universe, And As One Planet Is Superior To Others, The Brains Of The Living Entities In Those Respective Planets Are Also Of Different Categorical Values. 

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, one can compare the long duration of life of the inhabitants of Brahmā’s planet, which is inconceivable to the inhabitants of this planet earth, to the categorical value of the brain of Brahmājī, also inconceivable to any great scientist of this planet. And with such high brain power, even Brahmājī has described in his great saṁhitā (Brahma-saṁhitā 5.1) as follows:
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
“There are many personalities possessing the qualities of Bhagavān, but Kṛṣṇa is the supreme because none can excel Him. He is the Supreme Person, and His body is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. He is the primeval Lord Govinda and the cause of all causes.”

BRAHMĀJĪ ADMITS LORD KṚṢṆA TO BE THE SUPREME CAUSE OF ALL CAUSES. BUT PERSONS WITH TINY BRAINS WITHIN THIS PETTY PLANET EARTH THINK OF THE LORD AS ONE OF THEM.

Thus when the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā that He (Lord Kṛṣṇa) is all in all, the speculative philosophers and the mundane wranglers deride Him, and the Lord regretfully says:

“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.” (Bg. 9.11)

PERSONS WITH A POOR FUND OF KNOWLEDGE DO NOT KNOW THIS, AND THEREFORE THEY HAVE THE AUDACITY TO DERIDE HIM BECAUSE HE COMES BEFORE US BY HIS CAUSELESS MERCY OCCASIONALLY AS A HUMAN BEING. 

The Lord is not like a human being. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha or the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and there is no difference between His body and His soul. He is both the power and the powerful.

MAHĀRĀJA PARĪKṢIT DID NOT ASK HIS SPIRITUAL MASTER, ŚUKADEVA GOSVĀMĪ, TO NARRATE LORD KṚṢṆA’S PASTIMES IN VṚNDĀVANA; HE WANTED TO HEAR FIRST ABOUT THE CREATION OF THE LORD. ŚUKADEVA GOSVĀMĪ DID NOT SAY THAT THE KING SHOULD HEAR ABOUT THE DIRECT TRANSCENDENTAL PASTIMES OF THE LORD.

The time was very short, and naturally, Śukadeva Gosvāmī could have gone directly to the Tenth Canto to make a shortcut of the whole thing, as generally done by the professional reciters. But neither the King nor the great speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam jumped up like the organizers of Bhāgavatam; both of them proceeded systematically so that both future readers and hearers might take lessons from the example of the procedure of reciting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Those who are under the control of the external energy of the Lord, or in other words those who are in the material world, must, first of all, know how the external energy of the Lord is working under the direction of the Supreme Personality, and afterward one may try to enter into the activities of His internal energy.

DURGĀ-DEVĪ IS BUT THE SHADOW ENERGY OF THE LORD.
The mundaners are mostly worshipers of Durgā-devī, the external energy of Kṛṣṇa, but they do not know that Durgā-devī is but the shadow energy of the Lord. Behind her astonishing display of material workings is the direction of the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10). The Brahma-saṁhitā affirms that Durgā-śakti is working by the direction of Govinda, and without His sanction the powerful Durgā-śakti cannot move even a blade of grass. T

THE NEOPHYTE DEVOTEE, INSTEAD OF JUMPING AT ONCE TO THE PLATFORM OF TRANSCENDENTAL PASTIMES PRESENTED BY THE INTERNAL ENERGY OF THE LORD, MAY KNOW HOW GREAT THE SUPREME LORD IS BY INQUIRING ABOUT THE PROCESS OF HIS CREATIVE ENERGY.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta also, descriptions of the creative energy and the Lord’s hand in it are explained, and the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta has warned the neophyte devotees to be seriously on guard against the pitfall of neglecting knowledge about Kṛṣṇa in regard to how great He is. Only when one knows Lord Kṛṣṇa’s greatness can one firmly put one’s unflinching faith in Him; otherwise, like the common man, even the great leaders of men will mistake Lord Kṛṣṇa for one of the many demigods, or a historical personality, or a myth only. 

The transcendental pastimes of the Lord in Vṛndāvana, or even at Dvārakā, are relishable for persons who have already qualified themselves in advanced spiritual techniques, and the common man may be able to attain to such a plane by the gradual process of service and inquiries, as we shall see in the behavior of Mahārāja Parīkṣit.

This purport and verse are extremely important for us. Because we are trying to follow what it says. We are proceeding in a systematic way. This is the way to recite SB. It goes from beginning to 9 cantos before we hear the 10th canto. It gives us a chance to understand fully up to our limit.
Maharaj Parikshit is an examiner… is always trying to see Krsna. He knew that Krsna is the origin of everything, but not how. He is in front of Sukhdev Goswami spiritual master he wanted to ask and hear… Pariprasnena sevaye… Now we are learning how to become KC. History of SB teaches us who to be KC. It is a slow gradual procedure.. We should not jump to the intimate past times.. We become a joke… The workings of material nature has to be learned first… otherwise, we become victims… the laws of nature cannot be overcome..
Most people believe by scientific development human being becomes immortal
It is impossible to overcome material nature by material means. BG 7.14… Mama Maya duratyaya…

This is why modern education is dangerous, misleading, and is killer of the soul. There is no Krsna Katha in the universities.

There are 3 modes of material nature – goodness, passion, ignorance..
When you make a thread or rope you start with 3 strings… you twine them…you take 3 threads and make a rope… 3, 9, 27… the same way the 3 modes of material nature they get mixed that it is hard to untangle them…

Pa –  Hard labor, struggle…
Pha – Phena  – foam due to hard work
Bha – Bhaya – Fear
Ma – Entanglement that you cannot go


Modes of material nature is called guna… guna means rope… This is entanglement, struggle existence. You get caught up in the horrible way of life.. What happens when you have a human body and you waste human life just in sleeping, eating, mating, and defending…? One has to go through the 8.4 m species of life again…
Bitcoin – biggest fraud. Look at the anxiety people who bet on bitcoins go through…

KC is aPavarga… no hard work, no foaming, no entanglement, and no fear…
If we forget Krsna we are in APAVARGA… It is Durgajis realm… 

(ISO Invocation) IF YOU WASTE YOUR HUMAN LIFE YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE BIRTH AND DEATH IN THE 8.4 M SPECIES AGAIN.
Here is a chance you can become Kṛṣṇa conscious and make your life solve all problems. If not, then again go to the cycle of birth and death again, 8,400,000. It will take many, many millions of years again to come back. Just like the sunshine, you will see after twenty-four…, twelve hours, twenty-four hours, morning. Everything is a process. Process. So if you lose this opportunity of elevating yourself, then again you come to the process. Nature’s law is very strong. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī [Bg. 7.14]. The sooner you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. Such a person is able to overcome this process of material nature.

The prayer of an atheist is “my only prayer is there is nothing after death…”
Everything in this nature moves in a cycle – BG 9.10 is very important… They say that there is only one energy – material energy, but it is one of the energies of the lord.

BG 9.10
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.

PAGE 1,2,3,4 OF LAWS OF NATURE… TAKEN FROM THE LECTURES OF ISOPANISHAD..

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.5 TODAY (05/31/21):

1. The transcendental topics of the Lord act like injections when received by the sincere devotee from a person who is perfectly uncontaminated by material tinges
2. The action of Devotional hearing is felt by sincere hearer by the experience of the gradual disappearance of ignorance.
3. The crucial test of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that one should get positive enlightenment by such an act.
4. Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things — these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.
5. A person who is eating not only becomes uninterested in other activities but increasingly becomes uninterested in the food itself, according to his satisfaction. 
6. On the other hand, according to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, although one who is experiencing the blissful Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, becomes uninterested in anything other than Kṛṣṇa, his attachment to Kṛṣṇa increases at every moment. 
7. Therefore it is to be understood that the transcendental beauty and qualities of the Supreme Lord are not material, since one never becomes satiated by relishing the bliss of the Supreme Lord.
8. Virakti means “detachment,” whereas tyāga means “renunciation.”
9. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, the word renunciation can be used in a situation in which one considers giving up an enjoyable object. But by considering everything to be potential paraphernalia in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa one need not give thought to renunciation, for one uses everything in the proper way in the service of the Lord. Yukta-vairāgyam ucyate.
10. One should not make an artificial show of renouncing the material world; rather, one should systematically train the mind to see everything as an expansion of the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 
11. A hungry man busily consuming a sumptuous plate of food is not interested in anything else happening around him. In fact, he considers any other topic or activity a disturbance to his concentration on the delicious meal. 
12. Similarly, as one advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one considers anything unrelated to the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa an obnoxious disturbance. 
13. Such concentrated love of Godhead has been described in the Second Canto of the Bhāgavatam by the words tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaṁ param (Bhāg. 2.3.10).
14. Just as a hungry materialistic man, upon seeing sumptuous food, immediately desires to put it in his mouth, an advanced devotee of Kṛṣṇa, upon seeing a material object, immediately becomes eager to use it for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa.
15. Without the spontaneous hunger to engage everything in the service of Kṛṣṇa and to dive deeper and deeper into the ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa, so-called realization of God or loose talk about so-called religious life is irrelevant to the actual experience of entering the kingdom of God.
16. the path of bhakti-yoga is so joyful and practical that even in the stage of sādhana-bhakti, in which one follows rules and regulations without an advanced understanding, one can perceive the ultimate result.
17. As soon as one surrenders to the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa (prapadyamānasya), giving up all other activities (viraktir anyatra ca), one is immediately to be considered a liberated soul (jīvan-muktaḥ).
18. The Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, is so merciful that when a living entity understands that the personality Kṛṣṇa is the source of everything and surrenders to the Lord, Kṛṣṇa personally takes charge of him and reveals to him within his heart that he is under the Lord’s full protection.
19. Thus devotion, direct experience of the Personality of Godhead, and detachment from other objects become manifest even in the beginning stage of bhakti-yoga, since bhakti-yoga begins at the point of liberation.
20. If one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa one is immediately liberated and thus begins his career as a transcendental devotee with complete confidence in the Lord’s protection.

