Tag: Srimad Bhagavatham Canto 2

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

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

SB 2.3.24 TRANSLATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SB 2.3.22 TRANSLATION: 

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

CLASS NOTES: 

THE BREATHING DEAD BODY IS A GHOST

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

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

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

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

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

and serve the spiritual master and pariprasnena sevaya… 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SB 2.3.22 TRANSLATION

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

CLASS NOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

Science of Krsna – BG 7.2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.21

1. The common man, who is expected to become at least a third-class devotee, is advised herein to visit the temple of the Lord and bow down before the Deity, even though he may be a very rich man or even a king with a silk turban or crown.
2. The Lord is the Lord of everyone, including the great kings and emperors, and men who are rich in the estimation of mundane people must therefore make it a point to visit the temple of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and regularly bow down before the Deity. 
3. The Lord in the temple in the worshipable form is never to be considered to be made of stone or wood, for the Lord in His arcā incarnation as the Deity in the temple shows immense favor to the fallen souls by His auspicious presence. 
4. By the hearing process, this realization of the presence of the Lord in the temple is made possible. Hearing by all classes of devotees from the authentic sources like Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is essential.
5. A foolish, puffed-up man defies the science of God and says that God has no meaning for him, but when he is in the grip of God’s law and is caught by some disease like cerebral thrombosis, that godless man sinks into the ocean of nescience by the weight of his material acquisition
6. Advancement of material science without God consciousness is a heavy load on the head of human society, and so one must take heed of this great warning.
7. The common man, if he has no time to worship the Lord, may at least engage his hands for a few seconds in washing or sweeping the Lord’s temple. 
8. Mahārāja Pratāparudra, the greatly powerful king of Orissa, was always very busy with heavy state responsibilities, yet he made it a point to sweep the temple of Lord Jagannātha at Purī once a year during the festival of the Lord.
9. The idea is that however important a man one may be he must accept the supremacy of the Supreme Lord. This God consciousness will help a man even in his material prosperity.
10. Mahārāja Pratāparudra’s subordination before Lord Jagannātha made him a powerful king, so much so that even the great Pathan in his time could not enter into Orissa on account of the powerful Mahārāja Pratāparudra. 
11. And at last Mahārāja Pratāparudra was graced by Lord Śrī Caitanya on the very grounds of his acceptance of subordination to the Lord of the universe. So even though a rich man’s wife has glittering bangles made of gold on her hands, she must engage herself in rendering service to the Lord
12. SB 2.3. 20 – One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like the holes of snakes and a tongue like the tongue of a frog.
13. SB 2.1.3 – The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members.
14. SB 2.1.4 – Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.
15. Bhakti Vinoda Thakur writes a song eko kalichela… a pseudo Vaiṣṇava with tilaka on his nose and kaṇṭhī beads around his neck. Such a pseudo-Vaiṣṇava associates with money and women and is jealous of successful Vaiṣṇavas. 
16. Although passing for a Vaiṣṇava, his only business is earning money in the dress of a Vaiṣṇava. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, therefore, says that such a pseudo-Vaiṣṇava is not a Vaiṣṇava at all but a disciple of Kali-Yuga. 

SB 2.3.21 TRANSLATION: 
The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, is only a heavy burden if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead who can award mukti [freedom]. And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, are like those of a dead man if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari.

CLASS NOTES: 

COMMON MAN IS EXPECTED TO TO VISIT THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD AND BOW DOWN BEFORE THE DEITY

The common man, who is expected to become at least a third-class devotee, is advised herein to visit the temple of the Lord and bow down before the Deity, even though he may be a very rich man or even a king with a silk turban or crown. The Lord is the Lord of everyone, including the great kings and emperors, and men who are rich in the estimation of mundane people must therefore make it a point to visit the temple of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and regularly bow down before the Deity. 

 THE REALIZATION OF THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD IN THE TEMPLE IS MADE POSSIBLE BY HEARING 

The Lord in the temple in the worshipable form is never to be considered to be made of stone or wood, for the Lord in His arcā incarnation as the Deity in the temple shows immense favor to the fallen souls by His auspicious presence. By the hearing process, as mentioned hereinbefore, this realization of the presence of the Lord in the temple is made possible. Hearing by all classes of devotees from the authentic sources like Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is essential.

THE COMMON MAN WHO IS PUFFED UP WITH HIS MATERIAL POSITION AND DOES NOT BOW DOWN BEFORE THE DEITY OF THE LORD IN THE TEMPLE,

or who defies temple worship without any knowledge of the science, (Science of Krsna) must know that his so-called turban or crown will only succeed in further drowning him in the water of the ocean of material existence. A drowning man with a heavy weight on his head is sure to go down more swiftly than those who have no heavy weight. A foolish, puffed-up man defies the science of God and says that God has no meaning for him, but when he is in the grip of God’s law and is caught by some disease like cerebral thrombosis, that godless man sinks into the ocean of nescience by the weight of his material acquisition. Advancement of material science without God consciousness is a heavy load on the head of human society, and so one must take heed of this great warning.

Society is going in the wrong direction.. Towards destruction..
Science – a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject.
What can be more systematically organized body of knowledge than BG & SB. Everywhere in the purports Srila Prabhupada mentions, science of God, Science of Krsna. Krsna Consciousness is a science… 

(BG 7.2) COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE CAN BE ACHIEVED ONLY BY THE DEVOTEE OF THE LORD IN DISCIPLIC SUCCESSION DIRECTLY FROM THE LORD.
I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know.
Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. This is transcendental knowledge. The Lord wants to explain the above-mentioned system of knowledge because Arjuna is Kṛṣṇa’s confidential devotee and friend. In the beginning of the Fourth Chapter this explanation was given by the Lord, and it is again confirmed here: complete knowledge can be achieved only by the devotee of the Lord in disciplic succession directly from the Lord. Therefore one should be intelligent enough to know the source of all knowledge, who is the cause of all causes and the only object for meditation in all types of yoga practice. When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown. The Vedas (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.3) say, kasminn u bhagavo vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavatīti.

Material knowledge is a piece meal and does not give a full picture and therefore people remain incomplete. How inane it is to remain devoid of Krsna Consciousness… Now we see the reason why there are pandemics in this world. Most people are engaging in activities which dissipates the ojas… Sex activities, Always watching TV, all celebrities are demons… 

Great warning – beware of the so called great men in material world – all of them are low class people… 

(SB 2.3.21)

THE COMMON MAN, IF HE HAS NO TIME TO WORSHIP THE LORD, MAY AT LEAST ENGAGE HIS HANDS FOR A FEW SECONDS IN WASHING OR SWEEPING THE LORD’S TEMPLE.

Mahārāja Pratāparudra, the greatly powerful king of Orissa, was always very busy with heavy state responsibilities, yet he made it a point to sweep the temple of Lord Jagannātha at Purī once a year during the festival of the Lord.

Accepting the supremacy of the lord is very important to be taught from childhood,,,we should not waste time on these mundane so called idle men in the society who are low class sense gratifiers. One should therefore focus on SB and BG and learn the science of the LOrd. 

THE IDEA IS THAT HOWEVER IMPORTANT A MAN ONE MAY BE HE MUST ACCEPT THE SUPREMACY OF THE SUPREME LORD. THIS GOD CONSCIOUSNESS WILL HELP A MAN EVEN IN HIS MATERIAL PROSPERITY. Mahārāja Pratāparudra’s subordination before Lord Jagannātha made him a powerful king, so much so that even the great Pathan in his time could not enter into Orissa on account of the powerful Mahārāja Pratāparudra. And at last Mahārāja Pratāparudra was graced by Lord Śrī Caitanya on the very grounds of his acceptance of subordination to the Lord of the universe. So even though a rich man’s wife has glittering bangles made of gold on her hands, she must engage herself in rendering service to the Lord

In addition to hearing, deity worship and offering obeisances to deity is very important.
In this purport Srila Prabhupada makes very strong statement of hearing regularly..

(SB 1.2.16) AFFINITY FOR HEARING IS GAINED BY SERVING PURE DEVOTEES
śuśrūṣoḥ śraddadhānasya
vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ
syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ
puṇya-tīrtha-niṣevaṇāt

O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vāsudeva.

In the Bhagavad-gītā (Sixteenth Chapter) a vivid description of the asuras is given in which it is said that the asuras are put into lower and lower states of ignorance life after life and so sink to the lower animal forms and have no information of the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead.

