KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.9.40:
- One cannot be situated in an exalted position without having undertaken a regulative life of rules and regulations.
- An unrestricted life of sense gratification is animal life, and Lord Brahmā, in order to teach all concerned within the jurisdiction of his generations, taught the same principles of sense control for executing higher duties.
- He desired the welfare of all as servants of God, and anyone desiring the welfare of the members of his family and generations must conduct a moral, religious life.
- The highest life of moral principles is to become a devotee of the Lord because a pure devotee of the Lord has all the good qualities of the Lord.
- On the other hand, one who is not a devotee of the Lord, however qualified he may be in the mundane sense of the term, cannot be qualified with any good quality worthy of the name.
- The pure devotees of the Lord, like Brahmā and persons in the chain of disciplic succession, do not do anything to instruct their subordinates without acting accordingly themselves.
- We simply have to hear from a person who is dhira, who is not agitated by the six urges. That is the Vedic process of gaining knowledge. And if we try to use some other process, we will remain covered by nescience.
- The Isopanisad states, “Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.”
- If you want real knowledge, you should take knowledge from the literature known as the Vedas. (The word veda means “knowledge.”)
- Part of the Vedas are the 108 Upanisads, out of which eleven are very important. Of those eleven, the Isopanisad stands first. In the word upanisad, upa means “near.” So the knowledge in the Isopanisad will take you nearer to Krsna.
- If you want genuine spiritual knowledge you have to approach a bona fide spiritual master who has realized the Absolute Truth. Otherwise you will remain in darkness.
- You cannot think, “Oh, I may or may not accept a spiritual master. In any case, there are books that I can learn from.” No, the Vedic injunction is tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet. The word gacchet means “one must go,” not that one may or may not go. To understand transcendental knowledge, one must go to a spiritual master. That is the Vedic injunction.
- You must know two things: what is maya (illusion) and what is Krsna. Then your knowledge is perfect. Of course, Krsna is so nice that if you somehow or other fully surrender to Him, all your searching for knowledge will be finished: not only will you know what Krsna is, but you will automatically learn what maya is. Krsna will give you intelligence from within.
- Vidya, or genuine spiritual knowledge, does not depend on technology. Srila Vyasadeva is the original guru of Vedic knowledge.
- How was he living? In a cottage in Badarikasrama. But just see his knowledge! He wrote so many Puranas, including the Srimad-Bhagavatam. He also wrote the Vedanta-sutra and the Mahabharata.
- If you studied every single verse written by Vyasadeva, it would take your whole life. The Srimad-Bhagavatam alone has no less than eighteen thousand verses. And each verse is so full of meaning that it would take a whole lifetime to fully understand it. This is Vedic culture.
SB 2.9.40 TRANSLATION:
Thus once upon a time the forefather of living entities and the father of religiousness, Lord Brahmā, situated himself in acts of regulative principles, desiring self-interest for the welfare of all living entities.
One cannot be situated in an exalted position without having undertaken a regulative life of rules and regulations. An unrestricted life of sense gratification is animal life, and Lord Brahmā, in order to teach all concerned within the jurisdiction of his generations, taught the same principles of sense control for executing higher duties. He desired the welfare of all as servants of God, and anyone desiring the welfare of the members of his family and generations must conduct a moral, religious life. The highest life of moral principles is to become a devotee of the Lord because a pure devotee of the Lord has all the good qualities of the Lord. On the other hand, one who is not a devotee of the Lord, however qualified he may be in the mundane sense of the term, cannot be qualified with any good quality worthy of the name. The pure devotees of the Lord, like Brahmā and persons in the chain of disciplic succession, do not do anything to instruct their subordinates without acting accordingly themselves.
Spiritual life begins with Varna & Ashrama systems.
Varnas – Social delineation of the society
Ashramas – Brahmachari, Grihasta, Vanaprasta and sanyasa
To go back to our original nature of being eternal servant of the lord, then we need to be regulated in our service..
Everybody is a service.. If you have no body to serve you will get a dog or cat to serve..
Service defines who we are..
Highest definition of service is sanatana dharma..Only serve Krsna.. Free of all dualities.. Serve Guru and Krsna. Guru is a manifestation of Krsna’s mercy.. We attain peace and tremendous advantage.. Of Krsna’s personal protection.. Serving only Krsna..
Father of religiousness – Paradigm of the process that helps the devotee to become genuine servant of Krsna..