SB 2.4.5 TRANSLATION:
Mahārāja Parīkṣit said: O learned brāhmaṇa, you know everything because you are without material contamination. Therefore whatever you have spoken to me appears perfectly right. Your speeches are gradually destroying the darkness of my ignorance, for you are narrating the topics of the Lord.

CLASS NOTES: 

transcendental topics of the Lord act like injections when received by the sincere devotee from a person who is perfectly uncontaminated by material tinges

Devotional Hearing 

In other words, reception of the messages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from professional men, heard by a karma-kāṇḍīya audience, never acts miraculously as stated here. Devotional hearing of the messages of the Lord is not like hearing ordinary topics; therefore the action will be felt by the sincere hearer by the experience of the gradual disappearance of ignorance.

yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23)

When a hungry man is given food to eat, he feels satiation of hunger and the pleasure of dining simultaneously. Thus he does not have to ask whether he has actually been fed or not. The crucial test of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that one should get positive enlightenment by such an act.

It is hard to repeat and present the matter of truth as is. It is easy to speculate and tell what one thinks. Unless one is completely dedicated to their Guru and Krishna one cannot repeat as is. 

BG 4.20
Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, ever satisfied and independent, he performs no fruitive action, although engaged in all kinds of undertakings.

This freedom from the bondage of actions is possible only in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, when one is doing everything for Kṛṣṇa. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person acts out of pure love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he has no attraction for the results of the action. He is not even attached to his personal maintenance, for everything is left to Kṛṣṇa. Nor is he anxious to secure things, nor to protect things already in his possession. He does his duty to the best of his ability and leaves everything to Kṛṣṇa. Such an unattached person is always free from the resultant reactions of good and bad; it is as though he were not doing anything. This is the sign of akarma, or actions without fruitive reactions. Any other action, therefore, devoid of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is binding upon the worker, and that is the real aspect of vikarma, as explained hereinbefore.

BG 4.21
Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions.

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not expect good or bad results in his activities. His mind and intelligence are fully controlled. He knows that because he is part and parcel of the Supreme, the part played by him, as a part and parcel of the whole, is not his own activity but is only being done through him by the Supreme. When the hand moves, it does not move out of its own accord, but by the endeavor of the whole body. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification. He moves exactly like a part of a machine. As a machine part requires oiling and cleaning for maintenance, so a Kṛṣṇa conscious man maintains himself by his work just to remain fit for action in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. He is therefore immune to all the reactions of his endeavors. Like an animal, he has no proprietorship even over his own body. A cruel proprietor of an animal sometimes kills the animal in his possession, yet the animal does not protest. Nor does it have any real independence. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions.

BG 4.22
He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady in both success and failure, is never entangled, although performing actions.

BG 4.23
The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence.

Becoming fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, one is freed from all dualities and thus is free from the contaminations of the material modes. He can become liberated because he knows his constitutional position in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and thus his mind cannot be drawn from Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Consequently, whatever he does, he does for Kṛṣṇa, who is the primeval Viṣṇu. Therefore, all his works are technically sacrifices because sacrifice aims at satisfying the Supreme Person, Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa. The resultant reactions to all such work certainly merge into transcendence, and one does not suffer material effects.

One is never satisfied, one is never peaceful, there is never cessation of hunger… we should aim for detachment from entanglement. 

SB 11.2.42

bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ
prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus
tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo ’nu-ghāsam

Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things — these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this analogy as follows: 

1. Bhakti, or devotion, may be compared to tuṣṭi (satisfaction) because they both take the form of pleasure. 
2. Pareśānubhava (experience of the Supreme Lord) and puṣṭi (nourishment) are analogous because both sustain one’s life. 
3. Virakti (detachment) and kṣud-apāya (cessation of hunger) may be compared because both free one from further hankering so that one may experience śānti, or peace.

A person who is eating not only becomes uninterested in other activities but increasingly becomes uninterested in the food itself, according to his satisfaction. On the other hand, according to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, although one who is experiencing the blissful Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, becomes uninterested in anything other than Kṛṣṇa, his attachment to Kṛṣṇa increases at every moment. Therefore it is to be understood that the transcendental beauty and qualities of the Supreme Lord are not material, since one never becomes satiated by relishing the bliss of the Supreme Lord.

The word viraktiḥ is very significant in this verse. Virakti means “detachment,” whereas tyāga means “renunciation.” According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, the word renunciation can be used in a situation in which one considers giving up an enjoyable object. But by considering everything to be potential paraphernalia in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, as described in the previous verse, one need not give thought to renunciation, for one uses everything in the proper way in the service of the Lord. Yukta-vairāgyam ucyate.

The very pleasant analogy of a good meal is given in this verse. A hungry man busily consuming a sumptuous plate of food is not interested in anything else happening around him. In fact, he considers any other topic or activity a disturbance to his concentration on the delicious meal. Similarly, as one advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one considers anything unrelated to the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa an obnoxious disturbance. Such concentrated love of Godhead has been described in the Second Canto of the Bhāgavatam by the words tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaṁ param (Bhāg. 2.3.10).

One should not make an artificial show of renouncing the material world; rather, one should systematically train the mind to see everything as an expansion of the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just as a hungry materialistic man, upon seeing sumptuous food, immediately desires to put it in his mouth, an advanced devotee of Kṛṣṇa, upon seeing a material object, immediately becomes eager to use it for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. Without the spontaneous hunger to engage everything in the service of Kṛṣṇa and to dive deeper and deeper into the ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa, so-called realization of God or loose talk about so-called religious life is irrelevant to the actual experience of entering the kingdom of God.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the path of bhakti-yoga is so joyful and practical that even in the stage of sādhana-bhakti, in which one follows rules and regulations without an advanced understanding, one can perceive the ultimate result. As stated by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.187):

īhā yasya harer dāsye
karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu
jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate
As soon as one surrenders to the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa (prapadyamānasya), giving up all other activities (viraktir anyatra ca), one is immediately to be considered a liberated soul (jīvan-muktaḥ). The Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, is so merciful that when a living entity understands that the personality Kṛṣṇa is the source of everything and surrenders to the Lord, Kṛṣṇa personally takes charge of him and reveals to him within his heart that he is under the Lord’s full protection. Thus devotion, direct experience of the Personality of Godhead, and detachment from other objects become manifest even in the beginning stage of bhakti-yoga, since bhakti-yoga begins at the point of liberation. Other processes have as their final goal salvation or liberation, but according to Bhagavad-gītā (18.66):

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
If one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa one is immediately liberated and thus begins his career as a transcendental devotee with complete confidence in the Lord’s protection.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.3-4 TODAY (05/30/21):

1. The three activities of religion, economic development, and sense gratification are generally attractive for conditioned souls struggling for existence in the material world. 
   Such regulated activities prescribed in the Vedas are called the karma-kāṇḍīya conception of life.
2. Householders are generally recommended to follow the rules just to enjoy material prosperity both in this life and in the next.
3. By his slight association with Sukadev Goswami, Maharaj Parikshit renounced all modes of Vedic karma-kāṇḍīya activities and fixed his mind firmly upon Krsna.
4. Mahatmas give up all karma-kāṇḍīya conceptions of life, solely and wholly depending on the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. 
5. Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī said – “Now I have decided to free myself from all reactions to sins simply by remembering anywhere and everywhere the great descendant of Yadu and the great enemy of Kaṁsa [Lord Kṛṣṇa]. I think that this is sufficient for me. So what is the use of further endeavors?”
6. Prahlāda Mahārāja said – “Religion, economic development, and sense gratification are celebrated as three means of attaining the path of salvation. Of these, īkṣā trayī especially, i.e., knowledge of the self, knowledge of fruitive acts and logic and also politics and economics, are different means of livelihood. All these are different subjects of Vedic education, and therefore I consider them temporary engagements. On the other hand, surrendering unto the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu is a factual gain in life, and I consider it the ultimate truth.” (Bhāg. 7.6.26)
7. Accepting transcendental loving service to the Lord as the prime duty, free from fruitive reaction is the absolute path to perfection. 
8. The highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is renunciation of the material conception of life. This state is automatically achieved by progressive Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
9. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the rare good soul who knows perfectly that Vāsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa, is the root of all manifested causes. By acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can render the highest service to everyone – namely self, family, society, country, humanity, etc. If Kṛṣṇa is satisfied by one’s actions, then everyone will be satisfied.
10. One who is not firmly fixed in mind is diverted by various types of fruitive acts.
11. To be well versed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one has to act firmly and obey the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and one should accept the instruction of the bona fide spiritual master as one’s mission in life.
12. SB 9.4.63 – The Supreme Personality of Godhead said to the brāhmaṇa: I am completely under the control of My devotees. Indeed, I am not at all independent. Because My devotees are completely devoid of material desires, I sit only within the cores of their hearts. What to speak of My devotee, even those who are devotees of My devotee are very dear to Me.
13. Without being a devotee of a devotee, one cannot be released from material entanglement.
14. If one very sincerely serves the spiritual master, Kṛṣṇa certainly becomes favorable to such a devotee. Following the instructions of a devotee is more valuable than following the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly.
15. The Lord certainly tries to give all protection to His devotees who have given up everything for the sake of serving Him.
16. Attachment to dārāgāra-putrāpta — home, wife, children, friendship, society and love — is not the way to achieve the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 
17. Sometimes a pure devotee may have a habit or attraction for wife, children and home but at the same time want to serve the Supreme Lord to the best of his ability. For such a devotee, the Lord makes a special arrangement to take away the objects of his false attachment and thus free him from attachment to wife, home, children, friends and so on. This is special mercy bestowed upon the devotee to bring him back home, back to Godhead.
18. SB 9.4.66 – As chaste women bring their gentle husbands under control by service, the pure devotees, who are equal to everyone and completely attached to Me in the core of the heart, bring Me under their full control.

