Tag: Illusion

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SB 2.10.42 Notes – 3/14/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.10.42 TODAY (3/14/22):

  • The Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu incarnates Himself in different societies of living entities to reclaim them from the clutches of illusion, and such activities of the Lord are not limited only to human society.
  • He incarnates Himself even as a fish, hog, tree and many other forms, but less intelligent persons who have no knowledge of Him deride Him even if He is in human society as a human being.
  • The Lord is never a product of the material creation. His transcendental position is always unchanged. He is the eternal form of knowledge and bliss, and He executes His almighty will by His different energies.
  • It is His causeless mercy that He appears in every society or species of life, but He is never to be considered one of them. Conceptions of the material world such as good and bad, lower and upper, important and insignificant, are estimations of the material energy, and the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all such conceptions. 
  • The words paraṁ bhāvam, or transcendental nature, can never be compared to the material conception. We should not forget that the potencies of the Almighty Lord are always the same and do not decrease because the Lord assumes the form of a lower animal. 
  • There is no difference between Lord Śrī Rāma, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations as a fish and hog. He is all-pervading and simultaneously localized at any and every place
  • One who is foolish about the transcendental science of the Lord will find it difficult to understand how Lord Viṣṇu can equally manifest Himself in every society of living entities.
  • Just like this huge universe, it will be all be destroyed. As your body will be destroyed, this will be destroyed, annihilation, dissolution. Nature’s way, everything will be dissolved. So therefore it is dream. It is a long duration dream, that’s all. Nothing else. But the advantage is that even in this dream you can realize the reality, God. That is the… So if you don’t take advantage of this dream, then you are missing.

SB 2.10.42 TRANSLATION:

He, the Personality of Godhead, as the maintainer of all in the universe, appears in different incarnations after establishing the creation, and thus He reclaims all kinds of conditioned souls amongst the humans, the nonhumans and the demigods.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu incarnates Himself in different societies of living entities to reclaim them from the clutches of illusion, and such activities of the Lord are not limited only to human society. 

He incarnates Himself even as a fish, hog, tree and many other forms, but less intelligent persons who have no knowledge of Him deride Him even if He is in human society as a human being. The Lord therefore says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.11):

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā

mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto

mama bhūta-maheśvaram

As we have already discussed in the previous verses, it is concluded that the Lord is never a product of the material creation. His transcendental position is always unchanged. He is the eternal form of knowledge and bliss, and He executes His almighty will by His different energies. As such, He is never the subject of reactions for any of His acts. He is transcendental to all such conceptions of actions and reactions. Even if He is visible in the material world, the exhibition is only of His internal energy, for He is above the good and bad conceptions of this material world. In the material world the fish or the hog may be considered lower than the man, but when the Lord appears as a fish or hog, He is neither of them in the material conception. It is His causeless mercy that He appears in every society or species of life, but He is never to be considered one of them. Conceptions of the material world such as good and bad, lower and upper, important and insignificant, are estimations of the material energy, and the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all such conceptions. The words paraṁ bhāvam, or transcendental nature, can never be compared to the material conception. We should not forget that the potencies of the Almighty Lord are always the same and do not decrease because the Lord assumes the form of a lower animal. There is no difference between Lord Śrī Rāma, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations as a fish and hog. He is all-pervading and simultaneously localized at any and every place. But the foolish person with a poor fund of knowledge, for want of that paraṁ bhāvam of the Lord, cannot understand how the Supreme Lord can take the form of a man or a fish. One compares everything to one’s own standard of knowledge, as the frog in the well considers the sea to be like the well. The frog in the well cannot even think of the sea, and when such a frog is informed of the greatness of the sea, it takes the conception of the sea as being a little greater than the well. As such, one who is foolish about the transcendental science of the Lord will find it difficult to understand how Lord Viṣṇu can equally manifest Himself in every society of living entities.

Material conception of life – 

In the gross material concept of life we are under the impression that “I am this body.” Therefore we are concerned with the senses. If our senses are gratified, we think we are now satisfied. So this is the gross type of existence, I mean to say, existence of ignorance. Illusion. Māyā. When one is under the thought that “I am this,” this is illusion. Illusion means you accept something, something is presented as reality, and you accept it.

Just like the example is given, water in the desert. Mirage. There is no water, but a…, an animal is hankering, is running after water in the desert. That is practical, that due to sunshine there is a reflection, it appears in the desert. Sometimes you might have seen—not here; in India we have seen several times—that exactly as vast water, and it is reflecting, the reflection.

That is called mirage. There is not a drop of water, but the animal, when he is thirsty, he…, it thinks that “There is water.” He jumps into the desert and the water is going ahead, going ahead, and he is running after it and then dies. So this illusion, that “I am this body.” So we are after this sense gratification. Body means the senses. So that is mirage, illusion, just like the animal is running after water in the desert.

Type: Bhagavad-gita

Date: July 14, 1973

Location: London

Audio file: audio/transcripts/1973/730714BG.LON.mp3

https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/730714bglon/

So jīva-bhūta, we jīvas, we are all prakṛti. Puruṣa is only Kṛṣṇa. All living entities… Viṣṇu-tattva is puruṣa-tattva, and we are śakti-tattva, śakti, energy, marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa. So energy is prakṛti. So prakṛti is not puruṣa. So Māyāvāda philosophy is wrong. They pose them as so ‘ham. So ‘ham, “I am the same.” How you can be same? In the śāstra it is said that “You living entity, you are prakṛti.” How you can become same, you puruṣa? This is mistake.

How prakṛti, how a woman can become man? Artificially one can become. Here also, so-called woman, they are also puruṣa. They are thinking puruṣa. Puruṣa means enjoyer. Here woman is also thinking to enjoy, and the so-called man is also thinking to enjoy. Everyone. Nobody wants to serve. Everyone wants to be served. Puruṣa attitude. Everyone wants to be served. Nobody wants to serve. This is the material conception of life.

So when we agree to serve, not to be served, that is liberated person. When we agree to serve only, not to be served. Not to accept service from others, but to serve others—that is real liberation. But here the material disease is that everyone is making plan, “How others will serve me.” This is called māyā. This is called māyā. Māyā means that artificially we want to be served. That is not possible. When we agree to serve… As Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us the path of liberation, jīvera svarūpa hoy nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa, this is our position. We are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.

Type: Walk

Date: Jan. 9, 1974

Location: Los Angeles

Audio file: audio/transcripts/1974/740109MW.LA.mp3

Prajāpati: Jaya. Your lecture this morning was brilliant, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Your logic could defeat anybody. [Prabhupāda chuckles] The theological rascals, though, they will not accept any authority except their own mind. They are such nonsense.

