Tag: Srimad Bhagavatham Canto 2

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.14:

1. Even mundane things, if dovetailed in the service of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, are accepted as transcendental.
2. The epics or the histories of Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, which are specifically recommended for the less intelligent classes (women, śūdras and unworthy sons of the higher castes), are also accepted as Vedic literature because they are compiled in connection with the activities of the Lord. 
3. Mahābhārata is accepted as the fifth division of the Vedas after its first four divisions, namely Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg and Atharva. The less intelligent do not accept Mahābhārata as part of the Vedas, but great sages and authorities accept it as the fifth division of the Vedas. Bhagavad-gītā is also part of the Mahābhārata, and it is full of the Lord’s instruction for the less intelligent class of men.
4. Some less intelligent men say that Bhagavad-gītā is not meant for householders, but such foolish men forget that Bhagavad-gītā was explained to Arjuna, a gṛhastha (family man), and spoken by the Lord in His role as a gṛhastha.
5. Literatures like Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas and similar other literatures which are full of the pastimes of the Lord, are all transcendental literatures, and they should be discussed with full confidence in the society of great devotees.Unless they are discussed by devotees, such literatures cannot be relished by the higher class of men.
6. The propaganda that the Lord is impersonal, that He has no activity and that He is a dumb stone without any name and form has encouraged people to become godless, faithless demons, and the more they deviate from the transcendental activities of the Lord, the more they become accustomed to mundane activities that only clear their path to hell instead of return them home, back to Godhead.*
7. Even fifty years ago, the social structure of all Indians was so arranged that they would not read any literature which was not connected with the activities of the Lord. They would not play any drama not connected with the Lord. They would not organize a fair or ceremony which was not connected with the Lord. Nor would they visit a place which was not holy and sanctified by the pastimes of the Lord. Therefore even the common man in the village would talk about Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, Gītā and Bhāgavatam, even from his very childhood. But by the influence of the age of Kali, they have been dragged to the civilization of the dogs and hogs, laboring for bread without any sense of transcendental knowledge.”
8. Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns us of this faulty type of education, and the Bhagavad-gītā gives instructions as to the development of real knowledge.
9. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, a great ācārya, maintained that all forms of material knowledge are merely external features of the illusory energy and that by culturing them one becomes no better than an ass. 
10. Anyone may read Bhagavad-gītā or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam repeatedly throughout his whole life and yet find in them new light of information.
11. Those who have developed a taste for understanding the transcendental subject matter are never tired of hearing such narrations. One is quickly satiated by mundane activities, but no one is satiated by transcendental or devotional activities
12. Transcendental literature is above the mode of darkness, and its light becomes more luminous with progressive reading and realization of the transcendental subject matter.

SB 2.3.14 TRANSLATION
O learned Sūta Gosvāmī! Please continue to explain such topics to us because we are all eager to hear. Besides that, topics which result in the discussion of the Lord Hari should certainly be discussed in the assembly of devotees.

CLASS NOTES: 

EVEN MUNDANE THINGS, IF DOVETAILED IN THE SERVICE OF THE LORD ŚRĪ KṚṢṆA, ARE ACCEPTED AS TRANSCENDENTAL. 

For example – the epics or the histories of Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, which are specifically recommended for the less intelligent classes (women, śūdras and unworthy sons of the higher castes), are also accepted as Vedic literature because they are compiled in connection with the activities of the Lord. Mahābhārata is accepted as the fifth division of the Vedas after its first four divisions, namely Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg and Atharva. The less intelligent do not accept Mahābhārata as part of the Vedas, but great sages and authorities accept it as the fifth division of the Vedas. Bhagavad-gītā is also part of the Mahābhārata, and it is full of the Lord’s instruction for the less intelligent class of men.

SOME LESS INTELLIGENT MEN SAY THAT BHAGAVAD-GĪTĀ IS NOT MEANT FOR HOUSEHOLDERS, 

but such foolish men forget that Bhagavad-gītā was explained to Arjuna, a gṛhastha (family man), and spoken by the Lord in His role as a gṛhastha. So Bhagavad-gītā, although containing the high philosophy of the Vedic wisdom, is for the beginners in the transcendental science, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is for graduates and postgraduates in the transcendental science. Therefore literatures like Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas and similar other literatures which are full of the pastimes of the Lord, are all transcendental literatures, and they should be discussed with full confidence in the society of great devotees.

SUCH LITERATURES SHOULD ONLY BE DISCUSSED IN THE ASSEMBLY OF DEVOTEES. 

Unless they are discussed by devotees, such literatures cannot be relished by the higher class of men. 

THE WAY OF SPIRITUALIZING THE CIVIC ACTIVITIES OF HUMAN SOCIETY

So the conclusion is that the Lord is not impersonal in the ultimate issue. He is the Supreme Person, and He has His different activities. He is the leader of all living entities, and He descends at His will and by His personal energy to reclaim the fallen souls. Thus He plays exactly like the social, political or religious leaders. Because such roles ultimately culminate in the discussion of topics of the Lord, all such preliminary topics are also transcendental. That is the way of spiritualizing the civic activities of human society.

Men have inclinations for studying history and many other mundane literatures — stories, fiction, dramas, magazines, newspapers, etc. — so let them be dovetailed with the transcendental service of the Lord, and all of them will turn to the topics relished by all devotees. 

THE MORE THEY BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO MUNDANE ACTIVITIES THAT ONLY CLEAR THEIR PATH TO HELL INSTEAD OF RETURN THEM HOME, BACK TO GODHEAD.*

The propaganda that the Lord is impersonal, that He has no activity and that He is a dumb stone without any name and form has encouraged people to become godless, faithless demons, and the more they deviate from the transcendental activities of the Lord, the more they become accustomed to mundane activities that only clear their path to hell instead of return them home, back to Godhead.*

ŚRĪMAD-BHĀGAVATAM IS SAID TO BE THE PĀRAMAHAṀSA-SAṀHITĀ,

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam begins from the history of the Pāṇḍavas (with necessary politics and social activities), and yet Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is said to be the Pāramahaṁsa-saṁhitā, or the Vedic literature meant for the topmost transcendentalist, and it describes paraṁ jñānam, the highest transcendental knowledge. Pure devotees of the Lord are all paramahaṁsas, and they are like the swans, who know the art of sucking milk out of a mixture of milk and water.

And a footnote = “Even fifty years ago, the social structure of all Indians was so arranged that they would not read any literature which was not connected with the activities of the Lord. They would not play any drama not connected with the Lord. They would not organize a fair or ceremony which was not connected with the Lord. Nor would they visit a place which was not holy and sanctified by the pastimes of the Lord. Therefore even the common man in the village would talk about Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, Gītā and Bhāgavatam, even from his very childhood. But by the influence of the age of Kali, they have been dragged to the civilization of the dogs and hogs, laboring for bread without any sense of transcendental knowledge.”

This is further explained in ISO. Mantra 10

ISO – Mantra 10 

The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.

As advised in Chapter Thirteen of the Bhagavad-gītā (13.8–12), one should culture knowledge in the following way:

(1) One should become a perfect gentleman and learn to give proper respect to others.
(2) One should not pose himself as a religionist simply for name and fame.
(3) One should not become a source of anxiety to others by the actions of his body, by the thoughts of his mind, or by his words.
(4) One should learn forbearance even in the face of provocation from others.
(5) One should learn to avoid duplicity in his dealings with others.
(6) One should search out a bona fide spiritual master who can lead him gradually to the stage of spiritual realization, and one must submit himself to such a spiritual master, render him service and ask relevant questions.
(7) In order to approach the platform of self-realization, one must follow the regulative principles enjoined in the revealed scriptures.
(8) One must be fixed in the tenets of the revealed scriptures.
(9) One should completely refrain from practices which are detrimental to the interest of self-realization.
(10) One should not accept more than he requires for the maintenance of the body.
(11) One should not falsely identify himself with the gross material body, nor should one consider those who are related to his body to be his own.
(12) One should always remember that as long as he has a material body he must face the miseries of repeated birth, old age, disease and death. There is no use in making plans to get rid of these miseries of the material body. The best course is to find out the means by which one may regain his spiritual identity.
(13) One should not be attached to more than the necessities of life required for spiritual advancement.
(14) One should not be more attached to wife, children and home than the revealed scriptures ordain.
(15) One should not be happy or distressed over desirables and undesirables, knowing that such feelings are just created by the mind.
(16) One should become an unalloyed devotee of the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and serve Him with rapt attention.
(17) One should develop a liking for residence in a secluded place with a calm and quiet atmosphere favorable for spiritual culture, and one should avoid congested places where nondevotees congregate.
(18) One should become a scientist or philosopher and conduct research into spiritual knowledge, recognizing that spiritual knowledge is permanent whereas material knowledge ends with the death of the body.

These eighteen items combine to form a gradual process by which real knowledge can be developed. Except for these, all other methods are considered to be in the category of nescience

ŚRĪ ĪŚOPANIṢAD WARNS US OF THIS FAULTY TYPE OF EDUCATION, AND THE BHAGAVAD-GĪTĀ GIVES INSTRUCTIONS AS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF REAL KNOWLEDGE

 Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, a great ācārya, maintained that all forms of material knowledge are merely external features of the illusory energy and that by culturing them one becomes no better than an ass. 

By advancement of material knowledge, modern man is simply being converted into an ass.

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.

 University students today are not given instructions in the regulative principles of brahmacarya (celibate student life), nor do they have any faith in any scriptural injunctions. Religious principles are taught for the sake of name and fame only and not for the sake of practical action

Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns us of this faulty type of education, and the Bhagavad-gītā gives instructions as to the development of real knowledge. This mantra states that the instructions of vidyā (knowledge) must be acquired from a dhīra.  A dhīra is one who is not disturbed by material illusion.

Actually it is the living souls, the parts and parcels of the supreme living being, who move the world. The dhīras have come to know all these facts by hearing them from superior authorities and have realized this knowledge by following the regulative principles.

ONE CAN BECOME A DHĪRA ONLY BY SUBMISSIVELY HEARING FROM A BONA FIDE SPIRITUAL MASTER. 

To follow the regulative principles, one must take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. The transcendental message and regulative principles come down from the spiritual master to the disciple. Such knowledge does not come in the hazardous way of nescient education. One can become a dhīra only by submissively hearing from a bona fide spiritual master. Arjuna, for example, became a dhīra by submissively hearing from Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead Himself. Thus the perfect disciple must be like Arjuna, and the spiritual master must be as good as the Lord Himself. This is the process of learning vidyā (knowledge) from the dhīra (the undisturbed).

ADHIRAS 

Modern politicians who pose themselves as dhīras are actually adhīras, and one cannot expect perfect knowledge from them. They are simply busy seeing to their own remuneration in dollars and cents.

(SB 1.1.19) NEVER TIRED OF HEARING THE TRANSCENDENTAL PASTIMES
We never tire of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who is glorified by hymns and prayers. Those who have developed a taste for transcendental relationships with Him relish hearing of His pastimes at every moment.

ANYONE MAY READ BHAGAVAD-GĪTĀ OR THE ŚRĪMAD-BHĀGAVATAM REPEATEDLY THROUGHOUT HIS WHOLE LIFE AND YET FIND IN THEM NEW LIGHT OF INFORMATION.

Mundane news is static whereas transcendental news is dynamic, inasmuch as the spirit is dynamic and matter is static. Those who have developed a taste for understanding the transcendental subject matter are never tired of hearing such narrations. One is quickly satiated by mundane activities, but no one is satiated by transcendental or devotional activities

TRANSCENDENTAL LITERATURE IS ABOVE THE MODE OF DARKNESS, AND ITS LIGHT BECOMES MORE LUMINOUS WITH PROGRESSIVE READING AND REALIZATION OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL SUBJECT MATTER.

Those who are not so fortunate turn to altruism and worldly philanthropy. This means the Māyāvāda philosophy is mundane, whereas the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is transcendental.

This is what Srila Prabhupdada says. What to accept and what not to accept. To accept is to follow. We have to follow and set an example.  We do not know any of it, to realize it we have to practice it with happiness not grudgingly. Even the insane person is happy. Are you falling in love with Krsna, that means you have connected with Krsna. There is no limit how much you can do for kRsna. Vishnu Priya would chant a round and put a rice morsel and then whatever rice grains she would collect by chanting rounds, she would make prasadam and eat only that rice.