SB 2.4.3-4 TRANSLATION: 
O great sages, the great soul Mahārāja Parīkṣit, constantly rapt in thought of Lord Kṛṣṇa, knowing well of his imminent death, renounced all sorts of fruitive activities, namely acts of religion, economic development and sense gratification, and thus fixed himself firmly in his natural love for Kṛṣṇa and asked all these questions, exactly as you are asking me.

CLASS NOTES: 

KARMA-KĀṆḌĪYA CONCEPTION OF LIFE, 

The three activities of religion, economic development, and sense gratification are generally attractive for conditioned souls struggling for existence in the material world. 

Such regulated activities prescribed in the Vedas are called the karma-kāṇḍīya conception of life, and householders are generally recommended to follow the rules just to enjoy material prosperity both in this life and in the next.

BY HIS SLIGHT ASSOCIATION WITH SUKADEV GOSWAMI, MAHARAJ PARIKSHIT RENOUNCED ALL MODES OF VEDIC KARMA-KĀṆḌĪYA ACTIVITIES AND FIXED HIS MIND FIRMLY UPON KRSNA

As a great emperor of the world, Mahārāja Parīkṣit had to observe such regulations of the Vedic karma-kāṇḍīya section, but by his slight association with Śukadeva Gosvāmī he could perfectly understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Personality of Godhead (Vāsudeva), for whom he had a natural love since his birth, is everything, and thus he fixed his mind firmly upon Him, renouncing all modes of Vedic karma-kāṇḍīya activities. 

THIS PERFECTIONAL STAGE IS ATTAINED BY A JÑĀNĪ AFTER MANY, MANY BIRTHS. 

The jñānīs, or the empiric philosophers endeavoring for liberation, are thousands of times better than the fruitive workers, and out of hundreds of thousands of such jñānīs one is liberated factually. And out of hundreds of thousands of such liberated persons, even one person is rarely found who can firmly fix his mind unto the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as declared by the Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19). 

Mahārāja Parīkṣit is specially qualified with the word mahā-manāḥ, which puts him on an equal level with the mahātmās described in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the later age also there have been many mahātmās of this type, and they also gave up all karma-kāṇḍīya conceptions of life, solely and wholly depending on the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. 

It is very very very rare for one to become a real Mahatma. Their mind is thoroughly fixed on Krsna 24 hours a day without any deviation.

LORD CAITANYA, WHO IS LORD KṚṢṆA HIMSELF, TAUGHT US IN HIS ŚIKṢĀṢṬAKA (8):

“Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the lover of many devotees (women), may embrace this fully surrendered maidservant or may trample me with His feet, or He may render me brokenhearted by not being present before me for a long duration of time, but still He is nothing less than the Absolute Lord of my heart.”

ŚRĪLA RŪPA GOSVĀMĪ SPOKE THUS:

“O Lord of the poor, do what you like with me, give me either mercy or punishment, but in this world I have none to look to except Your Lordship. The cātaka bird always prays for the cloud, regardless of whether it showers rains or throws a thunderbolt.”

ŚRĪLA MĀDHAVENDRA PURĪ, THE GRAND-SPIRITUAL MASTER OF LORD CAITANYA, TOOK LEAVE OF ALL KARMA-KĀṆḌĪYA OBLIGATIONS

“O my evening prayer, all good unto you. O my morning bath, I bid you goodbye. O demigods and forefathers, please excuse me. I am unable to perform any more offerings for your pleasure. Now I have decided to free myself from all reactions to sins simply by remembering anywhere and everywhere the great descendant of Yadu and the great enemy of Kaṁsa [Lord Kṛṣṇa]. I think that this is sufficient for me. So what is the use of further endeavors?”

ŚRĪLA MĀDHAVENDRA PURĪ SAID FURTHER:

“Let the sharp moralist accuse me of being illusioned; I do not mind. Experts in Vedic activities may slander me as being misled, friends and relatives may call me frustrated, my brothers may call me a fool, the wealthy mammonites may point me out as mad, and the learned philosophers may assert that I am much too proud; still my mind does not budge an inch from the determination to serve the lotus feet of Govinda, though I be unable to do it.”

AND ALSO PRAHLĀDA MAHĀRĀJA SAID:
“Religion, economic development and sense gratification are celebrated as three means of attaining the path of salvation. Of these, īkṣā trayī especially, i.e., knowledge of the self, knowledge of fruitive acts and logic and also politics and economics, are different means of livelihood. All these are different subjects of Vedic education, and therefore I consider them temporary engagements. On the other hand, surrendering unto the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu is a factual gain in life, and I consider it the ultimate truth.” (Bhāg. 7.6.26)

The whole matter is concluded in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.41) as vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ, or the absolute path of perfection. Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, a great Vaiṣṇava scholar, defines this as bhagavad-arcanā-rūpaika-niṣkāma-karmabhir viśuddha-cittaḥ — e3

So Mahārāja Parīkṣit was perfectly right when he firmly accepted the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, renouncing all karma-kāṇḍīya conceptions of life.

Significant points.
From Yesterday’s verse –

Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and householders like him can turn everything to light by dovetailing so-called material assets in the service of the Lord, but one who is not trained or is unable to turn everything to the service of the Lord (nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe) must give up all material connections before he can be fit to hear and chant the glories of the Lord, or in other words, one who has seriously heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for even one day, like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, from a fit personality like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, may be able to lose all affinity for material things.
There is no utility simply in imitating Mahārāja Parīkṣit and hearing Bhāgavatam from professional men, even for seven hundred years. To take Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a means of maintaining family expenditure is the grossest type of nāmāparādha offense at the feet of the Lord (sarva-śubha-kriyā-sāmyam api pramādaḥ).
Both the hearer and communicator should be qualified for the real SB to be transferred…
Many think this is the goal of life
Mundane religiosity, economic development & sense gratification

(BG 2.41) BY ACTING IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS ONE CAN RENDER THE HIGHEST SERVICE TO EVERYONE
Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

A strong faith that by Kṛṣṇa consciousness one will be elevated to the highest perfection of life is called vyavasāyātmikā intelligence. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.62) states:

‘śraddhā’-śabde – viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya
Faith means unflinching trust in something sublime. When one is engaged in the duties of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he need not act in relationship to the material world with obligations to family traditions, humanity or nationality. Fruitive activities are the engagements of one’s reactions from past good or bad deeds. When one is awake in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he need no longer endeavor for good results in his activities. When one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all activities are on the absolute plane, for they are no longer subject to dualities like good and bad. The highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is renunciation of the material conception of life. This state is automatically achieved by progressive Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The resolute purpose of a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is based on knowledge. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ: a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the rare good soul who knows perfectly that Vāsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa, is the root of all manifested causes. As by watering the root of a tree one automatically distributes water to the leaves and branches, so by acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can render the highest service to everyone – namely self, family, society, country, humanity, etc. If Kṛṣṇa is satisfied by one’s actions, then everyone will be satisfied.

BG 2.70
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.

To be well versed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one has to act firmly and obey the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and one should accept the instruction of the bona fide spiritual master as one’s mission in life.

most people including many devotees are simply interested in mundane spiritual life, economic development, sense gratification. Even though they chant and do all things they are not happy and the mind is restless….. they are entangled by the obligations of maintaining, big homes, gadgets, family members… all that is interfered with hearing and chanting. However, if you learn the art of work under the guidance of Siksha and Diksha gurus they know how to come over the slippery slope of these entanglements.. 

The whole process, however, depends on perfect knowledge of the soul beyond the conception of the body – not theoretically but practically, when there is no longer a chance for sense gratification manifested in fruitive activities. One who is not firmly fixed in mind is diverted by various types of fruitive acts.

(SB 9.4.63) THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD IS FULLY UNDER THE CONTROL OF HIS DEVOTEE WHO IS COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MATERIAL DESIRES AND HAS THE ONLY DESIRE TO SERVE AND PLEASE THE LORD.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said to the brāhmaṇa: I am completely under the control of My devotees. Indeed, I am not at all independent. Because My devotees are completely devoid of material desires, I sit only within the cores of their hearts. What to speak of My devotee, even those who are devotees of My devotee are very dear to Me.

How many devotees you know who are completely devoid of material desires – Only Srila Prabhupada…

All the great stalwart personalities in the universe, including Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, are fully under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is fully under the control of His devotee. Why is this? Because the devotee is anyābhilāṣitā-śūnya; in other words, he has no material desires in his heart. His only desire is to think always of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and how to serve Him best. Because of this transcendental qualification, the Supreme Lord is extremely favorable to the devotees — indeed, not only the devotees, but also the devotees of the devotees. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā: without being a devotee of a devotee, one cannot be released from material entanglement. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu identified Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. Thus he instructed us to become not directly servants of Kṛṣṇa but servants of the servant of Kṛṣṇa. Devotees like Brahmā, Nārada, Vyāsadeva and Śukadeva Gosvāmī are directly servants of Kṛṣṇa, and one who becomes a servant of Nārada, Vyāsadeva and Śukadeva, like the Six Gosvāmīs, is still more devoted. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura therefore says, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ: if one very sincerely serves the spiritual master, Kṛṣṇa certainly becomes favorable to such a devotee. Following the instructions of a devotee is more valuable than following the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly.