Prabhupāda: That is called mano-dharmī. In Sanskrit it is called mano-dharmī, mental speculators.

Prajāpati: It’s a disease, actually.

Prabhupāda: And therefore mental speculators, they have been condemned. Manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12]. Because they carry on, or they are carried by, the chariot of mind, manorathena. Manorathena asata. Manoratha, when you drive on the chariot of mind, you cannot get any fixed idea, because the mind is flickering. Saṅkalpa-vikalpa. Mind business is, “Accept this, and again reject it.” So all these speculators are doing. Somebody is putting forward some theory, and after some years he will himself reject or somebody else will reject. So manorathena, by mental speculation, you remain on the material platform. You cannot get any spiritual idea. Therefore harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. Anyone who is not in the spiritual platform… Spiritual platform means to be a devotee of the Lord. The Māyāvādīs, because they are not devotees of the Lord, they are not on the spiritual platform. They are on the material platform. They are speculating spirit, “something negation of matter.” That’s all. That is mental speculation. “It is bad. Good means negation of bad.” They are thinking like that. They do not know in this material world bad and good are both the same thing, because it is matter. That they do not know. They think, “This is bad, this is good.” But they do not know, materially conceived anything, good or bad, they are the same thing. That they do not know.

Dvaite means this external energy of Kṛṣṇa. There, everything is infected.

Bahulāśva: How is bad and good the same thing, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Bahulāśva: How is bad and good the same thing?

Prabhupāda: Just like we are walking on this street. Sometimes we say, “This is very good,” and sometimes, “It is very bad.” But the street is the same. So how it is good and bad? This is simply mental speculation.

Bahulāśva: Sense perception?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Mental speculation. When it is dry… The dryness also, sometimes it is, “Oh, it is very dry, bad.” And again, say dry, we shall say, “Oh, today is very good.” It is simply mental speculation.

Devotee: It is like wet stool and dry stool. It is still stool.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes. [chuckles] Yes, that is the example. The dry part of the stool, they say, “Oh, this part is very nice.” He forgets that, after all, it is a stool. So what is the dry or moist? Just like they are making scientific advancement, but the death is there. So what is the use of your advancement or no advancement? One who has not advanced in science, he’ll also die. And you’ll also die, advanced. Then what is the good? You cannot protect yourself from death. Then what is the meaning of this “good”? “This is good. This is advancement, and this is not advancement.”

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But the distinction…

Prbhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The distinction “good” and “bad…”

Prabhupāda: That is your distinction. You have made such distinction.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I think that depends on the consciousness of the individual.

Prabhupāda: Relativity, relativity. Law of Relativity. What is…, what is food for one is death for other, the same thing. So how you can say the food is good or bad? Is it not? “One man’s food, another man’s poison.” So how you can distinguish this is food or poison? One man will say, “No, it is food.” Another man will say, “It is poison.” So how you’ll distinguish? So this good and bad is simply mental speculation. Because it is in the material platform, there is nothing good. Everything is bad. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66]. In the name of dharma, so many rascaldom is going on. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya. It is not dharma. And Bhāgavata says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra [SB 1.1.2] = “This cheating type of religious system is rejected from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.” All so-called religions, they’re simply cheating. Cheating. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ. Kaitavaḥ means cheating. Everything is cheating. They say, “We are advancing.” What you are advancing? The problem, birth-death, is there. So what is the meaning of your advancement? Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra paramo nirmatsarāṇām.

Prajāpati: This is the only means, then, to get off that manorathena.

Prabhupāda: Manorathena, yes. Manorathena means if you remain on that platform, then you have to reject again. Just they are doing, the so-called scientists, philosophers. They are putting forward some theory, and after some time they reject it. So if you remain on the mental platform, then this business of accepting and rejecting will go on. You’ll never come to a conclusion. Therefore one has to rise to the spiritual platform. That is nityaḥ śāśvato ‘yam, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. That is eternal, everlasting.

Prajāpati: Not a theory.

Prabhupāda: No. Yes.

Umāpati: They just constantly speculate on the material nature.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Umāpati: They speculate on the material nature.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Umāpati: And they can never be spiritual.

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Umāpati: Just always material.

Prabhupāda: Number of zeroes never make one. It is zero. You add thousands of zeroes, one after another, the value will be zero, not one.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But there is a theory, Śrīla Prabhupāda… Not theory; it’s a fact, that if some number is raised to the power zero, that becomes one. In mathematics.

Prabhupāda: That’s all right. But I am speaking that you combine millions of zeroes, that will never become one. That I am speaking. Zero is zero. Zero plus zero equal to zero. Zero minus zero equal to zero. Zero multiplied zero, zero. Zero divided by zero, zero. That’s all. Where you get…? And by the side of zero, if you bring one, eko brahma, immediately it will become ten. And add another zero, immediately hundred, ten times increased. That one must be there, one God. Then zero increases value. Similarly, this material world is zero, but if there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it is valuable. Then it is valuable.

Prajāpati: But that manorathena, that chariot of the mind, that is never valuable.

Prabhupāda: No, it has no value.

Prajāpati: The whole Western philoso…

Prabhupāda: Manorathena asato dhāvato bahiḥ. By mental speculation, you will remain on this asata, in this temporary field. Asat means “which will not exist.” Anything in this material world you take, that will not exist. Anywhere man can say. The skyscraper building is constructed, but everyone knows that it will not exist. Some day it will fall down. Everyone knows. It will never exist. That is explained by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, that “If you think that by combination of matter, life has come, so life was not there before the combination. And this combination will dismantle. That life…, there will be no more life. So why this [indistinct] period you are lamenting? There is life.” Because according to this theory—“A combination of matter makes life”—so before combination there was no life, and the combination dismantle, there is no life. So beginning and end no life. Why you are lamenting in the middle? Very good reasoning. Just see. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān [SB 7.9.43]. Māyā-sukhāya, that illusory, illusory happiness. Māyā-sukhāya. And for that reason, they are making huge, gorgeous arrangement and working day and night, which will be zero. It has begun from zero and it will end into zero. In the middle they are busy. Just see. Therefore vimūḍhān.

Hanumān: In your books you say that the world is like a dream.

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is dream.

Hanumān: How is it a dream?

Prabhupāda: Dream, just like last night you had some dream.

Hanumān: Yes.