Krishna – Primary creator
Brahma – secondary creator
What it takes to be a Devotee = Lod Caitanya made the process much easier – chant, dance, Prasadam, Listen classes – SB & BG, Deity worship, Only stay in holy place..
Association is the most important thing in spiritual life,.. If you associate with good devotees you will also become.. A good devotee… if you chant alone then you will give up. One day.. So association of devotees is very imp..
Rules and regulations –
No Meat eating
No Gambling
No Illicit sex
No intoxication
Chant
Hear classes
Do service
Eat only prasadam..
Deity Worship..
Animal is engaged in all day long sense gratification – Example – Cat.
We learn to be sense gratifiers by having pets.. Pets are not vegetarians and they dont take part in Arti..
Jurisdiction of generations – We are in his jurisdiction.. Krishna founder… Brahma is the first disciple in the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya..
Pure devotee has all the good qualities of Krsna.. Because he follows the instructions of Krsna.. When Everything for Krsna.. Krsna will take special care of you.. He will take special care of you than you would take care of yourself..
Highest morality – is to become a devotee of the lord and follow Krsna’s instructions..
White vs Dark– you are making enemies either ways.. That is the problem.
Someone may seem to have good qualities.. But if they are not
Even the cat is moral. It does not bite the hand that feeds it.. That does not mean that the cat is a devotee.
A Devotee is always calm and peaceful even when attacked.. Any good or bad interaction with the world is not good. He does not make friends and enemies.. Devotee will go through many diff types of tapasya to help people to come to Krsna..
Not a life of negation.. Life of dedication..
If you are angry., vendictive, want revenge .. how can you help people become devotees..
Jesus christ
Have to tolerate,,to come to that position it taje a life time of following regulative principles….
We have to be what we want others to be .. high responsibility to be a devotee.. ,
LAWS OF NATURE – (http://files.krishna.com/en/pdf/e-books/Laws_of_Nature.pdf)
So, you have to hear from a person who is dhira. If you hear from the adhira, from those who are not self-controlled, then whatever knowledge you learn will be useless. In the Isopanisad, a student has approached his spiritual master to inquire from him, and the spiritual master is saying, “This is what I have heard from authoritative sources.” The spiritual master is not inventing something from his own experience. He is presenting exactly what he has heard. So we have nothing to research. Everything is there. We simply have to hear from a person who is dhira, who is not agitated by the six urges. That is the Vedic process of gaining knowledge. And if we try to use some other process, we will remain covered by nescience. The Isopanisad states, “Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.”
If you hear SB & BG you will understand what ignorance is and what knowledge is.. What to do and what not to do..
1st class – Hear and understand
2nd class – Hear, and have to see
3rd class – Hear, see & do
People do not understand what immortality is. They think it is a mythological idea. They are proud of their advancement of knowledge, but there are many things they do not know, nor can they ever know them by their modern system of experimentation. So if you want real knowledge, you should take knowledge from the literature known as the Vedas. (The word veda means “knowledge.”) Part of the Vedas are the 108 Upanisads, out of which eleven are very important. Of those eleven, the Isopanisad stands first. In the word upanisad, upa means “near.” So the knowledge in the Isopanisad will take you nearer to Krsna.
ISO – Mantra 10
In the modern society, even a boy thinks himself self-sufficient and pays no respect to elderly men. Due to the wrong type of education being imparted in our universities, boys all over the world are giving their elders headaches. Thus Śrī Īśopaniṣad very strongly warns that the culture of nescience is different from that of knowledge. The universities are, so to speak, centers of nescience only; consequently scientists are busy discovering lethal weapons to wipe out the existence of other countries. University students today are not given instructions in the regulative principles of brahmacarya (celibate student life), nor do they have any faith in any scriptural injunctions. Religious principles are taught for the sake of name and fame only and not for the sake of practical action. Thus there is animosity not only in social and political fields but in the field of religion as well.
Nationalism has developed in different parts of the world due to the cultivation of nescience by the general people. No one considers that this tiny earth is just a lump of matter floating in immeasurable space along with many other lumps. In comparison to the vastness of space, these material lumps are like dust particles in the air. Because God has kindly made these lumps of matter complete in themselves, they are perfectly equipped with all necessities for floating in space. The drivers of our spaceships may be very proud of their achievements, but they do not consider the supreme driver of these greater, more gigantic spaceships called planets.