We are hearing Sat and Asat from Prabhupada books. We do not have to see asat by aassociating with material world . There are differnt ways you can acquire knowledge – One by hearing, One by seeing, one by seeing and experiencing. One who hears and acquires the knowledge is the most intelligent.  When Asat is explined in SP books, you hear it and learn, you do not have to see it of experience it. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.13:

1. To be able to advance in Krsna Consciousness, one has to take the shelter of the bonafide spiritual master and ask questions and take advice when making decisions related to devotional service/ spiritual way of life. 
2. Inquiries and submission constitute the proper combination for spiritual understanding. Unless there is submission and service, inquiries from the learned spiritual master will not be effective.
3. The path of spiritual realization is undoubtedly difficult. The Lord, therefore, advises us to approach a bona fide spiritual master in the line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. 
4. No one can be a bona fide spiritual master without following this principle of disciplic succession. The Lord is the original spiritual master, and a person in the disciplic succession can convey the message of the Lord as it is to his disciple. 
5. No one can be spiritually realized by manufacturing his own process, as is the fashion of the foolish pretenders. 
6. One has to approach a bona fide spiritual master to receive the knowledge. Such a spiritual master should be accepted in full surrender, and one should serve the spiritual master like a menial servant, without false prestige. 
7. Satisfaction of the self-realized spiritual master is the secret of advancement in spiritual life. 
8. One must be able to pass the test of the spiritual master, and when he sees the genuine desire of the disciple, he automatically blesses the disciple with genuine spiritual understanding.
9. Both blind following and absurd inquiries are condemned. Not only should one hear submissively from the spiritual master, but one must also get a clear understanding from him, in submission and service and inquiries. (culture of a guru disciple relationship) 
10. A bona fide spiritual master is by nature very kind toward the disciple. Therefore when the student is submissive and is always ready to render service, the reciprocation of knowledge and inquiries becomes perfect.
11. Even mundane activities dovetailed with service to the Lord are also calculated to be transcendental or approved kaivalya affairs.” Only a spiritual master (siksha & diksha gurus) can teach us how to dovetail everything in Krsna’s service. 
12. We do not accept that this world is false. There is sambandha. There is relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Anything material, made of earth, water, fire, air, they are Kṛṣṇa’s energies. Therefore there is direct relationship with Kṛṣṇa. And if Kṛṣṇa is reality, why His energy should be false? No. We must know how to utilize it.
13. So if we remember that everything is manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s energy, there is no question of materialism. It is all spiritual energy. So nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. So we have to use them for Kṛṣṇa.
14. We should not be attached to things as there, but we should try to understand that there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa, we shall properly utilize it. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as we understand that there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa, nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe…
15. Everything can be utilized for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not a stereotyped, stagnant block. Kṛṣṇa is a dynamic force. Therefore everything can be dovetailed in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Simply one should learn the art under proper guidance how to utilize. Then that will be perfect form of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
16. A pure devotee of the Lord automatically develops all godly qualities such as: he is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild, clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic, expert and silent.

SB 2.3.13 TRANSLATION: 

Śaunaka said: The son of Vyāsadeva, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, was a highly learned sage and was able to describe things in a poetic manner. What did Mahārāja Parīkṣit again inquire from him after hearing all that he had said?

CLASS NOTES: 

A pure devotee of the Lord automatically develops all godly qualities, and some of the prominent features of those qualities are as follows: he is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild, clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic, expert and silent. Out of these twenty-six prominent features of a devotee, as described by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the qualification of being poetic is especially mentioned herein in relation to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. The presentation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by his recitation is the highest poetic contribution. He was a self-realized learned sage. In other words, he was a poet amongst the sages.

This proves that if one engages in pure devotional service under the tutelage of spiritual master, without any material motive.
 

(BG 4.31)  INQUIRIES AND SUBMISSION CONSTITUTE THE PROPER COMBINATION FOR SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. 
Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.

The path of spiritual realization is undoubtedly difficult. The Lord therefore advises us to approach a bona fide spiritual master in the line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. No one can be a bona fide spiritual master without following this principle of disciplic succession. The Lord is the original spiritual master, and a person in the disciplic succession can convey the message of the Lord as it is to his disciple. No one can be spiritually realized by manufacturing his own process, as is the fashion of the foolish pretenders. The Bhāgavatam (6.3.19) says, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: the path of religion is directly enunciated by the Lord. Therefore, mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help lead one to the right path. Nor by independent study of books of knowledge can one progress in spiritual life. One has to approach a bona fide spiritual master to receive the knowledge. Such a spiritual master should be accepted in full surrender, and one should serve the spiritual master like a menial servant, without false prestige. Satisfaction of the self-realized spiritual master is the secret of advancement in spiritual life. Inquiries and submission constitute the proper combination for spiritual understanding. Unless there is submission and service, inquiries from the learned spiritual master will not be effective.

One must be able to pass the test of the spiritual master, and when he sees the genuine desire of the disciple, he automatically blesses the disciple with genuine spiritual understanding.

The test of the spiritual master is to check if the disciple is taking advice from the spiritual master or not and following the advice… 

In this verse, both blind following and absurd inquiries are condemned. Not only should one hear submissively from the spiritual master, but one must also get a clear understanding from him, in submission and service and inquiries. (culture of a guru disciple relationship) A bona fide spiritual master is by nature very kind toward the disciple. Therefore when the student is submissive and is always ready to render service, the reciprocation of knowledge and inquiries becomes perfect.

We are in the material world because we rejected Krsna’s instruction. If we send these kids to these public schools, we are killing the desire of the child to become Krsna Consciousness. …

If the student is submissive, and performs service, the devotee develops all these qualities –
 “he is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild, clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic, expert and silent.”

Whole spiritual life is dependent on Inquiries and submission. Inquiries by Parikshit maharaj & Sukh dev goswami, Sages of Naimisharanya and Suta goswami, Arjuna and Krsna… Questions and answers is the spiritual life. If you make decisions on your own, not asking whether it is right or wrong, then that is not spiritual life, that is demoniac life…

If we think we can get educated by reading the gender training, … our life becomes nonsense.. Kids are learning Harry Potter than Srimad Bhagavatam. This is the sad state of Iskcon and the world. Unless we become convinced by reading SP books, there is no hope.

Yesterday we learnt the most important thing –
“Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described this action of a pure devotee as nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. EVEN MUNDANE ACTIVITIES DOVETAILED WITH SERVICE TO THE LORD ARE ALSO CALCULATED TO BE TRANSCENDENTAL OR APPROVED KAIVALYA AFFAIRS.”

BG 1.4-5 Lecture July 10th London
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/730710bglon

NIRBANDHAḤ KṚṢṆA-SAMBANDHE. 

Kṛṣṇa’s this fighting līlā, pastimes, and the rāsa-līlā pastime, they are all the same, because Kṛṣṇa is the center. Kṛṣṇa being center, whatever in connection with Kṛṣṇa is there, that becomes also Kṛṣṇa. This is the idea.

anāsaktasya viṣayān
yathārham upayuñjataḥ
nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe
yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate
[Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.255]

This is the instruction of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.

So just like we, in propagating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we have to deal with money or persons who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, outsider. We have to deal with them. But when we go to outsider or when we deal with money, there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-sambandha. So Rūpa Gosvāmī has distinguished the…

prāpañcikatayā buddhyā
hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ
mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo
phalgu vairāgyaṁ kathyate
[Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.256]

Prāpañcika means material. So prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. Everything has got connection with Kṛṣṇa because ultimately everything is Kṛṣṇa’s energy.

Service to the lord – Is following instructions of Shiksha and Diksha guru. You know what the service to the lord is only through the gurus. You know how to dovetail everything in Krsna’s service only through the guru. 

material energy is Kṛṣṇa’s energy. But when you become covered by this material energy, you do not see Kṛṣṇa. This is the position.

We do not accept that this world is false. Mayavadis say so…
We can say, “It is temporary manifestation.” But it is not false. Why it is false? We are living in this house. If somebody, some rascal, says, “It is false,” why false? We are utilizing this house. We are utilizing this microphone. We are utilizing the Dictaphone. Why it is false? There is sambandha. There is relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Anything material, made of earth, water, fire, air, they are Kṛṣṇa’s energies. Therefore there is direct relationship with Kṛṣṇa. And if Kṛṣṇa is reality, why His energy should be false? No. We must know how to utilize it.

So if we remember that everything is manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s energy, there is no question of materialism. It is all spiritual energy. So nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. So we have to use them for Kṛṣṇa.

They teach in the school how to use everything in their sense gratification. After going years to these schools, they learn how to work like asses and make money for their sense gratification… 

BOTH DESTRUCTION AND CONSTRUCTION ARE KRSNA’S ACTIVITIES

As one side, paritrāṇāya sādhūnām, to give protection to the devotees, the other side is to vanquish all the demons. Just like if you want to grow paddy on the field, so first of all you have to destroy all the unwanted weeds. Then you grow the seeds, it will come out nicely. So these two things are required = destruction and construction. Both the things are Kṛṣṇa’s activities or different energies. So you cannot accept one thing, giving up the other side. We have to understand that both sides, they are working as different manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s energy.

Just like here also, when we do something, we require varieties of energies to make that thing perfect. So everything Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s, this material world or spiritual world, everything is working in order, under different energies

WE SHOULD NOT BE ATTACHED TO THINGS AS THERE, BUT WE SHOULD TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS RELATIONSHIP WITH KṚṢṆA. And as soon as there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa, we shall properly utilize it. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as we understand that there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa, nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe…

Mundane academia – It is all false and misleading education….
Can you use big bang, darwinism, gender neutrality in service of Krsna…? You cannot.

Everything can be utilized for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not a stereotyped, stagnant block. Kṛṣṇa is a dynamic force. Therefore everything can be dovetailed in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Simply one should learn the art under proper guidance how to utilize. Then that will be perfect form of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Question – about decision, we cannot ask all the time to senior devotees. We cannot disturb them…

Answer – That is nonsense. 

Opening the door for being disobedient 

What are absurd inquires  – inquiries nothing to do with devotional service. 

Dont assume anything. 

Caitanya MahaPrabhu said – my guru said I am an idiot.. 

If you don’t know if your question is absurd ask your guru… 

We should never think that we know everything… 

We have to make decisions everyday some of those decisions you don’t know whether right or wrong. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.12

1. The complete functional activities of a pure devotee are always engaged in the service of the Lord, and thus the pure devotees’ exchange feelings of ecstasy between themselves and relish transcendental bliss.
2. This transcendental bliss is experienced even in the stage of devotional practice (sādhana-avasthā) if properly undertaken under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. 
3. Thus bhakti-yoga, being the only means of God realization, is called kaivalya. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī quotes the Vedic version (eko nārāyaṇo devaḥ, parāvarāṇāṁ parama āste kaivalya-saṁjñitaḥ) in this connection and establishes that Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is known as kaivalya, and the means which enables one to approach the Lord is called the kaivalya-panthā, or the only means of attainment of Godhead.
4. This kaivalya-panthā begins from śravaṇa, or hearing those topics that relate to the Personality of Godhead, and the natural consequence of hearing such hari-kathā is attainment of transcendental knowledge, which causes detachment from all mundane topics, for which a devotee has no taste at all.
5. For a devotee, all mundane activities, social and political, become unattractive, and in the mature state such a devotee becomes uninterested even in his own body, and what to speak of bodily relatives. In such a state of affairs one is not agitated by the waves of the material modes. 
6. All mundane functions in which a common man is very much interested or in which he takes part become unattractive for the devotee. This state of affairs is described herein as pratinivṛtta-guṇormi, and it is possible by ātma-prasāda or complete self-satisfaction without any material connection. 
7. The first-class devotee of the Lord attains this stage by devotional service, but despite his loftiness, for the Lord’s satisfaction, he may play the voluntary part of a preacher of the Lord’s glory and dovetail all into devotional service, even mundane interest, just to give the neophytes a chance to transform mundane interest into transcendental bliss.
8. Even mundane activities dovetailed with service to the Lord are also calculated to be transcendental or approved kaivalya affairs according to Srila Rupa Goswami. 
9. According to Patañjali, kaivalyam is an internal, or transcendental, potency by which the living entity becomes aware of his constitutional position.
10. After nirvāṇa, or material cessation, there is the manifestation of spiritual activities, or devotional service to the Lord, known as Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 
11. In the words of the Bhāgavatam, svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ: this is the “real life of the living entity.”  In the words of Patañjali –  kaivalyaṁ svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śaktir iti. This citi-śakti, or transcendental pleasure, is real life. In Vedanta sutra – ānanda-mayo ’bhyāsāt – This natural transcendental pleasure is the ultimate goal of yoga and is easily achieved by the execution of devotional service or bhakti-yoga.
12. The best practice of yoga in this age is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is not baffling. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is so happy in his occupation that he does not aspire after any other happiness.
13. As long as the material body exists, one has to meet the demands of the body, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating. But a person who is in pure bhakti-yoga, or in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, does not arouse the senses while meeting the demands of the body. Rather, he accepts the bare necessities of life, making the best use of a bad bargain, and enjoys transcendental happiness in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 
14. He is callous toward incidental occurrences – such as accidents, disease, scarcity and even the death of a most dear relative – but he is always alert to execute his duties in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or bhakti-yoga. 
15. Accidents never deviate him from his duty. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.14), āgamāpāyino ’nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. He endures all such incidental occurrences because he knows that they come and go and do not affect his duties. In this way he achieves the highest perfection in yoga practice.

There is an acceptance of transcendental pleasure through transcendental senses in the Patañjali system, but the monists do not accept this transcendental pleasure, out of fear of jeopardizing the theory of oneness. 

SB 2.3.12 TRANSLATION: 
Transcendental knowledge in relation with the Supreme Lord Hari is knowledge resulting in the complete suspension of the waves and whirlpools of the material modes. Such knowledge is self-satisfying due to its being free from material attachment, and being transcendental it is approved by authorities. Who could fail to be attracted?

PURE DEVOTEES ALWAYS ENGAGED IN SERVICE OF LORD EXPERIENCE TRANSCENDENTAL BLISS

According to Bhagavad-gītā (10.9) the characteristics of pure devotees are wonderful. The complete functional activities of a pure devotee are always engaged in the service of the Lord, and thus the pure devotees exchange feelings of ecstasy between themselves and relish transcendental bliss.

THIS TRANSCENDENTAL BLISS IS EXPERIENCED EVEN IN THE STAGE OF DEVOTIONAL PRACTICE (SĀDHANA-AVASTHĀ), 

if properly undertaken under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. And in the mature stage the developed transcendental feeling culminates in realization of the particular relationship with the Lord by which a living entity is originally constituted (up to the relationship of conjugal love with the Lord, which is estimated to be the highest transcendental bliss).

