SB 3.3.3 Notes – 6/12/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 3.3.3:

  • Rukmiṇī was beautiful and chaste and was meant to be married to Lord Kṛṣṇa. 
  • Many saintly persons and sages like Nārada Muni used to visit the palace of King Bhīṣmaka. Naturally Rukmiṇī had a chance to talk with them, and in this way she obtained information about Kṛṣṇa. 
  • She was informed about the six opulences of Kṛṣṇa, and simply by hearing about Him she desired to surrender herself to His lotus feet and become His wife. 
  • Kṛṣṇa had also heard of Rukmiṇī. She was the reservoir of all transcendental qualities: intelligence, auspicious physical features, liberal-mindedness, exquisite beauty and righteous behavior. 
  • Kṛṣṇa therefore decided that she was fit to be His wife.
  • All of the relatives of King Bhīṣmaka decided that Rukmiṇī should be given in marriage to Kṛṣṇa. But her elder brother Rukmī, despite the desire of the others, arranged for her marriage with Śiśupāla, a determined enemy of Kṛṣṇa. 
  • When the black-eyed, beautiful Rukmiṇī heard of the settlement, she immediately became very morose. However, being a king’s daughter, she understood political diplomacy and decided that there was no use in simply being morose. 
  • Letter to Himavati – Yes, to call one another prabhu is all right, but not to become prabhu. To accept others as prabhu, and remain as servant is the idea. But because somebody is calling you prabhu, one should not become a prabhu, and treat others as servants. 
  • In other words, everyone should feel himself as servant, and not to think himself prabhu because he is being called prabhu. This will make the relationship congenial.
  • Our society requires millions of dollars for propaganda work, but Krishna has made us financially poor. I think it is good to remain financially poor because always we shall be able to pray Krishna, asking His help to execute His service. 
  • If all of a sudden we become very strong financially, Maya may dictate us for sense enjoyment, and we may fall a prey to her tactics. Therefore to remain poor is one of the qualifications for advancing in Krishna Consciousness. 
  • Our predecessors, the Goswamis, they voluntarily gave up everything for advancement
  • in Krishna Consciousness. We do not require any money for our personal account, we shall always be happy with anything Krishna is happy to supply us for maintenance, but for the preaching purposes, we can accommodate to receive all the riches of the world.
  • So let us try with sincerity, and Krishna will help us in the matter of our advancing the cause of Krishna Consciousness.

SB 3.3.3 TRANSLATION:

Attracted by the beauty and fortune of Rukmiṇī, the daughter of King Bhīṣmaka, many great princes and kings assembled to marry her. But Lord Kṛṣṇa, stepping over the other hopeful candidates, carried her away as His own share, as Garuḍa carried away nectar.

Princess Rukmiṇī, the daughter of King Bhīṣmaka, was actually as attractive as fortune itself because she was as valuable as gold both in color and in value. Since the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, is the property of the Supreme Lord, Rukmiṇī was actually meant for Lord Kṛṣṇa. But Śiśupāla was selected as her bridegroom by Rukmiṇī’s elder brother, although King Bhīṣmaka wanted his daughter to be married to Kṛṣṇa. Rukmiṇī invited Kṛṣṇa to take her away from the clutches of Śiśupāla, so when the bridegroom, Śiśupāla, came there with his party with the desire to marry Rukmiṇī, Kṛṣṇa all of a sudden swept her from the scene, stepping over the heads of all the princes there, just as Garuḍa carried away nectar from the hands of the demons. This incident will be clearly explained in the Tenth Canto.

This story reveals that some people even though they see God, they cannot realize that He is God.. 

Seeing is not always believing 

But if you hear about God from bonafide devotees then we can understand.. 

KB – 52

The story of Kṛṣṇa’s marriage with Rukmiṇī is described as follows. The King of Vidarbha, Mahārāja Bhīṣmaka, was very qualified and devoted. He had five sons and only one daughter. The first son was known as Rukmī; the second, Rukmaratha; the third, Rukmabāhu; the fourth, Rukmakeśa; and the fifth, Rukmamālī. The brothers had one young sister, Rukmiṇī. She was beautiful and chaste and was meant to be married to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Many saintly persons and sages like Nārada Muni used to visit the palace of King Bhīṣmaka. Naturally Rukmiṇī had a chance to talk with them, and in this way she obtained information about Kṛṣṇa. She was informed about the six opulences of Kṛṣṇa, and simply by hearing about Him she desired to surrender herself to His lotus feet and become His wife. Kṛṣṇa had also heard of Rukmiṇī. She was the reservoir of all transcendental qualities: intelligence, auspicious physical features, liberal-mindedness, exquisite beauty and righteous behavior. Kṛṣṇa therefore decided that she was fit to be His wife. All of the relatives of King Bhīṣmaka decided that Rukmiṇī should be given in marriage to Kṛṣṇa. But her elder brother Rukmī, despite the desire of the others, arranged for her marriage with Śiśupāla, a determined enemy of Kṛṣṇa. When the black-eyed, beautiful Rukmiṇī heard of the settlement, she immediately became very morose. However, being a king’s daughter, she understood political diplomacy and decided that there was no use in simply being morose. Some steps should be taken immediately. After some deliberation, she decided to send a message to Kṛṣṇa, and so that she might not be deceived, she selected a qualified brāhmaṇa as her messenger. Such a qualified brāhmaṇa is always truthful and is a devotee of Viṣṇu. Without delay, she sent the brāhmaṇa to Dvārakā.

Hearing is much more important than reading and physical 

Nine forms of devotional service – Shravanam, Hearing and Kirtanam, Vishnu smaranam- Chanting, Remembering what we heard.. And repeating.. 

What is the best way of repeating – Going  on Harinam Sankirtan.. Preaching to people.offering books,  answering questions and challenges.. Come back and ask questions about things you could not answer.. Very quickly you will learn the philosophy of KC.. 

If you do not go on sankirtan – you will learn somethings and not everything 

Live a simple life.. 

If we simply do what SP asks us to do. Morning chanting, arti, class then you get fixed up

Then you go for sankirtan.. It is the icing on the top of the cake.. 

Elon Musk – may appear the richest.. He is in lot of anxiety.. 

Liberalmindedness – open to be instructed by the devotees.. 

Tell me who your friends and I will tell you who you are – Asat sanga tyaga..

People who are always doing Mundane activities.. 

Trick of all false gurus – downplay the importance of sastra.. And amplify their personal presence.. They speak only speculations.. 

Opinions are not acceptable.. Facts are acceptable

Real Science – true in the past, present and future , in all times and all places. 

The only science is Krsna. 

Mayavadis theory – only Brahman is true is false.. 

Many of the words in the dictionary are falsely defined.. 

Bodily attachment to relatives can be a limitation 

Triangle of verification – Guru, Sastra and Acharyas.. 

Bali Maharaj & Sukra Charya example – Guru is someone who repeats Krsna’s words and lives them.. 

Whenever a devotee is insulted.. He takes it as a blessing.. And chants more rounds. The person who insulted you becomes your guru.. 

Philosophy – Darshana – how you see things

KC – always sees the silver lining in the most difficult situations. Ex – Parikshit maharaj 

Whole spiritual life is based on respect.. Learning to respect

To be a Brahmana you need to take the vow of property.. They educated for free, lived many minimalist life.. 

Life of a devotee should be very minimalist.. Even if you earn 1 million dollar per day you need to use it all in the service of Krsna..for that day.. 

Sanatana Goswami – had an Opulent chadar .. replaced it with torn chadar.. Of a poor person.. 

Vow of property is very imp for the Brahmanas.. 

Letter to Himavati 

Dated: June 14, 1968

Location: Montreal

https://vedabase.io/en/library/letters/letter-to-himavati-4/

Yes, to call one another prabhu is all right, but not to become prabhu. To accept others as prabhu, and remain as servant is the idea. But because somebody is calling you prabhu, one should not become a prabhu, and treat others as servants. In other words, everyone should feel himself as servant, and not to think himself prabhu because he is being called prabhu. This will make the relationship congenial.

Our society requires millions of dollars for propaganda work, but Krishna has made us financially poor. I think it is good to remain financially poor because always we shall be able to pray Krishna, asking His help to execute His service. If all of a sudden we become very strong financially, Maya may dictate us for sense enjoyment, and we may fall a prey to her tactics. Therefore to remain poor is one of the qualifications for advancing in Krishna Consciousness. Our predecessors, the Goswamis, they voluntarily gave up everything for advancement in Krishna Consciousness. We do not require any money for our personal account, we shall always be happy with anything Krishna is happy to supply us for maintenance, but for the preaching purposes, we can accommodate to receive all the riches of the world. So let us try with sincerity, and Krishna will help us in the matter of our advancing the cause of Krishna Consciousness.

Perfect questions and perfect answers 

Even one penny used for own sense gratification you go to hell 


Maharaj’s story – homeless in Paris, shook down by Tamal Krishna prabhu, service to clean the kitchen every day in the morning 

Couples sent to london

Remain sincere and follow the rules and regulations.. Be a preacher and take a risk.. 

Pure desires to please Krsna – some mysterious way Krsna will help 

Bas desires – we fail 

Mixed desires – we will not be successful 

Remain a minimalist.. Have pure desire to please Krsna..

Perks of KaliYuga – simply by thinking by doing something for Krsna.. We get the result.. 

Simply by chanting Hare Krsna we can go back to Godhead..  

SB 2.10.22 Notes – 2/25/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.10.22 TODAY (2/25/22):

  • The power of hearing and the instruments for hearing were given to them by the Lord for hearing about the Self, or about the Lord. Unfortunately the power of hearing is misused in hearing the vibrations of mundane affairs. 
  • The great sages were interested in hearing about the Lord through Vedic knowledge and nothing more. That is the beginning of aural reception of knowledge.
  • A brahmacārī hears only words concerning Kṛṣṇa consciousness; hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacārī engages fully in harer nāmānukīrtanam – chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. 
  • He restrains himself from the vibrations of material sounds, and his hearing is engaged in the transcendental sound vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa.
  • BG 10.18 – O Janārdana, again please describe in detail the mystic power of Your opulences. I am never satiated in hearing about You, for the more I hear the more I want to taste the nectar of Your words.
  • “One can never be satiated even though one continuously hears the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by excellent prayers. Those who have entered into a transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa relish at every step the descriptions of the pastimes of the Lord.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.19)
  • Now as far as amṛtam, nectar, is concerned, any narration or statement concerning Kṛṣṇa is just like nectar. And this nectar can be perceived by practical experience.
  • Modern stories, fiction and histories are different from the transcendental pastimes of the Lord in that one will tire of hearing mundane stories but one never tires of hearing about Kṛṣṇa.
  • BG 11.36 – Arjuna said: O master of the senses, the world becomes joyful upon hearing Your name, and thus everyone becomes attached to You. 
  • A devotee does not need to practice aṣṭāṅga-yoga in order to transfer his soul to the spiritual planets. The responsibility is taken by the Supreme Lord Himself. He clearly states that He Himself becomes the deliverer. 
  • The Lord picks up the devotee from this material existence. One simply has to practice the easy process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and fully engage himself in devotional service. Any intelligent man should always prefer the process of devotional service to all other paths
  • One should give up all other processes of self-realization and simply execute devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will enable one to reach the highest perfection of life. 
  • There is no need for one to consider the sinful actions of his past life, because the Supreme Lord fully takes charge of him. Therefore one should not futilely try to deliver himself in spiritual realization. Let everyone take shelter of the supreme omnipotent Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. That is the highest perfection of life.
  • One who is engaged in Lord Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service lives in a direct relationship with the Supreme Lord, so there is no doubt that his position is transcendental from the very beginning. 
  • A devotee does not live on the material plane – he lives in Kṛṣṇa. The holy name of the Lord and the Lord are nondifferent; therefore when a devotee chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa and His internal potency are dancing on the tongue of the devotee. 
  • When he offers Kṛṣṇa food, Kṛṣṇa directly accepts these eatables, and the devotee becomes Kṛṣṇa-ized by eating the remnants. 
  • One who does not engage in such service cannot understand how this is so, although this is a process recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā and in other Vedic literatures.