LORD’S LIBERATED SERVITORS

These asuras are gradually rectified to God consciousness by the mercy of the Lord’s liberated servitors in different countries according to the supreme will. Such devotees of God are very confidential associates of the Lord, and when they come to save human society from the dangers of godlessness, they are known as the powerful incarnations of the Lord, as sons of the Lord, as servants of the Lord or as associates of the Lord. But none of them falsely claim to be God themselves. This is a blasphemy declared by the asuras, and the demoniac followers of such asuras also accept pretenders as God or His incarnation. In the revealed scriptures there is definite information of the incarnation of God. No one should be accepted as God or an incarnation of God unless he is confirmed by the revealed scriptures.

THE SERVANTS OF GOD URGE PEOPLE TO BECOME DEVOTEES OF THE LORD. THEY NEVER TOLERATE BEING CALLED GOD.

The servants of God are to be respected as God by the devotees who actually want to go back to Godhead. Such servants of God are called mahātmās, or tīrthas, and they preach according to particular time and place. The servants of God urge people to become devotees of the Lord. They never tolerate being called God. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was God Himself according to the indication of the revealed scriptures, but He played the part of a devotee. People who knew Him to be God addressed Him as God, but He used to block His ears with His hands and chant the name of Lord Viṣṇu. He strongly protested against being called God, although undoubtedly He was God Himself. The Lord behaves so to warn us against unscrupulous men who take pleasure in being addressed as God.

THE SERVANTS OF GOD COME TO PROPAGATE GOD CONSCIOUSNESS, AND INTELLIGENT PEOPLE SHOULD COOPERATE WITH THEM IN EVERY RESPECT.

By serving the servant of God, one can please God more than by directly serving the Lord. The Lord is more pleased when He sees that His servants are properly respected because such servants risk everything for the service of the Lord and so are very dear to the Lord. The Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.69) that no one is dearer to Him than one who risks everything to preach His glory. By serving the servants of the Lord, one gradually gets the quality of such servants, and thus one becomes qualified to hear the glories of God. The eagerness to hear about God is the first qualification of a devotee eligible for entering the kingdom of God.

Hearing and repeating is the most important process. Simply book learning is not sufficient in liberating from cycle of birth an death… 

Amazing purport –  SB 1.2.16 …. 

SB 2.3.20 – One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like the holes of snakes and a tongue like the tongue of a frog.

There is an important verse in padma purana which emphasizes the importance of the deity worship and offering obeisances… 

Kabir makes a statement – patar… is actually criticizing deity worship. Sikhs put Kabir in their Granth Sahib… Muslims reject him…

Being devoid of genuine devotional service is such a big mistake.. 

SB 2.1.3
nidrayā hriyate naktaṁ
vyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ
divā cārthehayā rājan
kuṭumba-bharaṇena vā
The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members.


Description of devotees who do not engage in deity worship or any kind of devotional service…
SB 2.1.4
dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv
ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api
teṣāṁ pramatto nidhanaṁ
paśyann api na paśyati

Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.

BHAKTI VINODA THAKUR WRITES EKO KALICHELA… PSEUDO DEVOTEE

a pseudo Vaiṣṇava with tilaka on his nose and kaṇṭhī beads around his neck. Such a pseudo Vaiṣṇava associates with money and women and is jealous of successful Vaiṣṇavas. Although passing for a Vaiṣṇava, his only business is earning money in the dress of a Vaiṣṇava. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura therefore says that such a pseudo Vaiṣṇava is not a Vaiṣṇava at all but a disciple of Kali-yug

eo to’ eka kalir cela
matha neda kapni para, tilak nake, galay mala
 
(2)
dekhte vaisnaver mata, asalo sakta kajer bela
sahaja-bhajan korchena mamu,
sańge lo’ye parer bala
 
(3)
sakhi-bhave bhajchena ta’re, nije ho’ye nanda-lala
krsna-daser kathar chale maha-janake dicchena sala
 
(4)
nava-rasika apane mani’ khacchena abar mana-kola
baul bole dohai, o bhai, dura koro e lila-khela
 
(1) Here is just another disciple of Kali-yuga. He keeps his head shaved, wears a loincloth, tilak on his nose and tulasi beads around his neck.
 
(2) By looks he appears to be a Vaisnava, but in actuality his conduct is that of a sakta, one who worships the principle of material energy in order to enjoy her. He engages in sahaja-bhajan(so-called “natural worship”), but does so by posing as “uncle” to the children of others, and then stealthily taking the illicit association of their daughters.
 
(3) Accepting these young girls as sakhis (Radha’s gopi friends), he fancies himself to be the Son of Nanda. By the deceptive lecturing about how everyone should become Krsna-dasa (the servant of himself as “Krsna”), this disciple of Kali-yuga thus hurls a sharp spear at the true devotees of the Lord.
 
(4) Giving artificial recognition to nava-rasika (the nine relishers), he thus eats and enjoys the bananas of his own mental fabrications. Chand Baul says, “O my dear brothers! Desist from this bogus imitation of the Lord’s amorous sports.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.20:

1. Devotional service to the Lord is rendered by all limbs or parts of the body. It is the transcendental dynamic force of the spirit soul; therefore a devotee is engaged one hundred percent in the service of the Lord. 
2. As such, the senses and the action of the senses are to be considered impure or materialistic as long as they are employed only in sense gratification.
3. Service to the Lord is the completely purified use of the senses, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā. *
4. Spiritual understanding is full of sense and logic, and the exchange of views between the master and disciple is possible only when the reception is submissive and real. 
5. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that one should receive the teaching of Lord Caitanya with intellect and full senses so that one can logically understand the great mission.
6. In the impure state of a living being, the various senses are fully engaged in mundane affairs.
7.  If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him from Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled with some rubbish. 
8. Therefore the messages of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be preached all over the world very loudly. That is the duty of a pure devotee who has actually heard about them from the perfect sources. 
9. The people of the world should be taught to hear the transcendental topics of the Lord. 
10. The human tongue is especially given for chanting the Vedic hymns and not for croaking like frogs. It will be considered a prostitute when engaged in chanting some mundane nonsense. 
11. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is such a transcendentally nice thing that automatically material enjoyment becomes distasteful.
12. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa also conquered a great yogī, Durvāsā Muni, simply because his mind was engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness
13. “The senses can be completely controlled only by the strength of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.”
14. As a blazing fire burns everything within a room, Lord Viṣṇu, situated in the heart of the yogī, burns up all kinds of impurities.” The Yoga-sūtra also prescribes meditation on Viṣṇu, and not meditation on the void.
15. In material consciousness, the senses are engaged in sense gratification, but in Kṛṣṇa consciousness the senses are engaged in the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa’s senses. Therefore, the Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always free, even though he appears to be engaged in affairs of the senses.
16. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is never affected by the actions of the senses. He cannot perform any act except in the service of the Lord because he knows that he is the eternal servitor of the Lord.
17. a person without Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the concept of the material body and senses, but a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the knowledge that the body is the property of Kṛṣṇa and should therefore be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa.
18. When one acts in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the satisfaction of the senses of Kṛṣṇa, any action, whether of the body, mind, intelligence or even the senses, is purified of material contamination. 
19. There are no material reactions resulting from the activities of a Kṛṣṇa conscious person.
20. A person in Krsna Conscious has no false ego, for he does not believe that he is this material body, or that he possesses the body. He knows that he is not this body and that this body does not belong to him. He himself belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and the body too belongs to Kṛṣṇa. 
21. When he applies everything produced of the body, mind, intelligence, words, life, wealth, etc. – whatever he may have within his possession – to Kṛṣṇa’s service, he is at once dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa. He is one with Kṛṣṇa and is devoid of the false ego that leads one to believe that he is the body, etc. This is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

SB 2.3.20 TRANSLATION: 

DEVOTIONAL SERVICE TO THE LORD IS RENDERED BY ALL LIMBS OR PARTS OF THE BODY. 

It is the transcendental dynamic force of the spirit soul; therefore a devotee is engaged one hundred percent in the service of the Lord. 

One can engage in devotional service when the senses of the body are purified in relation with the Lord, and one can render service to the Lord with the help of all the senses.

As such, the senses and the action of the senses are to be considered impure or materialistic as long as they are employed only in sense gratification.

SERVICE TO THE LORD IS THE COMPLETELY PURIFIED USE OF THE SENSES, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā. *

SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING IS FULL OF SENSE AND LOGIC

and the exchange of views between the master and disciple is possible only when the reception is submissive and real. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that one should receive the teaching of Lord Caitanya with intellect and full senses so that one can logically understand the great mission.