A yogi has to 5 states of consciousness – Jagat, Swapna, Susukti, Turiya, Turiya titi, last stage is transcendental bliss. But whereas the devotee is experiencing transcendental bliss right in the first stage itself, sadhana bhakti… it only increases right until the point of realizing the transcendental relationship with the lord to the point of conjugal love. 

BHAKTI YOGA IS THE ONLY MEANS OF GOD REALIZATION AND IS CALLED KAILVALYA-PANTHA

Thus bhakti-yoga, being the only means of God realization, is called kaivalya. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī quotes the Vedic version (eko nārāyaṇo devaḥ, parāvarāṇāṁ parama āste kaivalya-saṁjñitaḥ) in this connection and establishes that Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is known as kaivalya, and the means which enables one to approach the Lord is called the kaivalya-panthā, or the only means of attainment of Godhead.

THIS KAIVALYA-PANTHĀ BEGINS FROM ŚRAVAṆA, WHICH CAUSES DETACHMENT FROM ALL MUNDANE TOPICS

or hearing those topics that relate to the Personality of Godhead, and the natural consequence of hearing such hari-kathā is attainment of transcendental knowledge, which causes detachment from all mundane topics, for which a devotee has no taste at all. For a devotee, all mundane activities, social and political, become unattractive, and in the mature state such a devotee becomes uninterested even in his own body, and what to speak of bodily relatives. In such a state of affairs one is not agitated by the waves of the material modes. 

Don’t be afraid if you lose the attachment to mundane things if you come to the class everyday… 

Not getting agitated by material modes –  is an experience of a yogi in mechanical yoga system,  now it is an experience of the devotee as well. 

ĀTMA-PRASĀDA, OR COMPLETE SELF-SATISFACTION WITHOUT ANY MATERIAL CONNECTION IS ATTAINED

There are different modes of material nature, and all mundane functions in which a common man is very much interested or in which he takes part to become unattractive for the devotee. This state of affairs is described herein as pratinivṛtta-guṇormi, and it is possible by ātma-prasāda, or complete self-satisfaction without any material connection.

Harmonious transcendental stage – 

A FIRST-CLASS DEVOTEE DOVETAILS ALL INTO DEVOTIONAL SERVICE, EVEN MUNDANE INTEREST TO SATISFY THE LORD, HE BECOMES A PREACHER.

The first-class devotee of the Lord attains this stage by devotional service, but despite his loftiness, for the Lord’s satisfaction, he may play the voluntary part of a preacher of the Lord’s glory and dovetail all into devotional service, even mundane interest, just to give the neophytes a chance to transform mundane interest into transcendental bliss.

A person who becomes a preacher experiences this. 

Only detachment and uninvolvement is experienced in – mechanical process, 

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described this action of a pure devotee as nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. Even mundane activities dovetailed with service to the Lord are also calculated to be transcendental or approved kaivalya affairs.

This verse and its purport prove the transcendental experience of KC as opposed to the mechanical process of spiritual elevation that yogis experience. There is no comparison between the two. Even in the beginning stages, one can experience transcendental ecstasy. As one progresses and becomes free from the attachments, the ecstasy keeps increasing. This is an extremely fascinating purport, it shows the extreme perfection a devotee can obtain by rather simply performing devotional service under the tutelage of the bonafide spiritual masters.

Video of Sankirtan party in West Bengal in a Muslim neighborhood and Muslims attacked the devotees. Police came and Devotees attacked the police. Is this the right thing to do. 

Haridas Thakur was doing Sankirtan and he was beaten by the people of the king in 21 marketplaces. He was so much in transcendental ecstasy and did not fight back. The principle is HE DID NOT FIGHT BACK. He was beaten so severely that a normal person would have died. He was puzzled about how he was not suffering. Caitanya Mahaprabhu took all the beating on His back. When Chand Ghazi broke the mridangams they did not fight back. They did a protest with the mridangas. Principle- Do not fight back… 


BG 6.20-23
In the stage of perfection called trance, or samādhi, one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by the practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see the Self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the Self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.

BY PRACTICE OF YOGA ONE BECOMES GRADUALLY DETACHED FROM MATERIAL CONCEPTS.

This is the primary characteristic of the yoga principle. And after this, one becomes situated in trance, or samādhi, which means that the yogī realizes the Supersoul through transcendental mind and intelligence, without any of the misgivings of identifying the self with the Superself. 

UNAUTHORIZED OR MISINTERPRETED PATANJALI VERSION – IDENTIFYING SELF WITH THE SUPER SELF

Yoga practice is more or less based on the principles of the Patañjali system. Some unauthorized commentators try to identify the individual soul with the Supersoul, and the monists think this to be liberation, but they do not understand the real purpose of the Patañjali system of yoga. There is an acceptance of transcendental pleasure in the Patañjali system, but the monists do not accept this transcendental pleasure, out of fear of jeopardizing the theory of oneness. 

The duality of knowledge and knower is not accepted by the nondualist, but in this verse transcendental pleasure – realized through transcendental senses – is accepted. And this is corroborated by Patañjali Muni, the famous exponent of the yoga system. The great sage declares in his Yoga-sūtras (4.33): puruṣārtha-śūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṁ svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śaktir iti.

THIS CITI-ŚAKTI, OR INTERNAL POTENCY, IS TRANSCENDENTAL.

Puruṣārtha means material religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, the attempt to become one with the Supreme. This “oneness with the Supreme” is called kaivalyam by the monist. But according to Patañjali, this kaivalyam is an internal, or transcendental, potency by which the living entity becomes aware of his constitutional position.

LORD CAITANYA
In the words of Lord Caitanya, this state of affairs is called ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, or clearance of the impure mirror of the mind. This “clearance” is actually liberation, or bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. The theory of nirvāṇa – also preliminary – corresponds with this principle. In the Bhāgavatam (2.10.6) this is called svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. The Bhagavad-gītā also confirms this situation in this verse.

AFTER MATERIAL CESSATION THERE IS DEVOTIONAL SERVICE. THIS CITI-ŚAKTI, OR TRANSCENDENTAL PLEASURE, IS REAL LIFE. 
After nirvāṇa, or material cessation, there is the manifestation of spiritual activities, or devotional service to the Lord, known as Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In the words of the Bhāgavatam, svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ: this is the “real life of the living entity.” Māyā, or illusion, is the condition of spiritual life contaminated by material infection. Liberation from this material infection does not mean destruction of the original eternal position of the living entity. Patañjali also accepts this by his words kaivalyaṁ svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śaktir iti. This citi-śakti, or transcendental pleasure, is real life.  (Devotee can experience the bliss right from the beginning. Mayavadis have to go through terrible austerities and most of them do not achieve this) 

This is confirmed in the Vedānta-sūtra (1.1.12) as ānanda-mayo ’bhyāsāt. This natural transcendental pleasure is the ultimate goal of yoga and is easily achieved by the execution of devotional service or bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga will be vividly described in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.

Bhakti yoga needs the lover and beloved. Mayavadis reject and they never experience bliss. Their bliss is negative, an annulment of misery.. 

TWO KINDS OF SAMADHI
In the yoga system, as described in this chapter, there are two kinds of samādhi, called samprajñāta-samādhi and asamprajñāta-samādhi.

 
Samprajñāta-samādhi
When one becomes situated in the transcendental position by various philosophical researches, he is said to have achieved samprajñāta-samādhi.

Asamprajñāta-samādhi
 In the asamprajñāta-samādhi there is no longer any connection with mundane pleasure, for one is then transcendental to all sorts of happiness derived from the senses. When the yogī is once situated in that transcendental position, he is never shaken from it. Unless the yogī is able to reach this position, he is unsuccessful.

TODAY’S SO-CALLED YOGA PRACTICE, WHICH INVOLVES VARIOUS SENSE PLEASURES, IS CONTRADICTORY.

A yogī indulging in sex and intoxication is a mockery. Even those yogīs who are attracted by the siddhis (perfections) in the process of yoga are not perfectly situated. If yogīs are attracted by the by-products of yoga, then they cannot attain the stage of perfection, as is stated in this verse. (by-products are detachment… not getting affected by material modes, they are not the goal)  Persons, therefore, indulging in the make-show practice of gymnastic feats or siddhis should know that the aim of yoga is lost in that way.

THE BEST PRACTICE OF YOGA IN THIS AGE IS KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS, WHICH IS NOT BAFFLING.

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is so happy in his occupation that he does not aspire after any other happiness. There are many impediments, especially in this age of hypocrisy, to practicing haṭha-yoga, dhyāna-yoga and jñāna-yoga, but there is no such problem in executing karma-yoga or bhakti-yoga.

As long as the material body exists, one has to meet the demands of the body, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating. But a person who is in pure bhakti-yoga, or in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, does not arouse the senses while meeting the demands of the body. Rather, he accepts the bare necessities of life, making the best use of a bad bargain, and enjoys transcendental happiness in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He is callous toward incidental occurrences – such as accidents, disease, scarcity and even the death of a most dear relative – but he is always alert to execute his duties in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or bhakti-yoga. Accidents never deviate him from his duty. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.14), āgamāpāyino ’nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. He endures all such incidental occurrences because he knows that they come and go and do not affect his duties. In this way he achieves the highest perfection in yoga practice.


By reading this we can analyze the devotees who fought back, if there was a leader, he should have said, let’s walk back and we can go some other place and some other time. Fighting back is a question, is this the right thing to do? Especially in Sankirtan party. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.11

1. All plans for material enjoyment, either by worshipping demi gods or by modernized advancement of scientific knowledge without the help of God or demigod are illusory.
2. The prime problems of life remain unsolved despite all endeavors by such planmakers.
3. Actually human life is meant for making a solution to the problems of life. 
4. The Vedas recommend worship of different demigods for different benefits, and so the demigods are neither false nor imaginary. The demigods are as factual as we are, but they are much more powerful due to their being engaged in the direct service of the Lord in managing different departments in the universal government.
5. The gross materialists do not believe in the existence of God or the demigods. Nor do they believe that different planets are dominated by different demigods.
6. The Vedic system of acquiring knowledge is the deductive process. The Vedic knowledge is received perfectly by disciplic succession from authorities.
7. The misguided man can believe one authority, the scientist, but will reject the authority of the Vedas. The result is that people have degenerated.
8. Great Authorities likes Brahmaji, Bhishmadev and even Adi Sahnkaracharya have spoken Krsna as the original Personality of Godhead and the first Narayana, who is beyond the material creation.
9. All other ācāryas have also confirmed this statement, and thus there is no chance of not accepting Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the original Personality of Godhead.
10. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original source of all the plenary expansions. He is therefore the direct Personality of Godhead. He is the creator of the material world, and He is the predominating Deity known as Nārāyaṇa in all the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Therefore, His movements amongst human beings are another sort of bewilderment. 
11. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā that foolish persons consider Him to be one of the human beings without knowing the intricacies of His movements.
12. The bewilderment regarding Śrī Kṛṣṇa is due to the action of His twofold internal and external energies upon the third one, called marginal energy
13. By internal energetic bewilderment, Śrī Kṛṣṇa expands Himself into unlimited numbers of Nārāyaṇas and exchanges or accepts transcendental loving service from the living entities in the transcendental world. 
14. And by His external energetic expansions, He incarnates Himself in the material world amongst the men, animals or demigods to reestablish His forgotten relation with the living entities in different species of life. 
15. Great authorities like Bhīṣma, however, escape His bewilderment by the mercy of the Lord.
16. Even though we know all this knowledge, we still get desires. We cannot stop desires from coming, but we should stop from Acting on them. The strength to stop from acting on them comes from regular hearing and chanting. BG 2.70 – A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

SB 2.3.11 TRANSLATION: 
All the different kinds of worshipers of multi demigods can attain the highest perfectional benediction, which is spontaneous attraction unflinchingly fixed upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by the association of the pure devotee of the Lord.

CLASS NOTES:

SB 2.3.11

ALL LIVING ENTITIES IN DIFFERENT STATUSES OF LIFE WITHIN THE MATERIAL CREATION,ARE CONDITIONED UNDER THE LAW OF MATERIAL NATURE, OR THE EXTERNAL ENERGY OF THE SUPREME LORD. 

All living entities in different statuses of life within the material creation, beginning from the first demigod, Brahmā, down to the small ant, are conditioned under the law of material nature, or the external energy of the Supreme Lord. 

The living entity in his pure state is conscious of the fact that he is a part and parcel of the Lord, but when he is thrown into the material world on account of his desire to lord it over material energy, he becomes conditioned by the three modes of material nature and thus struggles for existence for the highest benefit. This struggle for existence is something like following the will-o’-the-wisp under the spell of material enjoyment. 

ALL PLANS FOR MATERIAL ENJOYMENT, ARE ILLUSORY

All plans for material enjoyment, either by worship of different demigods as described in the previous verses of this chapter or by modernized advancement of scientific knowledge without the help of God or demigod, are illusory

PROBLEMS OF LIFE ARE NEVER SOLVED BY THESE PLANS

Despite all such plans for happiness, the conditioned living being within the compass of material creation can never solve the problems of life, namely birth, death, old age and disease. The history of the universe is full of such planmakers, and many kings and emperors come and go, leaving a plan making story only. But the prime problems of life remain unsolved despite all endeavors by such planmakers.

