KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.7.32:
- Lord Kṛṣṇa, when He was only seven years old, could snatch the great hill known as the Govardhana Parvata at Vṛndāvana and hold it for seven days continuously with one hand, just to protect the animals and the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana from the wrath of Indra, the heavenly King, who had been denied sacrificial offerings by the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi.
- Factually there is no need of offering sacrifices to the demigods for their services if one is engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord.
- In the Vedas, there are different kinds of yajñas prescribed for different kinds of demigods, but all are ultimately offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- For one who cannot understand what the Personality of Godhead is, sacrifice to the demigods is recommended
- BG 7.20 – Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.
- As long as the material contamination is not completely washed off, they are by nature nondevotees.
- In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is recommended that whether one is a pure devotee and is free from all material desires, or is full of material desires, or desires liberation from material contamination, he should in all cases surrender to Vāsudeva and worship Him.
- BG 7.21 – God has given independence to everyone; therefore, if a person desires to have material enjoyment and wants very sincerely to have such facilities from the material demigods, the Supreme Lord, as Supersoul in everyone’s heart, understands and gives facilities to such persons.
- As the supreme father of all living entities, He does not interfere with their independence, but gives all facilities so that they can fulfill their material desires.
- BG 7.22 – Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.
- BG 7.23 – Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.
- BG 9.21 – When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth and death.
- BG 9.22 – But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.
- BG 9.23 – Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kuntī, but they do so in a wrong way.
- BG 9.24 – (Final words on Demi God worship) I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down.
- BG 5.20 – A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
- The Lord saved the inhabitants and animals of Vrajabhūmi by His personal energy and proved definitely that anyone directly engaged as a devotee of the Supreme Lord need not satisfy any other demigods, however great, even to the level of Brahmā or Śiva.
- Thus this incident definitely proved without a doubt that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Personality of Godhead and that He was so in all circumstances, as a child on the lap of His mother, as a boy 7 years old, and as an old man of 125 years of age.
- In either case He was never on the level of the ordinary man, and even in His advanced age He appeared a young boy 16 years old. These are the particular features of the transcendental body of the Lord.
- Ignoring the instructions of the lord, many Brahmanas these days instruct people to do DemiGod worship to fulfill their material desires. Due to profit incentive nature they are corrupting people and condemning them to come out of this cycle of birth and death. One may go upto the heavenly planets but once their pious credit is done they will have to fall down again. It is a continuous vicious cycle.
- BG 14.20 – (Need to read this verse everyday, Mayavadis cannot do this,Only devotees can) When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes associated with the material body, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.
SB 2.7.32 TRANSLATION:
When the cowherd men of Vṛndāvana, under instruction of Kṛṣṇa, stopped offering sacrifice to the heavenly King, Indra, the whole tract of land known as Vraja was threatened with being washed away by constant heavy rains for seven days. Lord Kṛṣṇa, out of His causeless mercy upon the inhabitants of Vraja, held up the hill known as Govardhana with one hand only, although He was only seven years old. He did this to protect the animals from the onslaught of water.’
Children play with an umbrella generally known as a frog’s umbrella, and Lord Kṛṣṇa, when He was only seven years old, could snatch the great hill known as the Govardhana Parvata at Vṛndāvana and hold it for seven days continuously with one hand, just to protect the animals and the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana from the wrath of Indra, the heavenly King, who had been denied sacrificial offerings by the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi.
Factually there is no need of offering sacrifices to the demigods for their services if one is engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord.
BG 3.12 – The demigods are authorized supplying agents on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. Therefore, they must be satisfied by the performance of prescribed yajñas. In the Vedas, there are different kinds of yajñas prescribed for different kinds of demigods, but all are ultimately offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For one who cannot understand what the Personality of Godhead is, sacrifice to the demigods is recommended. According to the different material qualities of the persons concerned, different types of yajñas are recommended in the Vedas. Worship of different demigods is also on the same basis – namely, according to different qualities. For example, the meat-eaters are recommended to worship the goddess Kālī, the ghastly form of material nature, and before the goddess the sacrifice of animals is recommended. But for those who are in the mode of goodness, the transcendental worship of Viṣṇu is recommended. But ultimately all yajñas are meant for gradual promotion to the transcendental position. For ordinary men, at least five yajñas, known as pañca-mahā-yajña, are necessary.
This is further emphasized in Chapter BG 7.20 -22
BG 7.20
Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.