IN THE IMPURE STATE OF A LIVING BEING, THE VARIOUS SENSES ARE FULLY ENGAGED IN MUNDANE AFFAIRS.

If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him from Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled with some rubbish. Therefore the messages of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be preached all over the world very loudly. That is the duty of a pure devotee who has actually heard about them from the perfect sources. 

Many want to speak something to others, but because they are not trained to speak on the subject matter of Vedic wisdom they are all speaking nonsense, and people are receiving them with no sense. There are hundreds and thousands of sources for distributing mundane news of the world, and people of the world are also receiving it. 

THE DEVOTEE OF THE LORD MUST SPEAK LOUDLY THE GLORIES OF THE LORD SO THAT PEOPLE CAN HEAR

Similarly, the people of the world should be taught to hear the transcendental topics of the Lord, and the devotee of the Lord must speak loudly so that they can hear. The frogs loudly croak, with the result that they invite the snakes to eat them. The human tongue is especially given for chanting the Vedic hymns and not for croaking like frogs.

The word asatī used in this verse is also significant. Asatī means a woman who has become a prostitute. A prostitute has no reputation for good womanly qualities. Similarly, the tongue, which is given to the human being for chanting the Vedic hymns, will be considered a prostitute when engaged in chanting some mundane nonsenses,

*(BG 2.60) WITHOUT ENGAGING THE MIND IN KṚṢṆA, ONE CANNOT CEASE SUCH MATERIAL ENGAGEMENTS

The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.

There are many learned sages, philosophers, and transcendentalists who try to conquer the senses, but in spite of their endeavors, even the greatest of them sometimes fall victim to material sense enjoyment due to the agitated mind.

Without engaging the mind in Kṛṣṇa, one cannot cease such material engagements. A practical example is given by Śrī Yāmunācārya, a great saint and devotee, who says:

“Since my mind has been engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and I have been enjoying an ever new transcendental humor, whenever I think of sex life with a woman, my face at once turns from it, and I spit at the thought.”

Kṛṣṇa consciousness is such a transcendentally nice thing that automatically material enjoyment becomes distasteful. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa also conquered a great yogī, Durvāsā Muni, simply because his mind was engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane)

(BG 2.61) UNLESS ONE IS KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUS IT IS NOT AT ALL POSSIBLE TO CONTROL THE SENSES
One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.

Unless one is Kṛṣṇa conscious it is not at all possible to control the senses

Durvāsā Muni unnecessarily became angry out of pride and therefore could not check his senses. On the other hand, the king, although not as powerful a yogī as the sage, but a devotee of the Lord, silently tolerated all the sage’s injustices and thereby emerged victorious.

 
“King Ambarīṣa fixed his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, engaged his words in describing the abode of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in hearing the pastimes of the Lord, his eyes in seeing the form of the Lord, his body in touching the body of the devotee, his nostrils in smelling the flavor of the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, his tongue in tasting the tulasī leaves offered to Him, his legs in traveling to the holy place where His temple is situated, his head in offering obeisances unto the Lord, and his desires in fulfilling the desires of the Lord … and all these qualifications made him fit to become a mat-para devotee of the Lord.”

“The senses can be completely controlled only by the strength of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.”
As a blazing fire burns everything within a room, Lord Viṣṇu, situated in the heart of the yogī, burns up all kinds of impurities.” The Yoga-sūtra also prescribes meditation on Viṣṇu, and not meditation on the void.

(BG 5.8-9) IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS THE SENSES ARE ENGAGED IN THE SATISFACTION OF KṚṢṆA’S SENSES. A KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUS PERSON IS ALWAYS FREE, EVEN THOUGH HE APPEARS TO BE ENGAGED IN AFFAIRS OF THE SENSES.

A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, or opening or closing his eyes, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.

A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is pure in his existence, and consequently he has nothing to do with any work which depends upon five immediate and remote causes: the doer, the work, the situation, the endeavor and fortune. BG 18.14 This is because he is engaged in the loving transcendental service of Kṛṣṇa. Although he appears to be acting with his body and senses, he is always conscious of his actual position, which is spiritual engagement.

In material consciousness, the senses are engaged in sense gratification, but in Kṛṣṇa consciousness the senses are engaged in the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa’s senses. Therefore, the Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always free, even though he appears to be engaged in affairs of the senses.

Activities such as seeing and hearing are actions of the senses meant for receiving knowledge, whereas moving, speaking, evacuating, etc., are actions of the senses meant for work. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is never affected by the actions of the senses. He cannot perform any act except in the service of the Lord because he knows that he is the eternal servitor of the Lord.

(BG 5.10) A PERSON IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS ACTS ACCORDING TO THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE BODY IS THE PROPERTY OF KṚṢṆA AND SHOULD THEREFORE BE ENGAGED IN THE SERVICE OF KṚṢṆA.

One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.

Everything in the material world is a manifestation of Brahman; and although the effects are differently manifested, they are no different from the cause. In the Īśopaniṣad it is said that everything is related to the Supreme Brahman, or Kṛṣṇa, and thus everything belongs to Him only. One who knows perfectly well that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, that He is the proprietor of everything and that, therefore, everything is engaged in the service of the Lord, naturally has nothing to do with the results of his activities, whether virtuous or sinful. Bg 5.29. 

The conclusion is that a person without Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the concept of the material body and senses, but a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the knowledge that the body is the property of Kṛṣṇa and should therefore be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa.

(BG 5.11)WHEN ONE ACTS IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS FOR THE SATISFACTION OF THE SENSES OF KṚṢṆA, ANY ACTION, WHETHER OF THE BODY, MIND, INTELLIGENCE OR EVEN THE SENSES, IS PURIFIED OF MATERIAL CONTAMINATION.
The yogīs, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification.

When one acts in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the satisfaction of the senses of Kṛṣṇa, any action, whether of the body, mind, intelligence or even the senses, is purified of material contamination. There are no material reactions resulting from the activities of a Kṛṣṇa conscious person.

 Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.187) describes this as follows:

īhā yasya harer dāsye
karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu
jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate

“A person acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness (or, in other words, in the service of Kṛṣṇa) with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may be engaged in many so-called material activities.” He has no false ego, for he does not believe that he is this material body, or that he possesses the body. He knows that he is not this body and that this body does not belong to him. He himself belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and the body too belongs to Kṛṣṇa. When he applies everything produced of the body, mind, intelligence, words, life, wealth, etc. – whatever he may have within his possession – to Kṛṣṇa’s service, he is at once dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa. He is one with Kṛṣṇa and is devoid of the false ego that leads one to believe that he is the body, etc. This is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.19

1. Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality with which to accept the service of a greater master.
2. As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards.
3. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools. The human being is not meant for eating everything and anything; Human beings are expected to accept the remnants of food offered to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and the Lord accepts foodstuff from the categories of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. (Bg. 9.26).
4. A human being is meant to eat a particular type of food. He should not imitate the animals to derive so-called vitamin values. Therefore, a person who has no discrimination in regard to eating is compared to a hog.
5. The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating thorns. A person who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of so-called enjoyment is compared to the camel.
6. The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one’s own blood. The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. 
7. Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood. 
8. The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals.  It does not know its self-interest, and it works very hard for others only.
9. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs.
10. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam’s categorization of the common man without any spiritual enlightenment into the society of dogs, hogs, camels and asses is not at all an exaggeration.  
11. Although a person may be a great leader of such dogs and hogs disguised as men, if he has no taste for being enlightened in the science of Kṛṣṇa, such a leader is also an animal (bigger animal) and nothing more.
12. A conditioned soul is very often apt to commit mistakes, and the only remedial measure to take against such unintentional sins is to give oneself up to the lotus feet of the Lord so that He may guide one to avoid such pitfalls. 
13. The Lord takes charge of fully surrendered souls; thus all problems are solved simply by surrendering oneself unto the Lord and acting in terms of His directions. 
14. Such directions are given to the sincere devotee in two ways: one is by way of the saints, scriptures and spiritual master, and the other is by way of the Lord Himself, who resides within the heart of everyone. Thus, the devotee, fully enlightened with Vedic knowledge, is protected in all respects.
15. Hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord is itself an act of piety. 
16. The Lord wants everyone to hear and chant His glories because He is the well-wisher of all living entities.
17.  By hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, one becomes cleansed of all undesirable things, and then one’s devotion becomes fixed upon the Lord. At this stage the devotee acquires the brahminical qualifications, and the effects of the lower modes of nature (passion and ignorance) completely vanish. 
18. The devotee becomes fully enlightened by virtue of his devotional service, and thus he comes to know the path of the Lord and the way to attain Him. As all doubts diminish, he becomes a pure devotee.