Hanumān: I am half asleep. So I am half asleep.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the… Therefore Vedas says, uttiṣṭhata: “Get up, get up, get up!” Jāgṛta: “Become awakened.” Prāpya varaṁ nibodhata: “Now you have got the opportunity. Utilize it.” This is Vedic injunction. Uttiṣṭhata jāgṛta prāpya varaṁ nibodhata. [Katha Upanisad 1.3.14] This is Vedic in… Tamasi mā jyotir gama [Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.3.28]. These are Vedic injunction. So we are preaching the same thing, that “Reality is here—Kṛṣṇa. Don’t remain in this darkness. Come to this consciousness.” That is our preaching. Tamasi mā jyotir gama. [break] …experienced the sunshine, bright day, and this gloomy day. So when you are in darkness, we must have to admit, “There is light.” Because darkness means absence of light. So as we are in the darkness of this material existence, there must be something life of light. That is spiritual world. That is reality. [break] …ahaṁ brahmāsmi. “Oh, I don’t belong to this dark…, darkness atmosphere. I belong to the light atmosphere.” That is self-realization. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

[Bg. 18.54]

This is brahma-bhūta stage. Just like this is a cakra. I am walking on this wheel, but I am thinking I am advancing. What is this advancement? It is already there. Just like they are advancing in science, and they must remain here. They are trying for so many years to go to the moon planet, and no result. [laughs] The same, same thing = “Now we are going to the moon planet,” but coming again. That’s all. Saṁsāra-cakra. Just like the dog. Dog is sometimes barking = “Gata-gata-gata-gata!” The master says, “Come on.” Immediately come. He thinks that “I have got freedom. Let me jump over.” You see? So you are thinking like that. We are under the māyā’s clutches. “Come on, come on here.” Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 3.27]. He’s under the reins of prakṛti. You cannot go anywhere. [pause] [break]

Hanumān: …simultaneously in the dream and not in the dream. So when…

Prabhupāda: That is reality, when you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is reality.

Hanumān: But I also see all this.

Prabhupāda: Eh? That is another thing. On the path of reality, you come.

Hanumān: On the path?

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is a process. When the process is complete, then you’ll come to the reality. But that is the process. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. We cannot distinguish now reality and non-reality because the heart is unclean. So we have to cleanse, and then we come to the reality.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: For that matter, Śrīla Prabhupāda, when one comes to that stage, there is no difference between animate and inanimate. Is that true?

Prabhupāda: Highest stage?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Highest stage, everything animate.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So a stone… Even a stone has soul.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Just like this tree. You cut; it does not protest. The consciousness is not developed. That is the… But it has got life. You scientists, you do not believe that stone has also life?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, they say it’s just m

Prabhupāda: Well, it has no value. It is gone. And again this night, when you’ll sleep, you’ll forget all these things. You’ll dream. You don’t remember during night, when you are dreaming, that “I have got my house, I have got my wife, I have…” You all forget. So it is dream.

Hanumān: It is true or is not true?

Prabhupāda: No, no. Where is true? You forget at night. Do you remember when you sleep that you have got your wife and you are sleeping on bed? You have gone some three thousand miles away and seeing something else. Do you remember that you have got a place to reside?

Hanumān: No.

Prabhupāda: So this is dream at night. And night dream, what you saw at night, that is now dream. So both of them dream. You are simply visitor. That’s all. You are seeing this dream and that dream. You are…, you are fact, but what you are seeing, that is dream.

Hanumān: But I have the impression that “This is true, and my dream is not true.” What is the difference?

Prabhupāda: No, no. Everything is untrue. How it is true? If it is true, why you forget at night? Why you forget if it is true? Do you remember at night?

Hanumān: No, I don’t remember.

Prabhupāda: Then? How it is true? As you don’t remember the dreams which you saw last night…, that, therefore we say “dream.” Similarly this thing, because you forget at night, this is also dream.

Hanumān: But I have…

Prabhupāda: This is day dream, that is night dream. That’s all.

Bahulāśva: Jaya. Day dream and night dream. And the night dream, then you perceive that as being real.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Bahulāśva: When you dream at night, then you think that is real.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is real. You cry… It is dream, but you are crying, “There is tiger, tiger, tiger!” Where is tiger? But you are seeing it is fact, tiger = “I am being killed by a tiger.” But where is tiger? [break] …in dream you are embracing some beautiful girl. Where is that beautiful girl? But actually this is happening.

Hanumān: Is it happening?

Prabhupāda: It is happening, because there is discharge of semina, night pollution. But where is that girl? Is it not dream? So similarly, this is also. You are having the effect of truthfulness, but it is a dream. Māyā… Therefore it is called māyā-sukhāya. The same thing, that at night you are dreaming you are embracing nice, beautiful girl, and there is no such thing, similarly, in the daytime also, whatever advancement you are making, this is also like that. Māyā-sukhāya. We are happy, we are dreaming, “This process will make me happy. This process will make me happy.” But the whole process is dream only. You are taking this day dream as reality because the duration is long. At night when you dream, the duration is for half an hour. And this is for twelve hours, or more than that. That is the difference. It is a twelve hours’ dream, and that is half an hour dream. But actually, both of them are dream. And because it is twelve hours’ dream, you are taking it as…, accepting it as real. That is called illusion.

Bahulāśva: Illusion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are making distinction between animal and ourself, but we’re forgetting, we are forgetting the animal also will die and I will also die. So where is my advancement? Will you remain? You’ll also die. So where is your advancement upon animal? That is stated in śāstra = āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca samānam etat paśubhir narāṇām [Hitopadeśa]. Business—eating, sleeping, sex life and defending—this is also animal’s business. And you are also doing the same. How you are distinct from animal? You’ll die. The animal will die. But if you say, “I’ll die after one hundred years, and this ant will die after one hour,” that does not mean that you are in reality. It is a question of time. Just like this huge universe, it will be all be destroyed. As your body will be destroyed, this will be destroyed, annihilation, dissolution. Nature’s way, everything will be dissolved. So therefore it is dream. It is a long duration dream, that’s all. Nothing else. But the advantage is that even in this dream you can realize the reality, God. That is the… So if you don’t take advantage of this dream, then you are missing.

Hanumān: I am half asleep. So I am half asleep.

Good and bad both are relative, both are bad and they keep us in the material world.. 

Never be disheartened by good results and bad results. 