Those who are freed from all material contaminations surrender unto the Supreme Lord and engage in His devotional service. As long as the material contamination is not completely washed off, they are by nature nondevotees. But even those who have material desires and who resort to the Supreme Lord are not so much attracted by external nature; because of approaching the right goal, they soon become free from all material lust. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is recommended that whether one is a pure devotee and is free from all material desires, or is full of material desires, or desires liberation from material contamination, he should in all cases surrender to Vāsudeva (Can be Krsna or Vasudeva from the first chaturvyuha) and worship Him. As stated in the Bhāgavatam (2.3.10):
BG 7.21
God has given independence to everyone; therefore, if a person desires to have material enjoyment and wants very sincerely to have such facilities from the material demigods, the Supreme Lord, as Supersoul in everyone’s heart, understands and gives facilities to such persons. As the supreme father of all living entities, He does not interfere with their independence, but gives all facilities so that they can fulfill their material desires.
Material desires are very dangerous.. They can entagle one in this material world. Mayavadis propose eliminating all desires.. But that is not the solution. This is said in BG 3 rd chapter – Nahi kascit..
BG 3.5
Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities he has acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.
It is not a question of embodied life, but it is the nature of the soul to be always active. Without the presence of the spirit soul, the material body cannot move. The body is only a dead vehicle to be worked by the spirit soul, which is always active and cannot stop even for a moment. As such, the spirit soul has to be engaged in the good work of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, otherwise it will be engaged in occupations dictated by the illusory energy. In contact with material energy, the spirit soul acquires material modes, and to purify the soul from such affinities it is necessary to engage in the prescribed duties enjoined in the śāstras. But if the soul is engaged in his natural function of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whatever he is able to do is good for him.
Worship of DemiGods is recommended in the absence of the knowledge of Krsna. It only works when the pandits and priests are genuine devotees. When they are mixed devotees and to have profit incentive .. they do not teach the goal of these rituals and they say worship of God will not satisfy their devotees.. Having BG at home brings quarrels. All these false rumors are spread to insulate people from becoming devotees.. They become devotees of demigods.. They are hindered by these priests. Sukracharya taught Bali Maharaj that all sacrifices are meant to satisfy Vishnu.. When the lord appeared as Vamana he tried to stop Bali maharaj from giving even a penny to the Lord.. why? Because he was profit incentive.. Even the devotees are corrupted because of it.. We are taught this profit incentive at home at school by our family.. Example – A devotee wanted to do downine of Amway.. To make money.. To serve.. We are here to give upline to Krsna and not downline.. Nature of the soul is to have desires.. How can one become desireless.
Some may ask why the all-powerful God gives facilities to the living entities for enjoying this material world and so lets them fall into the trap of the illusory energy. The answer is that if the Supreme Lord as Supersoul does not give such facilities, then there is no meaning to independence. Therefore He gives everyone full independence – whatever one likes – but His ultimate instruction we find in the Bhagavad-gītā: one should give up all other engagements and fully surrender unto Him. That will make man happy.
Both the living entity and the demigods are subordinate to the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore the living entity cannot worship the demigod by his own desire, nor can the demigod bestow any benediction without the supreme will. As it is said, not a blade of grass moves without the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Generally, persons who are distressed in the material world go to the demigods, as they are advised in the Vedic literature. A person wanting some particular thing may worship such and such a demigod. For example, a diseased person is recommended to worship the sun-god; a person wanting education may worship the goddess of learning, Sarasvatī; and a person wanting a beautiful wife may worship the goddess Umā, the wife of Lord Śiva. In this way there are recommendations in the śāstras (Vedic scriptures) for different modes of worship of different demigods. And because a particular living entity wants to enjoy a particular material facility, the Lord inspires him with a strong desire to achieve that benediction from that particular demigod, and so he successfully receives the benediction.
BG 7.22
Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.
BG 7.23
Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.
When you insist on praying to Demi Gods under the instruction of false brahmins and pandits you are condemned to stay in this material world forever.. You may go upto heavenly when your punya is done you again fall down.. This is a viscous cycle.. Finally Krsna says in BG 9.22
BG 9.21
When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth and death.
Brahma and Shiva cannot give liberation..
BG 9.22
But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.
BG 9.23
Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kuntī, but they do so in a wrong way.
BG 9.24 – Final words on Demi God worship
I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down.
Here it is clearly stated that there are many types of yajña performances recommended in the Vedic literatures, but actually all of them are meant for satisfying the Supreme Lord. Yajña means Viṣṇu. In the Third Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly stated that one should only work for satisfying Yajña, or Viṣṇu. The perfectional form of human civilization, known as varṇāśrama-dharma, is specifically meant for satisfying Viṣṇu. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa says in this verse, “I am the enjoyer of all sacrifices because I am the supreme master.” Less intelligent persons, however, without knowing this fact, worship demigods for temporary benefit. Therefore they fall down to material existence and do not achieve the desired goal of life. If, however, anyone has any material desire to be fulfilled, he had better pray for it to the Supreme Lord (although that is not pure devotion), and he will thus achieve the desired result.