SB 2.3.19 TRANSLATION

Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils.

CLASS NOTES:

The general mass of people, unless they are trained systematically for a higher standard of life in spiritual values, are no better than animals

DOGS ANALOGY 

Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality with which to accept the service of a greater master. After finishing a so-called education, the so-called educated persons move like dogs from door to door with applications for some service, and mostly they are driven away, informed of no vacancy. As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards.

The characterization of the human being as a dog is because they are not interested in spiritual education and they are only interested in getting modern education and become the dog of a worthless master. 

HOGS ANALOGY
Persons who have no discrimination in the matter of foodstuff and who eat all sorts of rubbish are compared to hogs. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools. So stool is a kind of foodstuff for a particular type of animal. And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything; he is meant to eat grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for human being. For chewing solid food, the human being has a particular type of teeth meant for cutting fruits and vegetables. The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession for persons who will eat animal food at any cost. It is known to everyone that one man’s food is another man’s poison. Human beings are expected to accept the remnants of food offered to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and the Lord accepts foodstuff from the categories of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. (Bg. 9.26). As prescribed by Vedic scriptures, no animal food is offered to the Lord. Therefore, a human being is meant to eat a particular type of food. He should not imitate the animals to derive so-called vitamin values. Therefore, a person who has no discrimination in regard to eating is compared to a hog.

People are all addicted to eating all kinds of meats – cows, dogs, snakes, fish… etc., 

CAMEL ANALOGY
The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating thorns. A person who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of so-called enjoyment is compared to the camel. Materialistic life is full of thorns, and so one should live only by the prescribed method of Vedic regulations just to make the best use of a bad bargain. Life in the material world is maintained by sucking one’s own blood. The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one’s own blood, and there is not much more to be explained in this connection. The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel’s mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure. Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood. Therefore the Bhāgavatam has situated these diseased fellows along with the camels.

It takes about 2 pounds of food to create one blood cell. It takes 40 blood cells to make one sperm. Human beings create millions of sperms. When man wastes sperm then he is actually sucking his own blood. Therefore the ojas the life force is related to sperm. Vaginal juices and sperm, when these are wasted, it is like eating one’s own blood. It destroys one’s immune system, can’t sleep properly, tired, headaches. Because it takes so much energy to make sperm. By wasting sperm by illicit sex or sex within marriage one becomes vitiated. 

ASS ANALOGY
The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself.* The ass is generally engaged by the washerman, whose social position is not very respectable. And the special qualification of the ass is that it is very much accustomed to being kicked by the opposite sex. When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. A henpecked man is compared, therefore, to the ass.The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the Age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving ṭhelā and rickshaws. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs.

Henpecked – browbeaten, bullied, or intimidated by one’s wife, girlfriend, etc.: a henpecked husband who never dared to contradict his wife.

FOOTNOTE:
“Human life is meant for earning values. This life is called arthadam, or that which can deliver values. And what is the greatest value of life? It is returning home, back to Godhead, as indicated in the Bhagavad-gītā [Bg. 8.15]. One’s selfishness must be aimed at the point of going back to Godhead. The ass does not know its self-interest, and it works very hard for others only. Similarly, a person who works very hard for others only, forgetting his personal interest available in the human form of life, is compared to the ass. In the Brahmā-vaivarta Purāṇa it is said:

Such godless leaders of dogs and hoglike men are bigger animals with the qualities of animals in greater proportion.

So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam’s categorization of the common man without any spiritual enlightenment into the society of dogs, hogs, camels and asses is not at all an exaggeration. The leaders of such ignorant masses of people may feel very proud of being adored by such a number of dogs and hogs, but that is not very flattering. The Bhāgavatam openly declares that although a person may be a great leader of such dogs and hogs disguised as men, if he has no taste for being enlightened in the science of Kṛṣṇa, such a leader is also an animal and nothing more. He may be designated as a powerful, strong animal, or a big animal, but in the estimation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he is never given a place in the category of man, on account of his atheistic temperament. Or in other words, such godless leaders of dogs and hoglike men are bigger animals with the qualities of animals in greater proportion.

People get a modern university education, but they develop the mentality of a dog accepting a master for pieces of bread.. This is also explained in ISO Mantra 10.  

(ISO MANTRA 10) MODERN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION 
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.

Scientists in Wuhan funded by the senate or the congress of United States produced the virus and someohow other got out of the lab… and look at the havoc it created through out the world… Earlier it was bombs, now it is biological weapons..

University students today are not given instructions in the regulative principles of brahmacharya (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.

(ISO MANTRA 18) SPIRITUAL EDUCATION 

A devotee automatically attains the qualifications of an expert brāhmaṇa authorized to perform sacrifices, even though the devotee may not have taken his birth in a brāhmaṇa family. Such is the omnipotence of the Lord. He can make a man born in a brāhmaṇa family as degraded as a lowborn dog-eater, and He can also make a lowborn dog-eater superior to a qualified brāhmaṇa simply on the strength of devotional service.

Since the omnipotent Lord is situated within the heart of everyone, He can give directions to His sincere devotees by which they can attain the right path. Such directions are especially offered to the devotee, even if he desires something else. As far as others are concerned, God gives sanction to the doer only at the risk of the doer. But in the case of a devotee, the Lord directs him in such a way that he never acts wrongly. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.42) says:

sva-pāda-mūlaṁ bhajataḥ priyasya
tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ
vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid
dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ

“The Lord is so kind to the devotee who is fully surrendered to His lotus feet that even though the devotee sometimes falls into the entanglement of vikarma – acts against the Vedic directions – the Lord at once rectifies such mistakes from within his heart. This is because the devotees are very dear to the Lord.”

To err is human. 

In this mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad, the devotee prays to the Lord to rectify him from within his heart. To err is human. A conditioned soul is very often apt to commit mistakes, and the only remedial measure to take against such unintentional sins is to give oneself up to the lotus feet of the Lord so that He may guide one to avoid such pitfalls. The Lord takes charge of fully surrendered souls; thus all problems are solved simply by surrendering oneself unto the Lord and acting in terms of His directions. Such directions are given to the sincere devotee in two ways: one is by way of the saints, scriptures and spiritual master, and the other is by way of the Lord Himself, who resides within the heart of everyone. Thus the devotee, fully enlightened with Vedic knowledge, is protected in all respects.

Vedic knowledge is transcendental and cannot be understood by mundane educational procedures. 

One can understand the Vedic mantras only by the grace of the Lord and the spiritual master (yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau). If one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, it is to be understood that he has obtained the grace of the Lord. The Lord appears as the spiritual master for the devotee. Thus the spiritual master, the Vedic injunctions and the Lord Himself from within – all guide the devotee in full strength. In this way there is no chance for a devotee to fall again into the mire of material illusion. The devotee, thus protected all around, is sure to reach the ultimate destination of perfection. The entire process is hinted at in this mantra, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17–20) explains it further:

• Hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord is itself an act of piety. 
• The Lord wants everyone to hear and chant His glories because He is the well-wisher of all living entities. 
• By hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, one becomes cleansed of all undesirable things, and then one’s devotion becomes fixed upon the Lord. 
• At this stage the devotee acquires the brahminical qualifications, and the effects of the lower modes of nature (passion and ignorance) completely vanish. 
• The devotee becomes fully enlightened by virtue of his devotional service, and thus he comes to know the path of the Lord and the way to attain Him. As all doubts diminish, he becomes a pure devotee.

Here we are, this is the clear-cut difference between material and spiritual education. There is no comparison of the two. Material education is junk. It teaches a person to go away from spiritual life and become illusioned by engagement in sense gratification in the material life. Spiritual life makes you go away from the material sense gratification and enamored by Krsna, His name, form, activities and past times. 

So you have to make a choice – If you want to eat stool like a hog, if you want to get mundane

Material education and become dogs begging for jobs, money to start a business, always begging for something or the other… or to become like a camel sucking one’s won blood by engaging in sex, or to become like an ass always working hard to get nothing in reward… 

The more we read the more painful it is, but it is a good pain to have. It makes us realize how far we can go away from Krsna, Misled by modern education… We cannot say Prabhupada is not warning us.. 