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SB 2.9.34 – Part 4 – Notes – 1/13/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.9.34 – Part 4:

  • The illusory energy has two phases of existence, namely the covering influence and the throwing influence.
  • By the throwing influence the illusory energy throws the living entities into the darkness of ignorance, and by the covering influence she covers the eyes of men with a poor fund of knowledge about the existence of the Supreme Person.
  • The scientific studies of the cosmic manifestation or the bodily construction independent of the Supreme Lord are different reflective intellectual gymnastics only, but at the end they are all illusion and nothing more.
  • All such advancement of science and knowledge in the present context of material civilization is but an action of the covering influence of the illusory energy.
  • Demoniac persons who deny the existence of the Lord are thrown more and more into the darkness of ignorance, and thus such demoniac persons transmigrate life after life without any knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
  • The sane man, however, is enlightened in the disciplic succession from Brahmājī, who was personally instructed by the Lord, or in the disciplic succession from Arjuna, who was personally instructed by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gītā.
  • In the medical science of the ancient sages, known as the Āyur-veda, there is definite acceptance of the Lord’s supremacy –
  • There is one Supreme Person who is the progenitor of this cosmic manifestation and whose energy acts as prakṛti, or the material nature, dazzling like a reflection. By such illusory action of prakṛti, even dead matter is caused to move by the cooperation of living energy of the Lord, and the material world appears like a dramatic performance to the ignorant eyes.
  • The living entities are also a display of the Lord’s superior energy (parā prakṛti), just as the material world is a display of the Lord’s inferior energy (aparā prakṛti).
  • The living energy represented by the living entities is the reflection of the Lord, and never the Lord Himself. Being the reflection of the Lord, the existence of the living entity is dependent on the Supreme Lord, who is the original light.
  • This material energy may be compared to darkness, as actually it is darkness, and the activities of the living entities in the darkness are reflections of the original light.
  • The reflection of sunlight in the darkness is unable to drive out the darkness, but the sunlight outside the reflection can drive out the darkness completely
  •  one has to take shelter of the light of the Lord, as in the Bhagavad-gītā or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and not the reflective personalities who have no touch with the Lord
  • the action of different energies of the Lord, or the Personality of Godhead Himself, can be realized by the light manifested by the causeless mercy of the Lord.
  • The Lord is a manifestation of His internal energy, and this particular energy is the means of seeing the Lord face to face. Not only Brahmā but anyone who may be graced by the Lord to see such merciful direct internal energy can also realize the Personality of Godhead without any mental speculation.
  • BG 9.13 & 9.14 – Defines the standard of Krsna Consciousness one needs to adhere to be called as a devotee.
  • A devotee is attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
  • Such a devotee has firm determination to achieve at the ultimate end the association of the Supreme Lord in any one of the five transcendental rasas.
  • To achieve that success, he engages all activities – mental, bodily and vocal, everything – in the service of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. That is called full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

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.

Persons with a poor fund of knowledge become illusioned, and therefore the so-called scientists, physiologists, empiric philosophers, etc., become dazzled by the glaring reflection of the sun, moon, electricity, etc., and deny the existence of the Supreme Lord, putting forward theories and different speculations about the creation, maintenance and annihilation of everything material. The medical practitioner may deny the existence of the soul in the physiological bodily construction of an individual person, but he cannot give life to a dead body, even though all the mechanisms of the body exist even after death. The psychologist makes a serious study of the physiological conditions of the brain, as if the construction of the cerebral lump were the machine of the functioning mind, but in the dead body the psychologist cannot bring back the function of the mind. These scientific studies of the cosmic manifestation or the bodily construction independent of the Supreme Lord are different reflective intellectual gymnastics only, but at the end they are all illusion and nothing more. All such advancement of science and knowledge in the present context of material civilization is but an action of the covering influence of the illusory energy. The illusory energy has two phases of existence, namely the covering influence and the throwing influence. By the throwing influence the illusory energy throws the living entities into the darkness of ignorance, and by the covering influence she covers the eyes of men with a poor fund of knowledge about the existence of the Supreme Person who enlightened the supreme individual living being, Brahmā. The identity of Brahmā with the Supreme Lord is never claimed herein, and therefore such a foolish claim by the man with a poor fund of knowledge is another display of the illusory energy of the Lord. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā (16.18-20) that demoniac persons who deny the existence of the Lord are thrown more and more into the darkness of ignorance, and thus such demoniac persons transmigrate life after life without any knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The sane man, however, is enlightened in the disciplic succession from Brahmājī, who was personally instructed by the Lord, or in the disciplic succession from Arjuna, who was personally instructed by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gītā. He accepts this statement of the Lord:

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

iti matvā bhajante māṁ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

(Bg. 10.8) Alternate Translation

The Lord is the original source of all emanations, and everything that is created, maintained and annihilated exists by the energy of the Lord. The sane man who knows this is actually learned, and therefore he becomes a pure devotee of the Lord, engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.

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.

Although the reflectory energy of the Lord displays various illusions to the eyes of persons with a poor fund of knowledge, the sane person knows clearly that the Lord can act, even from far, far beyond our vision, by His different energies, just as fire can diffuse heat and light from a distant place. In the medical science of the ancient sages, known as the Āyur-veda, there is definite acceptance of the Lord’s supremacy in the following words:

Ayurveda is part of Atharvaveda..

jagad-yoner anicchasya

cid-ānandaika-rūpiṇaḥ

puṁso ’sti prakṛtir nityā

praticchāyeva bhāsvataḥ

acetanāpi caitanya-

yogena paramātmanaḥ

akarod viśvam akhilam

anityam nāṭakākṛtim

There is one Supreme Person who is the progenitor of this cosmic manifestation and whose energy acts as prakṛti, or the material nature, dazzling like a reflection. By such illusory action of prakṛti, even dead matter is caused to move by the cooperation of living energy of the Lord, and the material world appears like a dramatic performance to the ignorant eyes. 

SP is going a great length to explain the acintya beda abeda tattva of Caitanya MahaPrabhu… 

The ignorant person, therefore, may even be a scientist or physiologist in the drama of prakṛti, while the sane person knows prakṛti as the illusory energy of the Lord. By such a conclusion, as confirmed by the Bhagavad-gītā, it is clear that the living entities are also a display of the Lord’s superior energy (parā prakṛti), just as the material world is a display of the Lord’s inferior energy (aparā prakṛti). The superior energy of the Lord cannot be as good as the Lord, although there is very little difference between the energy and the possessor of the energy, or the fire and the heat. 

Fire is possessed of heat, but heat is not fire. This simple thing is not understood by the man with a poor fund of knowledge who falsely claims that the fire and heat are the same. This energy of the fire (namely heat) is explained here as a reflection, and not directly fire. Therefore the living energy represented by the living entities is the reflection of the Lord, and never the Lord Himself. Being the reflection of the Lord, the existence of the living entity is dependent on the Supreme Lord, who is the original light. 