SB 2.10.22 TRANSLATION:

By development of the desire of the great sages to know, the ears, the power of hearing, the controlling deity of hearing, and the objects of hearing became manifested. The great sages desired to hear about the Self.

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, by advancement of knowledge one should try to know about the Supreme Lord, the summum bonum of everything. Knowledge does not mean knowledge only of the laws of nature or physical knowledge, which are working by the direction of the Lord. The scientists are eager to hear about the physical laws working in material nature. They are eager to hear through the medium of radio and television about things taking place far away from them on other planets, but they should know that the power of hearing and the instruments for hearing were given to them by the Lord for hearing about the Self, or about the Lord. Unfortunately the power of hearing is misused in hearing the vibrations of mundane affairs. The great sages were interested in hearing about the Lord through Vedic knowledge and nothing more. That is the beginning of aural reception of knowledge.

Most imp for introducing one to KC or Steady progress in KC is hearing. If we engage in hearing, we make in genuine progress. 

One learns by hearing. Upto the age of 5 children dont know how to read, but they speak sentences they learn by hearing. Most of the books are read to them and they hear. 

They can learn any language in the world by the time they are 5 years.. Just by hearing. 

By hearing from Bonafide authority one learns the real knowledge. 

Real reason – Power of hearing is specifically given to hear about Krsna. 

If we hear nonsense then there are consequences. 

BG 4.26 

Some [the unadulterated brahmacārīs] sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of mental control, and others [the regulated householders] sacrifice the objects of the senses in the fire of the senses.

The members of the four divisions of human life, namely the brahmacārī, the gṛhastha, the vānaprastha and the sannyāsī, are all meant to become perfect yogīs or transcendentalists. Since human life is not meant for our enjoying sense gratification like the animals, the four orders of human life are so arranged that one may become perfect in spiritual life. The brahmacārīs, or students under the care of a bona fide spiritual master, control the mind by abstaining from sense gratification. A brahmacārī hears only words concerning Kṛṣṇa consciousness; hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacārī engages fully in harer nāmānukīrtanam – chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. He restrains himself from the vibrations of material sounds, and his hearing is engaged in the transcendental sound vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, the householders, who have some license for sense gratification, perform such acts with great restraint. Sex life, intoxication and meat-eating are general tendencies of human society, but a regulated householder does not indulge in unrestricted sex life and other sense gratification. Marriage on the principles of religious life is therefore current in all civilized human society because that is the way for restricted sex life. This restricted, unattached sex life is also a kind of yajña because the restricted householder sacrifices his general tendency toward sense gratification for higher, transcendental life.

BG 10.18 

O Janārdana, again please describe in detail the mystic power of Your opulences. I am never satiated in hearing about You, for the more I hear the more I want to taste the nectar of Your words.

A similar statement was made to Sūta Gosvāmī by the ṛṣis of Naimiṣāraṇya, headed by Śaunaka. That statement is:

vayaṁ tu na vitṛpyāma

uttama-śloka-vikrame

yac chṛṇvatāṁ rasa-jñānāṁ

svādu svādu pade pade

“One can never be satiated even though one continuously hears the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by excellent prayers. Those who have entered into a transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa relish at every step the descriptions of the pastimes of the Lord.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.19) Thus Arjuna is interested in hearing about Kṛṣṇa, and specifically how He remains as the all-pervading Supreme Lord.

Now as far as amṛtam, nectar, is concerned, any narration or statement concerning Kṛṣṇa is just like nectar. And this nectar can be perceived by practical experience. Modern stories, fiction and histories are different from the transcendental pastimes of the Lord in that one will tire of hearing mundane stories but one never tires of hearing about Kṛṣṇa. It is for this reason only that the history of the whole universe is replete with references to the pastimes of the incarnations of Godhead. The Purāṇas are histories of bygone ages that relate the pastimes of the various incarnations of the Lord. In this way the reading matter remains forever fresh, despite repeated readings.

BG 11.36 

Arjuna said: O master of the senses, the world becomes joyful upon hearing Your name, and thus everyone becomes attached to You. Although the perfected beings offer You their respectful homage, the demons are afraid, and they flee here and there. All this is rightly done.

Arjuna, after hearing from Kṛṣṇa about the outcome of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, became enlightened, and as a great devotee and friend of the Supreme Personality of Godhead he said that everything done by Kṛṣṇa is quite fit. Arjuna confirmed that Kṛṣṇa is the maintainer and the object of worship for the devotees and the destroyer of the undesirables. His actions are equally good for all. Arjuna understood herein that when the Battle of Kurukṣetra was being concluded, in outer space there were present many demigods, siddhas, and the intelligentsia of the higher planets, and they were observing the fight because Kṛṣṇa was present there. When Arjuna saw the universal form of the Lord, the demigods took pleasure in it, but others, who were demons and atheists, could not stand it when the Lord was praised. Out of their natural fear of the devastating form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they fled. Kṛṣṇa’s treatment of the devotees and the atheists is praised by Arjuna. In all cases a devotee glorifies the Lord because he knows that whatever He does is good for all.

BG 12.6-7

But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.

It is explicitly stated here that the devotees are very fortunate to be delivered very soon from material existence by the Lord. In pure devotional service one comes to the realization that God is great and that the individual soul is subordinate to Him. His duty is to render service to the Lord – and if he does not, then he will render service to māyā.

As stated before, the Supreme Lord can be appreciated only by devotional service. Therefore, one should be fully devoted. One should fix his mind fully on Kṛṣṇa in order to achieve Him. One should work only for Kṛṣṇa. It does not matter in what kind of work one engages, but that work should be done only for Kṛṣṇa. That is the standard of devotional service. The devotee does not desire any achievement other than pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His life’s mission is to please Kṛṣṇa, and he can sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction, just as Arjuna did in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. The process is very simple: one can devote himself in his occupation and engage at the same time in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Such transcendental chanting attracts the devotee to the Personality of Godhead.

The Supreme Lord herein promises that without delay He will deliver a pure devotee thus engaged from the ocean of material existence. Those who are advanced in yoga practice can willfully transfer the soul to whatever planet they like by the yoga process, and others take the opportunity in various ways, but as far as the devotee is concerned, it is clearly stated here that the Lord Himself takes him. The devotee does not need to wait to become very experienced in order to transfer himself to the spiritual sky.

The purport of this verse is that a devotee does not need to practice aṣṭāṅga-yoga in order to transfer his soul to the spiritual planets. The responsibility is taken by the Supreme Lord Himself. He clearly states here that He Himself becomes the deliverer. A child is completely cared for by his parents, and thus his position is secure. Similarly, a devotee does not need to endeavor to transfer himself by yoga practice to other planets. Rather, the Supreme Lord, by His great mercy, comes at once, riding on His bird carrier Garuḍa, and at once delivers the devotee from material existence. Although a man who has fallen in the ocean may struggle very hard and may be very expert in swimming, he cannot save himself. But if someone comes and picks him up from the water, then he is easily rescued. Similarly, the Lord picks up the devotee from this material existence. One simply has to practice the easy process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and fully engage himself in devotional service. Any intelligent man should always prefer the process of devotional service to all other paths. In the Nārāyaṇīya this is confirmed as follows:

yā vai sādhana-sampattiḥ

puruṣārtha-catuṣṭaye

tayā vinā tad āpnoti

naro nārāyaṇāśrayaḥ

The purport of this verse is that one should not engage in the different processes of fruitive activity or cultivate knowledge by the mental speculative process. One who is devoted to the Supreme Personality can attain all the benefits derived from other yogic processes, speculation, rituals, sacrifices, charities, etc. That is the specific benediction of devotional service.

Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa – Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare – a devotee of the Lord can approach the supreme destination easily and happily, but this destination cannot be approached by any other process of religion.

The conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā is stated in the Eighteenth Chapter:

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

One should give up all other processes of self-realization and simply execute devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will enable one to reach the highest perfection of life. There is no need for one to consider the sinful actions of his past life, because the Supreme Lord fully takes charge of him. Therefore one should not futilely try to deliver himself in spiritual realization. Let everyone take shelter of the supreme omnipotent Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. That is the highest perfection of life.

BG 12.8 

Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.

One who is engaged in Lord Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service lives in a direct relationship with the Supreme Lord, so there is no doubt that his position is transcendental from the very beginning. A devotee does not live on the material plane – he lives in Kṛṣṇa. The holy name of the Lord and the Lord are nondifferent; therefore when a devotee chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa and His internal potency are dancing on the tongue of the devotee. When he offers Kṛṣṇa food, Kṛṣṇa directly accepts these eatables, and the devotee becomes Kṛṣṇa-ized by eating the remnants. One who does not engage in such service cannot understand how this is so, although this is a process recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā and in other Vedic literatures.

Project for Ananda Mela this year: 

Connect with a larger number of people – another religion, not happy with organized religion, atheists.. How do we connect with them? 

Connect with enlightened knowledge. Millions of books and classes on how to do something? 

Biggest problem people have- Suffering 

Suffering cause by the body other bodies, other natural calamities.. 

How to be free of suffering and be happy? Message everyone resonates with. 

Stepping stone or path to that is called – DAIVI VARNASHRAMA DHARMA

Organization of spiritual society 

Mode of goodness – one begins to understand spiritual knowledge

To instruct people who they can come upto the mode of goodness. Become free from all these sufferings. 

From mode of goodness we can further instruct on how to go to the mode of transcendental goodness. 

BOOK – “Dance for peace and social harmony”

Education for peace

Communications for peace

Meditation for peace

Social order for peace

Ideas for display from this book. 

Life’s problems and solutions book is theme and framework for the Anandamela.. 

CREATING A COALITION FOR GOODNESS
Explaining a way the society can become peaceful, happy, prosperous, spiritually enlightened, cultivating the mode of goodness. 

Stepping stone for getting spiritually enlightened

Many are are in passion and ignorance.. They cannot understand.. Vedic solutions.. 

SB 2.10.6 Notes – 2/11/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.10.6:

  • Reading or hearing of transcendental literatures helps one become liberated even in the conditional state of material existence. 
  • All the Vedic literatures aim at devotional service to the Personality of Godhead, and as soon as one is fixed upon this point, he at once becomes liberated from conditional life.
  • The material gross and subtle forms are simply due to the conditioned soul’s ignorance and as soon as he is fixed in the devotional service of the Lord, he becomes eligible to be freed from the conditioned state. 
  • This devotional service is transcendental attraction for the Supreme on account of His being the source of all pleasing humors. 
  • Everyone is after some pleasure of humor for enjoyment, but does not know the supreme source of all attraction (raso vai saḥ rasaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati).
  • The Vedic hymns inform everyone about the supreme source of all pleasure: the unlimited fountainhead of all pleasure is the Personality of Godhead. And one who is fortunate enough to get this information through transcendental literatures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam becomes permanently liberated to occupy his proper place in the kingdom of God.
  • BG 13.26- Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death.
  • As for the common man, if he is a good soul, then there is a chance for advancement by hearing. This hearing process is very important. Lord Caitanya, who preached Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the modern world, gave great stress to hearing because if the common man simply hears from authoritative sources he can progress, especially, according to Lord Caitanya, if he hears the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
  • It is stated, therefore, that all men should take advantage of hearing from realized souls and gradually become able to understand everything. The worship of the Supreme Lord will then undoubtedly take place.
  • Lord Caitanya has said that in this age no one needs to change his position, but one should give up the endeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by speculative reasoning.
  • One should learn to become the servant of those who are in knowledge of the Supreme Lord. If one is fortunate enough to take shelter of a pure devotee, hear from him about self-realization and follow in his footsteps, one will be gradually elevated to the position of a pure devotee.
  • Unless one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his material consciousness will oblige him to transfer from one body to another because he has material desires since time immemorial.
  • But he has to change that conception. That change can be effected only by hearing from authoritative sources. The best example is here: Arjuna is hearing the science of God from Kṛṣṇa.
  • The living entity, if he submits to this hearing process, will lose his long-cherished desire to dominate material nature, and gradually and proportionately, as he reduces his long desire to dominate, he comes to enjoy spiritual happiness.
  • BG 10.18 – O Janārdana, again please describe in detail the mystic power of Your opulences. I am never satiated in hearing about You, for the more I hear the more I want to taste the nectar of Your words.
  • “One can never be satiated even though one continuously hears the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by excellent prayers. Those who have entered into a transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa relish at every step the descriptions of the pastimes of the Lord.”