There are innumerable suns and innumerable planetary systems also. As infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, we small creatures are trying to dominate these unlimited planets. Thus we take repeated birth and death and are generally frustrated by old age and disease. The span of human life is scheduled for about a hundred years, although it is gradually decreasing to twenty or thirty years. Thanks to the culture of nescience, befooled men have created their own nations within these planets in order to grasp sense enjoyment more effectively for these few years. Such foolish people draw up various plans to render national demarcations perfectly, a task that is totally impossible. Yet for this purpose each and every nation has become a source of anxiety for others. More than fifty percent of a nation’s energy is devoted to defense measures and thus spoiled. No one cares for the cultivation of real knowledge, yet people are falsely proud of being advanced in both material and spiritual knowledge.
ISO – 18 mantras – If you will read it you can understand the whole philosophy.. Of KC
SB – 18000 mantras
In learned society the Vedas are accepted as sruti, or primary evidence. The Vedas are not knowledge established by the research work of contaminated, conditioned souls. Such people have imperfect senses, and so they cannot see things as they are. They simply theorize, “It may be like this. It may be like that.” That is not knowledge. Knowledge is definite, without any doubt or mistake. Conditioned souls commit mistakes, become illusioned, and cheat. How do they cheat? When one who does not understand the Bhagavad-gita writes a commentary on it, he is cheating the innocent public. Someone has a title as a scholar, so he takes advantage of the popularity of the Bhagavad-gita and writes a commentary. Such so-called scholars claim that anyone can give his own opinion. But in the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says that only His devotee can understand the Gita. So these so-called scholars are cheating. The conclusion is that if you want genuine spiritual knowledge you have to approach a bona fide spiritual master who has realized the Absolute Truth. Otherwise you will remain in darkness. You cannot think, “Oh, I may or may not accept a spiritual master. In any case, there are books that I can learn from.” No, the Vedic injunction is tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet. The word gacchet means “one must go,” not that one may or may not go. To understand transcendental knowledge, one must go to a spiritual master. That is the Vedic injunction.
You must know two things: what is maya (illusion) and what is Krsna. Then your knowledge is perfect. Of course, Krsna is so nice that if you somehow or other fully surrender to Him, all your searching for knowledge will be finished: not only will you know what Krsna is, but you will automatically learn what maya is. Krsna will give you intelligence from within. So, by the mercy of both the spiritual master and Krsna, one takes up devotional service. How is that? Their mercy runs on parallel lines. If you have not yet found a spiritual master but are sincere, Krsna will direct you to a bona fide spiritual master. And if you get a bona fide spiritual master, he will take you to Krsna. Krsna is always sitting in your heart as the caitya-guru, the spiritual master within. It is that caitya-guru who manifests Himself externally as the spiritual master. Therefore the spiritual master is the direct representative of Krsna.
The Isopanisad says we should learn what vidya and avidya are. Avidya is ignorance under the guise of materialistic knowledge. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in one of his songs that “advancement of material knowledge is simply the advancement of maya’s jurisdiction.” The more you become implicated in material knowledge, the less you can understand Krsna consciousness. Those who are advanced in material knowledge think, “What use is this Krsna consciousness movement?” They have no attraction for spiritual knowledge; they are too absorbed in avidya. Some Indian boys reject the spiritual culture of India and come to the West to learn technology. When they see that I have introduced in the West the things they rejected in India, they are surprised. One reason I came to the West is that modern India has rejected spiritual knowledge. Today Indians think that if they can imitate Western technology, they will be happy. This is maya. They do not see that those who are three hundred times more technologically advanced than the Indians are not happy. India will not be able to equal American or European technology for at least three hundred years because the Western countries have been developing technology for a very long time. But since the time of creation Indian culture has been a spiritual culture.Vidya, or genuine spiritual knowledge, does not depend on technology. Srila Vyasadeva is the original guru of Vedic knowledge. How was he living? In a cottage in Badarikasrama. But just see his knowledge! He wrote so many Puranas, including the Srimad-Bhagavatam. He also wrote the Vedanta-sutra and the Mahabharata. If you studied every single verse written by Vyasadeva, it would take your whole life. The Srimad-Bhagavatam alone has no less than eighteen thousand verses. And each verse is so full of meaning that it would take a whole lifetime to fully understand it. This is Vedic culture.
Our kids should be trained in vedic knowledge – hearing and repeating,,engaging in actual devotional service… dev service is the connection to krishna.. Dev service should always be in the tutelage of bonafide guru..