This whole Vedic knowledge is to go back to Godhead, whereas material knowledge is to make one suffer and stay in this repeated cycle … That is how dangerous it is. In fact the parents do not teach the kids about this. Instead, parents are forcing their kids to pursue material knowledge, thinking that the children can get ahead in life.  But actually, instead of getting ahead, it cuts off the head. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.18 TODAY (05/20/21):

1. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam affirms that life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. 
2. Life is solely meant for tapasya, for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of the human form of life.
3. The materialists want to prolong life as much as possible because they have no information of the next life. They want to get the maximum comforts in this present life because they think conclusively that there is no life after death.
4. This ignorance about the eternity of the living being and the change of covering in the material world has played havoc in the structure of modern human society.
5. The Bhāgavatam says that certain trees live for hundreds and thousands of years. Svāmī Śaṅkarācārya lived only thirty-two years, and Lord Caitanya lived forty-eight years. Does it mean that the prolonged lives of the above-mentioned trees are more important than Śaṅkara or Caitanya? 
6. Prolonged life without spiritual value is not very important. 
7. Persons who are simply engaged in planning a better type of animal life consisting of eating, breathing, and mating are also animals in the shape of human beings. 
8. A society of such polished animals cannot benefit suffering humanity, for an animal can easily harm another animal but rarely do good.
9. SB 7.5.31 – Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. 
10. Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (3.8.10) – This human form of life is a most valuable asset for the living entity, who can utilize it for solving the problems of life; therefore, one who does not utilize this opportunity properly is a miser. 
11. SB 11.20.17 – The human body, which can award all benefit in life, is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favorable winds impelling it on its course.
12. A human being who does not utilize his human life to cross the ocean of material existence must be considered the killer of his own soul.
13. Hitopadesh  – Eating, sleeping, sex, and defense – these four principles are common to both human beings and animals. The distinction between human life and animal life is that a man can search after God but an animal cannot. That is the difference. Therefore a man without that urge for searching after God is no better than an animal.
14. SB 5.5.1 – My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. 
15. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one’s heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.
16. SB 7.6.1- The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.
17. Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.14) also says, uttiṣṭha jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata: “O living entity, you are sleeping in this material world. Please get up and take advantage of your human form of life.” The sleeping condition means loss of all knowledge.

SB 2.3.18 TRANSLATION

Do the trees not live? Do the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?

CLASS NOTES:

MATERIALISTIC MAN’S MISCONCEPTION OF LIFE
The materialistic man of the modern age will argue that life, or part of it, is never meant for discussion of theosophical or theological arguments. Life is meant for the maximum duration of existence for eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, making merry and enjoying life. The modern man wants to live forever by the advancement of material science, and there are many foolish theories for prolonging life to the maximum duration.

PURPOSE OF LIFE ACCORDING TO SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM

But the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam affirms that life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. Life is solely meant for tapasya, for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of the human form of life.

THE MATERIALISTS WANT TO PROLONG LIFE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

The materialists want to prolong life as much as possible because they have no information of the next life. They want to get the maximum comforts in this present life because they think conclusively that there is no life after death. This ignorance about the eternity of the living being and the change of covering in the material world has played havoc in the structure of modern human society. Consequently there are many problems, multiplied by various plans of modernized man. The plans for solving the problems of society have only aggravated the troubles. Even if it is possible to prolong life more than one hundred years, advancement of human civilization does not necessarily follow.

PROLONGED LIFE WITHOUT SPIRITUAL VALUE IS NOT VERY IMPORTANT.

The Bhāgavatam says that certain trees live for hundreds and thousands of years

Svāmī Śaṅkarācārya lived only thirty-two years, and Lord Caitanya lived forty-eight years. Does it mean that the prolonged lives of the above-mentioned trees are more important than Śaṅkara or Caitanya? Prolonged life without spiritual value is not very important.

LONG-LIFE DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING
One may doubt that trees have life because they do not breathe. But modern scientists like Bose have already proved that there is life in plants, so breathing is no sign of actual life. The Bhāgavatam says that the bellows of the blacksmith breathes very soundly, but that does not mean that the bellows has life. The materialist will argue that life in the tree and life in the man cannot be compared because the tree cannot enjoy life by eating palatable dishes or by enjoying sexual intercourse. In reply to this, the Bhāgavatam asks whether other animals like the dogs and hogs, living in the same village with human beings, do not eat and enjoy sexual life.

The specific utterance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in regard to “other animals” means that persons who are simply engaged in planning a better type of animal life consisting of eating, breathing and mating are also animals in the shape of human beings. A society of such polished animals cannot benefit suffering humanity, for an animal can easily harm another animal but rarely do good.

OTHER REFERENCES TO PURPOSE OF LIFE –

MANU SAMHITA
Manu-saṁhitā says, pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalā: Everyone has got these desires. That is pravṛtti. But when he stops this pravṛtti, that is his great achievement. Not that to increase. When he stops. That is great achievement.

(SB 7.5.31) MATERIALLY ATTACHED MAN ARE BOUND BY THE ROPES OF FRUITIVE LABOR
na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te ’pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ

Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.

BṚHAD-ĀRAṆYAKA UPANIṢAD (3.8.10) – DESCRIBES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KRIPANA AND BRAHMANA
The perplexed man is described as follows: yo vā etad akṣaraṁ gārgy aviditvāsmāḻ lokāt praiti sa kṛpaṇaḥ. “He is a miserly man who does not solve the problems of life as a human and who thus quits this world like the cats and dogs, without understanding the science of self-realization.”

This human form of life is a most valuable asset for the living entity, who can utilize it for solving the problems of life; therefore, one who does not utilize this opportunity properly is a miser. On the other hand, there is the brāhmaṇa, or he who is intelligent enough to utilize this body to solve all the problems of life. Ya etad akṣaraṁ gārgi viditvāsmāl lokāt praiti sa brāhmaṇaḥ.

Brahmana understands that one attains human life after 8.4 million species. almost all species are uncivilized. To come to a civilized human form one has pass through millions and millions of life times…

SB 2.3.19 – BRAHMA VAIVARTA PURANA

(SB 11.20.17) HUMAN LIFE IS A VERY RARE ACHIEVEMENT
The human body, which can award all benefit in life, is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favorable winds impelling it on its course. Considering all these advantages, a human being who does not utilize his human life to cross the ocean of material existence must be considered the killer of his own soul.

Atmaha – Killer of his own soul…

(Hitopadesh) DISTINCTION BETWEEN HUMAN LIFE AND ANIMAL LIFE
āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca
sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām
dharmo hi teṣām adhiko viśeṣo
dharmeṇa hīnāḥ paśubhiḥ samānāḥ
Eating, sleeping, sex, and defense – these four principles are common to both human beings and animals. The distinction between human life and animal life is that a man can search after God but an animal cannot. That is the difference. Therefore a man without that urge for searching after God is no better than an animal.

(SB 5.5.1) ONE SHOULD ENGAGE IN PENANCE AND AUSTERITY TO ATTAIN THE DIVINE POSITION OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE.

śri-ṛṣabha uvāca
nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke
kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye
tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam

Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one’s heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.

This material life is stop and go stop and go.. spiritual life is never ending… 

(BG 11.32) TIME IS DESTRUCTION

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kālo ’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho
lokān samāhartum iha pravṛttaḥ
ṛte ’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve
ye ’vasthitāḥ praty-anīkeṣu yodhāḥ

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to destroy all people. With the exception of you [the Pāṇḍavas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain.

Although Arjuna knew that Kṛṣṇa was his friend and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he was puzzled by the various forms exhibited by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he asked further about the actual mission of this devastating force. It is written in the Vedas that the Supreme Truth destroys everything, even the brāhmaṇas. As stated in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.25),

yasya brahma ca kṣatraṁ ca
ubhe bhavata odanaḥ
mṛtyur yasyopasecanaṁ
ka itthā veda yatra saḥ

Eventually all the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and everyone else are devoured like a meal by the Supreme. This form of the Supreme Lord is the all-devouring giant, and here Kṛṣṇa presents Himself in that form of all-devouring time. Except for a few Pāṇḍavas, everyone who was present on that battlefield would be devoured by Him. Arjuna was not in favor of the fight, and he thought it was better not to fight; then there would be no frustration. In reply, the Lord is saying that even if he did not fight, every one of them would be destroyed, for that was His plan. If Arjuna stopped fighting, they would die in another way. Death could not be checked, even if he did not fight. In fact, they were already dead. Time is destruction, and all manifestations are to be vanquished by the desire of the Supreme Lord. That is the law of nature.