The tendency to dominate the material nature and the laws –

We cannot stay in spiritual world
We have to have a material body different than soul
That body is conditioned, and is subject to 3 modes of material nature. And has to abide by the laws of nature. Birth, growth, reproduce, dwindle, die…

Conditioned – means we are limited, the body is completely controlled by material nature which is an agent. The controlling factors are 3 modes of material nature. They are all in illusion. Illusion I am this body there is only one life, they are all planted due to the rejection of Krsna. Once they get the body they struggle for existence. This is artificial struggle.  It is like you commit a crime and go to jail and struggle in jail. If you are not in the jail then there is no struggle, the so-called struggle is artificially induced.

Will o’the wisp – hope or goal that is impossible to reach.
I can be happy in this world without the mention of the God.

One has to believe something false to continue to material life.
Problems of life – birth, death, old age and disease

ACTUALLY HUMAN LIFE IS MEANT FOR MAKING A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE. 

One can never solve such problems by satisfying the different demigods, by different modes of worship, or by so-called scientific advancement in knowledge without the help of God or the demigods. Apart from the gross materialists, who care very little either for God or for the demigods, the Vedas recommend worship of different demigods for different benefits, and so the demigods are neither false nor imaginary.

Demigods can help to get the mercy of Krsna. If you worship Demi Gods for sense gratification you will get it and you continue in the cycle.  The entanglement is there only because we chose material enjoyment out of ignorance.

THE DEMIGODS ARE AS FACTUAL AS WE ARE, 

The demigods are as factual as we are, but they are much more powerful due to their being engaged in the direct service of the Lord in managing different departments in the universal government. The Bhagavad-gītā affirms this, and the different planets of the demigods are mentioned there, including the one of the supreme demigod, Lord Brahmā.

Demi Gods are devotees with mixed desires. Demi Gods always turn to Krsna in the severe conditions. Demons never turn to Krsna. Hiranyakasipu, Hiranyaksha, Ravana, Danta Vakra – they never turn to Krsna. 

THE GROSS MATERIALISTS DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD OR THE DEMIGODS.

Nor do they believe that different planets are dominated by different demigods. They are creating a great commotion about reaching the closest celestial body, Candraloka, or the moon, but even after much mechanical research they have only very scanty information of this moon, and in spite of much false advertisement for selling land on the moon, the puffed-up scientists or gross materialists cannot live there, and what to speak of reaching the other planets, which they are unable even to count.

In 1968 -69 real estate agents were selling land on moon. There are innumerable planets in the material universe and there are innumerable universes. That company still exists and is selling land of moon an acre for $30. Close to 200000 people bought the land. 

However, the followers of the Vedas have a different method of acquiring knowledge. 

This different method is explained in SB 1.9.18. 

(SB 1.9.18) DEDUCTIVE PROCESS OF KNOWLEDGE
This Śrī Kṛṣṇa is no other than the inconceivable, original Personality of Godhead. He is the first Nārāyaṇa, the supreme enjoyer. But He is moving amongst the descendants of King Vṛṣṇi just like one of us, and He is bewildering us with His self-created energy.

The Vedic system of acquiring knowledge is the deductive process. The Vedic knowledge is received perfectly by disciplic succession from authorities. Such knowledge is never dogmatic, as ill conceived by less intelligent persons.

In the Bhagavad-gītā this truth is confirmed in the second verse of the Fourth Chapter, and the perfect system of learning is to receive it from authority. The very same system is accepted universally as truth, but only the false arguer speaks against it. 

PEOPLE BELIEVE THE SCIENTISTS AS AUTHORITY AND NOT THE VEDAS

For example, modern spacecraft fly in the sky, and when scientists say that they travel to the other side of the moon, men believe these stories blindly because they have accepted the modern scientists as authorities. The authorities speak, and the people in general believe them. But in the case of Vedic truths, they have been taught not to believe. Even if they accept them they give a different interpretation. Each and every man wants a direct perception of Vedic knowledge, but foolishly they deny it. This means that the misguided man can believe one authority, the scientist, but will reject the authority of the Vedas. The result is that people have degenerated.

Knowledge begins only when you believe in an authority. Real Knowledge is realizing the relationship with Krsna and serving Him.


AUTHORITIES SPEAKING ABOUT KRSNA AS THE ORIGINAL PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD AND THE FIRST NARAYANA
Here is an authority speaking about Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the original Personality of Godhead and the first Nārāyaṇa. Even such an impersonalist as Ācārya Śaṅkara has said in the beginning of his commentation on the Bhagavad-gītā that Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is beyond the material creation.* The universe is one of the material creations, but Nārāyaṇa is transcendental to such material paraphernalia.

Bhīṣmadeva is one of the twelve mahājanas who know the principles of transcendental knowledge. His confirmation of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s being the original Personality of Godhead is also corroborated by the impersonalist Śaṅkara. All other ācāryas have also confirmed this statement, and thus there is no chance of not accepting Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the original Personality of Godhead. Bhīṣmadeva says that He is the first Nārāyaṇa. This is also confirmed by Brahmājī in the Bhāgavatam (10.14.14). Kṛṣṇa is the first Nārāyaṇa. In the spiritual world (Vaikuṇṭha) there are unlimited numbers of Nārāyaṇas, who are all the same Personality of Godhead and are considered to be the plenary expansions of the original Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The first form of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, first expands Himself as the form of Baladeva, and Baladeva expands in so many other forms, such as Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Vāsudeva, Nārāyaṇa, Puruṣa, Rāma and Nṛsiṁha. All these expansions are one and the same viṣṇu-tattva, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original source of all the plenary expansions. He is therefore the direct Personality of Godhead. He is the creator of the material world, and He is the predominating Deity known as Nārāyaṇa in all the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Therefore, His movements amongst human beings are another sort of bewilderment. The Lord therefore says in the Bhagavad-gītā that foolish persons consider Him to be one of the human beings without knowing the intricacies of His movements.

There is no way we can understand what is going in goloka, krishna’s past times because they are transcendental, we cannot understand…but how do we understand is said in this para….


THE BEWILDERMENT REGARDING ŚRĪ KṚṢṆA 

is due to the action of His twofold internal and external energies upon the third one, called marginal energy. The living entities are expansions of His marginal energy, and thus they are sometimes bewildered by the internal energy and sometimes by the external energy. By internal energetic bewilderment, Śrī Kṛṣṇa expands Himself into unlimited numbers of Nārāyaṇas and exchanges or accepts transcendental loving service from the living entities in the transcendental world. And by His external energetic expansions, He incarnates Himself in the material world amongst the men, animals or demigods to reestablish His forgotten relation with the living entities in different species of life. Great authorities like Bhīṣma, however, escape His bewilderment by the mercy of the Lord.

If we become serious about serving krishna we can become free from the bewilderment and  by His mercy we can understand Krsna. 

SB 2.3.11 – This is a very good summary of the things we studied in previous verses. Prabhupada is stating facts. Everyone from Brahma to smallest microbe are conditioned under law of material nature. Law of material nature – No one can violate – birth, death old age and disease. There is a law maker. No one can ignore this law. These jokers say old age and death is optional, they are crazy, they do not know what they are talking about. They think that they are the controllers.

BG 8.16 

From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.

Question – Even though we know this knowledge, we still keep getting the desires. though we may not ACT. 

Just like rivers are going into ocean desires are always coming to mind. The key is to NOT TO ACT on them. Desires cannot be stopped. How to get the strength to NOT TO ACT on them is to hear everyday. So you can recognize maya is acting on you, so you do not fall victim to maya.  to the will of the wisp. Pursuing goals which are not achievable. 

BG 2.70

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ

samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat

tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve

sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

Sthane sthiti gata – constant hearing – you learn,,, why is Srila Prabhupada repeating over and over again, we fell down due to the tendency to dominate. It is hard to give up. Hence he is continuously reminding us of our original constitutional position, hence we need to hear. Regular hearing and chanting, will help us not to ACT ON THE DESIRES. 

Question – Do the pure devotees also get the desires?

In CC it is stated that Caitanya Mahaprabhu said even the sight of a statue of a women can agitate. …. Desires may come but one must learn to not to act on them.  One has to keep in mind their vows.  Why Violate – my vow? Why Violate my relationship with guru and krishna. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.10

1. Desireless means not to be inert like the stone, but to be conscious of one’s actual position and thus desire satisfaction only from the Supreme Lord. 
2. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this desirelessness as bhajanīya-parama-puruṣa-sukha-mātra-sva-sukhatvam in his Sandarbha. This means that one should feel happy only by experiencing the happiness of the Supreme Lord.
3. A pure living entity feels happiness by the happiness of the Supreme Lord. 
4. This intuition of the living being is sometimes manifested even during the conditioned stage of a living being in the material world, and such intuition is expressed in the manner of altruism, philanthropy, socialism, communism, etc., by the undeveloped minds of less intelligent persons. 
5. The gopīs loved the Lord without any return, and this is the perfect exhibition of the akāmaḥ spirit. Kāma spirit, or the desire for one’s own satisfaction, is fully exhibited in the material world, whereas the spirit of akāmaḥ is fully exhibited in the spiritual world.
6. Thoughts of becoming one with the Lord, or being merged in the brahmajyoti, can also be exhibitions of kāma spirit if they are desires for one’s own satisfaction to be free from the material miseries
7. A pure devotee does not want liberation so that he may be relieved from the miseries of life. Even without so-called liberation, a pure devotee is an aspirant for the satisfaction of the Lord.
8. Becoming akāma is the perfect stage of a perfect living being.
9. Udāra-dhīḥ means one who has a broader outlook. People with desires for material enjoyment worship small demigods, and such intelligence is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.20) as hṛta-jñāna, the intelligence of one who has lost his senses.
10. One cannot obtain any result from demigods without getting sanction from the Supreme Lord. Therefore a person with a broader outlook can see that the ultimate authority is the Lord, even for material benefits.
11. One with a broader outlook, even with the desire for material enjoyment or for liberation, should take to the worship of the Lord directly. One who desires to merge into the supreme impersonal brahma jyoti must also worship the Lord by bhakti-yoga, as recommended in this verse.
12. And everyone, whether an akāma or sakāma or mokṣa-kāma, should worship the Lord with great expedience.
13. Bhakti-yoga is the means of all perfection. Bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of both karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga, it is the ultimate goal of the different varieties of worship of the different demigods and it is the supreme means of self-realization. 
14. Everyone must therefore seriously take up the methods of bhakti-yoga, even though one aspires for material enjoyment or liberation from material bondage.Therefore, unmixed bhakti-yoga of hearing, chanting, etc., may be performed by one and all regardless of inner motive.

SB 2.3.10 TRANSLATION: 

A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must, by all means, worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.

CLASS NOTES: 

one who desires to merge into the supreme impersonal brahmajyoti must also worship the Lord by bhakti-yoga

The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as puruṣottama, or the Supreme Personality. It is He only who can award liberation to the impersonalists by absorbing such aspirants in the brahmajyoti, the bodily rays of the Lord. The brahmajyoti is not separate from the Lord, as the glowing sun ray is not independent of the sun disc. Therefore one who desires to merge into the supreme impersonal brahmajyoti must also worship the Lord by bhakti-yoga, as recommended here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. 

Bhakti-yoga is the means of all perfection. 

In the previous chapters, it has been stated that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of both karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga, and in the same way in this chapter, it is emphatically declared that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of the different varieties of worship of the different demigods. Bhakti-yoga, thus being the supreme means of self-realization, is recommended here. Everyone must therefore seriously take up the methods of bhakti-yoga, even though one aspires for material enjoyment or liberation from material bondage.

DEFINITION OF DESIRELESS
Akāmaḥ is one who has no material desire. A living being, naturally being the part and parcel of the supreme whole puruṣaṁ pūrṇam, has as his natural function to serve the Supreme Being, just as the parts and parcels of the body, or the limbs of the body, are naturally meant to serve the complete body. Desireless means, therefore, not to be inert like the stone, but to be conscious of one’s actual position and thus desire satisfaction only from the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this desirelessness as bhajanīya-parama-puruṣa-sukha-mātra-sva-sukhatvam in his Sandarbha. This means that one should feel happy only by experiencing the happiness of the Supreme Lord.

This intuition of the living being is sometimes manifested even during the conditioned stage of a living being in the material world, and such intuition is expressed in the manner of altruism, philanthropy, socialism, communism, etc., by the undeveloped minds of less intelligent persons. 

In the mundane field such an outlook of doing good to others in the form of society, community, family, country or humanity is a partial manifestation of the same original feeling in which a pure living entity feels happiness by the happiness of the Supreme Lord. 

Intuition – is a dictation from the super soul.
Dictionary meaning – Ability to understand something immediately without the need for conscious reasoning.
Life should be full of good deeds, life should be equal.
When you join a communist group, no one is better than anyone else everyone is the same.
Less intelligent persons – Bill Gates, philanthropists, there is still kama involved.

In the mundane field such an outlook of doing good to others in the form of society, community, family, country or humanity is a partial manifestation of the same original feeling in which a pure living entity feels happiness by the happiness of the Supreme Lord. 

People feel happiness by the happiness of the family, society, boss….. That is how intuition works.

akāmaḥ spirit 

Such superb feelings were exhibited by the damsels of Vrajabhūmi for the happiness of the Lord. The gopīs loved the Lord without any return, and this is the perfect exhibition of the akāmaḥ spirit. Kāma spirit, or the desire for one’s own satisfaction, is fully exhibited in the material world, whereas the spirit of akāmaḥ is fully exhibited in the spiritual world.