Einstein and Faraday were all intrigued by the light.. At one point scientists said light is a wave.. Einstein said that light is made of photos. He came a little closer to the truth. Brahma jyothi is made of infinite number of Jivas souls – like pencils of light made of souls which do not have a body.. 

This material energy may be compared to darkness, as actually it is darkness, and the activities of the living entities in the darkness are reflections of the original light. 

There are 2 energies –  Spiritual and material,  One is full of light, heat maintaining the universe and consicous, full of darkness and not conscious. 

Krsna – Internal energy & external energy 

Spirit soul is internal energy of the lord. 

Material world and the body is external energy.

Although soul is eternal, body is temporary and needs maintenance. All that is supplied by Krsna. 

If we cancel Krsna – if we claim we are independent.. We try to control the material energy .. 

Meaning of Hare Krsna Maha Mantra – 

“The transcendental vibration established by the chanting of Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare is the sublime method for reviving our Krishna consciousness. As living spiritual souls we are all originally Krishna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter from time immemorial, our consciousness is now polluted by the material atmosphere. The material atmosphere, in which we are now living, is called maya or illusion. Maya means “that which is not.” And what is this illusion? The illusion is that we are all trying to be lords of material nature, while actually we are under the grip of her stringent laws. 

BG 9.13 – explains what a KC person is

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha

daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ

bhajanty ananya-manaso

jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.

BG 9.14 

satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ

yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ

namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā

nitya-yuktā upāsate

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

Extremely important verses. If we have to be called a devotee we have to comply with these two verses. Rigid adherence to the KC schedule makes one a devotee.

If someone is KC they have to comply with this verse. By the divine nature of the lord, They are fully engaged in devotional service. This describes the devotee,, we have to understand this and teach to our children. 

In this verse the description of the mahātmā is clearly given. The first sign of the mahātmā is that he is already situated in the divine nature. He is not under the control of material nature. And how is this effected? That is explained in the Seventh Chapter: one who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, at once becomes freed from the control of material nature. That is the qualification. One can become free from the control of material nature as soon as he surrenders his soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the preliminary formula. Being marginal potency, as soon as the living entity is freed from the control of material nature, he is put under the guidance of the spiritual nature. The guidance of the spiritual nature is called daivī prakṛti, divine nature. So when one is promoted in that way – by surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead – one attains to the stage of great soul, mahātmā.

Krishna and SP wants us all to become great devotees, that are serious about following KC in a regulated way. 

BG 9.14  – STANDARD OF KC 

The mahātmā cannot be manufactured by rubber-stamping an ordinary man. His symptoms are described here: a mahātmā is always engaged in chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. He has no other business. He is always engaged in the glorification of the Lord. In other words, he is not an impersonalist. When the question of glorification is there, one has to glorify the Supreme Lord, praising His holy name, His eternal form, His transcendental qualities and His uncommon pastimes. One has to glorify all these things; therefore a mahātmā is attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

One who is attached to the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord, the brahma-jyotir, is not described as mahātmā in the Bhagavad-gītā. He is described in a different way in the next verse. The mahātmā is always engaged in different activities of devotional service, as described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, hearing and chanting about Viṣṇu, not a demigod or human being. That is devotion: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ and smaraṇam, remembering Him. Such a mahātmā has firm determination to achieve at the ultimate end the association of the Supreme Lord in any one of the five transcendental rasas. To achieve that success, he engages all activities – mental, bodily and vocal, everything – in the service of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. That is called full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

In devotional service there are certain activities which are called determined, such as fasting on certain days, like the eleventh day of the moon, Ekādaśī, and on the appearance day of the Lord. All these rules and regulations are offered by the great ācāryas for those who are actually interested in getting admission into the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the transcendental world. The mahātmās, great souls, strictly observe all these rules and regulations, and therefore they are sure to achieve the desired result.

As described in the second verse of this chapter, not only is this devotional service easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood. One does not need to undergo any severe penance and austerity. He can live this life in devotional service, guided by an expert spiritual master, and in any position, either as a householder or a sannyāsī or a brahmacārī; in any position and anywhere in the world, he can perform this devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become actually mahātmā, a great soul.

We have to be very alert in following what SP is saying in these two verses. Being nonchalant in following KC is a communicable disease. 

MATERIAL ENERGY IS IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERCOME

BG 7.14 

This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.

Book of Laws of Nature – Page 1 

Material energy is Duratyaya – Impossible to overcome. 

ISO Mantra 7

no one but those who surrender at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord can surpass the stringent laws of nature.


STRINGENT LAWS OF NATURE 

BG 5.22

Therefore, those who are true yogīs or learned transcendentalists are not attracted by sense pleasures, which are the causes of continuous material existence. The more one is addicted to material pleasures, the more he is entrapped by material miseries.

SB 3.25.13

As soon as we get some material happiness, there is also material distress.

The Lord should be understood by the context of this verse. Non-dependence of both the energies of the Lord is explained as māyā, or illusion. 

No one can make a solution of the darkness of ignorance simply by the reflection of light. Similarly, no one can come out of material existence simply by the reflected light of the common man; one has to receive the light from the original light itself. The reflection of sunlight in the darkness is unable to drive out the darkness, but the sunlight outside the reflection can drive out the darkness completely. In darkness no one can see the things in a room. Therefore a person in the dark is afraid of snakes and scorpions, although there may not be such things. But in the light the things in the room can be clearly seen, and the fear of snakes and scorpions is at once removed. Therefore one has to take shelter of the light of the Lord, as in the Bhagavad-gītā or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and not the reflective personalities who have no touch with the Lord. No one should hear Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a person who does not believe in the existence of the Lord. Such a person is already doomed, and any association with such a doomed person makes the associater also doomed.

Question: How to preach to someone who does not agree with what we say or how do we preach so people can agree with us.

BG 14th chapter. Modes of material nature. Lust, Greed Anger, 
Three doors to hellish lifeRaga Dvesa Vimuktaisu, Explain the cause of suffering in general terms.BG 5,23They look at you and whether you are following what you are explaining.. They might become argumentative.. don’t get trapped Sources of suffering and why people suffer and how to get out of it.. I want to talk more … how they are able to control senses and  Your example, your friendliness,… you doing good things.. will make them want to talk to you more in future

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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.. 