One should not waste life in mundane activities and therefore do tapasya …
What is tapasya? It is explained in BG 10.4 & 5
Tapasya – Accepting bodily or mental discomfort inorder to make spiritual advancement Chanting good rounds, waking early in the morning for mangal aarti, taking bath twice. 

Austerity – is voluntary acceptance of difficulty for purification…
Penance –  accepting difficulty to make up for a sin…

(BG 10.4-5) MEANING OF TAPASYA
Tapas means austerity or penance. There are many rules and regulations in the Vedas which apply here, like rising early in the morning and taking a bath. Sometimes it is very troublesome to rise early in the morning, but whatever voluntary trouble one may suffer in this way is called penance. Similarly, there are prescriptions for fasting on certain days of the month. One may not be inclined to practice such fasting, but because of his determination to make advancement in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he should accept such bodily troubles when they are recommended. However, one should not fast unnecessarily or against Vedic injunctions. One should not fast for some political purpose; that is described in Bhagavad-gītā as fasting in ignorance, and anything done in ignorance or passion does not lead to spiritual advancement. Everything done in the mode of goodness does advance one, however, and fasting done in terms of the Vedic injunctions enriches one in spiritual knowledge.

(SB 7.6.1) EVEN A SLIGHT AMOUNT OF SINCERE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE CAN GIVE ONE COMPLETE PERFECTION.

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
kaumāra ācaret prājño
dharmān bhāgavatān iha
durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam

One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life — in other words, from the tender age of childhood — to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.

The Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.14) PLEASE GET UP AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR HUMAN FORM OF LIFE

also says, uttiṣṭha jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata: “O living entity, you are sleeping in this material world. Please get up and take advantage of your human form of life.” The sleeping condition means loss of all knowledge.

(BG 4.9) KNOWING KRSNA AND YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH KRSNA IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

Janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ’rjuna

One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

One should spend more and more time in understanding who Krsna is and what is one’s relationship with Krsna is and should stop wasting life my doing mundane activities. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.17 TODAY (05/19/21):

1. This verse confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by the acceleration of devotional service.
2. Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing the identification of spiritual values. 
3. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold
4. Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. 
5. Once a person comes into contact with any of the Lord’s energies ( His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage) through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened.
6. As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. 
7. Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity. 
8. CC M 22.54 – “The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.
9. SB 3.25.25 – In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.
10. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, in as much as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence.
11. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.
12. Aas quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in smṛti-śāstras – Money given in charity – 
    • to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa.
    • to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. 
    • to a half-educated brāhmaṇa, even then the money is returned double.
    • to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times, and
    • to a Veda-pāraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication.
13. There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead.
14. a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

SB 2.3.17 TRANSLATION: 
Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

CLASS NOTES: 

Many wonderful points are made by Srila Prabhupada in this purport.

TIME INDICATED BY THE SUNRISE AND THE SUNSET WILL BE USELESSLY WASTED IF SUCH TIME IS NOT PROPERLY UTILIZED FOR REALIZING IDENTIFICATION OF SPIRITUAL VALUES

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

PURPOSE OF LIFE –
Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. 

Most people are misled into thinking that you can find happiness in the material world. How can you find happiness in a place of misery – “dukhalayam asasvatam…” Permanent happiness is Rama – reservoir of pleasure… Happiness can only be found in Rama and Krsna… 

THE DOOR TO PERFECTION IS IMMEDIATELY OPENED WHEN ONE COMES INTO CONTACT WITH ANY OF THE ENERGIES OF THE LORD. 

The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened.

 In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.”

IMPORTANCE OF HEARING FROM PURE DEVOTEES
As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity. (This is a paraphrase of CC M 22.54)

CC M 22.54
‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya

“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.

HH HVM says – “Just a few moments of association with Srila Prabhupada fixed me for my life. I know he was exceptional, But when I saw him he was much greater than Jesus. He was much more humble, much more knowledgeable… “

Sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life
And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, in as much as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.

One can transcend the law of nature birth-death old age and disease by HEARING about the lord.

ABOUT CHARITY
The materialistic way of pious activities like charity is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.

MONEY GIVEN IN CHARITY

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

The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is realization of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ).

There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion.
Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

Now you are getting older, getting sick, break away now, it is the time to fully immerse in Krsna Katha… Krishna says – Kaunteya prati jane priyosi me… Gold standard – my devotee never perishes…

(SB 3.25.25) BY HEARING ABOUT LORD FROM A PURE DEVOTEE ONE BECOME FIXED IN DEV SERVICE
satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido
bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ
taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani
śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.16

1. Once one properly hears about Lord in the association of the satām (pure devotees), certainly one senses the great potency and so automatically attains to the devotional stage of life. 
2. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, both Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit were of the same category, settled long before, although one was playing the part of the master and the other the disciple.
3. Although there were many others who assembled at the place where Mahārāja Parīkṣit was fasting, the natural conclusion is that there was no topic other than the glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa, because the principal speaker was Śukadeva Gosvāmī and the chief audience was Mahārāja Parīkṣit. 
4. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as it was spoken and heard by two principal devotees of the Lord, is only for the glorification of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
5. 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.
6. This hearing process is very important. 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.
7. 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.
8. BG 11.36 – O master of the senses, the world becomes joyful upon hearing Your name, and thus everyone becomes attached to You. Although the perfected beings offer You their respectful homage, the demons are afraid, and they flee here and there. All this is rightly done.
9. Any narration or statement concerning Kṛṣṇa is just like nectar. And this nectar can be perceived by practical experience. The Purāṇas are histories of bygone ages that relate the pastimes of the various incarnations of the Lord. In this way the reading matter remains forever fresh, despite repeated readings.
10. BG 10.18 – “O Janārdana, again please describe in detail the mystic power of Your opulences. I am never satiated in hearing about You, for the more I hear the more I want to taste the nectar of Your words.” This explains the culture of a devotee
11. One should know the distinction between the body, the owner of the body, and the Supersoul. One should recognize the process of liberation, as described in verses 8 through 12. Then one can go on to the supreme destination.
12. A faithful person should at first have some good association to hear of God and thus gradually become enlightened. If one accepts a spiritual master, one can learn to distinguish between matter and spirit, and that becomes the stepping-stone for further spiritual realization. A spiritual master, by various instructions, teaches his students to get free from the material concept of life.
13. One has to get rid of all three stages of attachment to the material world:  1)the negligence of spiritual life, 2)fear of spiritual personal identity, and the 3)concept of void that underlies the frustration of life. To get free of these three stages in the material concept of life, one has to take complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual master, and follow the penances of disciplinary and regulative principles of devotional life.
14. (BG 13.35) Those who see with eyes of knowledge the difference between the body and the knower of the body, and can also understand the process of liberation from bondage in material nature, attain to the supreme goal.

ŚB 2.3.18

Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vyāsadeva, was also full in transcendental knowledge and was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva. So there must have been discussion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by great philosophers and in the company of great devotees.

CLASS NOTES: 

SATĀM MEANS THE PURE DEVOTEES
The word satām is very important in this verse. Satām means the pure devotees, who have no other desire than to serve the Lord.

ONLY IN THE ASSOCIATION OF SUCH DEVOTEES ARE THE TRANSCENDENTAL GLORIES OF LORD KṚṢṆA PROPERLY DISCUSSED.
 It is said by the Lord that His topics are all full of spiritual significance, and once one properly hears about Him in the association of the satām, certainly one senses the great potency and so automatically attains to the devotional stage of life. 

MAHARAJ PARIKSHIT AND SUKHADEV GOSWAMI ARE BOTH GREAT DEVOTEES OF LORD
As already described, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great devotee of the Lord from his very birth, and so was Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Both of them were on the same level, although it appeared that Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great king accustomed to royal facilities whereas Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a typical renouncer of the world, so much so that he did not even put a cloth on his body. Superficially, Mahārāja Parīkṣit and Śukadeva Gosvāmī might seem to be opposites, but basically they were both unalloyed, pure devotees of the Lord. 

WHEN SUCH DEVOTEES ARE ASSEMBLED TOGETHER, THERE CAN BE NO TOPICS SAVE DISCUSSIONS OF THE GLORIES OF THE LORD, OR BHAKTI-YOGA. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, when there were talks between the Lord and His devotee Arjuna, there could not be any topic other than bhakti-yoga, however the mundane scholars may speculate on it in their own ways. The use of the word ca after vaiyāsakiḥ suggests, according to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, that both Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit were of the same category, settled long before, although one was playing the part of the master and the other the disciple. 