(SB 9.4.64) THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD IS SELF-SUFFICIENT, BUT TO ENJOY HIS TRANSCENDENTAL BLISS HE REQUIRES THE COOPERATION OF HIS DEVOTEES

O best of the brāhmaṇas, without saintly persons for whom I am the only destination, I do not desire to enjoy My transcendental bliss and My supreme opulences.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is self-sufficient, but to enjoy His transcendental bliss He requires the cooperation of His devotees. In Vṛndāvana, for example, although Lord Kṛṣṇa is full in Himself, He wants the cooperation of His devotees like the cowherd boys and the gopīs to increase His transcendental bliss. Such pure devotees, who can increase the pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are certainly most dear to Him. Not only does the Supreme Personality of Godhead enjoy the company of His devotees, but because He is unlimited He wants to increase His devotees unlimitedly. Thus, He descends to the material world to induce the nondevotees and rebellious living entities to return home, back to Godhead. He requests them to surrender unto Him because, unlimited as He is, He wants to increase His devotees unlimitedly. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is an attempt to increase the number of pure devotees of the Supreme Lord more and more. It is certain that a devotee who helps in this endeavor to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes indirectly a controller of the Supreme Lord. Although the Supreme Lord is full in six opulences, He does not feel transcendental bliss without His devotees. An example that may be cited in this regard is that if a very rich man does not have sons in a family he does not feel happiness. Indeed, sometimes a rich man adopts a son to complete his happiness. The science of transcendental bliss is known to the pure devotee. Therefore the pure devotee is always engaged in increasing the transcendental happiness of the Lord.

(SB 9.4.65) THE ATTACHMENT TO DĀRĀGĀRA-PUTRĀPTA — HOME, WIFE, CHILDREN, FRIENDSHIP, SOCIETY AND LOVE — IS NOT THE WAY TO ACHIEVE THE FAVOR OF THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD.

Since pure devotees give up their homes, wives, children, relatives, riches and even their lives simply to serve Me, without any desire for material improvement in this life or in the next, how can I give up such devotees at any time?

That is exactly what Srila Prabhupada did. 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is worshiped by the words brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca. Thus He is the well-wisher of the brāhmaṇas. Durvāsā Muni was certainly a very great brāhmaṇa, but because he was a non-devotee, he could not sacrifice everything in devotional service. Great mystic yogīs are actually self-interested. The proof is that when Durvāsā Muni created a demon to kill Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, the King stayed fixed in his place, praying to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and depending solely and wholly on Him, whereas when Durvāsā Muni was chased by the Sudarśana cakra by the supreme will of the Lord, he was so perturbed that he fled all over the world and tried to take shelter in every nook and corner of the universe. At last, in fear of his life, he approached Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He was so interested in his own body that he wanted to kill the body of a Vaiṣṇava. Therefore, he did not have very good intelligence, and how can an unintelligent person be delivered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The Lord certainly tries to give all protection to His devotees who have given up everything for the sake of serving Him.

Another point in this verse is that attachment to dārāgāra-putrāpta — home, wife, children, friendship, society and love — is not the way to achieve the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who is attached to hearth and home for material pleasure cannot become a pure devotee. Sometimes a pure devotee may have a habit or attraction for wife, children and home but at the same time want to serve the Supreme Lord to the best of his ability. For such a devotee, the Lord makes a special arrangement to take away the objects of his false attachment and thus free him from attachment to wife, home, children, friends and so on. This is special mercy bestowed upon the devotee to bring him back home, back to Godhead.

(SB 9.4.66) PEOPLE SUFFER FROM MATERIAL DISTRESS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT ATTACHED TO THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD.

As chaste women bring their gentle husbands under control by service, the pure devotees, who are equal to everyone and completely attached to Me in the core of the heart, bring Me under their full control.

In this verse, the word sama-darśanāḥ is significant. The pure devotee is actually equal toward everyone, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (18.54): brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati/ samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Universal brotherhood is possible when one is a pure devotee (paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ). A pure devotee is actually learned because he knows his constitutional position, he knows the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he knows the relationship between the living entity and the Supreme Lord. Thus he has full spiritual knowledge and is automatically liberated (brahma-bhūtaḥ). He can therefore see everyone on the spiritual platform. He can comprehend the happiness and distress of all living entities. He understands that what is happiness to him is also happiness to others and that what is distress to him is distressing for others. Therefore he is sympathetic to everyone. As Prahlāda Mahārāja said:

śoce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyārtha-
māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān
(Bhāg. 7.9.43)

People suffer from material distress because they are not attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A pure devotee’s chief concern, therefore, is to raise the ignorant mass of people to the sense of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.2 TODAY (05/29/21):

1. To become liberated means to become free from dehātma-buddhi, the illusory attachment for personal bodily coverings and everything connected with the body, namely wife, children and all other entanglements.
2. Devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa means negation of all material attachments
3. A pure devotee is able to give up all connections with bestowed material attachments by the grace of the lord. Example – Parikshit Maharaj. 
4. A devotee always executes his duties on behalf of the Lord.
5. A devotee of the Lord never thinks of his household paraphernalia as his own, but surrenders everything for the service of the Lord. 
6. Thereby living entities under a devotee’s care get the opportunity for God-realization by the management of a devotee-master.
7. Attachment for household paraphernalia and for Lord Kṛṣṇa go poorly together. One attachment is the path of darkness, and the other attachment is the path of light. 
8. An expert devotee can turn everything to the path of light by an attitude of service to the Lord, and the best example here is the Pāṇḍavas.
9. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and householders like him can turn everything to light by dovetailing so-called material assets in the service of the Lord. 
10. But one who is not trained or is unable to turn everything to the service of the Lord (nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe) must give up all material connections before he can be fit to hear and chant the glories of the Lord. 
11. One who has seriously heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for even one day, like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, from a fit personality like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, may be able to lose all affinity for material things.
12.  Dormant devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is within everyone. Simply by associating with devotees, hearing their good instructions and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened. In this way one acquires the seed of devotional service. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.
13. devotional service cannot be utilized for any material purpose. Devotional service is meant only for the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is it is beyond this material range.
14. The bhakti-latā has no shelter in the material world, nor has it shelter in Brahma-loka, although Brahma-loka is beyond the material world. The bhakti-latā grows until it reaches the spiritual sky, where Goloka Vṛndāvana is situated.
15. Goloka Vṛndāvana is the highest planet in the spiritual world. In order to go to the spiritual world after penetrating the covering of the material universe, one must penetrate Brahma-loka, the spiritual effulgence. Then one can come to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet.
16. The five rasas are fully exhibited in the spiritual world in one’s relationship with the Lord. Therefore in the spiritual world the bhakti creeper finds its resting place at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.

SB 2.4.2 TRANSLATION

Mahārāja Parīkṣit, as a result of his wholehearted attraction for Lord Kṛṣṇa, was able to give up all deep-rooted affection for his personal body, his wife, his children, his palace, his animals like horses and elephants, his treasury house, his friends and relatives, and his undisputed kingdom.

CLASS NOTES:

LIBERATION:

To become liberated means to become free from dehātma-buddhi, the illusory attachment for personal bodily coverings and everything connected with the body, namely wife, children and all other entanglements.

Devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa means negation of all material attachments

POSITION OF A PURE DEVOTEE.

By the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was awarded all material amenities and an undisputed kingdom in which to enjoy the undisturbed position of king, but by the grace of the Lord he was able to give up all connections with material attachment. That is the position of a pure devotee

Mahārāja Parīkṣit, due to his natural affection for Lord Kṛṣṇa as a devotee of the Lord, was always executing his royal duties on behalf of the Lord, and as a responsible king of the world he was always careful to see that the influence of Kali would not enter his kingdom. A devotee of the Lord never thinks of his household paraphernalia as his own, but surrenders everything for the service of the Lord. Thereby living entities under a devotee’s care get the opportunity for God-realization by the management of a devotee-master.

Expert devotee can turn everything to the path of light by an attitude of service to the Lord, and the best example here is the Pāṇḍavas.

There are 2 points here that should be understood. –

Everything belongs to Krsna, a Devotee dovetails everything, job, wife, children, house, car in the service of Krsna. 24/7 engaged in Krsna’s service, act for Krsna. They are already renounced in positive way.
One who does not know the art of dovetailing and one who is attached to body and bodily relations, should leave everything and become detached. It is very hard for them to renounce.
We need the help of bonafide guru, hearing,
Change of heart  – whatever is the dear most we hold in the heart like fame and name we need to remove it,… Natural way is always staying in contact with bonafide pure devotees… daily process, we have to hear BG and SB on a daily basis…
Consciousness of the person from whom you are hearing is important. ..

CC M 19.151
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

nitya-siddha-kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
Dormant devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is within everyone. Simply by associating with devotees, hearing their good instructions and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened. In this way one acquires the seed of devotional service. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.

CC M 19.153
“As one waters the bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed sprouts, and the creeper gradually grows to the point where it penetrates the walls of this universe and goes beyond the Virajā River, lying between the spiritual world and the material world. It attains brahma-loka, the Brahman effulgence, and penetrating through that stratum, it reaches the spiritual sky and the spiritual planet Goloka Vṛndāvana.