SB 2.10.6 TRANSLATION:

The merging of the living entity, along with his conditional living tendency, with the mystic lying down of the Mahā-Viṣṇu is called the winding up of the cosmic manifestation. Liberation is the permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up the changeable gross and subtle material bodies.

As we have discussed several times, there are two types of living entities. Most of them are ever liberated, or nitya-muktas, while some of them are ever conditioned. The ever-conditioned souls are apt to develop a mentality of lording over the material nature, and therefore the material cosmic creation is manifested to give the ever-conditioned souls two kinds of facilities. One facility is that the conditioned soul can act according to his tendency to lord it over the cosmic manifestation, and the other facility gives the conditioned soul a chance to come back to Godhead. So after the winding up of the cosmic manifestation, most of the conditioned souls merge into the existence of the Mahā-Viṣṇu Personality of Godhead, lying in His mystic slumber, to be created again in the next creation. But some of the conditioned souls, who follow the transcendental sound in the form of Vedic literatures and are thus able to go back to Godhead, attain spiritual and original bodies after quitting the conditional gross and subtle material bodies. The material conditional bodies develop out of the living entities’ forgetfulness of their relationship with Godhead, and during the course of the cosmic manifestation, the conditioned souls are given a chance to revive their original status of life with the help of revealed scriptures, so mercifully compiled by the Lord in His different incarnations. Reading or hearing of such transcendental literatures helps one become liberated even in the conditional state of material existence. All the Vedic literatures aim at devotional service to the Personality of Godhead, and as soon as one is fixed upon this point, he at once becomes liberated from conditional life. The material gross and subtle forms are simply due to the conditioned soul’s ignorance and as soon as he is fixed in the devotional service of the Lord, he becomes eligible to be freed from the conditioned state. This devotional service is transcendental attraction for the Supreme on account of His being the source of all pleasing humors. Everyone is after some pleasure of humor for enjoyment, but does not know the supreme source of all attraction (raso vai saḥ rasaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati). The Vedic hymns inform everyone about the supreme source of all pleasure: the unlimited fountainhead of all pleasure is the Personality of Godhead. And one who is fortunate enough to get this information through transcendental literatures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam becomes permanently liberated to occupy his proper place in the kingdom of God.

This is a wake up call from the slumber .. we have chance to put this off – cycle of birth and death..
Mood or state of mind of the most people – Sense gratification 

BG 13.26 

Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death.

This verse is particularly applicable to modern society because in modern society there is practically no education in spiritual matters. Some of the people may appear to be atheistic or agnostic or philosophical, but actually there is no knowledge of philosophy. As for the common man, if he is a good soul, then there is a chance for advancement by hearing. This hearing process is very important. Lord Caitanya, who preached Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the modern world, gave great stress to hearing because if the common man simply hears from authoritative sources he can progress, especially, according to Lord Caitanya, if he hears the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. It is stated, therefore, that all men should take advantage of hearing from realized souls and gradually become able to understand everything. The worship of the Supreme Lord will then undoubtedly take place. Lord Caitanya has said that in this age no one needs to change his position, but one should give up the endeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by speculative reasoning. One should learn to become the servant of those who are in knowledge of the Supreme Lord. If one is fortunate enough to take shelter of a pure devotee, hear from him about self-realization and follow in his footsteps, one will be gradually elevated to the position of a pure devotee. In this verse particularly, the process of hearing is strongly recommended, and this is very appropriate. Although the common man is often not as capable as so-called philosophers, faithful hearing from an authoritative person will help one transcend this material existence and go back to Godhead, back to home.

Philosophy – Darshana – How to see correctly

BG 13.22

How he is put into such different bodies is explained here. It is due to association with the different modes of nature. One has to rise, therefore, above the three material modes and become situated in the transcendental position. That is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unless one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his material consciousness will oblige him to transfer from one body to another because he has material desires since time immemorial. But he has to change that conception. That change can be effected only by hearing from authoritative sources. The best example is here: Arjuna is hearing the science of God from Kṛṣṇa. The living entity, if he submits to this hearing process, will lose his long-cherished desire to dominate material nature, and gradually and proportionately, as he reduces his long desire to dominate, he comes to enjoy spiritual happiness. In a Vedic mantra it is said that as he becomes learned in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he proportionately relishes his eternal blissful life.

Our goal is to get every family hear Sat and Sun, this should be mandated. Everyone should be here with their kids to prove that they are not sleeping.. 

BG 10.18 

O Janārdana, again please describe in detail the mystic power of Your opulences. I am never satiated in hearing about You, for the more I hear the more I want to taste the nectar of Your words.

A similar statement was made to Sūta Gosvāmī by the ṛṣis of Naimiṣāraṇya, headed by Śaunaka. That statement is:

vayaṁ tu na vitṛpyāma

uttama-śloka-vikrame

yac chṛṇvatāṁ rasa-jñānāṁ

svādu svādu pade pade

“One can never be satiated even though one continuously hears the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by excellent prayers. Those who have entered into a transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa relish at every step the descriptions of the pastimes of the Lord.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.19) Thus Arjuna is interested in hearing about Kṛṣṇa, and specifically how He remains as the all-pervading Supreme Lord.

Now as far as amṛtam, nectar, is concerned, any narration or statement concerning Kṛṣṇa is just like nectar. And this nectar can be perceived by practical experience. Modern stories, fiction and histories are different from the transcendental pastimes of the Lord in that one will tire of hearing mundane stories but one never tires of hearing about Kṛṣṇa. It is for this reason only that the history of the whole universe is replete with references to the pastimes of the incarnations of Godhead. The Purāṇas are histories of bygone ages that relate the pastimes of the various incarnations of the Lord. In this way the reading matter remains forever fresh, despite repeated readings.

Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.7): raso vai saḥ. Within His personal essence, the Supreme Lord enjoys rasa, the reciprocation of the mellows of devotional service, and integral to the play of rasas is the participation of realized jīvas. Raso vai saḥ rasam hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati: “He is the embodiment of rasa, and the jīva who realizes this rasa becomes fully ecstatic.” Or in the words of the personified Vedas praying in this verse, the Supersoul is ṛtam, which Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī interprets as here meaning “realized by great sages.”

Life comes from Life  – Getting the Eyes to See GodThe Fifteenth Morning Walk:

December 7, 1973

Śrīla Prabhupāda is accompanied by Dr. Singh, Dr. W. H. Wolf-Rottkay and another student.

Student. For the last one hundred fifty years, one of the major problems of Western theologians has been the relationship between reason and faith. They have been seeking to understand faith through reason, but they have been unable to find the relationship between the reasoning abilities and faith. Some of them have faith in God, but their reason tells them there is no God. For instance, they would say that when we offer prasāda to the Lord, it is only faith to think that He accepts it, because we cannot see Him.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. They cannot see Him, but I can see Him. I see God, and therefore I offer prasāda to Him. Because they cannot see Him, they must come to me so I can open their eyes. They are blind—suffering from cataracts—so I shall operate, and they will see. That is our program.

BG 9.26 

And so in this instance, Kṛṣṇa’s hearing the devotee’s words of love in offering foodstuffs is wholly identical with His eating and actually tasting. This point should be emphasized: because of His absolute position, His hearing is wholly identical with His eating and tasting. Only the devotee, who accepts Kṛṣṇa as He describes Himself, without interpretation, can understand that the Supreme Absolute Truth can eat food and enjoy it.

BS Text 32

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane.

Student. Scientists say that their common ground of objectivity is what they can perceive with their senses.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes, they can perceive things with their senses, but very imperfectly. They perceive the sand with their senses, but can they see who has made the sand? Here is the sand, and here is the sea; they can be seen by direct perception. But how can one directly perceive the origin of the sand and the sea?

Student. The scientists say that if the sand and the sea were made by God, we would be able to see Him, just as we can see the sand and the sea themselves.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes, they can see God, but they must get the eyes to see Him. They are blind. Therefore they must first come to me for treatment. The śāstras say that one must go to a guru to be treated so that one can understand God. How can they see God with blind eyes?

Student. But seeing God is supramundane. Scientists only consider mundane vision.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Everything is supramundane. For instance, you may think there is nothing in the clear sky—that it is vacant—but your eyes are deficient. In the sky there are innumerable planets you cannot see because your eyes are limited. Therefore, because it is not in your power to perceive, you have to accept my word: “Yes, there are millions of stars out there.” Is space vacant because you cannot see the stars? No. Only the deficiency of your senses leads you to think so.

Student. The scientists will admit their ignorance of some things, but they say they cannot accept what they cannot see.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. If they’re ignorant, they have to accept knowledge from someone who knows the truth.

Student. But they say, “What if what we are told is wrong?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Then that is their misfortune. Because their imperfect senses cannot perceive God, they have to hear it from an authority. That is the process. If they don’t approach the authority—if they approach a cheater—that is their misfortune. But the process is that wherever your senses cannot act, you must approach an authority to learn the facts.

The Frustration of the Atheists

Dr. Singh. The difficulty is that in a group of atheists, you can’t prove the existence of God.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. The atheists are rascals. Let us teach the others—those who are reasonable. Everything has been made by someone: the sand has been made by someone, the water has been made by someone, and the sky has been made by someone. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means learning who that someone is.

Dr. Singh. The scientists will say, “Present that someone to me so I can see Him.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda. And I answer them, “I am presenting that someone to you, but you have to take the training as well.” You have to qualify your eyes to see that someone. If you are blind, but you do not want to go to the physician, how will you be cured of your blindness and see? You have to be treated; that is the injunction.

Student. That step requires faith.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes, but not blind faith—practical faith. If you want to learn anything, you must go to an expert. That is not blind faith; it is practical faith. You cannot learn anything by yourself.

Student. If somebody is actually sincere, will he always meet a bona fide guru?

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja. Kṛṣṇa is within you, and as soon as He sees that you are sincere, He will send you to the right person.

Student. And if you are not completely sincere, you will get a cheater for a teacher?

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes. If you want to be cheated, Kṛṣṇa will send you to a cheater. Kṛṣṇa is superintelligent. If you are a cheater, He will cheat you perfectly. But if you are actually sincere, then He will give you the right guidance. In Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) Kṛṣṇa says, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: “I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.” Kṛṣṇa speaks of both remembrance and forgetfulness. If you are a cheater, Kṛṣṇa will give you the intelligence to forget Him forever.

Student. But the atheists are in control. They have the dominance.