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SB 2.9.34 – Part 2 – Notes – 1/11/22

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.9.34 – Part 2 :

  • 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. 
  • 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. 
  • Anything that appears as apparently not being “produced out of My energy” is called māyā
  • The influence of the illusory energy, the reflection of light in the darkness, can be removed only by the mercy of the Lord. 
  • The living entity is not independent. One should not think himself independent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 
  • The individual is always under the Lord’s control. Therefore one’s duty is to surrender. 
  • In the material world, the light of the sun is also not independent, nor is that of the moon. The real source of light is the brahmajyoti, which diffuses light from the transcendental body of the Lord, and the same light is reflected in varieties of light: the light of the sun, the light of the moon, the light of fire, or the light of electricity. 
  • So the identity of the self as being unconnected with the Supreme Self, the Lord, is also illusion, and the false claim “I am the Supreme” is the last illusory snare of the same māyā, or the external energy of the Lord.
  • All the laws act according to Krsna’s desire. If God so desires, a rock may fall into the water, but the water will not give way. The rock will simply float. Since God is the ultimate supreme, this is possible. Whatever God wills will come into effect.  
  • A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness certainly sees Lord Kṛṣṇa everywhere, and he sees everything in Kṛṣṇa. That is the true vision of oneness.
  • Such a person may appear to see all separate manifestations of the material nature, but in each and every instance he is conscious of Kṛṣṇa, knowing that everything is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s energy.
  • Nothing can exist without Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of everything – this is the basic principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
  • Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the development of love of Kṛṣṇa – a position transcendental even to material liberation.
  • Lord Kṛṣṇa never disappears from the sight of the devotee, nor does the devotee ever lose sight of the Lord. In the case of a yogī who sees the Lord as Paramātmā within the heart, turns into a pure devotee and cannot bear to live for a moment without seeing the Lord within himself.

SB 2.9.34 – 1/11/22

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.

BG 18.61 

Realistic understanding of who we are and how we are situated.

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati

bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni

yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.

Arjuna was not the supreme knower, and his decision to fight or not to fight was confined to his limited discretion. Lord Kṛṣṇa instructed that the individual is not all in all. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, or He Himself, Kṛṣṇa, as the localized Supersoul, sits in the heart directing the living being. After changing bodies, the living entity forgets his past deeds, but the Supersoul, as the knower of the past, present and future, remains the witness of all his activities. Therefore all the activities of living entities are directed by this Supersoul. The living entity gets what he deserves and is carried by the material body, which is created in the material energy under the direction of the Supersoul. As soon as a living entity is placed in a particular type of body, he has to work under the spell of that bodily situation. A person seated in a high-speed motorcar goes faster than one seated in a slower car, though the living entities, the drivers, may be the same. Similarly, by the order of the Supreme Soul, material nature fashions a particular type of body to a particular type of living entity so that he may work according to his past desires. The living entity is not independent. One should not think himself independent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The individual is always under the Lord’s control. Therefore one’s duty is to surrender, and that is the injunction of the next verse.

Dialectic Spiritulism – pg 198

Syamasundara dasa: Does the body ever affect the soul? 

Srila Prabhupada: The soul is unaffected by the body, but the body is helping the soul to fulfill its desires. I am using this microphone to serve my purposes, but this microphone is not influencing me. It is not that this microphone wills that I dictate this or that. The body is a combination of atoms. If Krsna is within the atoms, the monads of the atoms and the monad in the body are different. If the monad is a small united particle, Leibnitz is speaking of the Supersoul. Although the Supersoul appears innumerable, it is in actuality one. As stated in isopanishad: yasmin sarviir]-i bhutiiny iitmaiviibhud vijiinatal], tatra ko mohal], kal], soka ekatvam anupa5yatal], “One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things, and there is no illusion or anxiety for him.” (Isopanishad 7) Although we find the Supersoul all-pervasive, there is but one. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gitii: samam sarve�u bhute�u ti�thantam parame5varam vina5yatsv avinasyantam yal], pasyati sa pasyati “One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual soul in all bodies and who understands that neither the soul nor the Supersoul is ever destroyed, actually sees.” (Bg. 13.28) The devotee always sees all things in Krsna, and Krsna in all things. That is the true vision of oneness.

We see things as they are with the purports of Srila Prabhupada. We get the help of Senior devotees to understand Srila Prabhupada.Although SP purports are all self evident. 

We cannot understand or control all the functions of the body.. There is a combined action here – the soul and the super soul. 

Manmana bhava mad bhakto 

Sarva dharman parityajya

Sarva guhyatam mama..

ISO 7 Mantra – Oneness and the difference. Everything is the energy of the lord. But we can never be equal to the lord. There are similarity and difference. Fire and sparks of the fire, drop of water from the ocean and the ocean. 

This is how we can understand the difference between soul and the super soul. 

We also agree to that, but why use the example of clocks? Why not analyze the relationship between the body and the soul? You cannot consider them separately, because they are combined. The fallacy of this analogy is that two individual clocks are not combined at any point.

You cannot consider the body and soul as completely separate entities working independent of one another. It is stated in the Vedic sastras that the soul is the master of the body; therefore you cannot say that the body is working independently. If I tell my body to place this hand here, my hand will move to this spot. It is not that suddenly my hand moves without my desire.

In Sanskrit, this argument is called kakatalryanyaya. Once, when a crow flew into a tal tree, the fruit on that tree immediately fell to the ground. One observer said that the crow lighted on the tree first, and then the fruit fell, and the other observer said that the fruit fell before the crow could light. This kind of argument has no value. We say that if Krsna so desires, a stone can float on the water, despite the law of gravitation. Although the law of gravitation is working here, there are so many huge planets floating in space. All these laws act according to Krsna’s desire. By the law of gravitation, all these planets would have fallen into the causal ocean and hit the Garbhodakasayi Vishnu in the head because He is lying on that ocean. But by His order all these planets are floating in space. Similarly, if God so desires, a rock may fall into the water, but the water will not give way. The rock will simply float. Since God is the ultimate supreme, this is possible. Whatever God wills will come into effect.  

Both Krsn and the living entity are spiritual. Ultimately, everything is spiritual because everything is Krsna’s energy. If Krsna is the original cause, matter can be changed into spirit, and spirit into matter. Electricity may be used to heat or to cool, but in either case, the original energy is electricity. Similarly, the original cause is Krsna; therefore He has the power to change matter into spirit, or spirit into matter. 