THERE WAS NO TOPIC OTHER THAN THE GLORIFICATION OF LORD KṚṢṆA
Since Lord Kṛṣṇa is the center of the topics, the word vāsudeva-parāyaṇaḥ, or “devotee of Vāsudeva,” suggests devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the common aim. Although there were many others who assembled at the place where Mahārāja Parīkṣit was fasting, the natural conclusion is that there was no topic other than the glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa, because the principal speaker was Śukadeva Gosvāmī and the chief audience was Mahārāja Parīkṣit. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as it was spoken and heard by two principal devotees of the Lord, is only for the glorification of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

It emphasizes the main themes presented in this chapter which is Hearing from pure devotees. One cannot make any spiritual advancement unless one has association of pure devotees and hears from them. 

(BG 13.26) WORSHIP OF THE SUPREME PERSON BEGINS UPON HEARING ABOUT HIM FROM OTHERS.
anye tv evam ajānantaḥ
śrutvānyebhya upāsate
te ’pi cātitaranty eva
mṛtyuṁ śruti-parāyaṇāḥ

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.

Interview of number one athiest Richard Dawkins. He is the intelligencia of the athiests.  Meyers, philosopher, wrote a great book on the validity of the intelligent design.. Interviewer is convincing Dawkins to have a debate with Meyers. He said he is not a scientist and if I agree to debate then it gives validity to him. Dawkins is the most arrogant person… 

Once a person asked a question “lets assume there is no God” and was about to ask a question, Srila Prabhupada asked him to stop, because it is like “lets assume there is no father for a child”… Srila Prabhupada stopping that person from asking illegitimate or illogical question is different from Dawkins stopping to be debated with Meyers.. Prabhupada was stopping him from speculating.. 

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. 

Philosophy – The word philosophy is derived from Greek words – Pholos and Sophia. Philos means love and Sophia means wisdom. • Thus philosophy means love of wisdom.

the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.

They claim there is no GOD and matter is the only reality… academic – question everything. They are starting from illogical reality claiming to be authority… 

HEARING PROCESS IS VERY IMPORTANT 

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.

We are hearing from speculators in schools, colleges… etc., who say religion is the opium of people. 

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.

This is the problem today, people are accepting these fools speculators as authority, refusing to hear from the real authority. The strategy  is to denounce belittle anybody who has different presentation…
Mr.Dawkins is the number one representative of cancel culture… 

(BG 11.36) THE WORLD BECOMES JOYFUL UPON HEARING YOUR NAME, AND THUS EVERYONE BECOMES ATTACHED TO YOU

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

BG 10.14 

O Kṛṣṇa, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Neither the demigods nor the demons, O Lord, can understand Your personality.

Arjuna, after hearing from Kṛṣṇa about the outcome of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, became enlightened, and as a great devotee and friend of the Supreme Personality of Godhead he said that everything done by Kṛṣṇa is quite fit. 

 When Arjuna saw the universal form of the Lord, the demigods took pleasure in it, but others, who were demons and atheists, could not stand it when the Lord was praised. Out of their natural fear of the devastating form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they fled. Kṛṣṇa’s treatment of the devotees and the atheists is praised by Arjuna. In all cases a devotee glorifies the Lord because he knows that whatever He does is good for all.

(BG 10.18) CULTURE OF DEVOTEES – THE MORE I HEAR THE MORE I WANT TO TASTE THE NECTAR OF YOUR WORDS.
O Janārdana, again please describe in detail the mystic power of Your opulences. I am never satiated in hearing about You, for the more I hear the more I want to taste the nectar of Your words.

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

What is Knowledge, reality and existence –  you have to read 13th chapter 

(BG 13.35)
Those who see with eyes of knowledge the difference between the body and the knower of the body, and can also understand the process of liberation from bondage in material nature, attain to the supreme goal.

The purport of this Thirteenth Chapter is that one should know the distinction between the body, the owner of the body, and the Supersoul. One should recognize the process of liberation, as described in verses 8 through 12. Then one can go on to the supreme destination.

1. Body  – material
2. Owner of the body – Jiva (temp owner) Paramatma (real owner)
3. Supersoul – Paramatma
4. Process of liberation (18 points of knowledge)
5. Supreme destination

A faithful person should at first have some good association to hear of God and thus gradually become enlightened. If one accepts a spiritual master, one can learn to distinguish between matter and spirit, and that becomes the stepping-stone for further spiritual realization. A spiritual master, by various instructions, teaches his students to get free from the material concept of life. For instance, in Bhagavad-gītā we find Kṛṣṇa instructing Arjuna to free him from materialistic considerations.

1. Good association to hear of God
2. Hear what is matter and spirit (2nd chapter)
3. Free from material concept of life (Spiritual master is teaching)
4. One can understand that
   1. body is matter, gross manifestation (24 elements) 5 great elements, 5 knowledge acquiring senses, 5 objects of senses, 5 working senses
   2. Subtle manifestation – mind, intelligence, false ego
   3. Soul and super soul
   4. Desire, happiness, distress, hatred – Interactions of the 5 great elements 
   5. Consciousness and convictions –  Living symptoms

One can understand that this body is matter; it can be analyzed with its twenty-four elements.
The body is the gross manifestation. And the subtle manifestation is the mind and psychological effects. And the symptoms of life are the interaction of these features. But over and above this, there is the soul, and there is also the Supersoul. The soul and the Supersoul are two. This material world is working by the conjunction of the soul and the twenty-four material elements. One who can see the constitution of the whole material manifestation as this combination of the soul and material elements and can also see the situation of the Supreme Soul becomes eligible for transfer to the spiritual world. These things are meant for contemplation and for realization, and one should have a complete understanding of this chapter with the help of the spiritual master.

(BG 13.6 -7) 24 ELEMENTS

 First there are earth, water, fire, air and ether. These are the five great elements (mahā-bhūta). Then there are false ego, intelligence and the unmanifested stage of the three modes of nature. Then there are five senses for acquiring knowledge: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Then five working senses: voice, legs, hands, anus and genitals. Then, above the senses, there is the mind, which is within and which can be called the sense within. Therefore, including the mind, there are eleven senses altogether. Then there are the five objects of the senses: smell, taste, form, touch and sound. Now the aggregate of these twenty-four elements is called the field of activity. If one makes an analytical study of these twenty-four subjects, then he can very well understand the field of activity. Then there are desire, hatred, happiness and distress, which are interactions, representations of the five great elements in the gross body. The living symptoms, represented by consciousness, and convictions are the manifestation of the subtle body – mind, ego and intelligence. These subtle elements are included within the field of activities.

The five great elements are a gross representation of the false ego, which in turn represents the primal stage of false ego technically called the materialistic conception, or tāmasa-buddhi, intelligence in ignorance. This, further, represents the unmanifested stage of the three modes of material nature. The unmanifested modes of material nature are called pradhāna.

One who desires to know the twenty-four elements in detail along with their interactions should study the philosophy in more detail. In Bhagavad-gītā, a summary only is given.

The body is the representation of all these factors, and there are changes of the body, which are six in number: the body is born, it grows, it stays, it produces by-products, then it begins to decay, and at the last stage it vanishes. Therefore the field is a nonpermanent material thing. However, the kṣetra-jña, the knower of the field, its proprietor, is different.

Dawkins is intelligence in ignorance (Tamasa budhi) . He is teaching material conception of life . 

WHAT IS MATERIAL CONCEPTION OF LIFE – 

Metaphysical Questions of life. 

Pages 35-38 

https://www.vedicculturalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/flipbook/42/mobile/index.html#p=36

3 stages of material conception of life

“One has to get rid of all three stages of attachment to the material world: 

1. the negligence of spiritual life, 
2. fear of spiritual personal identity, and the 
3. concept of void that underlies the frustration of life. 