Better to be poor than rich …

SB 2.10.4 Notes – 2/9/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.10.4:

  • In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that beginning from the topmost planet of this universe down to the lowest planet, Pātālaloka, all are destructible, and the conditioned souls may travel in space either by good or bad work or by modern spacecraft, but they are sure to die everywhere, although the duration of life in different planets is different.
  • The only means to attain eternal life is to go back home, back to Godhead, where there is no more rebirth as in the material planets. 
  • The conditioned souls, being unaware of this very simple fact because of forgetting their relationship with the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, try to plan out a permanent life in this material world. Being illusioned by the external energy, they thus become engaged in various types of economic and religious development, forgetting that they are meant for going back home, back to Godhead.
  • This forgetfulness is so strong due to the influence of māyā that the conditioned souls do not at all want to go back to Godhead. By sense enjoyment they become victims of birth and death repeatedly and thus spoil human lives which are chances for going back to Viṣṇu. 
  • The directive scriptures made by the Manus in different ages and millenniums are called sad-dharma, good guidance for the human beings, who should take advantage of all the revealed scriptures for their own interest, to make life’s successful termination. 
  • The creation is not false, but it is a temporary manifestation just to give a chance for the conditioned souls to go back to Godhead. 
  • The desire to go back to Godhead and functions performed in that direction form the right path of work. When such a regulative path is accepted, the Lord gives all protection to His devotees by His causeless mercy, while the nondevotees risk their own activities to bind themselves in a chain of fruitive reactions.
  • The word sad-dharma is significant in this connection. Sad-dharma, or duty performed for going back to Godhead and thus becoming His unalloyed devotee, is the only pious activity; all others may pretend to be pious, but actually they are not.
  • To work situated in sad-dharma is the right direction of life. One’s aim of life should be to go back home, back to Godhead, and not be subjected to repeated births and deaths in the material world by getting good or bad bodies for temporary existence. Herein lies the intelligence of human life, and one should desire the activities of life in that way.
  • The completeness of human life can be realized only when one engages in the service of the Complete Whole. All services in this world – whether social, political, communal, international or even interplanetary – will remain incomplete until they are dovetailed with the Complete Whole. When everything is dovetailed with the Complete Whole, the attached parts and parcels also become complete in themselves.

SB 2.10.4 TRANSLATION:

The right situation for the living entities is to obey the laws of the Lord and thus be in perfect peace of mind under the protection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Manus and their laws are meant to give right direction in life. The impetus for activity is the desire for fruitive work.

This material world is created, maintained for some time, and again annihilated by the will of the Lord. The ingredients for creation and the subordinate creator, Brahmā, are first created by Lord Viṣṇu in His first and second incarnations. The first puruṣa incarnation is Mahā-Viṣṇu, and the second puruṣa incarnation is the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, from whom Brahmā is created. The third puruṣa-avatāra is the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who lives as the Supersoul of everything in the universe and maintains the creation generated by Brahmā. Śiva is one of the many sons of Brahmā, and he annihilates the creation. Therefore the original creator of the universe is Viṣṇu, and He is also the maintainer of the created beings by His causeless mercy. As such, it is the duty of all conditioned souls to acknowledge the victory of the Lord and thus become pure devotees and live peacefully in this world, where miseries and dangers are always in existence. The conditioned souls, who take this material creation as the place for satisfaction of the senses and thus are illusioned by the external energy of Viṣṇu, remain again to be subjected to the laws of material nature, creation and destruction.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that beginning from the topmost planet of this universe down to the lowest planet, Pātālaloka, all are destructible, and the conditioned souls may travel in space either by good or bad work or by modern spacecraft, but they are sure to die everywhere, although the duration of life in different planets is different. The only means to attain eternal life is to go back home, back to Godhead, where there is no more rebirth as in the material planets. The conditioned souls, being unaware of this very simple fact because of forgetting their relationship with the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, try to plan out a permanent life in this material world. Being illusioned by the external energy, they thus become engaged in various types of economic and religious development, forgetting that they are meant for going back home, back to Godhead.

Even religious development is also some kind of illusion

 This forgetfulness is so strong due to the influence of māyā that the conditioned souls do not at all want to go back to Godhead. By sense enjoyment they become victims of birth and death repeatedly and thus spoil human lives which are chances for going back to Viṣṇu. The directive scriptures made by the Manus in different ages and millenniums are called sad-dharma, good guidance for the human beings, who should take advantage of all the revealed scriptures for their own interest, to make life’s successful termination. The creation is not false, but it is a temporary manifestation just to give a chance for the conditioned souls to go back to Godhead. The desire to go back to Godhead and functions performed in that direction form the right path of work. When such a regulative path is accepted, the Lord gives all protection to His devotees by His causeless mercy, while the nondevotees risk their own activities to bind themselves in a chain of fruitive reactions. The word sad-dharma is significant in this connection. Sad-dharma, or duty performed for going back to Godhead and thus becoming His unalloyed devotee, is the only pious activity; all others may pretend to be pious, but actually they are not. It is for this reason only that the Lord advises in the Bhagavad-gītā that one give up all so-called religious activities and completely engage in the devotional service of the Lord to become free from all anxieties due to the dangerous life of material existence. To work situated in sad-dharma is the right direction of life. One’s aim of life should be to go back home, back to Godhead, and not be subjected to repeated births and deaths in the material world by getting good or bad bodies for temporary existence. Herein lies the intelligence of human life, and one should desire the activities of life in that way.

Simple outline of what is the purpose of life.. 

There are millions of planets.. We have particular type of body, mind, intelligence, what is the purpose of life.. 

By reading BG with a devotee.. Maharaj understood the purpose of life.. 

State of maya and engaged in all kinds of fruitive activities

Fruitive is not in dictionary.. SP made this word

Activities of which you want to enjoy the fruit of the activity 

Work meant to please ourselves, family, extended family, humanity… 

Work meant to please Krsna

They teach that the purpose of life is sense gratification in a subtle way.. 

No one can get away with anything.. 

The culture does not teach that, they might teach some mundane morality.. 

Bad guys are glorified in the books and movies.. 

ISO says – The root of all evil is the deliberate disobedience of the laws of nature… 

If you live according to Krsna instructions.. There are so many benefits,.,. 

Srinvatam svakatah…

Daily hear BG and SB – The lord in our heart takes special interest in us and becomes the best wishing friend and helps us in every way to purify through hearing chanting.. Who can be our best friend than Krsna.. One who hears and follows His advice  takes special interest,.. And becomes best friend, reveals according to our surrender and becomes our personal protector.. This one verse is enough to take us back to Godhead.. 

ISO INVOCATION: 

The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

The Complete Whole, or the Supreme Absolute Truth, is the complete Personality of Godhead. Realization of impersonal Brahman or of Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is incomplete realization of the Absolute Complete. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Realization of impersonal Brahman is realization of His sat feature, or His aspect of eternity, and Paramātmā realization is realization of His sat and cit features, His aspects of eternity and knowledge. But realization of the Personality of Godhead is realization of all the transcendental features – sat, cit and ānanda, bliss. When one realizes the Supreme Person, he realizes these aspects of the Absolute Truth in their completeness. Vigraha means “form.” Thus 

  • CONTAINS BOTH WITHIN AND BEYOND: the Complete Whole is not formless. If He were formless, or if He were less than His creation in any other way, He could not be complete. The Complete Whole must contain everything both within and beyond our experience; otherwise He cannot be complete.
  • EVERYTHING FROM LORD IS COMPLETE IN ITSELF: The Complete Whole, the Personality of Godhead, has immense potencies, all of which are as complete as He is. Thus this phenomenal world is also complete in itself. 
  • NO EFFORTS OF MAINTENANCE & EVERYTHING IS GIVEN TO REALIZE THE COMPLETE WHOLE: The twenty-four elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation are arranged to produce everything necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. No other unit in the universe need make an extraneous effort to try to maintain the universe. The universe functions on its own time scale, which is fixed by the energy of the Complete Whole, and when that schedule is completed, this temporary manifestation will be annihilated by the complete arrangement of the Complete Whole.All facilities are given to the small complete units (namely the living beings) to enable them to realize the Complete Whole. 
  • INCOMPLETE KNOWLEDGE: All forms of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the Complete Whole. 
  • The human form of life is a complete manifestation of the consciousness of the living being, and it is obtained after evolving through 8,400,000 species of life in the cycle of birth and death.

The whole system convinced that you are a temp body.. The whole purpose is to enjoy as much as you can when you are in this body.. You can do anything in life as long as you can get away with it.. 

  • If in this human life of full consciousness the living entity does not realize his completeness in relation to the Complete Whole, he loses the chance to realize his completeness and is again put into the evolutionary cycle by the law of material nature.
  • Because we do not know that there is a complete arrangement in nature for our maintenance, we make efforts to utilize the resources of nature to create a so-called complete life of sense enjoyment. 
  • Because the living entity cannot enjoy the life of the senses without being dovetailed with the Complete Whole, the misleading life of sense enjoyment is illusion. The hand of a body is a complete unit only as long as it is attached to the complete body. When the hand is severed from the body, it may appear like a hand, but it actually has none of the potencies of a hand.
  • Similarly, living beings are part and parcel of the Complete Whole, and if they are severed from the Complete Whole, the illusory representation of completeness cannot fully satisfy them. (That is why people Suffering, frustarted, bored.. Can’t get out enough of sense gratification.)
  • The completeness of human life can be realized only when one engages in the service of the Complete Whole. All services in this world – whether social, political, communal, international or even interplanetary – will remain incomplete until they are dovetailed with the Complete Whole. When everything is dovetailed with the Complete Whole, the attached parts and parcels also become complete in themselves.

These 8 points in this purport are enough to go back to Godhead if you understand them. 

Hearing and Serving … I do not need anything else.. I am perfect and complete.. Misled by this system.. 

SB 2.9.35 – Part 6 – Notes – 1/20/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.9.35 – Part 6 :

  • Although He is present in every atom, the Supreme Personality of Godhead may not be visible to the dry speculators; still the mystery is unfolded before the eyes of the pure devotees because their eyes are anointed with love of Godhead. 
  • And this love of Godhead can be attained only by the practice of transcendental loving service of the Lord, and nothing else. The vision of the devotees is not ordinary; it is purified by the process of devotional service.
  • The spiritually developed person is able to have the television of the kingdom of God always reflected within his heart. That is the mystery of knowledge of the Personality of Godhead.
  • BG 11.8 – But you cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give you divine eyes. Behold My mystic opulence! (Krsna gives the eyes to see Him)
  • Those who are actually interested in understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and who follow in the footsteps of Arjuna should understand that Kṛṣṇa not only theoretically presented Himself as the Supreme, but actually revealed Himself as the Supreme.
  • The Lord gave Arjuna the necessary power to see His universal form because He knew that Arjuna did not particularly want to see it.
  • BS 5.24  (Krsna give Brahma the the eyes to see Him) – Then the goddess of learning Sarasvatī, the divine consort of the Supreme Lord, said thus to Brahmā who saw nothing but gloom in all directions, “O Brahmā, this mantra, viz., klīṁ kṛṣṇāya govindāya gopī-jana-vallabhāya svāhā, will assuredly fulfill your heart’s desire.”
  • BS 5.25 – “O Brahmā, do thou practice spiritual association by means of this mantra; then all your desires will be fulfilled.”
  • Kāma-gāyatrī is the highest of all the Gāyatrīs, because the meditation and prayer contained in it are full of the perfect transcendental sportive activities which are not to be found in any other Gāyatrī. 
  • Brahmā thought thus within himself, “By the recollection of kāma-gāyatrī it seems to me that I am the eternal maidservant of Kṛṣṇa.” Though the other mysteries in regard to the condition of the maidservant of Kṛṣṇa were not revealed to him,
  •  Brahmā, by dint of his searching self-consciousness, became well acquainted with the ocean of truth. All the truths of the Vedas were revealed to him and with the help of those essences of the Vedas he offered this hymn to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. 
  • Śrīmān Mahāprabhu has taught this hymn to His favorite disciples in as much as it fully contains all the transcendental truths regarding the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Readers are requested to study and try to enter into the spirit of his hymn with great care and attention, as a regular daily function.
  • In the beginning of Lord Brahmā’ self-realization he was shown a transcendental vision of the Vaikuṇṭha spheres by the grace of Nārāyaṇa. Later, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, he was shown a transcendental vision of Kṛṣṇaloka. This transcendental vision is like the reception of television from the moon via a mechanical system for receiving modulated waves, but it is achieved by penance and meditation within oneself.
  • A faithful man who is dedicated to transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses is eligible to achieve such knowledge, and having achieved it he quickly attains the supreme spiritual peace.
  • Such knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be achieved by a faithful person who believes firmly in Kṛṣṇa. One is called a faithful man who thinks that simply by acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness he can attain the highest perfection
  • Over and above this, one should control the senses. A person who is faithful to Kṛṣṇa and who controls the senses can easily attain perfection in the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness without delay.
  • But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.