A creeper generally takes shelter of a big tree, but the bhakti-latā, being the creeper of spiritual energy, cannot take shelter of any material planet, for there is no tree on any material planet that the bhakti creeper can utilize for shelter. In other words, devotional service cannot be utilized for any material purpose. Devotional service is meant only for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sometimes men with a poor fund of knowledge maintain that bhakti can be applied to material things also. In other words, they say that devotional service can be rendered to one’s country or to the demigods, but this is not a fact. Devotional service is especially meant for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it is beyond this material range. There is a river, or causal ocean, between the spiritual and material natures, and this river is free from the influence of the three modes of material nature; therefore it is called Virajā. The prefix vi means vigata (“completely eradicated”), and rajas means “the influence of the material world.” On this platform, a living entity is completely free from material entanglement. For the jñānīs who want to merge into the Brahman effulgence, there is Brahma-loka. The bhakti-latā, however, has no shelter in the material world, nor has it shelter in Brahma-loka, although Brahma-loka is beyond the material world. The bhakti-latā grows until it reaches the spiritual sky, where Goloka Vṛndāvana is situated.

CC M 19.154
“Being situated in one’s heart and being watered by śravaṇa-kīrtana, the bhakti creeper grows more and more. In this way it attains the shelter of the desire tree of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally situated in the planet known as Goloka Vṛndāvana, in the topmost region of the spiritual sky.

In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) it is said:

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. He resides in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, who resembles His own spiritual figure and who embodies the ecstatic potency [hlādinī]. Their companions are Her confidantes, who embody extensions of Her bodily form and who are imbued and permeated with ever-blissful spiritual rasa.” In the spiritual world, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, has expanded Himself by His spiritual potency. He has His eternal form of bliss and knowledge (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha). Everything in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet is a spiritual expansion of sac-cid-ānanda. Everyone there is of the same potency — ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. The relationship between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His servitor is cinmaya-rasa. Kṛṣṇa and His entourage and paraphernalia are of the same cinmaya potency. In this way the Supreme Personality of Godhead is expanded throughout the spiritual world, and when that cinmaya-rasa potency expands through the material potency, it becomes all-pervading. The idea is that although the Supreme Personality of Godhead exists on His own planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is also present everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. He is present within all the universes, although they are innumerable, and He is also present within the atom. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati: He is also present within the heart of all living entities. This is His all-pervasive potency.

Goloka Vṛndāvana is the highest planet in the spiritual world. In order to go to the spiritual world after penetrating the covering of the material universe, one must penetrate Brahma-loka, the spiritual effulgence. Then one can come to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. There are also other planets in the spiritual world, called Vaikuṇṭha planets, and on these planets, Lord Nārāyaṇa is worshiped with awe and veneration. On these planets śānta-rasa is prevalent, and some of the devotees are also connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in dāsya-rasa, the mellow of servitorship. As far as the mellow of fraternity is concerned, in Vaikuṇṭha this rasa is represented by gaurava-sakhya, friendship in awe and veneration. The other fraternity rasa, exhibited as viśrambha (friendship in equality), is found in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. Above that is service to the Lord in vātsalya-rasa (parental love), and above all is the relationship with the Lord in the mādhurya-rasa (conjugal love). These five rasas are fully exhibited in the spiritual world in one’s relationship with the Lord. Therefore in the spiritual world the bhakti creeper finds its resting place at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.4.1 TODAY (05/28/21): ()

1. Maharaj Parikshit continuously concentrated his mind upon Lord Kṛṣṇa, which made him perfectly chaste in devotional service.
2. He was a chaste devotee of the Lord, and when he further heard from Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that one should worship the Lord only and no one else, even though full of all desires or desireless, his natural affection for Kṛṣṇa was strengthened. 
3. To become a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, two things are very much essential, namely
   having a chance to be born in the family of a devotee and having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. 
4. By the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Parīkṣit Mahārāja had both opportunities.
5. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (CC 19.151) it is said that a fortunate person, by the mercy of the spiritual master and Lord Kṛṣṇa, achieves the path of devotional service. 
6. (CC M 19.151)Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service. 
7. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord’s mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a fortunate person is fortified by both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. He is helped from within by Kṛṣṇa and from without by the spiritual master. Both are prepared to help the sincere living being become free from material bondage.
8. One such example is Narada muni. By serving the Vaiṣṇavas and obeying their orders, the boy became the object of their sympathy, and by the Vaiṣṇavas’ unknown mercy, he gradually became a pure devotee. In the next life he was Nārada Muni, the most exalted of Vaiṣṇavas and the most important guru and ācārya of Vaiṣṇavas.
9. Following in the footsteps of Nārada Muni, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is rendering service to humanity by giving everyone a chance to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa. If one is fortunate, he becomes intimately related with this movement. Then, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, one’s life becomes successful. 
10. Dormant devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is within everyone. Simply by associating with devotees, hearing their good instructions and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened. In this way one acquires the seed of devotional service. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.
11. (CC M 19.152)“When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṇa and kīrtana [hearing and chanting], the seed will begin to sprout.
12. To live with devotees or to live in a temple means to associate with the śravaṇa-kīrtana process. Neophyte devotees cannot continue the śravaṇa-kīrtana process without worshiping the Deity.
13. The methods, rules and regulations by which one is perfectly trained in devotional service constitute the bhakti-latā-bīja, or seed of devotional service. This bhakti-latā-bīja is received from the spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa.
14. The bhakti-latā-bīja can be received ONLY through the mercy of the spiritual master. Therefore one has to satisfy the spiritual master to get the bhakti-latā-bīja (yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ). 
15. The bhakti-latā-bīja is the origin of devotional service. This bhakti-latā-bīja is received when one is initiated by the bona fide spiritual master
16.  After receiving the spiritual master’s mercy, one must repeat his instructions, and this is called śravaṇa-kīrtana — hearing and chanting. 
17. One who has not properly heard from the spiritual master or who does not follow the regulative principles is not fit for chanting (kīrtana)  or for preaching the cult of devotional service. 
18. One has to water the bhakti-latā-bīja by receiving instructions from the spiritual master

SB 2.4.1 TRANSLATION
Sūta Gosvāmī said: Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the son of Uttarā, after hearing the speeches of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, which were all about the truth of the self, applied his concentration faithfully upon Lord Kṛṣṇa.

PURPORT: 

The whole Vedic adventure is to draw one’s attention entirely unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa without any diversion, as instructed in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15).

CLASS NOTES: 

Fortunately, Mahārāja Parīkṣit had already been attracted to the Lord from the very beginning of his body, in the womb of his mother.

In the womb of his mother he was struck by the brahmāstra atomic bomb released by Aśvatthāmā, but by the grace of the Lord he was saved from being burnt by the fiery weapon, and since then the King continuously concentrated his mind upon Lord Kṛṣṇa, which made him perfectly chaste in devotional service. So by natural sequence he was a chaste devotee of the Lord, and when he further heard from Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that one should worship the Lord only and no one else, even though full of all desires or desireless, his natural affection for Kṛṣṇa was strengthened. We have already discussed these topics.

To become a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, two things are very much essential, namely

1. having a chance to be born in the family of a devotee and
2. having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. 

BY THE GRACE OF LORD KṚṢṆA, PARĪKṢIT MAHĀRĀJA HAD BOTH OPPORTUNITIES.

 He was born in a family of such devotees as the Pāṇḍavas, and just to continue the dynasty of the Pāṇḍavas and show them special favor, the Lord specifically saved Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who later on, by the arrangement of the Lord, was cursed by the boy of a brāhmaṇa and was able to get the association of such a spiritual master as Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

 IN THE CAITANYA-CARITĀMṚTA IT IS SAID THAT A FORTUNATE PERSON, BY THE MERCY OF THE SPIRITUAL MASTER AND LORD KṚṢṆA, ACHIEVES THE PATH OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE. (CC 19.151) 

This was perfectly applicable in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. By way of being born in a family of devotees, he automatically came in touch with Kṛṣṇa, and after being so contacted he constantly remembered Him. Consequently Lord Kṛṣṇa gave the King a further chance for development in devotional service by introducing him to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, a stalwart devotee of the Lord with perfect knowledge in self-realization. And by hearing from a bona fide spiritual master, he was perfectly able to concentrate his chaste mind further upon Lord Kṛṣṇa, as a matter of course.

The verse referred here is

(CC MADHYA 19.151) BY THE MERCY OF BOTH KṚṢṆA AND THE SPIRITUAL MASTER, ONE RECEIVES THE SEED OF THE CREEPER OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE. 
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service. 

There are millions and trillions of living entities everywhere, and they are engaged by māyā in suffering and enjoying the results of their fruitive activity, life after life. This is the position of the materially conditioned living entities. Out of many of these living entities, one who is actually fortunate (bhāgyavān) comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.

GURU-KṚṢṆA-PRASĀDA

Kṛṣṇa is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord’s mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a fortunate person is fortified by both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. He is helped from within by Kṛṣṇa and from without by the spiritual master. Both are prepared to help the sincere living being become free from material bondage.

 NARADA MUNI IS ONE SUCH FORTUNATE LIVING BEING

How one can become this fortunate can be seen in the life of Śrīla Nārada Muni. In his previous life he was born of a maidservant. Although he was not born into a prestigious position, his mother was fortunately engaged in rendering service to some Vaiṣṇavas. When these Vaiṣṇavas were resting during the Cāturmāsya period, the boy Nārada took the opportunity to engage in their service. Taking compassion upon the boy, the Vaiṣṇavas offered him the remnants of their food. By serving these Vaiṣṇavas and obeying their orders, the boy became the object of their sympathy, and by the Vaiṣṇavas’ unknown mercy, he gradually became a pure devotee. In the next life he was Nārada Muni, the most exalted of Vaiṣṇavas and the most important guru and ācārya of Vaiṣṇavas.

FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF NĀRADA MUNI, 

this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is rendering service to humanity by giving everyone a chance to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa. If one is fortunate, he becomes intimately related with this movement.