Question in early days of ISKCON- Should the devotees receive a salary and a medical aid from the temple? This was a difficult thing to answer. In the spiritual world gopis are serving without seeking any benefit. Anyone living in the temple must live simple life. They must be given minimal maintenance. Minimalist living was kept in place. Leaders were getting rolex watches, nice clothes, … this tension is there as soon as one wants to evolve materially. At the beginning everyone was living very very minimally. Prabhupada was keeping it as simple as possible. After he left everything went slippery slope.

kāma spirit 

Thoughts of becoming one with the Lord, or being merged in the brahmajyoti, can also be exhibitions of kāma spirit if they are desires for one’s own satisfaction to be free from the material miseries. A pure devotee does not want liberation so that he may be relieved from the miseries of life. Even without so-called liberation, a pure devotee is aspirant for the satisfaction of the Lord. 

Influenced by the kāma spirit, Arjuna declined to fight in the Kurukṣetra battlefield because he wanted to save his relatives for his own satisfaction. But being a pure devotee, he agreed to fight on the instruction of the Lord because he came to his senses and realized that satisfaction of the Lord at the cost of his own satisfaction was his prime duty. Thus he became akāma. That is the perfect stage of a perfect living being.

Kripana – Selfish person who is interested in his own sense gratification
Pure Devotee – dedicates whole life to help others become devotees..
Jayananda pr – He had leukemia- he did not stop his service. He inherited 70k after parents died and gave it to Prabhupada. He was an example of minimalist living. He did not accept any position of authority. Everyone respected him and loved him.

BROADER OUTLOOK
Udāra-dhīḥ means one who has a broader outlook. People with desires for material enjoyment worship small demigods, and such intelligence is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.20) as hṛta-jñāna, the intelligence of one who has lost his senses.

This is the mentality of a local grocer. Very very limited consciousness. Working like an ass and eat, meat, sleep and defend.

One cannot obtain any result from demigods without getting sanction from the Supreme Lord. Therefore a person with a broader outlook can see that the ultimate authority is the Lord, even for material benefits.

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ

Under the circumstances, one with a broader outlook, even with the desire for material enjoyment or for liberation, should take to the worship of the Lord directly. And everyone, whether an akāma or sakāma or mokṣa-kāma, should worship the Lord with great expedience.

Expedience – Suitable.
Whether someone has all material desires, no material desires, want to merge to brahma jyothi, They can still function in Krsna Consciousness.  As long as you take advice from Siksha and diksha gurus can slowly get purified. When people come here first they are not pure, they are coming with mixed desires.

This implies that bhakti-yoga may be perfectly administered without any mixture of karma and jñāna. As the unmixed sun ray is very forceful and is therefore called tīvra, similarly unmixed bhakti-yoga of hearing, chanting, etc., may be performed by one and all regardless of inner motive.


There are many profound points made in this purport by Srila Prabhupada. What is very interesting in the verse is the meaning of Desirelessness by Srila Jiva goswami.
Niskama – no material desire
Naiskama – Desiring to please Krsna
Akama – no desire
Material world – Kamah – desires for one’s own satisfaction
Spiritual world – akamah – no satisfaction for themselves.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.9

1. Those who are conditioned by the material modes of external energy are captivated by different types of material enjoyment.
2. The Lord has proclaimed that the materialists, who desire material enjoyment and who seek the favor of different demigods, are not in control of their senses and so give themselves to nonsense.
3. The leaders of nonsensical persons are more nonsensical because they preach openly and foolishly that one can worship any form of demigod and get the same result. This sort of preaching is not only against the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā, or those of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but is also foolish, just as it is foolish to claim that with the purchase of any travel ticket one may reach the same destination.
4. Persons impregnated with different desires have different modes of worship, but one who has no desire for material enjoyment should worship the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. And this worshiping process is called devotional service. 
5. Pure devotional service means service to the Lord without any tinge of material desires, including the desire for fruitive activity and empiric speculation. 
6. For fulfillment of material desires, one may worship the Supreme Lord, but the result of such worship is different. Generally, the Lord does not fulfill anyone’s material desires for sense enjoyment, but He awards such benedictions to worshipers of the Lord, for they ultimately come to the point of not desiring material enjoyment. 
7. The conclusion is that one must minimize the desires for material enjoyment and for this one should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is described here as param, or beyond anything material. 
8. Whenever a devotee is in distress or has fallen into difficulty, he thinks that it is the Lord’s mercy upon him. He thinks, “Thanks to my past misdeeds I should suffer far, far greater than I am suffering now. So it is by the mercy of the Supreme Lord that I am not getting all the punishment I am due. I am just getting a little, by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”  
9. In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress.
10. One has to follow the prescribed rules and regulations of religious principles in order to rise up to the platform of knowledge, because by knowledge and devotion only can one liberate himself from the clutches of māyā (illusion).
11. One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men and animals. When one knows these, he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge.
12. By its so-called advancement of knowledge, human civilization has created many material things, including spaceships and atomic energy. Yet it has failed to create a situation in which people need not die, take birth again, become old or suffer from disease. 
13. In material nature, everyone is under the stringent laws of matter and must pass through six stages of existence: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, deterioration and finally death. No one can be beyond these six laws of transformation; therefore no one – whether demigod, man, animal or plant – can survive forever in the material world.
14. According to these laws, even the Brahmās, of which there are millions in different universes, are all liable to death either today or tomorrow. Therefore the entire material universe is called Martyaloka, the place of death.

SB 2.3.9 TRANSLATION: 

One who desires domination over a kingdom or an empire should worship the Manus. One who desires victory over an enemy should worship the demons, and one who desires sense gratification should worship the moon. But one who desires nothing of material enjoyment should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead

READ MORE: 

CLASS NOTES: 

THOSE WHO ARE CONDITIONED BY THE MATERIAL MODES OF EXTERNAL ENERGY ARE CAPTIVATED BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF MATERIAL ENJOYMENT. 

The transcendentalist has no material desires to be fulfilled, whereas the materialist has all types of desires to be fulfilled. The Lord has proclaimed that the materialists, who desire material enjoyment and thus seek the favor of different demigods, as above mentioned, are not in control of their senses and so give themselves to nonsense. One should not desire any sort of material enjoyment, being sensible enough to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead

THE LEADERS OF NONSENSICAL PERSONS PREACH THE WORSHIP OF ANY DEMIGOD FOR THE SAME RESULT – WHICH IS LIKE ANY TRAVEL TICKET MAY TAKE YOU TO THE SAME DESTINATION

The leaders of nonsensical persons are still more nonsensical because they preach openly and foolishly that one can worship any form of demigod and get the same result. This sort of preaching is not only against the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā, or those of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but is also foolish, just as it is foolish to claim that with the purchase of any travel ticket one may reach the same destination

WORSHIPPING KRSNA IS CALLED DEVOTIONAL SERVICE

persons impregnated with different desires have different modes of worship, but one who has no desire for material enjoyment should worship the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. And this worshiping process is called devotional service. Pure devotional service means service to the Lord without any tinge of material desires, including desire for fruitive activity and empiric speculation. 

WORSHIPPING LORD KRSNA FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF MATERIAL DESIRES 

For fulfillment of material desires one may worship the Supreme Lord, but the result of such worship is different, as will be explained in the next verse. Generally the Lord does not fulfill anyone’s material desires for sense enjoyment, but He awards such benedictions to worshipers of the Lord, for they ultimately come to the point of not desiring material enjoyment. 

The conclusion is that one must minimize the desires for material enjoyment, and for this one should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is described here as param, or beyond anything material. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has also stated, nārāyaṇaḥ paro ’vyaktāt: the Supreme Lord is beyond the material encirclement.

This is very hard to understand by a gross materialist. Why? Because they have been convinced, belief in God is a fantasy, the spiritual world does not exist, there is only matter, in this material world prime thing is sustained sense gratification whether you do it as a  hippie, capitalist, nationalist, ISIS they in the name of fanatic animals, wars, buy women exploit them. All wars are wars of sense gratification. Except for the battle of Kurukshetra, where Lord Krsna ordained Arjuna to fight without any personal motive to establish dharma. Most of the wars are for sense gratifications.  This is explained in the 12th chapter – 

(BG 12-13-14)TRANSCENDENTAL QUALIFICATIONS OF A PURE DEVOTEE – BETTER TO SUFFER THAN PROTEST

adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ
maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ
sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣamī
santuṣṭaḥ satataṁ yogī
yatātmā dṛḍha-niścayaḥ
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ

One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me – such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.

Prahlad maharaj, Dhruv maharaj, Ambareesh maharaj, Dhruva Maharaj, Draupadi, they all suffered but did not protest. They went back to godhead, There is a long list of devotees who did this.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.8) it is stated: tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam. Whenever a devotee is in distress or has fallen into difficulty, he thinks that it is the Lord’s mercy upon him. He thinks, “Thanks to my past misdeeds I should suffer far, far greater than I am suffering now. So it is by the mercy of the Supreme Lord that I am not getting all the punishment I am due. I am just getting a little, by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”  

This is extremely important lesson for us to learn. In US there is protest all over the place, that means they are not going back to Godhead.  It is better to suffer than protest, Does it mean that you are a coward if you do not protest. No, that means you are courageous and you know that this body is temporary, they know through sastra chakshu, “Matra sparsas tu kaunteya… “We always know things through Sastra. Sastra cakshu. Not through one’s false ego. 

(BG 2.14) ONE HAS TO LEARN TO TOLERATE NONPERMANENT APPEARANCES AND DISAPPEARANCES OF HAPPINESS AND DISTRESS.

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

This is the real knowledge, You completely depend on the mercy of Krsna. Let’s say someone insults you, cheats you, lies to you, this rule to be practiced – better to suffer than protest, If someone cheats or insults SP, devotees, you need to help them, you try to help them by commiserating with them, try to explain sastra to them… One must tolerate them without being disturbed. Suffering does not mean you are destitute. Suffering means that you can completely depend on Krsna and take the shelter of the holy name. Nothing lasts forever in this material world. These disturbances  cannot last forever, you will come out stronger spiritually.

In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. According to Vedic injunction, one has to take his bath early in the morning even during the month of Māgha (January-February). It is very cold at that time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath. Similarly, a woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen in the months of May and June, the hottest part of the summer season. One has to execute his duty in spite of climatic inconveniences. Similarly, to fight is the religious principle of the kṣatriyas, and although one has to fight with some friend or relative, one should not deviate from his prescribed duty. One has to follow the prescribed rules and regulations of religious principles in order to rise up to the platform of knowledge, because by knowledge and devotion only can one liberate himself from the clutches of māyā (illusion).

What happens when we accept this real knowledge, it is explained in IOS mantra 14, extremely profound verse and purport, explained by Srila Prabhupada. 

(ISO -14 ) ONE SHOULD KNOW PERFECTLY THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD ŚRĪ KṚṢṆA
sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca
yas tad vedobhayaḿ saha
vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā
sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute

One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men and animals. When one knows these, he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge.

This is the same meaning as BG 4.9. There is more detail in ISO mantra – 14. 

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.

By its so-called advancement of knowledge, human civilization has created many material things, including spaceships and atomic energy. Yet it has failed to create a situation in which people need not die, take birth again, become old or suffer from disease. Whenever an intelligent man raises the question of these miseries before a so-called scientist, the scientist very cleverly replies that material science is progressing and that ultimately it will be possible to render man deathless, ageless and diseaseless. Such answers prove the scientists’ gross ignorance of material nature. In material nature, everyone is under the stringent laws of matter and must pass through six stages of existence: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, deterioration and finally death. No one in contact with material nature can be beyond these six laws of transformation; therefore no one – whether demigod, man, animal or plant – can survive forever in the material world.

Ray Kurzweil should know this and all the other pseudo scientists who are giving hope to the hopeless. – Ray is saying that they can stop aging and death. They die before they find the panaecea of death.

The duration of life varies according to species. Lord Brahmā, the chief living being within this material universe, lives for millions and millions of years, while a minute germ lives for some hours only. But no one in the material world can survive eternally. Things are born or created under certain conditions, they stay for some time, and, if they continue to live, they grow, procreate, gradually dwindle and finally vanish. According to these laws, even the Brahmās, of which there are millions in different universes, are all liable to death either today or tomorrow. Therefore the entire material universe is called Martyaloka, the place of death.

Ray is saying that they are going to make deathless. This has been going on for ages. Ponce de León – searched for fountain of youth. He went from Italy to Florida looking for it.  There is no question of being immortal in this material world. They are chasing after something which is impossible and wasting their lives. If we believe in Krsna the absolute truth, we will not waste out time in chasing after illusory windmills. In histroy Don Quixote from a distance thought windmills as enemiies and would charge them. Chasing after phantoms of once imagination.  All these phonies are promising something which is impossible and against the lasw of nature. No one can overcome material nature and the laws. Daivehesa guna mayi mama maya duratyya…. 

Bezos spent 500 million dollars on a yacht. How much time will they spend in the boat. He wants to go to an island and be safe when there is revolt. They want to escape in the yacht, when there is a revolt in the US. Look at what a devotee can do with that money… Devotee does not become anxious. These people are like, go to lion, open mouth, stick the head into the mouth of a devotee. 