SB 2.9.35 TRANSLATION:

O Brahmā, please know that the universal elements enter into the cosmos and at the same time do not enter into the cosmos; similarly, I Myself also exist within everything created, and at the same time I am outside of everything.

Therefore, although He is present in every atom, the Supreme Personality of Godhead may not be visible to the dry speculators; still the mystery is unfolded before the eyes of the pure devotees because their eyes are anointed with love of Godhead. And this love of Godhead can be attained only by the practice of transcendental loving service of the Lord, and nothing else. The vision of the devotees is not ordinary; it is purified by the process of devotional service. In other words, as the universal elements are both within and without, similarly the Lord’s name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage, etc., as they are described in the revealed scriptures or as performed in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, far, far beyond the material cosmic manifestation, are factually being televised in the heart of the devotee. The man with a poor fund of knowledge cannot understand, although by material science one can see things far away by means of television. Factually, the spiritually developed person is able to have the television of the kingdom of God always reflected within his heart. That is the mystery of knowledge of the Personality of Godhead.

BG 11.8 – Krishna gives the eyes to see Him (Arjuna)

But you cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give you divine eyes. Behold My mystic opulence!

A pure devotee does not like to see Kṛṣṇa in any form except His form with two hands; a devotee must see His universal form by His grace, not with the mind but with spiritual eyes. To see the universal form of Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna is told not to change his mind but his vision. The universal form of Kṛṣṇa is not very important; that will be clear in subsequent verses. Yet because Arjuna wanted to see it, the Lord gives him the particular vision required to see that universal form.

Devotees who are correctly situated in a transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa are attracted by loving features, not by a godless display of opulences. The playmates of Kṛṣṇa, the friends of Kṛṣṇa and the parents of Kṛṣṇa never want Kṛṣṇa to show His opulences. They are so immersed in pure love that they do not even know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In their loving exchange they forget that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that the boys who play with Kṛṣṇa are all highly pious souls, and after many, many births they are able to play with Kṛṣṇa. Such boys do not know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They take Him as a personal friend. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī recites this verse:

itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā

dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena

māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa

sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ

“Here is the Supreme Person, who is considered the impersonal Brahman by great sages, the Supreme Personality of Godhead by devotees, and a product of material nature by ordinary men. Now these boys, who have performed many, many pious activities in their past lives, are playing with that Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.12.11)

The fact is that the devotee is not concerned with seeing the viśva-rūpa, the universal form, but Arjuna wanted to see it to substantiate Kṛṣṇa’s statements so that in the future people could understand that Kṛṣṇa not only theoretically or philosophically presented Himself as the Supreme but actually presented Himself as such to Arjuna. Arjuna must confirm this because Arjuna is the beginning of the paramparā system. Those who are actually interested in understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and who follow in the footsteps of Arjuna should understand that Kṛṣṇa not only theoretically presented Himself as the Supreme, but actually revealed Himself as the Supreme.

The Lord gave Arjuna the necessary power to see His universal form because He knew that Arjuna did not particularly want to see it, as we have already explained.

BS 5.24  (Krsna give Brahma the the eyes to see Him)

Then the goddess of learning Sarasvatī, the divine consort of the Supreme Lord, said thus to Brahmā who saw nothing but gloom in all directions, “O Brahmā, this mantra, viz., klīṁ kṛṣṇāya govindāya gopī-jana-vallabhāya svāhā, will assuredly fulfill your heart’s desire.”

The mantra, consisting of the eighteen divine letters prefixed by the kāma-bīja, is alone superexcellent. It has a twofold aspect. One aspect is that it tends to make the pure soul run after all-attractive Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Gokula and the divine milkmaids. This is the acme of the spiritual tendency of jīvas. When the devotee is free from all sorts of mundane desires and willing to serve the Lord he attains the fruition of his heart’s desire, viz., the love of Kṛṣṇa. But in the case of the devotee who is not of unmixed aptitude this superexcellent mantra fulfills his heart’s desire also. The transcendental kāma-bīja is inherent in the divine logos located in Goloka; and the kāma-bīja pervertedly reflected in the worldly affairs satisfies all sorts of desires of this mundane world.

BS 5.25 

“O Brahmā, do thou practice spiritual association by means of this mantra; then all your desires will be fulfilled.”

Brahmā, being desirous of satisfying Govinda, practiced the cultural acts for Kṛṣṇa in Goloka, Lord of Śvetadvīpa, for a long time. His meditation ran thus, “There exists a divine lotus of a thousand petals, augmented by millions of filaments, in the transcendental land of Goloka. On its whorl, there exists a great divine throne on which is seated Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the form of eternal effulgence of transcendental bliss, playing on His divine flute resonant with the divine sound, with His lotus mouth. He is worshiped by His amorous milkmaids with their respective subjective portions and extensions and also by His external energy [who stays outside] embodying all mundane qualities.”

Although the object of meditation is fully transcendental, yet owing to her nature which is permeated with the quality of active mundane hankering, Māyā, the nonspiritual potency of Kṛṣṇa, embodying the principles of mixed sattva, rajas, and tamas, in the forms of Durgā, and other nonspiritual powers, meditated on the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa as the object of their worship. So long as there is any trace of mundane desire in one’s heart, it is the object of worship of Māyādevī (Durgā) who has to be worshiped by such a person; nevertheless the fulfillment of one’s heart’s desire results from the worship of the object of worship of Māyādevī, and not from the worship of Māyādevī herself. This is in accordance with the śloka, akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhiḥ / tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaṁ param [SB 2.3.10]. The meaning of this śloka of the Bhāgavatam is that though other gods, as distinct manifestations of the Supreme Lord, are bestowers of sundry specific boons, yet a sensible person should worship the all powerful Supreme Lord, giver of all good, with unalloyed devotion, without worshiping those mundane gift-giving deities. Accordingly, Brahmā meditated upon Kṛṣṇa in Goloka, the object of the worship, from a distance, of Māyādevī. True devotion is unalloyed devotional activity free from all mundane desire. The devotion of Brahmā, etc., is not unmixed devotion. But there is a stage of unmixed predilection even in devotion for the attainment of one’s selfish desire. This has been fully described in the concluding five ślokas of this work. That is the easiest method of divine service, prior to the attainment of self-realization, by fallen souls.

BS 5.27 

Then Gāyatrī, mother of the Vedas, being made manifest, i.e. imparted, by the divine sound of the flute of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, entered into the lotus mouth of Brahmā, born from himself, through his eight ear-holes. The lotus-born Brahmā having received the Gāyatrī, sprung from the flute-song of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, attained the status of the twice-born, having been initiated by the supreme primal preceptor, Godhead Himself.

The sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute is the transcendental blissful sound; hence the archetype of all Veda, is present in it. The Gāyatrī is Vedic rhythm. It contains a brief meditation and prayer. Kāma-gāyatrī is the highest of all the Gāyatrīs, because the meditation and prayer contained in it are full of the perfect transcendental sportive activities which are not to be found in any other Gāyatrī. The Gāyatrī that is attained as the sequel of the eighteen-lettered mantra is kāma-gāyatrī which runs thus: klīṁ kāma-devāya vidmahe puṣpa-bāṇāya dhīmahi tan no ‘naṅgaḥ pracodayāt. In this Gāyatrī, the realization of the transcendental pastimes of Śrī Gopījana-vallabha after perfect meditation and the prayer for the attainment of the transcendental god of love are indicated. In the spiritual world there is no better mode of endeavor for securing the superexcellent rasa-bedewed love. As soon as that Gāyatrī entered into the ear-holes of Brahmā, he became the twice-born and began to chant the Gāyatrī. Whoever has received the same Gāyatrī in reality, has attained his spiritual rebirth. The status of a twice-born that is obtained in accordance with one’s worldly nature and lineage, by the fettered souls in this mundane world, is far inferior to that of the twice-born who obtains admission into the transcendental world; because the initiation or acquisition of transcendental birth as a result of spiritual initiation is the highest of glories in as much as the jīva is thereby enabled to attain to the transcendental realm.

SP is the most merciful and gave all these transcendental opportunities…

BS 5.28

Enlightened by the recollection of that Gāyatrī, embodying the three Vedas, Brahmā became acquainted with the expanse of the ocean of truth. Then he worshiped Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the essence of all Vedas, with this hymn.

Brahmā thought thus within himself, “By the recollection of kāma-gāyatrī it seems to me that I am the eternal maidservant of Kṛṣṇa.” Though the other mysteries in regard to the condition of the maidservant of Kṛṣṇa were not revealed to him, Brahmā, by dint of his searching self-consciousness, became well acquainted with the ocean of truth. All the truths of the Vedas were revealed to him and with the help of those essences of the Vedas he offered this hymn to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmān Mahāprabhu has taught this hymn to His favorite disciples in as much as it fully contains all the transcendental truths regarding the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Readers are requested to study and try to enter into the spirit of his hymn with great care and attention, as a regular daily function.

CC M 5.22

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending cows yielding all desires in abodes built with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of purpose trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune.”

This is a verse from the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29). This description of the abode of Kṛṣṇa gives us definite information of the transcendental place where not only is life eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, but there are ample vegetables, milk, jewels, and beautiful homes and gardens tended by lovely damsels who are all goddesses of fortune. Kṛṣṇaloka is the topmost planet in the spiritual sky, and below it are innumerable spheres, a description of which can be found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the beginning of Lord Brahmā’ self-realization he was shown a transcendental vision of the Vaikuṇṭha spheres by the grace of Nārāyaṇa. Later, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, he was shown a transcendental vision of Kṛṣṇaloka. This transcendental vision is like the reception of television from the moon via a mechanical system for receiving modulated waves, but it is achieved by penance and meditation within oneself.

Brahma was seeing Goloka  and hence he was able to share it with us.. Lord Caitanya asked His devotees to chant Brahma Smahita everyday… 

Television is achieved by penance and meditation. Meditation is on the super soul Krsna within us.. This can be achieved by everyone. We are dumbed down by modern education, scientific education.. Is this possible, absolutely, Brahma was a jiva like us.. He was able to follow the instructions of Krsna for a very long time and he was empowered by Krsna to see Him and His abode 

Our tapasaya – waking up early, taking bath, Mangal arti, tulsi puja, chanting, listen to class.. These are our short term goals.. Participating in morning program. 

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Second Canto) states that in Vaikuṇṭhaloka the material modes of nature, represented by the qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance, have no influence. In the material world the highest qualitative manifestation is goodness, which is characterized by truthfulness, mental equilibrium, cleanliness, control of the senses, simplicity, essential knowledge, faith in God, scientific knowledge and so on. Nevertheless, all these qualities are mixed with passion and imperfection. But the qualities in Vaikuṇṭha are a manifestation of God’s internal potency, and therefore they are purely spiritual and transcendental, with no trace of material infection. No material planet, even Satyaloka, is comparable in quality to the spiritual planets, where the five inherent qualities of the material world — namely ignorance, misery, egoism, anger and envy — are completely absent.