 THEN, BY THE GRACE OF KṚṢṆA, ONE’S LIFE BECOMES SUCCESSFUL. 

Everyone has dormant kṛṣṇa-bhakti — love for Kṛṣṇa — and in the association of good devotees, that love is revealed. As stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.107):

nitya-siddha-kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

Dormant devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is within everyone. Simply by associating with devotees, hearing their good instructions and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened. In this way one acquires the seed of devotional service. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.

Main points you need to understand –

KC is naturally existing the heart of every living entity
Simply associating with the genuine devotees and hearing the discussions of BG & SB the dormant KC in the heart is awakened.
The seed of Bhakti is planted in the ear. When there is the seed you need to take care of it very carefully. Put the seed in the wet towel and sprout… then leaves, plants, flowers, fruit, whole plants growing. This is the seed of devotional service.  The tree grows beyond the material world and penetrates the spiritual world and flowers and fruits at the lotus feet of Krsna.
How important is hearing and chanting every day…  Morning afternoon and evening
Without Shravan kirtan, deity worship is not complete. Without deity worship, Shravan kirtan is not complete.
The goal is to be KC 24 hrs a day.

(CC Madhya 19.152) SOWING THE SEED OF BHAKTI IN THE HEART AND WATERING IT WITH SHRAVANA & KIRTANA

“When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṇa and kīrtana [hearing and chanting], the seed will begin to sprout.

SHRAVANAM AND KIRTANAM WITHOUT DEITY WORSHIP IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR NEOPHYTE DEVOTEES

To live with devotees or to live in a temple means to associate with the śravaṇa-kīrtana process. Sometimes neophyte devotees think that they can continue the śravaṇa-kīrtana process without worshiping the Deity, but the execution of such śravaṇa-kīrtana is meant for highly developed devotees like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. This is not possible for neophyte devotees.

GURU PRASADA 

The word guru-prasāda indicates that the spiritual master is very merciful in bestowing the boon of devotional service upon the disciple. That is the best possible gift the spiritual master has to offer. The spiritual master trains his disciples to render devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is called guru-kṛpā. It is kṛṣṇa-prasāda, Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, that He sends a bona fide spiritual master to the deserving disciple. By the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, one meets the bona fide spiritual master, and by the mercy of the spiritual master, the disciple is fully trained in the devotional service of the Lord.

BHAKTI-LATĀ-BĪJA MEANS “THE SEED OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE.”

Everything has an original cause, or seed. For any idea, program, plan or device, there is first of all the contemplation of the plan, and that is called the bīja, or seed.

Spring is a program with billions of functions working perfectly

The methods, rules and regulations by which one is perfectly trained in devotional service constitute the bhakti-latā-bīja, or seed of devotional service. This bhakti-latā-bīja is received from the spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. Other seeds, called anyābhilāṣa-bīja, include karma-bīja and jñāna-bīja.

 If one is not fortunate enough to receive the bhakti-latā-bīja from the spiritual master, he instead cultivates such seeds as karma-bīja, jñāna-bīja, or political, social or philanthropic bījas. ….

Bill Gates – has software bija, social welfare bija, ……he does not have bhakti lata bija therefore he cannot control himself.. He will not listen to a bonafide spiritual master. He will go to scientists and others to get more bijas..

However, the bhakti-latā-bīja is different from these other bījas. 

THE BHAKTI-LATĀ-BĪJA CAN BE RECEIVED ONLY THROUGH THE MERCY OF THE SPIRITUAL MASTER.

Therefore one has to satisfy the spiritual master to get the bhakti-latā-bīja (yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ). The bhakti-latā-bīja is the origin of devotional service. Unless one satisfies the spiritual master, he gets the bīja, or root cause, of karma, jñāna and yoga without the benefit of devotional service. But one who is faithful to his spiritual master gets the bhakti-latā-bīja. 

ONE HAS TO WATER THE BHAKTI-LATĀ-BĪJA BY RECEIVING INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITUAL MASTER.

This bhakti-latā-bīja is received when one is initiated by the bona fide spiritual master. After receiving the spiritual master’s mercy, one must repeat his instructions, and this is called śravaṇa-kīrtana — hearing and chanting. One who has not properly heard from the spiritual master or who does not follow the regulative principles is not fit for chanting (kīrtana). This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.41): vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana. One who has not listened carefully to the instructions of the spiritual master is unfit for chanting or for preaching the cult of devotional service. One has to water the bhakti-latā-bīja by receiving instructions from the spiritual master.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.24:

1. In Third Chapter of canto 2,  mature stage of Viṣṇu worship is suggested in relation to the change of heart.
2. The whole process of spiritual culture is aimed at changing the heart of the living being in the matter of his eternal relation with the Supreme Lord as subordinate servant, which is his eternal constitutional position. 
3. Vidhi-bhakti, or regulated devotional service by the limbs of the body is stressed in relation to the mind, which is the impetus for all activities of the limbs of the body.
4. By discharging regulated devotional service one must manifest the change of heart. If there is no such change, the heart must be considered steel-framed, for it is not melted even when there is chanting of the holy name of the Lord
5. Hearing and chanting are the basic principles of discharging devotional duties, and if they are properly performed there will follow the reactional ecstasy with signs of tears in the eyes and standing of the hairs on the body. 
6. hearing and chanting are the basic principles of discharging devotional duties, and if they are properly performed there will follow the reactional ecstasy with signs of tears in the eyes and standing of the hairs on the body. 
7. These are natural consequences and are the preliminary symptoms of the bhāva stage, which occurs before one reaches the perfectional stage of prema, love of Godhead.
8. If the reaction does not take place, even after continuous hearing and chanting of the holy name of the Lord, it may be considered to be due to offenses only.
9. In the beginning of chanting of the holy name of the Lord, if the devotee has not been very careful about evading the ten kinds of offenses at the feet of the holy name, certainly the reaction of feelings of separation will not be visible by tears in the eyes and standing of the hair on end.
10. The bhāva stage is manifested by eight transcendental symptoms, namely inertness, perspiration, standing of hairs on end, failing in the voice, trembling, paleness of the body, tears in the eyes and finally trance.
11. Sometimes all the above eight symptoms of ecstasy are imitated by the mundane devotees (prākṛta-sahajiyās), but the pseudo symptoms are at once detected when one sees the pseudodevotee addicted to so many forbidden things. 
12. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī accuses the imitators of being stonehearted men.
13. Sometimes these symptoms are not visible even in the body of the first-class devotee for certain circumstantial reasons.
14. When Lord Caitanya met Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya of Kavaur on the bank of the Godāvarī, the Lord developed all these symptoms, but because of the presence of some nondevotee brāhmaṇas who were attendants of the Rāya, the Lord suppressed them.
15. real, steady bhāva is definitely displayed in the matter of cessation of material desires (kṣānti), utilization of every moment in the transcendental loving service of the Lord (avyārtha-kālatvam), eagerness for glorifying the Lord constantly (nāma-gāne sadā ruci), attraction for living in the land of the Lord (prītis tad-vasati sthale), complete detachment from material happiness (virakti), and pridelessness (māna-śūnyatā). 
16. One who has developed all these transcendental qualities is really possessed of the bhāva stage, as distinguished from the stone hearted imitator or mundane devotee.
17. A complete progressive march on the return path home, back to Godhead, will depend on the instructions of the revealed scriptures directed by a realized devotee.

SB 2.3.24 TRANSLATION

Certainly, that heart is steel-framed which, in spite of one’s chanting the holy name of the Lord with concentration, does not change when ecstasy takes place, tears fill the eyes and the hairs stand on end.

CLASS NOTES:
In the first three chapters of the Second Canto a gradual process of development of devotional service is being presented. 
FIRST CHAPTER –

the first step in devotional service for God-consciousness by the process of hearing and chanting has been stressed, and a gross conception of the Personality of Godhead in His universal form for the beginners is recommended

SECOND CHAPTER
The system of pañca-upāsanā, recommending five mental attitudes for the common man, is also enacted for this purpose, namely gradual development, worship of the superior that may be in the form of fire, electricity, the sun, the mass of living beings, Lord Śiva and, at last, the impersonal Supersoul, the partial representation of Lord Viṣṇu. They are all nicely described in the Second Chapter,

THIRD CHAPTER
but in the Third Chapter further development is prescribed after one has actually reached the stage of Viṣṇu worship, or pure devotional service, and the mature stage of Viṣṇu worship is suggested herein in relation to the change of heart.
The whole process of spiritual culture is aimed at changing the heart of the living being in the matter of his eternal relation with the Supreme Lord as subordinate servant, which is his eternal constitutional position. 
So with the progress of devotional service, the reaction of change in the heart is exhibited by gradual detachment from 

1. the sense of material enjoyment by a false sense of lording it over the world and an increase in the attitude of rendering loving service to the Lord.

Vidhi-bhakti, or regulated devotional service by the limbs of the body (namely the eyes, the ears, the nose, the hands and the legs, as already explained hereinbefore), is now stressed herein in relation to the mind, which is the impetus for all activities of the limbs of the body.

BY DISCHARGING REGULATED DEVOTIONAL SERVICE ONE MUST MANIFEST THE CHANGE OF HEART.
It is expected by all means that by discharging regulated devotional service one must manifest the change of heart. If there is no such change, the heart must be considered steel-framed, for it is not melted even when there is chanting of the holy name of the Lord. We must always remember that hearing and chanting are the basic principles of discharging devotional duties, and if they are properly performed there will follow the reactional ecstasy with signs of tears in the eyes and standing of the hairs on the body. These are natural consequences and are the preliminary symptoms of the bhāva stage, which occurs before one reaches the perfectional stage of prema, love of Godhead.