We should use our intelligence and our spare time to learn about Krsna, the more you learn about Krsna the more you come out of the cycle of birth and death.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.8

1. One who wants to establish a good dynasty and be happy in the progress of temporary bodily relations should take shelter of the demigods in other pious planets
2. But, the problems of birth, death, old age, and disease are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science.
3. One should worship Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee for spiritual advancement in knowledge.
4. As far as vidyā is concerned, the first mantra of ISO has explained very clearly that the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of everything and that forgetfulness of this fact is ignorance. 
5. The more a man forgets this fact of life, the more he is in darkness. Those who simply engage in the profitless pursuit of sense gratification are worshiping avidyā, according to Śrī Īśopaniṣad.
6. The purpose of all Vedic literature is to awaken this God-consciousness in the forgetful living being. Out of many standard and authoritative revealed scriptures, the Bhagavad-gītā is the best. 
7. The aim of real education should be self-realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul. Any education which does not lead to such realization must be considered avidyā, or nescience. And to culture such nescience means to go down to the darkest region of ignorance.
8. The veda-vāda-rata men, pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately, they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas and misguide others. They give their own explanations of the Vedas, neglecting the authority of great teachers (ācāryas). 
9. Thus they progress into the darkest region of ignorance by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. They fall even further into ignorance than those who have no knowledge of the Vedas at all.
10. One should follow the principles of revealed scriptures with faith and thereby be raised to the platform of knowledge. 
11. Only this knowledge will help one become promoted to the transcendental platform of spiritual understanding. The doubtful persons have no status whatsoever in spiritual emancipation. 
12. One should follow in the footsteps of great ācāryas who are in the disciplic succession and thereby attain success.

SB 2.3.8  TRANSLATION:

One should worship Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee for spiritual advancement in knowledge, and for protection of heredity and advancement of a dynasty one should worship the various demigods.

CLASS NOTES: 

The path of religion entails making progress on the path of spiritual advancement, ultimately reviving the eternal relation with Lord Viṣṇu in His impersonal effulgence, His localized Paramātmā feature, and ultimately His personal feature by spiritual advancement in knowledge. And one who wants to establish a good dynasty and be happy in the progress of temporary bodily relations should take shelter of the Pitās and the demigods in other pious planets. Such different classes of worshipers of different demigods may ultimately reach the respective planets of those demigods within the universe, but he who reaches the spiritual planets in the brahmajyoti achieves the highest perfection.

This is a very interesting verse. It evokes the theme from the previous verse – “But these problems are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science.  Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that out of the 8,400,000 species of living entities, the human form of life is rare and valuable, and out of those rare human beings those who are conscious of the material problems are rarer still, and the still more rare persons are those who are conscious of the value of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which contains the messages of the Lord and His pure devotees”

This is further explained in ISO 9

ISO 9 

“Those who are engaged in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the so-called culture of knowledge.”

This mantra offers a comparative study of vidyā and avidyā. Avidyā, or ignorance, is undoubtedly dangerous, but vidyā, or knowledge, is even more dangerous when mistaken or misguided. This mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad is more applicable today than at any time in the past. Modern civilization has advanced considerably in the field of mass education, but the result is that people are more unhappy than ever before because of the stress placed on material advancement to the exclusion of the most important part of life, the spiritual aspect.

As far as vidyā is concerned, the first mantra has explained very clearly that the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of everything and that forgetfulness of this fact is ignorance. The more a man forgets this fact of life, the more he is in darkness. In view of this, a godless civilization directed toward the so-called advancement of education is more dangerous than a civilization in which the masses of people are less “educated.”

Of the different classes of men – karmīs, jñānīs and yogīs – the karmīs are those who are engaged in the activities of sense gratification. In the modern civilization, 99.9 percent of the people are engaged in the activities of sense gratification under the flags of industrialism, economic development, altruism, political activism, and so on. All these activities are more or less based on satisfaction of the senses, to the exclusion of the kind of God consciousness described in the first mantra.

In the language of the Bhagavad-gītā (7.15), people who are engaged in gross sense gratification are mūḍhas – asses. The ass is a symbol of stupidity. Those who simply engage in the profitless pursuit of sense gratification are worshiping avidyā, according to Śrī Īśopaniṣad. And those who play the role of helping this sort of civilization in the name of educational advancement are actually doing more harm than those who are on the platform of gross sense gratification. The advancement of learning by a godless people is as dangerous as a valuable jewel on the hood of a cobra. A cobra decorated with a valuable jewel is more dangerous than one not decorated. In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (3.11.12), the advancement of education by a godless people is compared to decorations on a dead body. In India, as in many other countries, some people follow the custom of leading a procession with a decorated dead body for the pleasure of the lamenting relatives. In the same way, modern civilization is a patchwork of activities meant to cover the perpetual miseries of material existence. All such activities are aimed toward sense gratification. But above the senses is the mind, and above the mind is the intelligence, and above the intelligence is the soul. Thus the aim of real education should be self-realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul. Any education which does not lead to such realization must be considered avidyā, or nescience. And to culture such nescience means to go down to the darkest region of ignorance.

THE PURPOSE OF ALL VEDAS

As stated in Mantra One, we should know that the Personality of Godhead is the proprietor of everything and that we must be satisfied with our allotted portions of the necessities of life. The purpose of all Vedic literature is to awaken this God consciousness in the forgetful living being, and this same purpose is presented in various ways in the different scriptures of the world for the understanding of a foolish mankind. Thus the ultimate purpose of all religions is to bring one back to Godhead

.

VEDA VADA RATAS – 

According to the Bhagavad-gītā (2.42, 7.15), mistaken mundane educators are known as veda-vāda-rata and māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. They may also be atheistic demons, the lowest of men. Veda-vāda-ratas are especially condemned in this mantra by the very appropriate Sanskrit words vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ. Vidyāyām refers to the study of the Vedas because the Vedas are the origin of all knowledge (vidyā), and ratāḥ means “those engaged.” Vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ thus means “those engaged in the study of the Vedas.”

1. These veda-vāda-rata men are not at all interested in the Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, they are fascinated by such fruitive results as the attainment of heaven.
2. They pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas.
3. They, instead of realizing that the purpose of the Vedas is to revive the forgetful soul’s lost relationship with the Personality of Godhead, take it for granted that such side issues as the attainment of heavenly pleasure for sense gratification – the lust for which causes their material bondage in the first place – are the ultimate end of the Vedas. 
4. Such people misguide others by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. 
5. Sometimes they even condemn the Purāṇas, which are authentic Vedic explanations for laymen. 
6. The veda-vāda-ratas give their own explanations of the Vedas, neglecting the authority of great teachers (ācāryas). 
7. They also tend to raise some unscrupulous person from among themselves and present him as the leading exponent of Vedic knowledge.
8. The so-called students of the Vedas are condemned herein because they are ignorant of the actual purpose of the Vedas on account of their disobeying the ācāryas. 
9. Such veda-vāda-ratas search out meanings in every word of the Vedas to suit their own purposes. 
10. They do not know that the Vedic literature is a collection of extraordinary books that can be understood only through the chain of disciplic succession.

1. These veda-vāda-rata men are not at all interested in the Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, they are fascinated by such fruitive results as the attainment of heaven.
2. They pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas.
3. They, instead of realizing that the purpose of the Vedas is to revive the forgetful soul’s lost relationship with the Personality of Godhead, take it for granted that such side issues as the attainment of heavenly pleasure for sense gratification – the lust for which causes their material bondage in the first place – are the ultimate end of the Vedas. 
4. Such people misguide others by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. 
5. Sometimes they even condemn the Purāṇas, which are authentic Vedic explanations for laymen. 
6. The veda-vāda-ratas give their own explanations of the Vedas, neglecting the authority of great teachers (ācāryas). 
7. They also tend to raise some unscrupulous person from among themselves and present him as the leading exponent of Vedic knowledge.
8. The so-called students of the Vedas are condemned herein because they are ignorant of the actual purpose of the Vedas on account of their disobeying the ācāryas. 
9. Such veda-vāda-ratas search out meanings in every word of the Vedas to suit their own purposes. 
10. They do not know that the Vedic literature is a collection of extraordinary books that can be understood only through the chain of disciplic succession.

One must approach a bona fide spiritual master in order to understand the transcendental message of the Vedas. That is the direction of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.12). 

This mantra is an indictment. 

BG 4.40 

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

Modern education puts a doubt in the mind about the existence of God. They say if there is GOd, how is there evil in this world? Oftentimes there is no logical explanation. Christians have their own interpretation. Muslims have their own interpretation. They say there is evil as people are not following the orders of the lord. They say you need to have an abortion and bring a child into the world of evil. They say it is a woman’s rights – she should do whatever she wants to do with her body. 

Out of many standard and authoritative revealed scriptures, the Bhagavad-gītā is the best. 

1. Persons who are almost like animals have no faith in, or knowledge of, the standard revealed scriptures; and 
2. some, even though they have knowledge of, or can cite passages from, the revealed scriptures, have actually no faith in these words. 
3. And even though others may have faith in scriptures like Bhagavad-gītā, they do not believe in or worship the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.Such persons cannot have any standing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They fall down. 
4. Out of all the above-mentioned persons, those who have no faith and are always doubtful make no progress at all.  (Modern education, scripture is not scientific)
5. Men without faith in God and His revealed word find no good in this world, nor in the next. For them there is no happiness whatsoever. 

One should therefore follow the principles of revealed scriptures with faith and thereby be raised to the platform of knowledge. Only this knowledge will help one become promoted to the transcendental platform of spiritual understanding. In other words, doubtful persons have no status whatsoever in spiritual emancipation. One should therefore follow in the footsteps of great ācāryas who are in the disciplic succession and thereby attain success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.2-7

1. One who desires tangible fame should worship the Personality of Godhead.
2. The conditioned soul living within the purview of the material world cannot be an expert in every type of materially enjoyable asset, but one can have considerable influence over a particular matter by worshiping a particular demigod, as mentioned in this verse. Ravana is one example who became powerful by the grace of Lord Shiva who was pleased with his worship.
3. All persons who aspire after gaining some or all of the material objects of enjoyment, or the gross materialistic persons, are less intelligent. 
4. Those who are bereft of all good sense, or those whose intelligence is withdrawn by the deluding energy of māyā, aspire to achieve all sorts of material enjoyment in life by pleasing the various demigods, or by advancing in material civilization under the heading of scientific progress. 
5. The real problem of life in the material world is to solve the question of birth, death, old age and disease. But these problems are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science. 
6. Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that out of the 8,400,000 species of living entities, the human form of life is rare and valuable, and out of those rare human beings those who are conscious of the material problems are rarer still, and the still more rare persons are those who are conscious of the value of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which contains the messages of the Lord and His pure devotees
7.  Death is inevitable for everyone, intelligent or foolish. But Parīkṣit Mahārāja has been addressed by the Gosvāmī as the manīṣī, or the man of highly developed mind, because at the time of death he left all material enjoyment and completely surrendered unto the lotus feet of the Lord by hearing His messages from the right person, Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
8.  But aspirations for material enjoyment by endeavoring persons are condemned. Such aspirations are something like the intoxication of the degraded human society. Intelligent persons should try to avoid these aspirations and seek instead the permanent life by returning home, back to Godhead.
9. Only the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is master, and all others are servants. Therefore a pure devotee never goes to demigods for the satisfaction of his material needs. He depends on the Supreme Lord. And the pure devotee is satisfied with whatever He gives.
10. Material desires, when unsatiated, generate anger, and thus the mind, eyes and chest become agitated. Therefore, one must practice to control them before one gives up this material body.
11. It is the duty of the transcendentalist to try strenuously to control desire and anger.  One has got the desire, but he should not desire unnecessarily.
12. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object.
13. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification.

SB 2.3.2 -7  TRANSLATION: 

One who desires to be absorbed in the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence should worship the master of the Vedas [Lord Brahmā or Bṛhaspati, the learned priest], one who desires powerful sex should worship the heavenly King, Indra, and one who desires good progeny should worship the great progenitors called the Prajāpatis. One who desires good fortune should worship Durgādevī, the superintendent of the material world. One desiring to be very powerful should worship fire, and one who aspires only after money should worship the Vasus. One should worship the Rudra incarnations of Lord Śiva if he wants to be a great hero. One who wants a large stock of grains should worship Aditi. One who desires to attain the heavenly planets should worship the sons of Aditi. One who desires a worldly kingdom should worship Viśvadeva, and one who wants to be popular with the general mass of the population should worship the Sādhya demigod. One who desires a long span of life should worship the demigods known as the Aśvinī-kumāras, and a person desiring a strongly built body should worship the earth. One who desires stability in his post should worship the horizon and the earth combined. One who desires to be beautiful should worship the beautiful residents of the Gandharva planet, and one who desires a good wife should worship the Apsarās and the Urvaśī society girls of the heavenly kingdom. One who desires domination over others should worship Lord Brahmā, the head of the universe. One who desires tangible fame should worship the Personality of Godhead, and one who desires a good bank balance should worship the demigod Varuṇa. If one desires to be a greatly learned man he should worship Lord Śiva, and if one desires a good marital relation he should worship the chaste goddess Umā, the wife of Lord Śiva.

CLASS NOTES: 

Here we see the problem with worshipping demigods and the absolute benefit of worshipping Krsna. Demigod worship is not recommended by Krsna. Demo gods cannot give freedom from the material world and …. They cannot give what they don’t have.

But when it comes to fame it is said to worship Krsna. Because only a pure devotee of the lord is the most famous. Prabhupada is the most famous person even though he is not in Vrindavan. Today everyone is worshipping the alter of

BG 7.20
Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.