Brahma’s vision, Arjuna’s vision, Narada’s, Dhruv maharaj’s vision is in the material world. This transcendental vision is not a geographical thing. Even in the material world one can be blessed with the spiritual vision in the spiritual world. Another example is Sanjaya… We can believe this only if we have association with genuine devotees. 

You cannot be a devotee and not have faith.. Yasya deve para bhaktir.. 

One who has absolute faith in Krsna and spiritual master.. How do you get faith – by associating with people on a regular basis with pure devotees who have faith.. 

BG 4.26 

A faithful man who is dedicated to transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses is eligible to achieve such knowledge, and having achieved it he quickly attains the supreme spiritual peace.

Such knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be achieved by a faithful person who believes firmly in Kṛṣṇa. One is called a faithful man who thinks that simply by acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness he can attain the highest perfection. This faith is attained by the discharge of devotional service and by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, which cleanses one’s heart of all material dirt. Over and above this, one should control the senses. A person who is faithful to Kṛṣṇa and who controls the senses can easily attain perfection in the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness without delay.

Always Chant Hare Krsna

Always Hear SB 

Associate with devotees

Engage in Deity worship 

Always stay in a holy place

Opposite to this is – BG 4.27 

BG 4.27 

But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.

CC ADI 5.22

Yogīs, however, try to perfect their lives, and therefore the Bhagavad-gītā enjoins that everyone should become a yogī. Yoga is the system for linking the soul in the service of the Lord. Only under superior guidance can one practice such yoga in his life without changing his social position. As already described, a yogī can go anywhere he desires without mechanical help, for a yogī can place his mind and intelligence within the air circulating inside his body, and by practicing the art of breath control he can mix that air with the air that blows all over the universe outside his body. With the help of this universal air, a yogī can travel to any planet and get a body suitable for its atmosphere. We can understand this process by comparing it to the electronic transmission of radio messages. With radio transmitters, sound waves produced at a certain station can travel all over the earth in seconds. But sound is produced from the ethereal sky, and as already explained, subtler than the ethereal sky is the mind, and finer than the mind is the intelligence. Spirit is still finer than the intelligence, and by nature it is completely different from matter. Thus we can just imagine how quickly the spirit soul can travel through the universal atmosphere.

To come to the stage of manipulating finer elements like mind, intelligence and spirit, one needs appropriate training, an appropriate mode of life and appropriate association. Such training depends upon sincere prayers, devotional service, achievement of success in mystic perfection, and the successful merging of oneself in the activities of the soul and Supersoul. A gross materialist, whether he be an empiric philosopher, a scientist, a psychologist or whatever, cannot attain such success through blunt efforts and word jugglery.

Materialists who perform yajñas, or great sacrifices, are comparatively better than grosser materialists who do not know anything beyond laboratories and test tubes. The advanced materialists who perform such sacrifices can reach the planet called Vaiśvānara, a fiery planet similar to the sun. On this planet, which is situated on the way to Brahmaloka, the topmost planet in the universe, such an advanced materialist can free himself from all traces of vice and its effects. When such a materialist is purified, he can rise to the orbit of the pole star (Dhruvaloka). Within this orbit, which is called the Śiśumāra-cakra, are situated the Āditya-lokas and the Vaikuṇṭha planet within this universe.

A purified materialist who has performed many sacrifices, undergone severe penances and given the major portion of his wealth in charity can reach such planets as Dhruvaloka, and if he becomes still more qualified there, he can penetrate still higher orbits and pass through the navel of the universe to reach the planet Maharloka, where sages like Bhṛgu Muni live. In Maharloka one can live even to the time of the partial annihilation of the universe. This annihilation begins when Anantadeva, from the lowest position in the universe, produces a great blazing fire. The heat of this fire reaches even Maharloka, and then the residents of Maharloka travel to Brahmaloka, which exists for twice the duration of parārdha time.

In Brahmaloka there is an unlimited number of airplanes that are controlled not by yantra (machine) but by mantra (psychic action). Because of the existence of the mind and intelligence on Brahmaloka, its residents have feelings of happiness and distress, but there is no cause of lamentation from old age, death, fear or distress. They feel sympathy, however, for the suffering living beings who are consumed in the fire of annihilation. The residents of Brahmaloka do not have gross material bodies to change at death, but they transform their subtle bodies into spiritual bodies and thus enter the spiritual sky. The residents of Brahmaloka can attain perfection in three different ways. Virtuous persons who reach Brahmaloka by dint of their pious work become masters of various planets after the resurrection of Brahmā, those who have worshiped Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu are liberated with Brahmā, and those who are pure devotees of the Personality of Godhead at once push through the covering of the universe and enter the spiritual sky.

SB 2.9.34 – Part 3 – 1/12/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.9.34 – Part 3:

  • The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and His plenary portions cannot be understood by mental speculation nor by the nondevotees.
  • He is not revealed to everyone. In the prayers of Kuntī in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.8.19) it is said that the Lord is covered by the curtain of yoga-māyā and thus ordinary people cannot understand Him.
  • Only one who is actually engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service can understand what Kṛṣṇa is. University degrees are not helpful.
  • One who is fully conversant with the Kṛṣṇa science becomes eligible to enter into the spiritual kingdom, the abode of Kṛṣṇa.
  • Because of his pure devotional service, a devotee can understand the transcendental qualities and the opulences of the Supreme Lord in truth. 
  • Liberation involves getting free from the concept of material life;
  • Perfection of human life is attained when one can understand that he is not the product of matter but is in fact spirit. And as soon as one understands that he has nothing to do with matter, he at once ceases his material hankerings and becomes enlivened as a spiritual being. 
  • After attainment of the brahma-bhūta stage of freedom from material conceptions, devotional service begins by one’s hearing about the Lord.
  • When one hears about the Supreme Lord, automatically the brahma-bhūta stage develops, and material contamination – greediness and lust for sense enjoyment – disappears.
  • As lust and desires disappear from the heart of a devotee, he becomes more attached to the service of the Lord, and by such attachment he becomes free from material contamination. In that state of life he can understand the Supreme Lord. 
  • After liberation the process of bhakti, or transcendental service, continues. 
  • BG 13.26 – Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death
  •  In modern society there is practically no education in spiritual matters
  • As for the common man, if he is a good soul, then there is a chance for advancement by hearing. This hearing process is very important. 
  • Lord Caitanya, who preached Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the modern world, gave great stress to hearing because if the common man simply hears from authoritative sources he can progress, especially, according to Lord Caitanya, if he hears the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. 
  • It is stated, therefore, that all men should take advantage of hearing from realized souls and gradually become able to understand everything.
  • One should learn to become the servant of those who are in knowledge of the Supreme Lord. If one is fortunate enough to take shelter of a pure devotee, hear from him about self-realization and follow in his footsteps, one will be gradually elevated to the position of a pure devotee
  • When a qualified brāhmaṇa factually becomes a Vaiṣṇava, in the enlivened state of liberation he can know what is actually the Personality of Godhead.

SB 2.9.34 TRANSLATION:

O Brahmā, whatever appears to be of any value, if it is without relation to Me, has no reality. Know it as My illusory energy, that reflection which appears to be in darkness.

Anything that appears as apparently not being “produced out of My energy” is called māyā. The conception that the living entity is formless or that the Supreme Lord is formless is also illusion. 

Misconceiving one thing for another thing is called illusion. For example, accepting a rope as a snake is illusion, but the rope is not false. The rope, as it exists in the front of the illusioned person, is not at all false, but the acceptance is illusory. Therefore the wrong conception of accepting this material manifestation as being divorced from the energy of the Lord is illusion, but it is not false. And this illusory conception is called the reflection of the reality in the darkness of ignorance.

Yesterday we discussed – Reflection in the darkness. 

Material example – Night time you are driving. If there are small lights in the car you will see your reflection in the dashboard window. 

Even if there is little light the reflection can be seen, as described in the above example.. 

You need darkness and little bit of light to see the reflection. 

reflection of the reality in the darkness of ignorance. – what does this mean?

  1. Anything that appears as apparently not being “produced out of My energy” is called māyā. 
    1. Everything we see is made from the energy of Krsna. Internal external and marginal energies and several energies.. All are energies of the lord. 
    2. Example – human energy is used to construct the pyramids. Carve the rocks and roll them on the trunks of the trees and pull them and assemble them to be pyramid. They had their techniques. Human energy to build the pyramids. Long and difficult process. It is a process.
    3. Energy of petroleum used in tractor to plow the soil.. .. 
    4. Energy is located in the soul. The soul is very very powerful. Even though it is microscopic. The soul has energy and it energizes the entire body. 
    5. Jiva is the energy of the lord. Jiva energy is so powerful.. Chandra, Indra, Brahma as they are purified, they can do tremendous things with the energy of the soul.. 
    6. We dont realize how much energy we have. 
  2. The Reflection is not the real thing. The real thing is the spiritual world. The reflection of the real  thing points that there is a real thing. The material world although looks real it disappears at one point. It is called avyakta stage. 

Material conception of life – 

They think that 

  1. Material nature is meant for their sense gratification 
  2. Do not accept that there is God
  3. Do not accept that God own everything. They think that they are proprietors. They own properties and establish ownership 
  4. Do not accept the existence of Karma
  5. They can control nature using Money science, logic can be used to control nature
  6. They reject the existence of a soul
  7. Believe that there is only matter
  8. Believe that the creation started with the big bang or some other material cause.

Very important to understand the material conception of life. If we understand that all these points are illusory and we begin to understand who we are and what is our relationship with Krsna. 

BG 18.55 

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti

yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ

tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā

viśate tad-anantaram

One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and His plenary portions cannot be understood by mental speculation nor by the nondevotees. If anyone wants to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he has to take to pure devotional service under the guidance of a pure devotee. Otherwise, the truth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead will always be hidden. As already stated in Bhagavad-gītā (7.25), nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya: He is not revealed to everyone.

BG 7.25 

I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible.

Kṛṣṇa says that but for His pure devotees, all men consider Him to be like themselves. He was manifest only to His devotees as the reservoir of all pleasure. But to others, to unintelligent nondevotees, He was covered by His internal potency.

In the prayers of Kuntī in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.8.19) it is said that the Lord is covered by the curtain of yoga-māyā and thus ordinary people cannot understand Him. This yoga-māyā curtain is also confirmed in the Īśopaniṣad (Mantra 15), in which the devotee prays:

hiraṇmayena pātreṇa

satyasyāpihitaṁ mukham

tat tvaṁ pūṣann apāvṛṇu

satya-dharmāya dṛṣṭaye

No one can understand God simply by erudite scholarship or mental speculation. Only one who is actually engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service can understand what Kṛṣṇa is. University degrees are not helpful.

One who is fully conversant with the Kṛṣṇa science becomes eligible to enter into the spiritual kingdom, the abode of Kṛṣṇa. Becoming Brahman does not mean that one loses his identity. Devotional service is there, and as long as devotional service exists, there must be God, the devotee, and the process of devotional service. Such knowledge is never vanquished, even after liberation. Liberation involves getting free from the concept of material life; in spiritual life the same distinction is there, the same individuality is there, but in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One should not mistakenly think that the word viśate, “enters into Me,” supports the monist theory that one becomes homogeneous with the impersonal Brahman. No. Viśate means that one can enter into the abode of the Supreme Lord in one’s individuality to engage in His association and render service unto Him. For instance, a green bird enters a green tree not to become one with the tree but to enjoy the fruits of the tree. Impersonalists generally give the example of a river flowing into the ocean and merging. This may be a source of happiness for the impersonalist, but the personalist keeps his personal individuality like an aquatic in the ocean. We find so many living entities within the ocean, if we go deep. Surface acquaintance with the ocean is not sufficient; one must have complete knowledge of the aquatics living in the ocean depths.