To get free of these three stages in the material concept of life, one has to take complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual master, and follow the penances of disciplinary and regulative principles of devotional life. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.15 TODAY

1. In the Bhagavad-gītā (6.41) it is stated that even a person who has failed in the proper discharge of yoga practice is given a chance to take birth in the house of devout brāhmaṇas or in the houses of rich men like kṣatriya kings or rich merchants.
2. But Mahārāja Parīkṣit was more than that because he had been a great devotee of the Lord since his previous birth, and as such he took his birth in an imperial family of the Kurus, and especially that of the Pāṇḍavas who are the devotees of the lord.
3. So from the very beginning of his childhood he had the chance to know intimately the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa in his own family. 
4. Children who appear in such families fortunately generally imitate worship of the Deities, even in the way of childhood play. 
5. Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura took birth in Vaishnava families and got all inspiration from their respective fathers. That is the way of all lucky Vaiṣṇava families.
6. The life history of many such devotees is almost the same because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord. 
7. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was naturally inclined to Lord Kṛṣṇa from his very childhood. He might have imitated deity worship or past times of the Lord, and all of them establish his great devotion from his very childhood, a symptom of a mahā-bhāgavata. Such mahā-bhāgavatas are called nitya-siddhas, or souls liberated from birth.
8. But there are also others, who may not be liberated from birth but who develop a tendency for devotional service by association, and they are called sādhana-Siddhas. There is no difference between the two
9. Everyone can become a sādhana-Siddha, a devotee of the Lord, simply by association with the pure devotees. The concrete example is our great spiritual master Śrī Nārada Muni
10. Therefore, transcendental endeavors, or the practice of yoga, never go in vain. By the grace of the Lord the transcendentalist gets repeated opportunities for complete perfection in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
11. As far as amṛtam, nectar, is concerned, any narration or statement concerning Kṛṣṇa is just like nectar. And this nectar can be perceived by practical experience.
12. Modern stories, fiction and histories are different from the transcendental pastimes of the Lord in that one will tire of hearing mundane stories, but one never tires of hearing about Kṛṣṇa.
13. It is for this reason only that the history of the whole universe is replete with references to the pastimes of the incarnations of Godhead. 
14. The Purāṇas are histories of bygone ages that relate the pastimes of the various incarnations of the Lord. In this way the reading matter remains forever fresh, despite repeated readings.

SB 2.3.15 TRANSLATION: 

Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the grandson of the Pāṇḍavas, was from his very childhood a great devotee of the Lord. Even while playing with dolls, he used to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa by imitating the worship of the family Deity.

CLASS NOTES: 

ONE WHO HAS FAILED AS A YOGI
In the Bhagavad-gītā (6.41) it is stated that even a person who has failed in the proper discharge of yoga practice is given a chance to take birth in the house of devout brāhmaṇas or in the houses of rich men like kṣatriya kings or rich merchants.

MAHARAJ PARIKSHIT ‘S BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
But Mahārāja Parīkṣit was more than that because he had been a great devotee of the Lord since his previous birth, and as such he took his birth in an imperial family of the Kurus, and especially that of the Pāṇḍavas. So from the very beginning of his childhood he had the chance to know intimately the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa in his own family. The Pāṇḍavas, all being devotees of the Lord, certainly venerated family Deities in the royal palace for worship. Children who appear in such families fortunately generally imitate such worship of the Deities, even in the way of childhood play.

SRILA PRABHUPADA’S BIRTH & SRILA BHAKTI SIDHANTA SARASWATI THAKUR’S BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
By the grace of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, we had the chance of being born in a Vaiṣṇava family, and in our childhood we imitated the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa by imitating our father. Our father encouraged us in all respects to observe all functions such as the Ratha-yātrā and Dola-yātrā ceremonies, and he used to spend money liberally for distributing prasāda to us children and our friends. Our spiritual master, who also took his birth in a Vaiṣṇava family, got all inspirations from his great Vaiṣṇava father, Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda. That is the way of all lucky Vaiṣṇava families. The celebrated Mīrā Bāī was a staunch devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the great lifter of Govardhana Hill.

NITYA SIDDHAS
The life history of many such devotees is almost the same because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord. According to Jīva Gosvāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit must have heard about the childhood pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa at Vṛndāvana, for he used to imitate the pastimes with his young playmates. According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit used to imitate the worship of the family Deity by elderly members. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī also confirms the viewpoint of Jīva Gosvāmī. So accepting either of them, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was naturally inclined to Lord Kṛṣṇa from his very childhood. He might have imitated either of the above-mentioned activities, and all of them establish his great devotion from his very childhood, a symptom of a mahā-bhāgavata. Such mahā-bhāgavatas are called nitya-siddhas, or souls liberated from birth.

SĀDHANA-SIDDHAS
 But there are also others, who may not be liberated from birth but who develop a tendency for devotional service by association, and they are called sādhana-Siddhas. There is no difference between the two in the ultimate issue, and so the conclusion is that everyone can become a sādhana-Siddha, a devotee of the Lord, simply by association with the pure devotees. The concrete example is our great spiritual master Śrī Nārada Muni. In his previous life he was simply a boy of a maidservant, but through association with great devotees, he became a devotee of the Lord of his own standard, unique in the history of devotional service.

That opens a possibility for any of us to attain the highest perfection if we associate with pure devotees.
Prabhupada wrote Krsna Book, so one can experience the past times of the Lord without having to jump to the 10th canto.
When we hear from SP purports we are hearing from Pure devotee. The more we hear, the more we learn and we discover. This is special we cannot miss this, we will not get this in any university. The desire to hear is the most important thing in a devotee’s life. It takes some time to develop some talent. If you use that talent in Krsna’s service in this lifetime and actually engage in practical devotional service then you become enlivened. Dynamic process, never static. Mayavadis think that by stopping activity they become perfect. That is not the case. Goswamis were awake 23 hours a day. They were eating very less and sleeping very less and immersed in serving the Lord. This can not be attained artificially. SP gives example of Napoleon so excited about conquering he would not sleep at all.  One who gets excited materially is able to do that. Imagine if you get that excitement in KC, what you can do is the position of Nithya Siddha.

(BG 6.41) THE UNSUCCESSFUL YOGĪ IS BORN INTO A FAMILY OF RICH ARISTOCRACY
The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.

The unsuccessful yogīs are divided into two classes: one is fallen after very little progress, and one is fallen after long practice of yoga. The yogī who falls after a short period of practice goes to the higher planets, where pious living entities are allowed to enter. After prolonged life there, one is sent back again to this planet, to take birth in the family of a righteous brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava or of aristocratic merchants.

Those who are born in such families may take advantage of the facilities and try to elevate themselves to full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

(BG 6.42) OR HE TAKES HIS BIRTH IN A FAMILY OF TRANSCENDENTALISTS WHO ARE SURELY GREAT IN WISDOM
Or [if unsuccessful after long practice of yoga] he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom. Certainly, such a birth is rare in this world.

Birth in a family of yogīs or transcendentalists – those with great wisdom – is praised herein because the child born in such a family receives a spiritual impetus from the very beginning of his life. It is especially the case in the ācārya or gosvāmī families. Such families are very learned and devoted by tradition and training, and thus they become spiritual masters.

Fortunately, both our spiritual master, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and our humble self had the opportunity to take birth in such families, by the grace of the Lord, and both of us were trained in the devotional service of the Lord from the very beginning of our lives.

Great opportunity – human form of life, to realize Krsna and go back to Him. If you fail nothing is lost you go to higher planets and come back in good families and go back…
Transcendental endeavors never go in vain.

(BG 6.43)
On taking such a birth, he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he again tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru.

Example – Bharat Maharaj 

transcendental endeavors, or the practice of yoga, never go in vain. By the grace of the Lord the transcendentalist gets repeated opportunities for complete perfection in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

(BG 2.40) IN THIS ENDEAVOR THERE IS NO LOSS OR DIMINUTION 
In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

This is good news for all of us. Lord never forgets what we have done.  

From very childhood is trained by parents to celebrate and imitate the past times of the lord. 

In Krsna Book Chapter 30) it is explained how Gopis imitated the past times of the lord – 

Being absorbed in thought of Him, they experienced loss of memory, and with dampened eyes they began to see the very pastimes of Kṛṣṇa – His beautiful talks with them, His embracing, kissing and other activities. Being so attracted to Kṛṣṇa, they imitated His dancing, His walking and His smiling, as if they themselves were Kṛṣṇa.

The only way the gopis can feel the presence of Krsna is by enacting His past times. 

BG 10.18
Now as far as amṛtam, nectar, is concerned, any narration or statement concerning Kṛṣṇa is just like nectar. And this nectar can be perceived by practical experience. Modern stories, fiction and histories are different from the transcendental pastimes of the Lord in that one will tire of hearing mundane stories but one never tires of hearing about Kṛṣṇa. It is for this reason only that the history of the whole universe is replete with references to the pastimes of the incarnations of Godhead. The Purāṇas are histories of bygone ages that relate the pastimes of the various incarnations of the Lord. In this way the reading matter remains forever fresh, despite repeated readings.