SB 2.3.10
akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param

Less intelligent people who have lost their spiritual sense take shelter of demigods for immediate fulfillment of material desires. Generally, such people do not go to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because they are in the lower modes of nature (ignorance and passion) and therefore worship various demigods. Following the rules and regulations of worship, they are satisfied. The worshipers of demigods are motivated by small desires and do not know how to reach the supreme goal, but a devotee of the Supreme Lord is not misguided. Because in Vedic literature there are recommendations for worshiping different gods for different purposes (e.g., a diseased man is recommended to worship the sun), those who are not devotees of the Lord think that for certain purposes demigods are better than the Supreme Lord. But a pure devotee knows that the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is the master of all. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 5.142) it is said, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya: only the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is master, and all others are servants. Therefore a pure devotee never goes to demigods for satisfaction of his material needs. He depends on the Supreme Lord. And the pure devotee is satisfied with whatever He gives.

The fact is that people can get quick sense gratification by worshipping the demigods. But they do not know that misery follows that is the law of nature. 

BG 5.23
śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ
prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt
kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ
sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ

Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and is happy in this world.

Purport
If one wants to make steady progress on the path of self-realization, he must try to control the forces of the material senses. There are the forces of talk, forces of anger, forces of mind, forces of the stomach, forces of the genitals, and forces of the tongue. One who is able to control the forces of all these different senses, and the mind, is called gosvāmī, or svāmī. Such gosvāmīs live strictly controlled lives and forgo altogether the forces of the senses.
Material desires, when unsatiated, generate anger, and thus the mind, eyes and chest become agitated. Therefore, one must practice to control them before one gives up this material body. One who can do this is understood to be self-realized and is thus happy in the state of self-realization. It is the duty of the transcendentalist to try strenuously to control desire and anger.

BG 4.21
Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions.

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not expect good or bad results in his activities. His mind and intelligence are fully controlled. He knows that because he is part and parcel of the Supreme, the part played by him, as a part and parcel of the whole, is not his own activity but is only being done through him by the Supreme. When the hand moves, it does not move out of its own accord, but by the endeavor of the whole body. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification. He moves exactly like a part of a machine. As a machine part requires oiling and cleaning for maintenance, so a Kṛṣṇa conscious man maintains himself by his work just to remain fit for action in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. He is therefore immune to all the reactions of his endeavors. Like an animal, he has no proprietorship even over his own body. A cruel proprietor of an animal sometimes kills the animal in his possession, yet the animal does not protest. Nor does it have any real independence. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions.

(Lecture on BG 4.21) We should not desire unnecessarily to enjoy more. Nirasih

https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/740410bgbom

There is necessity of food grain. Annād bhavanti bhūtāni. Bhagavad-gītā never says that “You don’t require to eat. You simply breathe air and practice yoga.” No. But we must eat neither more nor less. That is recommended. Yuktāhāra-vihārasya. We should not eat more nor less. And nirāśīḥ. Nirāśīḥ means desireless of extravagance. Now we are desiring for sense gratification more and more. That is not wanted.

If you want perfection of life… This is called tapasya. One has got the desire, but he should not desire unnecessarily. Everyone has got the right to eat, even the animals. Everyone has got the right. But because we are desiring to enjoy more, therefore we do not give the chance to the animals to live properly; rather, we are trying to eat the animals. This is not required. This is called nirāśīḥ. Why you should eat animals? That is uncivilized life. When there is no food, when they are aborigines, they may eat animals, because they do not know how to grow food. But when the human society becomes civilized, he can grow so many nice foods, he can keep the cows; instead of eating the cows, he can get milk, sufficient milk. We can make so many preparation from milk and grains. So we should not desire unnecessarily to enjoy more.

Then it is said here, kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam. Kilbiṣam means resultant action of sinful life. Kilbiṣam. So if we don’t desire more than our necessary, then we are not implicated, involved, in sinful activity, kurvan api, even though he is engaged in working. While you are working, knowingly or unknowingly you have to commit something which is not pious, even sinful; but if you simply desire for living properly, then kurvan napi…, nāpnoti na kilbiṣam. Kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam. Our life should be without any sinful reaction. Otherwise we will have to suffer. But they do not believe, although they are seeing so many abominable lives. Wherefrom they are coming, 8,400,000 species of life? There are so many lives living very abominable condition. Of course, the animal or the living creature does not know, but we human being, we should know why this is…, this abominable life. It is māyā’s illusion.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.37:

1. The sufferings of human society are due to a polluted aim of life, namely lording it over the material resources. 
2. The human necessities of life are fully supplied by the Lord in the shape of food grains, milk, fruit, wood, stone, sugar, silk, jewels, cotton, salt, water, vegetables, etc., in sufficient quantity to feed and care for the human race of the world as well as the living beings on each and every planet within the universe. The supply source is complete, and only a little energy by the human being is required to get his necessities into the proper channel.
3. Life is never made comfortable by artificial needs, but by plain living and high thinking. 
4. The highest perfectional thinking for human society is suggested here by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, namely, sufficiently hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
5. For men in this Age of Kali, when they have lost the perfect vision of life, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the torchlight by which to see the real path. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda has indicated Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be the nectarean message of the Personality of Godhead. 
6. By sufficient hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the polluted aim of life, namely lording it over matter, will subside, and the people in general in all parts of the world will be able to live a peaceful life of knowledge and bliss.
7. By the constant hearing of the messages of the Bhagavad-gītā, and later of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one is assured by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that he will reach the Personality of Godhead and render Him transcendental loving service in the spiritual planet of the name Goloka Vṛndāvana. 
8. By practicing bhakti-yoga, if the performer is not purified from the material contamination, he must be a pseudo devotee. For such an imposter there is no remedy for being freed from material entanglement.
9. Out of many standard and authoritative revealed scriptures, the Bhagavad-gītā is the best. 
10. One should follow the principles of revealed scriptures with faith and thereby be raised to the platform of knowledge. Only this knowledge will help one become promoted to the transcendental platform of spiritual understanding.
11. In one who has unflinching devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, all the good qualities of Kṛṣṇa and the demigods are consistently manifest. However, he who has no devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no good qualifications because he is engaged by mental concoction in material existence, which is the external feature of the Lord.
12. Since every second of human life is important, an enlightened man should be very careful to utilize time very cautiously. One second of human life wasted in the vain research of planning for happiness in the material world can never be replaced, even if one spends millions of coins of gold.
13. Human life is never meant for sense gratification, but for self-realization. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end.
14. The civilization which aims at this utmost perfection never indulges in creating unwanted things, and such a perfect civilization prepares men only to accept the bare necessities of life or to follow the principle of the best use of a bad bargain.
15. Our material bodies and our lives are bad bargains because the living entity is actually spirit, and spiritual advancement of the living entity is absolutely necessary. Human life is intended for the realization of this important factor, and one should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God’s gift without diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment
16. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification. He moves exactly like a part of a machine. As a machine part requires oiling and cleaning for maintenance, so a Kṛṣṇa conscious man maintains himself by his work just to remain fit for action in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.
17. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions.

SB 2.2.37 TRANSLATION
Those who drink through aural reception, fully filled with the nectarean message of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the beloved of the devotees, purify the polluted aim of life known as material enjoyment and thus go back to Godhead, to the lotus feet of Him [the Personality of Godhead].

CLASS NOTES: 

THE SUFFERINGS OF HUMAN SOCIETY ARE DUE TO A POLLUTED AIM OF LIFE, NAMELY LORDING IT OVER THE MATERIAL RESOURCES. 

The more human society engages in the exploitation of undeveloped material resources for sense gratification, the more it will be entrapped by the illusory, material energy of the Lord, and thus the distress of the world will be intensified instead of diminished.

The human necessities of life are fully supplied by the Lord in the shape of food grains, milk, fruit, wood, stone, sugar, silk, jewels, cotton, salt, water, vegetables, etc., in sufficient quantity to feed and care for the human race of the world as well as the living beings on each and every planet within the universe. The supply source is complete, and only a little energy by the human being is required to get his necessities into the proper channel.

LIFE IS NEVER MADE COMFORTABLE BY ARTIFICIAL NEEDS, BUT BY PLAIN LIVING AND HIGH THINKING. 

There is no need of machines and tools or huge steel plants for artificially creating comforts of life. Life is never made comfortable by artificial needs, but by plain living and high thinking. The highest perfectional thinking for human society is suggested here by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, namely, sufficiently hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

ŚRĪMAD-BHĀGAVATAM IS THE TORCHLIGHT BY WHICH TO SEE THE REAL PATH

For men in this Age of Kali, when they have lost the perfect vision of life, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the torchlight by which to see the real path. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda has commented on the kathāmṛtam mentioned in this verse and has indicated Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be the nectarean message of the Personality of Godhead. By sufficient hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the polluted aim of life, namely lording it over matter, will subside, and the people in general in all parts of the world will be able to live a peaceful life of knowledge and bliss.

FOR A PURE DEVOTEE OF THE LORD, ANY TOPICS IN RELATION WITH LORD ARE ALL PLEASING 

For a pure devotee of the Lord, any topics in relation with His name, fame, quality, entourage, etc., are all pleasing, and because such topics have been approved by great devotees like Nārada, Hanumān, Nanda Mahārāja and other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, certainly such messages are transcendental and pleasing to the heart and soul.

BY THE CONSTANT HEARING OF BG AND SB ONE IS ASSURED THAT HE WILL REACH THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD
And by the constant hearing of the messages of the Bhagavad-gītā, and later of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one is assured herein by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that he will reach the Personality of Godhead and render Him transcendental loving service in the spiritual planet of the name Goloka Vṛndāvana, which resembles a huge lotus flower.

BY SUFFICIENT HEARING OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL MESSAGE OF THE LORD THE MATERIAL CONTAMINATION IS ELIMINATED

Thus by the process of bhakti-yoga, directly accepted, as suggested in this verse, by sufficient hearing of the transcendental message of the Lord, the material contamination is directly eliminated without one’s attempting to contemplate the impersonal virāṭ conception of the Lord. And by practicing bhakti-yoga, if the performer is not purified from the material contamination, he must be a pseudo devotee. For such an imposter there is no remedy for being freed from material entanglement.

(BG 4.40) PEOPLE WHO DOUBT SCRIPTURES AND DO NOT HEAR THEM WITH FAITH HAVE NO SPIRITUAL SUCCESS
But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God’s consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul, there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.

Out of many standard and authoritative revealed scriptures, the Bhagavad-gītā is the best.

1. Persons who are almost like animals have no faith in, or knowledge of, the standard revealed scriptures; and some, even though they have knowledge of, or can cite passages from, the revealed scriptures, have actually no faith in these words.
2. And even though others may have faith in scriptures like Bhagavad-gītā, they do not believe in or worship the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Such persons cannot have any standing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They fall down.
3. Out of all the above-mentioned persons, those who have no faith and are always doubtful make no progress at all. Men without faith in God and His revealed word find no good in this world, nor in the next. For them, there is no happiness whatsoever.
4. One should therefore follow the principles of revealed scriptures with faith and thereby be raised to the platform of knowledge. Only this knowledge will help one become promoted to the transcendental platform of spiritual understanding.
5. In other words, doubtful persons have no status whatsoever in spiritual emancipation. One should therefore follow in the footsteps of great ācāryas who are in the disciplic succession and thereby attain success.

Major suggestion by Srila Prabhupada – First explain why people are suffering.  We can all admit that the whole world is suffering now. Especially in India. Sridham Mayapur is in complete lockdown. Noone is allowed to go in and go out.  They are constantly cleaning every surface. Nobody is allowed to go into Brahmachari Ashram.  There is a lot of suffering in all the continents of this world. “The sufferings of human society are due to a polluted aim of life, namely lording it over the material resources. “Are the devotees suffering? Real devotees are not suffering, they know the value of simple living and higher thinking. SP explains certain things. in the letter to Rupanuga on March 15th 1969. 

(PRABHUPADA’S CONVERSATION WITH RUPANUGA) SIMPLE LIVING

https://vedabase.io/en/library/letters/letter-to-rupanuga-11/
So actually there is no material advancement here. Here, I am seeing practically that Gaurasundara, such a nice intelligent and qualified boy, he has to work hard 12 hours simply for his subsistence. I think there are many instances like that, so this is not material advancement. You can call it capitalist advancement, and the reaction for such advancement is communism. Such movement is simply suppressed in your country, but actually the reaction is this. So the Western type of civilization, industrialism and capitalism, is no material advancement. It is material exploitation. When one gets the bare necessities of life, namely peaceful home, sumptuous eating, necessary sex life, and feeling of security, then it is called material advancement. In the absence of such four preliminary necessities of life, it is not at all material advancement—just try to understand. According to Vedic civilization, a man is supposed to be rich when he has got sufficient grains and cows. Here we have neither sufficient grains or cows, but you have got sufficient quantity of papers only—falsely thinking that it is money. When there is some catastrophe, this bunch of papers will neither supply milk or grain. They will be seen only and the man will starve.

Example –  After world war 1 there was so much inflation, that you need to pay thousands and thousands of money bills to buy a loaf of bread in Germany.  In another instance SP says in the verse SB 7.11.8-12

(SB 7.11.8-12)THIRTY QUALITIES, WITHOUT WHICH THERE CANNOT BE ANY PEACE.