Because of his pure devotional service, a devotee can understand the transcendental qualities and the opulences of the Supreme Lord in truth. As it is stated in the Eleventh Chapter, only by devotional service can one understand. The same is confirmed here; one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by devotional service and enter into His kingdom.

Attentively submissively with the desire to please krsna if we chant.. 

Krsna is understood through revelation not through academic knowledge.

BG 11.55  – only by dev service we can understand Krsna

mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo

mad-bhaktaḥ saṅga-varjitaḥ

nirvairaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu

yaḥ sa mām eti pāṇḍava

My dear Arjuna, he who engages in My pure devotional service, free from the contaminations of fruitive activities and mental speculation, he who works for Me, who makes Me the supreme goal of his life, and who is friendly to every living being – he certainly comes to Me.

After attainment of the brahma-bhūta stage of freedom from material conceptions, devotional service begins by one’s hearing about the Lord. When one hears about the Supreme Lord, automatically the brahma-bhūta stage develops, and material contamination – greediness and lust for sense enjoyment – disappears. As lust and desires disappear from the heart of a devotee, he becomes more attached to the service of the Lord, and by such attachment he becomes free from material contamination. In that state of life he can understand the Supreme Lord. This is the statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also. After liberation the process of bhakti, or transcendental service, continues. The Vedānta-sūtra (4.1.12) confirms this: ā-prāyaṇāt tatrāpi hi dṛṣṭam. This means that after liberation the process of devotional service continues. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, real devotional liberation is defined as the reinstatement of the living entity in his own identity, his own constitutional position. The constitutional position is already explained: every living entity is a part-and-parcel fragmental portion of the Supreme Lord. Therefore his constitutional position is to serve. After liberation, this service is never stopped. Actual liberation is getting free from misconceptions of life.

Everything depends on our voluntary desire to regularly hear BG, SB and repeat. 

Everything depends on regular hearing. Hearing is emphasized in the following verses. 

SB 1.2.20 

The very same thing is confirmed herein in the above words. No ordinary man, or even one who has attained success in human life, can know scientifically or perfectly the Personality of Godhead. Perfection of human life is attained when one can understand that he is not the product of matter but is in fact spirit. And as soon as one understands that he has nothing to do with matter, he at once ceases his material hankerings and becomes enlivened as a spiritual being. This attainment of success is possible when one is above the modes of passion and ignorance, or, in other words, when one is actually a brāhmaṇa by qualification. A brāhmaṇa is the symbol of sattva-guṇa, or the mode of goodness. And others, who are not in the mode of goodness, are either kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras or less than the śūdras. The brahminical stage is the highest stage of human life because of its good qualities. So one cannot be a devotee unless one at least qualifies as a brāhmaṇa. The devotee is already a brāhmaṇa by action. But that is not the end of it. As referred to above, such a brāhmaṇa has to become a Vaiṣṇava in fact to be actually in the transcendental stage. A pure Vaiṣṇava is a liberated soul and is transcendental even to the position of a brāhmaṇa. In the material stage even a brāhmaṇa is also a conditioned soul because although in the brahminical stage the conception of Brahman or transcendence is realized, scientific knowledge of the Supreme Lord is lacking. One has to surpass the brahminical stage and reach the vasudeva stage to understand the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The science of the Personality of Godhead is the subject matter for study by the postgraduate students in the spiritual line. Foolish men, or men with a poor fund of knowledge, do not understand the Supreme Lord, and they interpret Kṛṣṇa according to their respective whims. The fact is, however, that one cannot understand the science of the Personality of Godhead unless one is freed from the contamination of the material modes, even up to the stage of a brāhmaṇa. When a qualified brāhmaṇa factually becomes a Vaiṣṇava, in the enlivened state of liberation he can know what is actually the Personality of Godhead.

BG 4.26 

Some [the unadulterated brahmacārīs] sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of mental control, and others [the regulated householders] sacrifice the objects of the senses in the fire of the senses.

The members of the four divisions of human life, namely the brahmacārī, the gṛhastha, the vānaprastha and the sannyāsī, are all meant to become perfect yogīs or transcendentalists. Since human life is not meant for our enjoying sense gratification like the animals, the four orders of human life are so arranged that one may become perfect in spiritual life. The brahmacārīs, or students under the care of a bona fide spiritual master, control the mind by abstaining from sense gratification. A brahmacārī hears only words concerning Kṛṣṇa consciousness; hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacārī engages fully in harer nāmānukīrtanam – chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. He restrains himself from the vibrations of material sounds, and his hearing is engaged in the transcendental sound vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, the householders, who have some license for sense gratification, perform such acts with great restraint.

Everyone is subjected to law of Karma. In the case of devotee by the mercy of Krsna the reaction is immediate. This happens if Krsna wants to show special mercy and wants to make the devotee realize that they did a mistake, violated akarma or vow of initiation or violated KC. This the devotee is made to see cause and effect. 

Only Krsna can change or eliminate our karma. Devotees want to be liberated even in the material world by avoiding all the things which are not KC. 

In the case of non devotees, sometimes Krsna will delay the reaction it can be several years or even life times. They become bewildered and they cannot know the cause and affect. 

BG 13.26 

Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death.

This verse is particularly applicable to modern society because in modern society there is practically no education in spiritual matters. Some of the people may appear to be atheistic or agnostic or philosophical, but actually there is no knowledge of philosophy. As for the common man, if he is a good soul, then there is a chance for advancement by hearing. This hearing process is very important. Lord Caitanya, who preached Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the modern world, gave great stress to hearing because if the common man simply hears from authoritative sources he can progress, especially, according to Lord Caitanya, if he hears the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. It is stated, therefore, that all men should take advantage of hearing from realized souls and gradually become able to understand everything. The worship of the Supreme Lord will then undoubtedly take place. Lord Caitanya has said that in this age no one needs to change his position, but one should give up the endeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by speculative reasoning. One should learn to become the servant of those who are in knowledge of the Supreme Lord. If one is fortunate enough to take shelter of a pure devotee, hear from him about self-realization and follow in his footsteps, one will be gradually elevated to the position of a pure devotee. In this verse particularly, the process of hearing is strongly recommended, and this is very appropriate. Although the common man is often not as capable as so-called philosophers, faithful hearing from an authoritative person will help one transcend this material existence and go back to Godhead, back to home.

Suffering is a message sent to you by Krsna from Durga mata that you have done something wrong. 

Birth, death, old age and disease. Material world is a prison house. Durga is always punishing us because we are not doing what we are supposed to do.  We should not be even wasting a minute and always engage in KC. 

BG 10.8

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

Message today – If you are a child, up until the point you are independent. 12 years old, 26 yrs old, or 50 yrs old. 

If you are suffering sickness, stress, not going well, that means we are violating the instructions of the lord/ guru,  rules and regulations of KC. The way to remedy and avoid unnecessary suffering – to get rid of anarthas – staying late in the night, gossipping, not attending the class.. 

Coming to mangal aarti, attending class, chanting rounds must be done.. 

BG 13.8-12

Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

All modern education is considered ignorance.. All they are teaching is material conception of life.. Therefore young people should be trained to come to temple everyday for mangal aarti and then start their day. They should spend at least 2 hours before they start their day. It is very much possible. Unless this program is not followed then there is no next generation in our movement. 

Hearing and chanting is the most important thing.. That our children should participate in.. everyday.. 

SB 2.8.19-20 Notes – 11/23/21 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.8.19-20:  

  • Lord Śiva is the greatest yogī, and he can perform wonderful mystic things, far beyond the ordinary living beings. 
  • The devotees of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, do not directly practice the process of mystic powers, but, by the grace of the Lord, His devotee can defeat even a great yogeśvara like Durvāsā Muni, who picked a quarrel with Mahārāja Ambarīṣa and wanted to show the wonderful achievements of his mystic powers.
  • Similarly, at the time of Draupadī’s precarious position, when she was attacked by the Kurus who wanted to see her naked in the open assembly of the royal order, the Lord saved her from being stripped by supplying an unlimited length of sari to cover her. And Draupadī knew nothing of mystic powers. 
  • Therefore the devotees are also yogeśvaras by the unlimited power of the Lord, just as a child is powerful by the strength of the parents. They do not try to protect themselves by any artificial means, but are saved by the mercy of the parents.
  • Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired from the learned brāhmaṇa Śukadeva Gosvāmī about the ultimate destination of such great mystics or how they attain such extraordinary powers by their own efforts or by the grace of the Lord. 
  • The  whole spiritual culture or the culture of Krsna consciousness is asking questions and receiving answers through the sastric evidence from bonafide representatives. 
  • SB 3.25.25 – In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.
  • SB 2.3.17 – “Both by rising and setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.”
  • Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold.
  • A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities.
  • “Once a person comes into contact with any one of the energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door of perfection is immediately opened. 
  • A moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life for returning home, back to Godhead. 
  • A devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.”
  • The sun’s business is to take away a portion of your span of life. But he cannot take away the portion of the life of a devotee. Because a devotee is going to live. 
  • If we pass our time simply by hearing, reading and talking about Kṛṣṇa, then the sun will not be able to take away our life. This is the secret. If you want to become immortal, then you always be engaged in kṛṣṇa-kathā. Always, twenty-four hours, always think of Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
  • SB 2.1.5 – This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to hear about Kṛṣṇa, we have to chant about Kṛṣṇa, we have to memorize about Kṛṣṇa, we have to worship Kṛṣṇa. This is our movement. We are worshiping Kṛṣṇa in the temple, we are thinking of Him, we are talking about Him and we are hearing about Him. So if we live in this way… It does not require any monetary exchange or any high education. Everyone can hear about Kṛṣṇa.
  • This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to give a living entity a permanent span of life. 

SB 2.8.19 TRANSLATION:

Kindly explain all about the elementary principles of creation, the number of such elementary principles, their causes, and their development, and also the process of devotional service and the method of mystic powers.

SB 2.8.20 TRANSLATION:

What are the opulences of the great mystics, and what is their ultimate realization? How does the perfect mystic become detached from the subtle astral body? What is the basic knowledge of the Vedic literatures, including the branches of history and the supplementary Purāṇas?

The yogeśvara, or the master of mystic powers, can exhibit eight kinds of wonders of perfection by becoming smaller than the atom or lighter than a feather, getting anything and everything he desires, going anywhere and everywhere he likes, creating even a planet in the sky, etc. There are many yogeśvaras having different proficiencies in these wonderful powers, and the topmost of all of them is Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva is the greatest yogī, and he can perform such wonderful things, far beyond the ordinary living beings. The devotees of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, do not directly practice the process of mystic powers, but, by the grace of the Lord, His devotee can defeat even a great yogeśvara like Durvāsā Muni, who picked a quarrel with Mahārāja Ambarīṣa and wanted to show the wonderful achievements of his mystic powers. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa was a pure devotee of the Lord, and thus without any effort on his part the Lord saved him from the wrath of Yogeśvara Durvāsā Muni, and the latter was obliged to beg pardon from the King. Similarly, at the time of Draupadī’s precarious position, when she was attacked by the Kurus who wanted to see her naked in the open assembly of the royal order, the Lord saved her from being stripped by supplying an unlimited length of sari to cover her. And Draupadī knew nothing of mystic powers. Therefore the devotees are also yogeśvaras by the unlimited power of the Lord, just as a child is powerful by the strength of the parents. They do not try to protect themselves by any artificial means, but are saved by the mercy of the parents.

Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired from the learned brāhmaṇa Śukadeva Gosvāmī about the ultimate destination of such great mystics or how they attain such extraordinary powers by their own efforts or by the grace of the Lord. He inquired also about their detachment from the subtle and gross material bodies. He inquired also about the purports of the Vedic knowledge. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), the whole purport of all the Vedas is to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become a transcendental loving servant of the Lord.