CROW AND TAL TREE EXAMPLE is related to SB 2.9.34

In the previous verse it has already been concluded that in any stage of the cosmic manifestation — its appearance, its sustenance, its growth, its interactions of different energies, its deterioration and its disappearance — all has its basic relation with the existence of the Personality of Godhead. And as such, whenever there is forgetfulness of this prime relation with the Lord, and whenever things are accepted as real without being related to the Lord, that conception is called a product of the illusory energy of the Lord. Because nothing can exist without the Lord, it should be known that the illusory energy is also an energy of the Lord. The right conclusion of dovetailing everything in relationship with the Lord is called yoga-māyā, or the energy of union, and the wrong conception of detaching a thing from its relationship with the Lord is called the Lord’s daivī māyā, or mahā-māyā. Both the māyās also have connections with the Lord because nothing can exist without being related to Him. As such, the wrong conception of detaching relationships from the Lord is not false, but illusory.

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. 

The reflection of light in the darkness – One looks at the glass door in the darkness.. one can see the reflection of oneself . Dark one. During the day you may not see your reflection. When it is dark outside you can see that there is some reflection.. 

Are we the reflection? No there is a difference between us and the reflection. 

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. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.12) it was said by the Lord in the midst of the battlefield that the warriors standing in front of Arjuna, Arjuna himself, and even the Lord had all existed before, they were existing on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and they would all continue to be individual personalities in the future also, even after the annihilation of the present body and even after being liberated from the bondage of material existence. In all circumstances, the Lord and the living entities are individual personalities, and the personal features of both the Lord and living beings are never abolished; only the influence of the illusory energy, the reflection of light in the darkness, can, by the mercy of the Lord, be removed. In the material world, the light of the sun is also not independent, nor is that of the moon. The real source of light is the brahmajyoti, which diffuses light from the transcendental body of the Lord, and the same light is reflected in varieties of light: the light of the sun, the light of the moon, the light of fire, or the light of electricity. So the identity of the self as being unconnected with the Supreme Self, the Lord, is also illusion, and the false claim “I am the Supreme” is the last illusory snare of the same māyā, or the external energy of the Lord.

Anytime you see anything separate from Krsna, it is illusory or maya.. 

Morning walk – Svaroop Damodar Maharaj 

Paramahaṁsa: If this mist of material nature is temporary, then why bother to disentangle oneself from something transitory?

Prabhupāda: Why do you take covering? You may, walk naked?

Paramahaṁsa: No.

Prabhupāda: Why do you take covering? You know everything will be cleared after few hours. Why do you cover?

Paramahaṁsa: It is dangerous now.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, why do you take this step to avoid this?

Kṛṣṇa-kāntī: It’s uncomfortable. It’s not natural.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the Māyāvāda theory = that everything will come automatically; why do you bother? That is nonsense.

Karandhara: They will not be able to be so philosophical in their next lives when they’re a dog.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Eh?

Karandhara: The Māyāvādīs will not be able to be so philosophical in their next lives when they’re dogs or cats.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Karandhara: They have to have a human body in order to enjoy that philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Their philosophy is that there is only one—God. So cats and dogs, that is God’s līlā, His… That is their rascal philo… God is making pastimes, līlā, by becoming a dog. That is their rascal philosophy. Daridra-nārāyaṇa, the Vivekananda’s philosophy. Nārāyaṇa has become daridra, poor. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So with chemists we have no quarrel if they begin from light. They’re beginning from darkness. That is our contention. We say, “Begin from light.” And they say, “No, begin from darkness.” Because they’re in darkness. One who is in the darkness, from darkness if he goes to light, he thinks that the darkness is the beginning.

Prabhupāda: No, no comparison. It is practical. Suppose you have been in darkness for millions of years, and when you come to the light you think that “Oh, from darkness the light has come.” Light, when it becomes dimmed, that is darkness. Not that darkness, light has come.

Kṛṣṇa-kāntī: Darkness cannot exist without light.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Or in the light there is no darkness. When the light is dimmed, that is darkness. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa consciousness is dimmed, that is material.

SP is saying in this morning walk that – We should not be fooled by mayavaids and scientists who want to separate everything from Krsna. Therefore anything which seems to be separate from Krsna is Krsna’s illusory energy.. 

BG 6.30

For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.

A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness certainly sees Lord Kṛṣṇa everywhere, and he sees everything in Kṛṣṇa. Such a person may appear to see all separate manifestations of the material nature, but in each and every instance he is conscious of Kṛṣṇa, knowing that everything is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s energy. Nothing can exist without Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of everything – this is the basic principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the development of love of Kṛṣṇa – a position transcendental even to material liberation. At this stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, beyond self-realization, the devotee becomes one with Kṛṣṇa in the sense that Kṛṣṇa becomes everything for the devotee and the devotee becomes full in loving Kṛṣṇa. An intimate relationship between the Lord and the devotee then exists. In that stage, the living entity can never be annihilated, nor is the Personality of Godhead ever out of the sight of the devotee. To merge in Kṛṣṇa is spiritual annihilation. A devotee takes no such risk. It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38):

“I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is always seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love. He is seen in His eternal form of Śyāmasundara, situated within the heart of the devotee.”

At this stage, Lord Kṛṣṇa never disappears from the sight of the devotee, nor does the devotee ever lose sight of the Lord. In the case of a yogī who sees the Lord as Paramātmā within the heart, the same applies. Such a yogī turns into a pure devotee and cannot bear to live for a moment without seeing the Lord within himself.

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SUMMARY OF HOW KRSNA IS THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD – PART 5 – Notes – 10/12/21

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON HOW KRSNA IS THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD – PART 5:

  • Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead and fountainhead of all other incarnations,
  • He is the only independent person.
  • He enjoys His pastimes by creation as He desires and gives them up to the external energy at the time of annihilation.
  • By His internal potency only, He kills the demon Pūtanā, even though enjoying His pastimes in the lap of His mother Yaśodā.
  • And when He desires to leave this world He creates the pastimes of killing His own family members (Yadu-kula) and remains unaffected by such annihilation.
  • He is the witness of everything that is happening, and yet He has nothing to do with anything.
  • Nothing can exist without being related to Him
  • Because nothing can exist without the Lord, it should be known that the illusory energy is also an energy of the Lord.
  • In any stage of the cosmic manifestation — its appearance, its sustenance, its growth, its interactions of different energies, its deterioration and its disappearance — all has its basic relation with the existence of the Personality of Godhead. 
  • The right conclusion of dovetailing everything in relationship with the Lord is called yoga-māyā, or the energy of union, and the wrong conception of detaching a thing from its relationship with the Lord is called the Lord’s daivī māyā, or mahā-māyā. Both the māyās also have connections with the Lord.
  • The Vedānta-sūtra in the very beginning affirms that everything is born from the Supreme. All individual living entities are born from the energy of the supreme living being, the Personality of Godhead. Brahmā himself was born from the energy of the Lord, and all other living entities are born from the energy of the Lord through the agency of Brahmā; none of them has any existence without being dovetailed with the Supreme Lord.
  • Persons with a poor fund of knowledge become illusioned, and therefore the so-called scientists, physiologists, empiric philosophers, etc., become dazzled by the glaring reflection of the sun, moon, electricity, etc., and deny the existence of the Supreme Lord, putting forward theories and different speculations about the creation, maintenance and annihilation of everything material. 
  • The illusory energy has two phases of existence, namely the covering influence and the throwing influence. By the throwing influence the illusory energy throws the living entities into the darkness of ignorance, and by the covering influence she covers the eyes of men with a poor fund of knowledge about the existence of the Supreme Person who enlightened the supreme individual living being, Brahmā.