BG 5.20
A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
Sacrifices recommended in the Vedic literature for satisfaction of the demigods are a sort of inducement to the sacrificers to realize the existence of higher authorities. The demigods are engaged by the Lord as controlling deities of material affairs, and according to the Bhagavad-gītā, when a demigod is worshiped the process is accepted as the indirect method for worshiping the Supreme Lord. But when the Supreme Lord is worshiped directly there is no need of worshiping the demigods or offering them sacrifices as recommended in particular circumstances. Lord Kṛṣṇa therefore advised the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi not to offer any sacrifices to the heavenly King Indra. But Indra, not knowing Lord Kṛṣṇa in Vrajabhūmi, was angry at the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi and tried to avenge the offense. But, competent as the Lord was, He saved the inhabitants and animals of Vrajabhūmi by His personal energy and proved definitely that anyone directly engaged as a devotee of the Supreme Lord need not satisfy any other demigods, however great, even to the level of Brahmā or Śiva. Thus this incident definitely proved without a doubt that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Personality of Godhead and that He was so in all circumstances, as a child on the lap of His mother, as a boy 7 years old, and as an old man of 125 years of age. In either case He was never on the level of the ordinary man, and even in His advanced age He appeared a young boy 16 years old. These are the particular features of the transcendental body of the Lord.
We learnt in previous verses that Krsna’s hair never went grey..
He never gets old..
He has four hands when he was born
He is not affected by time, miseries in this material world
His hair never get grey..
He is completely independent
He does not have to do anything but He does things to give an example. He came as Lord Caitanya to give an example of good devotee.
To understand Krsna is almost impossible only few people can understand.. It is only when you surrender to Krsna and do devotional service you begin to understand Krsna..
Mamca yo avyabhicharena..
Only when you do devotional service you can rise above the modes.
Also in 14th chapter there is a very nice verse.
BG 14.20 – Who can enjoy the nectar even in this life – This is our verse
When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes associated with the material body, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.
DemiGod worshippers cannot do this, Mayavadis cannot do this,
How one can stay in the transcendental position, even in this body, in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is explained in this verse. The Sanskrit word dehī means “embodied.” Although one is within this material body, by his advancement in spiritual knowledge he can be free from the influence of the modes of nature. He can enjoy the happiness of spiritual life even in this body because, after leaving this body, he is certainly going to the spiritual sky. But even in this body he can enjoy spiritual happiness. In other words, devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the sign of liberation from material entanglement, and this will be explained in the Eighteenth Chapter. When one is freed from the influence of the modes of material nature, he enters into devotional service.
SB 2.7.27 – There is no doubt about Lord Kṛṣṇa’s being the Supreme Lord. Otherwise, how was it possible for Him to kill a giant demon like Pūtanā when He was just on the lap of His mother, to overturn a cart with His leg when He was only three months old, or to uproot a pair of arjuna trees so high that they touched the sky, when He was only crawling? All these activities are impossible for anyone other than the Lord Himself.
If we understand the unique qualities of Krsna we can go back to Godhead.. These qualities are unique to Krsna and no one can emulate them.. Even Narayana.. Intimate love.. Freedom.. Even where things that are considered as violations of KC those type of are happening in Goloka Vrindavan.. But they are not violations in Goloka Vrindavan.. There in Goloka Vrindavan all activities are prompted by pure love.. Of Course the material world is a perverted reflection of Goloka and if the same activities are done here it would be a sin.. This is what is very confusing for people.. Those people who have material desires never go to Krsna.. Many decent Hindus do not want to worship Krsna because they do not want their kids to be corrupted.. With His activities.. This is because they are not associating or hearing from genuine devotees
Anything which takes a person away from Krsna is Maya. Lord Caitanya never talked about Lord’s intimate past times in public.. He only did Sankirtan and prasadam distribution.. To do preaching you have to be highly trained to become successful.. Training – come for Mangala Arti, following all the rules and regulations. There are some devotees who chant but they smoke marijuna – French devotees in Radha Kunda. People somehow or the other they can accommodate this in their mind, but it is nonsense.
Therefore people should associate with genuine devotees. The most genuine devotee is Srila Prabhupada. We associate with Him by following His instructions.. He is simply repeating the same instructions that Krsna gave and Aacharyas have validated. This the way to associate. Following the instruction given by them strictly..
How to answer the lady example – where people say we do not want to teach our children about Krsna as they might get corrupted..
Speak nicely… do not get angry. Speak about other past times Krsna is
There is no such thing as sin in the spiritual world, because –
- Everyone is eternal
- Everyone has only pure love and devotion for Krsna
- If a person has sinful thought immediately they fall down into material world
Therefore what appears as sin in the material world is not a sin..
There is no such thing as bodily sex, killing people, hurting people, accidents.. In the spiritual world.
Unless you becomes purified you will not be able to understand who Krsna is
Even if you convince one person to become a pure devotee Krsna is extremely pleased.. Be gentle, kind to people and help them through difficulties
The Key is in Spiritual world everything is eternal..