We would never be able to ask such questions of depth asked by Parikshit maharaj. Padma purana is also questions and answers between Lord Shiva and goddess Parvathi. BG is the Q& A between Krsna and Arjuna. 

Q & A is the culture of spiritual life. Asking questions and receiving answers through scriptural evidence. 

Srila Prabhupada answered the questions of the devotees and disciples through the 3000 letters he wrote to them… 

BG 10.9 Tushyanti ca ramanti ca.. 

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.

The art of speaking – Penance of speech 

BG 17.15 

Austerity of speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature.

One should not speak in such a way as to agitate the minds of others. Of course, when a teacher speaks, he can speak the truth for the instruction of his students, but such a teacher should not speak to those who are not his students if he will agitate their minds. This is penance as far as talking is concerned. Besides that, one should not talk nonsense. The process of speaking in spiritual circles is to say something upheld by the scriptures. One should at once quote from scriptural authority to back up what he is saying. At the same time, such talk should be very pleasurable to the ear. By such discussions, one may derive the highest benefit and elevate human society. There is a limitless stock of Vedic literature, and one should study this. This is called penance of speech.

The whole vedic culture is based on this austerity..  Means you are going to voluntarily deny yourself sense gratification, on the positive side you indulge in Krsna katha, kirtan, seva and prasad and smaran. This is the culture and proceeds through questions and answers. This is very important to understand the culture of Krsna consciousness. 

This also explained in SB 3.25.25

SB 3.25.25

Culture of Krsna Consciousness – association and hearing

In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.

SB 2.3.17 – Time is the most precious

“Both by rising and setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.”

TIME

 “This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service. Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold.

“Human life is simply awarded to a living entity, jīva, so he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness, because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him.

“Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door of perfection is immediately opened. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord has explained such contact in the following words = ‘Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled, nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person…, sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.’ [Bg. 2.40]

“As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, similarly, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear of the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity, and as such the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence.

Two types of pujas – Do pujas for money and do pujas to help people become devotees. Yesterday I was doing a shradh ceremony and I was able to hold them for 4 hours. The boy was reading “DOG MAN”.. I told him I will give him the book GOD MAN… Disney movies are all junk.. People think that Disney movies or videos are educational.. They purposefully are conditioning the children to recognize a pervert’s voice as good. Everything today is organized to derail people from the path of spiritual culture. 

All the activities  – haering, eating prasadam, chanting, dancing, preaching, learning deity worship all these things are purifying.. All the other things watching mickey mouse, hearing dumbo they are all contaminating.. 

DEATH

“Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being, and due to material infection only, the eternal living being is subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease. The materialistic way of pious activities like charity, etc., is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras, as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.

CHARITY 

 Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa without brahminical qualification, the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If it is given in charity to a half-educated brāhmaṇa, even then the money is returned double. If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and thousand times, and if the money is given to a veda-pāraga, one who has actually realized the path of the Vedas, it is returned by unlimited multiplication.

You can believe this or not believe it.. This is SP speaking we need to believe it.. 

“The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is to realize the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā = vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bg. 15.15]. There is guarantee of money being returned if given in charity regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate [Bg. 8.16]. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.”

Prabhupāda: So, āyur harati vai puṁsām. The sunshine, sunrise and sunset, means decreasing our life. It is very nice example. The sun’s business is to take away a portion of your span of life. That is business. But he cannot take away the portion of the life of a devotee. Because a devotee is going to live. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to give a living entity a permanent span of life. Uttama-śloka-vārtayā. Uttama-śloka is Kṛṣṇa. Uttama-śloke….

Bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī uttama-ślo…, bhagavaty uttama-śloke. In another place it is stated, tadā… Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā [SB 1.2.18]. Nityam… Just like we are holding class daily, nityam, regularly. Nityam means regularly, daily, always. So nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. The beginning… Just like when a man is infected with a disease, he is subjected to death. Crude example. So when a man falls diseased, the physician tries to get him relieved from that infection.

So our material body is an infection. Actually, we spiritual soul, we have no death. It is due to this infection. This infection is called dirty things. Actually it is dirt. “Dust thou art, dust thou be-ist,” that’s a fact. Because as soon as I, the soul, will leave this body, it will be immediately decomposed, and after a few days it will be earth, dust. So actually it is dirt. So we have to cleanse this dirt from my real identity, spiritual life.

This is the process. And this cleansing process is very nicely done simply by hearing the message of Uttama-śloka, or Kṛṣṇa. You haven’t got to scratch it with some machine. No. It will be automatically cleansed if you simply give aural reception to the message of the Uttama-śloka, which is, in other word, it is called kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kṛṣṇa-kathā means words of Kṛṣṇa. Kathā means words, and kṛṣṇa, you understand. So kṛṣṇa-kathā, Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa personally giving you words of instruction. So if we simply read Bhagavad-gītā, then the sun cannot take away the, my duration of life.

How? What is the proof? The proof is the Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg. 4.9] = “Anyone who understands about My birth and appearance…” Lord does not take birth. Aja. Aja means who never takes birth. Ever-existing. Ajo ‘pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro ‘pi san [Bg. 4.6], sambhavāmi yuge yuge [Bg. 4.8]. So aja, one who does not take birth, but still we see that Kṛṣṇa is taking birth. We are observing the birth anniversary of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So therefore what is the mystery? He does not take birth. Still, we are observing the birth anniversary of Kṛṣṇa, Janmāṣṭamī. So this is to be understood tattvataḥ, in truth. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ.

Kṛṣṇa says, Veda says that na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. “The Supreme Lord God has nothing to do.” Why He shall do? So… And again, we see that Kṛṣṇa, since the day of His appearance at His maternal uncle’s prison till to His going back to His own home, He was always active. Active means especially in killing the demons. But such demons could be killed without the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If there is little earthquake, millions of demons can be killed. It is not very difficult job. If the Pacific Ocean overfloods this city, millions of people can be killed. If there is a war, millions of people can be killed. If there is epidemic, millions of men can be killed. So killing the demons, for that purpose He does not come, Kṛṣṇa. Rather, Kṛṣṇa’s many agents, they can kill such demons without any difficulty.

But He comes, paritrāṇāya sādhūnām [Bg. 4.8]. Just like Lord Nṛsiṁha appeared not to kill the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu—he could be killed otherwise—but He appeared for Prahlāda. Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was being so much teased and so much tortured, He could not tolerate it. So He wanted to show His devotee that “I shall kill your torturer before you.” That is the purpose. So He did not appear for killing Hiraṇyakaśipu; He appeared to give encouragement to Prahlāda Mahārāja. As He says, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati [Bg. 9.31]. He asked Arjuna to declare, “My dear Arjuna, you declare that My devotee will never be vanquished.” So therefore He comes.

So these are the understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in toto. So if we discuss about kṛṣṇa-kathā, the words of Kṛṣṇa… There are two books, words of Kṛṣṇa. One, Bhagavad-gītā. Every Vedic literature is kṛṣṇa-kathā, but these two books especially, kṛṣṇa-kathā. Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is directly speaking, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, directly speaking about Kṛṣṇa. Both of them are kṛṣṇa-kathā. So therefore here it is said that uttama-śloka-vārtayā. Vārtā means message, words. So if we pass our time simply by reading and talking about Kṛṣṇa, then the sun will not be able to take away our life. This is the secret. If you want to become immortal, then you always be engaged in kṛṣṇa-kathā. Always, twenty-four hours, always think of Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So everyone is dying, but those who are engaged in kṛṣṇa-kathā, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, those who are busy in Kṛṣṇa’s business, they are not dying. They are living. How? Because ordinary man, his duration of life, span of life, is being taken away by the sun rising and sunset every day. If a man is fifty years old, that means… He has to live for eighty years. So fifty years’ duration has already been taken away by the sun. Fifty years old means that fifty years of time has already been taken away by the sun. It will never come back. “But what about the devotees? He is also the same. His, also, life is being taken away?” No. His life is not being taken away, because he is going to live. Superficially we see that the body of a devotee is also taken away. But this is not the real body. Real body is the spiritual body.

Hearing must be from sādhu, from devotee, from the lips of the devotee. Just like Śukadeva Gosvāmī was speaking to Mahārāja Parīkṣit. So… Or even if you hear yourself, you read books, you will save your life. If you simply read Kṛṣṇa book or Bhagavad-gītā or Teachings of Lord Caitanya, then you know the… As long as you are reading, the sun is unable to take your life. It is not possible for the sun to take your life. So if you constantly read, then where is the opportunity of sun’s taking your life? That means you are becoming immortal.

People are very much anxious to become immortal. Nobody wants to die. Everyone knows that “I shall die.” But if there is immediately some danger, fire, immediately you go away from this room. Why? I do not wish to die. I do not wish to die. Although I know I must have to die, still, why do I go away? I know that… “Oh, let there be fire. I have to die, today or tomorrow. Let me die.” No. I do not wish to die. Therefore I go away. This is psychology. So everyone wants to live forever. That’s a fact. So if you want to live forever, then you have to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so important and nice. Everyone wants to live. So actually, if you want to live, then you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So don’t waste your time by talking nonsense. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī has advised, atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ. Prajalpaḥ.

Because if I get more money, then immediately māyā will pa…, “Why don’t you spend for me?” Yes. So don’t collect more than… What you require, you collect. Or similarly, āhāra means eating. Don’t eat more than necessity. Actually, we have to come to the point of nil eating, sleeping, mating and defending. And that is not possible, because we have got this body. But minimum.

Minimalism

Following the crowd – It is called gaḍurikā-pravāha. Everyone is doing this, but he does not understand why he is doing it. There are many stories of this gaḍurikā-pravāha

Anyone who does not understand what is Kṛṣṇa and what is Kṛṣṇa’s service, he may be very big man in the ordinary estimation, but we don’t give him any value. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12]. Because they are mental speculators. They have no value. They have their value in their own way, but according to our line of thought, they have no value.

SB 2.1.5 – This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to hear about Kṛṣṇa, we have to chant about Kṛṣṇa, we have to memorize about Kṛṣṇa, we have to worship Kṛṣṇa. This is our movement. We are worshiping Kṛṣṇa in the temple, we are thinking of Him, we are talking about Him and we are hearing about Him. So if we live in this way… It does not require any monetary exchange or any high education. Everyone can hear about Kṛṣṇa.

Anyone… After hearing, everyone can talk about Kṛṣṇa. And while hearing and talking, he can remember about Kṛṣṇa. And everyone can worship in the temple. Where is the difficulty? By prosecuting these four principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you become immortal. No austerity. No austerity, no penance, no education, no riches. Simply by following these four principles, you become immortal.

So this verse is very important. Āyur harati vai puṁsām udyann astaṁ ca yann asau tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta. Tasya ṛte, one who is passing time in this way, simply with kṛṣṇa-kathā, chanting also… If you have no time… If you have now spare time, don’t sit idly. If there is no facility for reading books or talking about Kṛṣṇa, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare.

If you have got… Next moment, you can interchange, read something. Always be busy with Kṛṣṇa. Then the sun will not be able to kill you. You are going to live forever. This is the process.

2nd chapter is full of transcendental messages

  • Minimalism, 
  • BG 10.11 – Even if you do not have enough money, Krsna will provide to the pure devotee a comfortable life. 
  • Bhakti charu Swami maharaj. left college, no money, guru gave services… After that he became a guru and all of a sudden everything changed for him. He had a good life, a lot of money and engaged in the service of Srila prabhupada. 
  • If you are not preaching, you need to have money, if you become a preacher, pure in heart, gentle and kind – so much is going to come your way.. 
  • Prostitute in CC – got everything she needed.. 
  • If you become a real preacher of KC you do not have to worry about money
  • Not everyone can do that.. you can be a minimalist and use everything else for the service of the lord, the same result will come. 
  • Believe in the words of the acharyas