SUMMARY OF HOW KRSNA IS THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD – class 5

Continuing about the unique qualities… of how Krsna is the supreme qualities. 

SB 2.8.23 – Unique qualities of Krsna

The independent Personality of Godhead enjoys His pastimes by His internal potency and at the time of annihilation gives them up to the external potency, and He remains a witness to it all.

  1. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead and fountainhead of all other incarnations, 
  2. He is the only independent person. 
  3. He enjoys His pastimes by creation as He desires and gives them up to the external energy at the time of annihilation. 
  4. By His internal potency only, He kills the demon Pūtanā, even though enjoying His pastimes in the lap of His mother Yaśodā. 
  5. And when He desires to leave this world He creates the pastimes of killing His own family members (Yadu-kula) and remains unaffected by such annihilation.
  6. He is the witness of everything that is happening, and yet He has nothing to do with anything. 
  7. He is independent in every respect. 

Mahārāja Parīkṣit desired to know more perfectly, for a pure devotee ought to know well.

SB 2.9.34 –  nothing can exist without being related to Him. 

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.

In the previous verse it has already been concluded that in any stage of the cosmic manifestation — its appearance, its sustenance, its growth, its interactions of different energies, its deterioration and its disappearance — all has its basic relation with the existence of the Personality of Godhead. And as such, whenever there is forgetfulness of this prime relation with the Lord, and whenever things are accepted as real without being related to the Lord, that conception is called a product of the illusory energy of the Lord. Because nothing can exist without the Lord, it should be known that the illusory energy is also an energy of the Lord. The right conclusion of dovetailing everything in relationship with the Lord is called yoga-māyā, or the energy of union, and the wrong conception of detaching a thing from its relationship with the Lord is called the Lord’s daivī māyā, or mahā-māyā. Both the māyās also have connections with the Lord because nothing can exist without being related to Him. As such, the wrong conception of detaching relationships from the Lord is not false, but illusory.

Even the illusory concept is related to Krsna…

Both the mayas – yoga maya and maha maya .. also have connection of the 

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. 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. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.12) it was said by the Lord in the midst of the battlefield that the warriors standing in front of Arjuna, Arjuna himself, and even the Lord had all existed before, they were existing on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and they would all continue to be individual personalities in the future also, even after the annihilation of the present body and even after being liberated from the bondage of material existence. In all circumstances, the Lord and the living entities are individual personalities, and the personal features of both the Lord and living beings are never abolished; only the influence of the illusory energy, the reflection of light in the darkness, can, by the mercy of the Lord, be removed. In the material world, the light of the sun is also not independent, nor is that of the moon. The real source of light is the brahmajyoti, which diffuses light from the transcendental body of the Lord, and the same light is reflected in varieties of light: the light of the sun, the light of the moon, the light of fire, or the light of electricity. So the identity of the self as being unconnected with the Supreme Self, the Lord, is also illusion, and the false claim “I am the Supreme” is the last illusory snare of the same māyā, or the external energy of the Lord.

Concept is not false but illusory.. The whole plan of the modern education is to keep the people in illusion. When a person is in illusion they are convinced to by things that are not necessary. Why are there so many factories.. Did people live without any cars, cakes, pies, pizzas, electricity.. But washing machines, dryers they lived without all these.. After certain all these things are manufactured and then people are convinced to buy these and are convinced they cannot live without them.. 

The Vedānta-sūtra in the very beginning affirms that everything is born from the Supreme, and thus, as explained in the previous verse, all individual living entities are born from the energy of the supreme living being, the Personality of Godhead. Brahmā himself was born from the energy of the Lord, and all other living entities are born from the energy of the Lord through the agency of Brahmā; none of them has any existence without being dovetailed with the Supreme Lord.

The independence of the individual living entity is not real independence, but is just the reflection of the real independence existing in the Supreme Being, the Lord. The false claim of supreme independence by the conditioned souls is illusion, and this conclusion is admitted in this verse.

Persons with a poor fund of knowledge become illusioned, and therefore the so-called scientists, physiologists, empiric philosophers, etc., become dazzled by the glaring reflection of the sun, moon, electricity, etc., and deny the existence of the Supreme Lord, putting forward theories and different speculations about the creation, maintenance and annihilation of everything material. 

Example – Philosopher Sartre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre)

Sartre – Is saying that you are free and independent and can do anything you want.. He does not want to be called an annihilist. He wants to give new culture and new purpose.. What is that new purpose that everyone is completely independent.. 

The medical practitioner may deny the existence of the soul in the physiological bodily construction of an individual person, but he cannot give life to a dead body, even though all the mechanisms of the body exist even after death. The psychologist makes a serious study of the physiological conditions of the brain, as if the construction of the cerebral lump were the machine of the functioning mind, but in the dead body the psychologist cannot bring back the function of the mind. These scientific studies of the cosmic manifestation or the bodily construction independent of the Supreme Lord are different reflective intellectual gymnastics only, but at the end they are all illusion and nothing more. All such advancement of science and knowledge in the present context of material civilization is but an action of the covering influence of the illusory energy. The illusory energy has two phases of existence, namely the covering influence and the throwing influence. By the throwing influence the illusory energy throws the living entities into the darkness of ignorance, and by the covering influence she covers the eyes of men with a poor fund of knowledge about the existence of the Supreme Person who enlightened the supreme individual living being, Brahmā. The identity of Brahmā with the Supreme Lord is never claimed herein, and therefore such a foolish claim by the man with a poor fund of knowledge is another display of the illusory energy of the Lord. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā (16.18-20) that demoniac persons who deny the existence of the Lord are thrown more and more into the darkness of ignorance, and thus such demoniac persons transmigrate life after life without any knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The so-called knowledge that kids are getting is all illusion, so that they can work in companies, so they can produce a variety of things which are absolutely not needed. 100 types of cereals, many types of gadgets…