IF THE CHANGE IN HEART DOES NOT TAKE PLACE, IT IS DUE TO OFFENSES ONLY 

If the reaction does not take place, even after continuous hearing and chanting of the holy name of the Lord, it may be considered to be due to offenses only.

In the beginning of chanting of the holy name of the Lord, if the devotee has not been very careful about evading the ten kinds of offenses at the feet of the holy name, certainly the reaction of feelings of separation will not be visible by tears in the eyes and standing of the hair on end.
BHAVA STAGE SYMPTOMS
The bhāva stage is manifested by eight transcendental symptoms, namely inertness, perspiration, standing of hairs on end, failing in the voice, trembling, paleness of the body, tears in the eyes and finally trance. The Nectar of Devotion, a summary study of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, explains those symptoms and vividly describes other transcendental developments, both in steady and accelerating manifestations.

PSEUDO SYMPTOMS
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has very critically discussed all these bhāva displays in connection with some unscrupulous neophytes’ imitating the above symptoms for cheap appreciation. Not only Viśvanātha Cakravartī but also Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī treated them very critically. Sometimes all the above eight symptoms of ecstasy are imitated by the mundane devotees (prākṛta-sahajiyās), but the pseudo symptoms are at once detected when one sees the pseudodevotee addicted to so many forbidden things. Even though decorated with the signs of a devotee, a person addicted to smoking, drinking or illegitimate sex with women cannot have all the above-mentioned ecstatic symptoms. But it is seen that sometimes these symptoms are willfully imitated, and for this reason Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī accuses the imitators of being stonehearted men. They are sometimes even affected by the reflection of such transcendental symptoms, yet if they still do not give up the forbidden habits, then they are hopeless cases for transcendental realization.

LORD CAITANYA SUPRESSED THESE SYMPTOMS
When Lord Caitanya met Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya of Kavaur on the bank of the Godāvarī, the Lord developed all these symptoms, but because of the presence of some nondevotee brāhmaṇas who were attendants of the Rāya, the Lord suppressed these symptoms. So sometimes they are not visible even in the body of the first-class devotee for certain circumstantial reasons. 
Srila Prabhupada very seldom exhibited symptoms of Bhava(ecstacy) and he did he excused himself. Because this is very private. Even Caitanya Maha Prabhu very seldomly expressed ecstasy…in front of the public. It was only in the close quarters… Kaviraj goswami excused for writing the lord’s ecstasy in CC. Srila Prabhupada was criticized for giving only the basics and not the edifice. If we read CC everything has been given by Srila Prabhupada. You need to systematically read step by step , verse by verse BG, SB, NOI, NOD and CC you will get all that is needed to go back to godhead.. Therefore real, steady bhāva is definitely displayed in the matter of

1. cessation of material desires (kṣānti),
2. utilization of every moment in the transcendental loving service of the Lord (avyārtha-kālatvam),
3. eagerness for glorifying the Lord constantly (nāma-gāne sadā ruci),
4. attraction for living in the land of the Lord (prītis tad-vasati sthale),
5. complete detachment from material happiness (virakti), and
6. pridelessness (māna-śūnyatā). 

One who has developed all these transcendental qualities is really possessed of the bhāva stage, as distinguished from the stone hearted imitator or mundane devotee.
Summary  The advanced devotee who chants the holy name of the Lord in a perfectly offenseless manner and is friendly to everyone can actually relish the transcendental taste of glorifying the Lord.And the result of such realization is reflected in the cessation of all material desires, etc., as mentioned above.

And the result of such realization is reflected in the cessation of all material desires, etc., as mentioned above. The neophytes, due to their being in the lower stage of devotional service, are invariably envious, so much so that they invent their own ways and means of devotional regulations without following the ācāryas. As such, even if they make a show of constantly chanting the holy name of the Lord, they cannot relish the transcendental taste of the holy name.

Therefore, the show of tears in the eyes, trembling, perspiration, unconsciousness, etc., is condemned. They can, however, get in touch with a pure devotee of the Lord and rectify their bad habits; otherwise they shall continue to be stone hearted and unfit for any treatment. A complete progressive march on the return path home, back to Godhead, will depend on the instructions of the revealed scriptures directed by a realized devotee.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.23

1. The ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts.
2. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord.
3. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, who has also served another pure devotee. That is the way of pure disciplic succession or devotional paramparā.
4. Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and the great saint replied  – “O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees….”
5. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly.
6. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.”
7. A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet. 
8. Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the vedic literatures.
9. The mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. 
10. The conclusion is – one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.
11. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states, kāmaṁ hṛd-rogam. Materialistic life means that one is afflicted by a formidable disease called lusty desire. Liberation means freedom from lusty desires. As long as one’s lusty desires are unfulfilled, one must take birth after birth to fulfill them. 
12. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, “If I must take some benediction from You, I pray that within the core of my heart there may be no material desires.”
13. As soon as one has material desires, one loses his spiritual identity. Then all the paraphernalia of one’s life, including one’s senses, body, religion, patience and intelligence, are deviated from one’s original Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
14. The only remedy is to take to devotional service, which begins when one is free from all material desires. Desirelessness means freedom from material desires. 
15. The spiritual soul has spiritual activities and spiritual desires. Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, one must be free from all material desires.
16. The living entity must be living, always existing with desires, ambitions and so on. These should be purified, however, so that one can desire spiritually and be spiritually ambitious, without material contamination. 
17. If one wants to stop repeated birth and death, one must take to the devotional service of the Lord.
18. “Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and, simply by being employed in the service of the Lord, one’s senses are purified.

SB 2.3.22 TRANSLATION: 

The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

CLASS NOTES: 

THE BREATHING DEAD BODY IS A GHOST

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to our present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts.

Two types of ghosts –
Walking living ghosts one’s which have a body – Always talking nonsensical things and doing nonsensical things. never has respect for pure devotees and Vishnu deities in the temple.
Dead ghosts – one who has no body

THE STAGE OF PURE DEVOTION IS ATTAINED BY SINCERELY SERVING A PURE DEVOTEE OF THE LORD. 

There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

Only by the mercy of the devotee one cannot get the mercy of the lord.. “Yasya prasada… bhgavat prasada… “ Process of KC is to accept the bonafide spiritual master

and serve the spiritual master and pariprasnena sevaya… 

What does pure mean – levels of purity – kanishtadhikari, madhyamadhikari, kanishtadhikari… one should always accept the Kanishtadhikari, may also accept Madhyamadhikari. He may not take you back to the Godhead. But he will always engage you on hearing and chanting the words of Krsna, acaryas always and may refer you to pure devotees… Parampara means there is a succession of sm who are engaged in pure devotional service… How does the spiritual master engage the disciples in devotional service. “Srivigrahara… dhana nitya nana… “ This is the whole process of KC. It is very scientific. If we follow the process we get the result. We become blessed by Krsna and our desires get purified and the result is love godhead…

(ŚB 7.10.7) NO MATERIAL DESIRES IN THE CORE OF THE HEART 
“Yadi yasya…
O my Lord, best of the givers of benediction, if You at all want to bestow a desirable benediction upon me, then I pray from Your Lordship that within the core of my heart there be no material desires.

Devotees are always on the positive platform, in contrast to the Māyāvādīs, who want to make everything impersonal or void. One cannot remain void (śūnyavādī); rather, one must possess something. Therefore, the devotee, on the positive side, wants to possess something, and this possession is very nicely described by Prahlāda Mahārāja, who says, “If I must take some benediction from You, I pray that within the core of my heart there may be no material desires.” The desire to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not at all material.

Mayavadis say – They say Krsna is “Tamasa Budhi…” Intelligence in Ignorance… they are worst blasphemers of Krsna. 

(SB 7.10.8) KĀMAṀ HṚD-ROGAM (LUSTY DESIRES) IS THE REASON FOR ALL THE SUFFERING
O my Lord, because of lusty desires from the very beginning of one’s birth, the functions of one’s senses, mind, life, body, religion, patience, intelligence, shyness, opulence, strength, memory and truthfulness are vanquished.

As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, kāmaṁ hṛd-rogam. Materialistic life means that one is afflicted by a formidable disease called lusty desire. Liberation means freedom from lusty desires because it is only due to such desires that one must accept repeated birth and death. As long as one’s lusty desires are unfulfilled, one must take birth after birth to fulfill them. 

All you need is one lusty desire and all the functions of senses, mind, life, body.. Are all ruined… People are living with millions of lusty desires.. And imagine how births they need to take… What is the cause of all the suffering in India… lusty desires.. The vaccine against all diseases and problems is getting rid of lusty desires.. This is the science and no one is teaching people about this.. The sickness of lusty desires start from the point of birth.. The reason why we are born itself is because of lusty desires… This is the sickness of the heart… The real reason for all the problems is “Kamad Hrd Rogam” 

THE ONLY REMEDY IS TO TAKE TO DEVOTIONAL SERVICE, WHICH BEGINS WHEN ONE IS FREE FROM ALL MATERIAL DESIRES.

Because of material desires, one performs various types of activities and receives various types of bodies with which to try to fulfill desires that are never satisfied. The only remedy is to take to devotional service, which begins when one is free from all material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. Anya-abhilāṣitā means “material desire,” and śūnyam means “free from.” The spiritual soul has spiritual activities and spiritual desires, as described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi. Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, however, one must be free from all material desires. Desirelessness means freedom from material desires. This is described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. 

AS SOON AS ONE HAS MATERIAL DESIRES, ONE LOSES HIS SPIRITUAL IDENTITY. 

Then all the paraphernalia of one’s life, including one’s senses, body, religion, patience and intelligence, are deviated from one’s original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as one has material desires, one cannot properly use his senses, intelligence, mind and so on for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Māyāvādī philosophers want to become impersonal, senseless and mindless, but that is not possible. The living entity must be living, always existing with desires, ambitions and so on. These should be purified, however, so that one can desire spiritually and be spiritually ambitious, without material contamination. In every living entity these propensities exist because he is a living entity. When materially contaminated, however, one is put into the hands of material misery (janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi). 

IF ONE WANTS TO STOP REPEATED BIRTH AND DEATH, ONE MUST TAKE TO THE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE OF THE LORD.
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

“Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and, simply by being employed in the service of the Lord, one’s senses are purified.

SB 2.3.23 – Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows (Bhāg. 5.12.12):
rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti
na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā
na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair
vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam
“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”

KṚṢṆA IS NEVER OBTAINABLE DIRECTLY. ONLY THE DEVOTEES CAN DELIVER KṚṢṆA TO ANOTHER DEVOTEE
In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.” A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet.

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the LORD IS NEVER TO BE FOUND BY BECOMING A GREAT SCHOLAR OF THE VEDIC LITERATURES, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee. 

In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that ONE SHOULD BE MORE SERIOUS ABOUT SEEKING THE MERCY OF THE DEVOTEE THAN THAT OF THE LORD DIRECTLY, AND BY ONE’S DOING SO (BY THE GOOD WILL OF THE DEVOTEE) THE NATURAL ATTRACTION FOR THE SERVICE OF THE LORD WILL BE REVIVED.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.22:

1. Especially for the householder devotees, the path of Deity worship is strongly recommended.
2. As far as possible, every householder, by the direction of the spiritual master, must install the Deity of Viṣṇu, forms and one’s family should worship strictly following the directions and regulations of arcana-vidhi.
3. Engagement in the worship of the Deity, under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, will greatly help the householders to purify their very existence and make rapid progress in spiritual knowledge. 
4. Book knowledge is theoretical, whereas the arcana process is practical. Spiritual knowledge must be developed by a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge, and that is the guaranteed way for attainment of spiritual perfection.
5. The training of devotional service for a neophyte devotee completely depends on the expert spiritual master who knows how to lead his disciple to make gradual progress towards the path back home, back to Godhead.
6. The spiritual master teaches the neophyte devotee -worshiping the Deity regularly by śṛṅgāra, by proper decoration and dressing, as also by the matter of cleansing the temple) all these kindly and personally to help him gradually in the realization of the transcendental name, quality, form, etc., of the Lord.
7. Only attention engaged in the service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kīrtana and spiritual instructions from scriptures, can save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios
8. If one is unable to maintain a temple at home, he should go to another’s temple where all the above performances are regularly executed.
9. Visiting the temple of a devotee and looking at the profusely decorated forms of the Lord well dressed in a well-decorated, sanctified temple naturally infuse the mundane mind with spiritual inspiration. 
10. People should visit holy places like Vṛndāvana where such temples and worship of the Deity are specifically maintained. 
11. It is the duty of the common man to take advantage of these temples and festivals observed in the holy places of pilgrimage by following in the footsteps of great devotees (anuvraja).
12. One should not visit all these sanctified pilgrimage places and temples with sightseeing in mind, but one must go to such temples and sanctified places immortalized by the transcendental pastimes of the Lord and be guided by bona fide spiritual master.
13. One who does not move in that way is as good as a standing tree condemned by the Lord not to move.
14. The moving tendency of the human being is misused by visiting places for sightseeing.
15. The best purpose of such traveling tendencies could be fulfilled by visiting the holy places established by great ācāryas and thereby not being misled by the atheistic propaganda of moneymaking men who have no knowledge of spiritual matters.

SB 2.3.22 TRANSLATION

The eyes which do not look at the symbolic representations of the Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu [His forms, name, quality, etc.] are like those printed on the plumes of the peacock, and the legs which do not move to the holy places [where the Lord is remembered] are considered to be like tree trunks.

CLASS NOTES:

ESPECIALLY FOR THE HOUSEHOLDER DEVOTEES, THE PATH OF DEITY WORSHIP IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
As far as possible, every householder, by the direction of the spiritual master, must install the Deity of Viṣṇu, forms like Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa or Sītā-Rāma especially, or any other form of the Lord, like Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Gaura-Nitāi, Matsya, Kūrma, śālagrāma-śilā and many other forms of Viṣṇu, like Trivikrama, Keśava, Acyuta, Vāsudeva, Nārāyaṇa and Dāmodara, as recommended in the Vaiṣṇava-tantras or Purāṇas, and one’s family should worship strictly following the directions and regulations of arcana-vidhi.

It is ok to have Gaura Nitai deity at home. It is very difficult to commit offense to gaura nitai. If Shaligram shila is installed at home, a strict regime has to be followed. Srila Prabhupada also said anyone who lives within the 5 mile radius of the temple has to consider the temple deities as their deities and offer worship to them. 

ANY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY WHO IS ABOVE TWELVE YEARS OF AGE SHOULD BE INITIATED BY A BONA FIDE SPIRITUAL MASTER, AND ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD SHOULD BE ENGAGED IN THE DAILY SERVICE OF THE LORD, beginning from morning (4 a.m.) till night (10 p.m.) by performing maṅgala-ārātrika, nirañjana, arcana, pūjā, kīrtana, śṛṅgāra, bhoga-vaikāli, sandhyā-ārātrika, pāṭha, bhoga (at night), śayana-ārātrika, etc. 

Engagement in such worship of the Deity, under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, will greatly help the householders to purify their very existence and make rapid progress in spiritual knowledge. 

SIMPLE THEORETICAL BOOK KNOWLEDGE IS NOT SUFFICIENT FOR A NEOPHYTE DEVOTEE.
Book knowledge is theoretical, whereas the arcana process is practical. Spiritual knowledge must be developed by a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge, and that is the guaranteed way for attainment of spiritual perfection.

Science of Krsna – BG 7.2

QUALITIES OF SPIRITUAL MASTER
The training of devotional service for a neophyte devotee completely depends on the expert spiritual master who knows how to lead his disciple to make gradual progress towards the path back home, back to Godhead. One should not become a pseudo spiritual master as a matter of business to meet one’s family expenditures; one must be an expert spiritual master to deliver the disciple from the clutches of impending death. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has defined the bona fide qualities of a spiritual master, and one of the verses in that description reads:

 The spiritual master teaches the neophyte devotee -worshiping the Deity regularly by śṛṅgāra, by proper decoration and dressing, as also by the matter of cleansing the temple) all these kindly and personally to help him gradually in the realization of the transcendental name, quality, form, etc., of the Lord.

śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-
śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau
yuktasya bhaktāṁś ca niyuñjato ’pi
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam

The spiritual master teaches the neophyte devotee -worshiping the Deity regularly by śṛṅgāra, by proper decoration and dressing, as also by the matter of cleansing the temple) all these kindly and personally to help him gradually in the realization of the transcendental name, quality, form, etc., of the Lord.

Srila Prabhupada is describing about the qualities of spiritual master specifically the verse in the guruvashtakam
In calcutta there are still families who installed deities at home and everyday the whole family is strictly worshipping the deities.
Even now in Calcutta you can see where Srila prabhupada grew up his house and the Rath yatra and the deities he worshipped…
There are also many mosques there. The whole society is built to awaken the God consciousness. The idea of Aryan society was based on the remembrance of the lord everyday. The same was copied by Muslims. They have a call for prayer 5 times a day.

ABSORPTION IN DEITY WORSHIP CAN ONLY SAVE ONE FROM HELLISH MATERIAL ATTRACTIONS
Only attention engaged in the service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kīrtana and spiritual instructions from scriptures, can save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios. If one is unable to maintain a temple at home, he should go to another’s temple where all the above performances are regularly executed. 

Now we understand why the 24 hr worship of deity is important. We like to see things and by engaging in worship – dressing and decorating we get saved from the mundane attractions… 

Visiting the temple of a devotee and looking at the profusely decorated forms of the Lord well dressed in a well-decorated, sanctified temple naturally infuse the mundane mind with spiritual inspiration. 

PEOPLE SHOULD VISIT HOLY PLACES LIKE VṚNDĀVANA WHERE SUCH TEMPLES AND WORSHIP OF THE DEITY ARE SPECIFICALLY MAINTAINED. 

Formerly all rich men like kings and rich merchants constructed such temples under the direction of expert devotees of the Lord, like the Six Gosvāmīs, and it is the duty of the common man to take advantage of these temples and festivals observed in the holy places of pilgrimage by following in the footsteps of great devotees (anuvraja). One should not visit all these sanctified pilgrimage places and temples with sightseeing in mind, but one must go to such temples and sanctified places immortalized by the transcendental pastimes of the Lord and be guided by proper men who know the science. This is called anuvraja. Anu means to follow. It is therefore best to follow the instruction of the bona fide spiritual master, even in visiting temples and the holy places of pilgrimage.

Auroville is a place where a temple for dead tombs of Aurobindo and his wife are worshipped. Tajmahal is a dead tomb and people visit these places rather than visiting the holy places like Tirupathi, Vrndavan, Mayapur… 

One who does not move in that way is as good as a standing tree condemned by the Lord not to move. The moving tendency of the human being is misused by visiting places for sightseeing. The best purpose of such traveling tendencies could be fulfilled by visiting the holy places established by great ācāryas and thereby not being misled by the atheistic propaganda of moneymaking men who have no knowledge of spiritual matters.

Trees are very lusty in previous lives.. Thus they are punished to not move only stand and suffer thousands of years.