These are the general principles to be followed by all human beings: truthfulness, mercy, austerity (observing fasts on certain days of the month), bathing twice a day, tolerance, discrimination between right and wrong, control of the mind, control of the senses, nonviolence, celibacy, charity, reading of scripture, simplicity, satisfaction, rendering service to saintly persons, gradually taking leave of unnecessary engagements, observing the futility of the unnecessary activities of human society, remaining silent and grave and avoiding unnecessary talk, considering whether one is the body or the soul, distributing food equally to all living entities (both men and animals), seeing every soul (especially in the human form) as a part of the Supreme Lord, hearing about the activities and instructions given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead (who is the shelter of the saintly persons), chanting about these activities and instructions, always remembering these activities and instructions, trying to render service, performing worship, offering obeisances, becoming a servant, becoming a friend, and surrendering one’s whole self. O King Yudhiṣṭhira, these thirty qualifications must be acquired in the human form of life. Simply by acquiring these qualifications, one can satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Everyone should cleanse his mind internally by remembering the holy name of the Lord. The Lord is one, whether one is Hindu, Muslim or Christian. Therefore, one should chant the holy name of the Lord, regardless of differences in linguistic pronunciation. Also, everyone should be taught to be very careful not to discharge semen unnecessarily. This is very important for all human beings. If semen is not discharged unnecessarily, one becomes extremely strong in memory, determination, activity, and the vitality of one’s bodily energy. Everyone should also be taught to be simple in thought and feeling and satisfied in body and mind. These are the general qualifications of a human being. There is no question of a secular state or an ecclesiastical state. Unless one is educated in the above-mentioned thirty qualities, there cannot be any peace. Ultimately it is recommended:
Everyone should become a devotee of the Lord because by becoming a devotee of the Lord one automatically acquires the other qualities.

“In one who has unflinching devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, all the good qualities of Kṛṣṇa and the demigods are consistently manifest. However, he who has no devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no good qualifications because he is engaged by mental concoction in material existence, which is the external feature of the Lord.” (Bhāg. 5.18.12) Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, therefore, is all-embracing. Human civilization should take it very seriously and practice its principles for the peace of the world.

These are very precisous instructions that we are getting. If we can assimilate these then we have a chance to have happy, peaceful, productive life with full of vitality and positivity.

(SB 2.2.3) MINIMALISM, SIMPLE LIVING HIGHER THINKING
For this reason the enlightened person should endeavor only for the minimum necessities of life while in the world of names. He should be intelligently fixed and never endeavor for unwanted things, being competent to perceive practically that all such endeavors are merely hard labor for nothing.

Srila Prabhupada is a minimalist he is exposing simple living and higher thinking. Keeping to a minimum of material needs, we can maximize our contemplation, glorification and service to Krsna.

Since every second of human life is important, an enlightened man should be very careful to utilize time very cautiously. One second of human life wasted in the vain research of planning for happiness in the material world can never be replaced, even if one spends millions of coins of gold.

Human life is never meant for sense gratification, but for self-realization. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end

The civilization which aims at this utmost perfection never indulges in creating unwanted things, and such a perfect civilization prepares men only to accept the bare necessities of life or to follow the principle of the best use of a bad bargain. Our material bodies and our lives in that connection are bad bargains because the living entity is actually spirit, and spiritual advancement of the living entity is absolutely necessary. Human life is intended for the realization of this important factor, and one should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God’s gift without diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment.

Śukadeva Gosvāmī met Mahārāja Parīkṣit when the latter felt a necessity for such a meeting. It is the duty of a transcendentalist to help persons who desire real salvation and to support the cause of salvation.

There are so many statements SP is making about simple living higher thinking and living with bare necessities of life. Prabhupada further says in the BG 4.21

(BG 4.21) ACTING ONLY FOR THE BARE NECESSITIES OF LIFE

Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions.

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not expect good or bad results in his activities. His mind and intelligence are fully controlled. He knows that because he is part and parcel of the Supreme, the part played by him, as a part and parcel of the whole, is not his own activity but is only being done through him by the Supreme. When the hand moves, it does not move out of its own accord, but by the endeavor of the whole body. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification. He moves exactly like a part of a machine. As a machine part requires oiling and cleaning for maintenance, so a Kṛṣṇa conscious man maintains himself by his work just to remain fit for action in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. He is therefore immune to all the reactions of his endeavors. Like an animal, he has no proprietorship even over his own body. A cruel proprietor of an animal sometimes kills the animal in his possession, yet the animal does not protest. Nor does it have any real independence. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions.

Here we have statement after statement that Srila Prabhupada makes, in today’s verse says – “Life is never made comfortable by artificial needs, but by plain living and high thinking. The highest perfectional thinking for human society is suggested here by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, namely, sufficiently hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.”

This is knowledge, real knowledge. Srila Prabhupada also explains –   Goswamis did not have computers, cell phones, bedrooms, they slept under the trees one tree a day, they harldy ate, but yet they produced the greatest literature in this world. What a tremondous contribution to the humanity of the world. We are all reading BG, SB and Later on when wwe are advanced we can read the literature of Goswami. They lived very simple life. Reduced their material needs and maximized the spiritual activities. We are not in their level we have to learn from them the value of living simply and higher thinking. That is if we want to be happy. 

Healthy, happy & wise.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.36 TODAY (05/06/21): 

1. There is no auspicious means for salvation other than the sublime process of bhakti-yoga. 
2. Out of all the nine different methods, the first one, namely hearing, is the most important function in the process of bhakti-yoga. Without hearing sufficiently and properly, no one can make any progress by any of the methods of practice.
3. And for hearing only, all the Vedic literatures are there, compiled by authorized persons like Vyāsadeva, who is the powerful incarnation of Godhead
4. Since it has been ascertained that the Lord is the Supersoul of everything, He should therefore be heard and glorified everywhere and always. That is the special duty of the human being. 
5. Living beings other than human beings have no ability to hear such Vedic literatures. If human society gives itself to the process of hearing the Vedic literature, it will not become a victim to the impious sounds vibrated by impious men who degrade the standards of the total society.
6. Hearing is solidified by the process of chanting. One who has perfectly heard from the perfect source becomes convinced about the all-pervading Personality of Godhead and thus becomes enthusiastic in glorifying the Lord. 
7. The Lord is the master of all time and all space, and therefore the Lord’s holy name must be heard, glorified and remembered everywhere in the world. That will bring about the desired peace and prosperity so eagerly awaited by the people of the world.
8. Supreme Lord in His Paramātmā feature, enters the creation of this material world as Mahā-viṣṇu, Garbhodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu, and in a very friendly attitude the Lord sits along with the conditioned soul in the body. 
9. Therefore, every living entity has the Lord with him from the very beginning, but due to his mistaken consciousness of life, the living entity cannot understand this. 
10. When the conditioned soul comes in contact with a pure devotee and takes to devotional service, beginning with the process of hearing Your transcendental pastimes, glorifying Your transcendental activities, worshiping Your eternal form in the temple, offering prayers to You, and engaging in discussion to understand Your transcendental position, he gradually becomes freed from the contamination of material existence. And as his heart becomes cleansed of all material dust, You gradually become visible there.
11. For one who engages in Your devotional service and purifies his heart by constant chanting of Your holy name, You are very easily understood as his eternal, constant companion.
12. It is said that Your Lordship, sitting in the heart of a devotee, gives him direction by which he can very quickly come back home, back to You. This direct dictation by You reveals Your existence within the heart of the devotee. 
13. Only a devotee can immediately appreciate Your existence within his heart, whereas for a person who has only a bodily concept of life and is engaged in sense gratification, You always remain covered by the curtain of yogamāyā. Such a person cannot realize that You are very near, sitting within his heart. 
14.  A devotee can immediately see Your hand in every movement of material nature. The curtain of yogamāyā cannot cover the eyes of the devotee of Your Lordship, but it can cover the eyes of the nondevotee. 
15. The conditioned soul feels the pangs of material contamination as the threefold miseries as long as You are not visible to him. And as soon as You are visible by the development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all miseries of material existence are simultaneously vanquished.”

SB 2.2.36 TRANSLATION: 

O King, it is therefore essential that every human being hear about, glorify and remember the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, always and everywhere.

CLASS NOTES: 

There is no auspicious means for salvation other than the sublime process of bhakti-yoga. 

HEARING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FUNCTION IN THE PROCESS OF BHAKTI YOGA

Out of all the nine different methods, the first one, namely hearing, is the most important function in the process of bhakti-yoga. Without hearing sufficiently and properly, no one can make any progress by any of the methods of practice. 

HEARING IS THE SPECIAL DUTY OF HUMAN BEING

And for hearing only, all the Vedic literatures are there, compiled by authorized persons like Vyāsadeva, who is the powerful incarnation of Godhead. And since it has been ascertained that the Lord is the Supersoul of everything, He should therefore be heard and glorified everywhere and always. That is the special duty of the human being. 

HUMAN BECOMES VICTIM TO HEARING RUBBISH WHEN HE GIVES UP HEARING ABOUT THE LORD

When the human being gives up the process of hearing about the all-pervading Personality of Godhead, he becomes victim to hearing rubbish transmitted by man-made machines. Machinery is not bad because through the machine one can take advantage of hearing about the Lord, but because machinery is used for ulterior purposes, it is creating rapid degradation in the standard of human civilization. Living beings other than human beings have no ability to hear such Vedic literatures. If human society gives itself to the process of hearing the Vedic literature, it will not become a victim to the impious sounds vibrated by impious men who degrade the standards of the total society.

HEARING IS SOLIDIFIED BY THE PROCESS OF CHANTING

One who has perfectly heard from the perfect source becomes convinced about the all-pervading Personality of Godhead and thus becomes enthusiastic in glorifying the Lord. 

All the great ācāryas, like Rāmānuja, Madhva, Caitanya, Sarasvatī Ṭhākura or even, in other countries, Muhammad, Christ and others, have all extensively glorified the Lord by chanting always and in every place.

Sanātana means eternal, always and everywhere. Bhāgavata means pertaining to Bhagavān, the Lord. The Lord is the master of all time and all space, and therefore the Lord’s holy name must be heard, glorified and remembered everywhere in the world. That will bring about the desired peace and prosperity so eagerly awaited by the people of the world. The word ca includes all the remaining processes or methods of bhakti-yoga, as mentioned above

We heard the importance of hearing in the second canto and first canto as well.

SB 2.1.5
O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and also remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries.

SB 1.2.14
tasmād ekena manasā
bhagavān sātvatāṁ patiḥ
śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca
dhyeyaḥ pūjyaś ca nityadā

Therefore, with one-pointed attention, one should constantly hear about, glorify, remember and worship the Personality of Godhead, who is the protector of the devotees.


“And since it has been ascertained that the Lord is the Supersoul of everything, He should therefore be heard and glorified everywhere and always. That is the special duty of the human being.”
Anything which is repeated more than twice in Vedic literature is of utmost importance. The special duty is to hear about the lord. We can also understand about Hearing in the Krishna Bool Chapter – Kidnapping Subhadra. 

KRSNA BOOK – CHAPTER – 86 – KIDNAPPING SUBHADRA

BRAHMANA SRUTADEVA IS SO VERY FORTUNATE TO RECEIVE KRSNA AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 

the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva, simultaneously receiving Lord Kṛṣṇa and His associates at his home, was transcendentally overwhelmed with joy. After offering his guests nice sitting places, the brāhmaṇa began to dance, waving around his wrap. 

although the brāhmaṇa appeared very poor, he was at that time most fortunate.

They were not costly items and could be secured very easily, but because they were offered with devotional love, Lord Kṛṣṇa and His associates accepted them gladly.

“I have fallen into the deep, dark well of householder life and am the most unfortunate person. How has it become possible that Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His associates, the great sages, whose very presence makes a place as sanctified as a pilgrimage site, have agreed to come to my place?” 

EVERY LIVING ENTITY HAS THE LORD WITH HIM FROM THE VERY BEGINNING

This statement by the brāhmaṇa is very instructive. It is a fact that the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, in His Paramātmā feature, enters the creation of this material world as Mahā-viṣṇu, Garbhodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu, and in a very friendly attitude the Lord sits along with the conditioned soul in the body. Therefore, every living entity has the Lord with him from the very beginning, but due to his mistaken consciousness of life, the living entity cannot understand this. When his consciousness, however, is changed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he can immediately understand how Kṛṣṇa is trying to assist the conditioned souls to get out of the material entanglement.

CONTACT WITH PURE DEVOTEE, HEARING AND GLORIFYING BEGINS AND THE HEART BECOMES CLEANSED

When the conditioned soul comes in contact with a pure devotee and takes to devotional service, beginning with the process of hearing Your transcendental pastimes, glorifying Your transcendental activities, worshiping Your eternal form in the temple, offering prayers to You and engaging in discussion to understand Your transcendental position, he gradually becomes freed from the contamination of material existence. And as his heart becomes cleansed of all material dust, You gradually become visible there

ONE WHO IS BEWILDERED BY FRUITIVE ACTIVITIES, LORD IS NOT REVEALED TO SUCH PERSONS

Others, who are bewildered by fruitive activities, either by Vedic injunction or by customary dealings, and who do not take to devotional service, are captivated by the external happiness of the bodily concept of life. You are not revealed to such persons. Rather, You remain far, far away from them.

But for one who engages in Your devotional service and purifies his heart by constant chanting of Your holy name, You are very easily understood as his eternal, constant companion.

ONLY A DEVOTEE CAN IMMEDIATELY APPRECIATE YOUR EXISTENCE WITHIN HIS HEART

“It is said that Your Lordship, sitting in the heart of a devotee, gives him direction by which he can very quickly come back home, back to You. This direct dictation by You reveals Your existence within the heart of the devotee. Only a devotee can immediately appreciate Your existence within his heart, whereas for a person who has only a bodily concept of life and is engaged in sense gratification, You always remain covered by the curtain of yogamāyā. Such a person cannot realize that You are very near, sitting within his heart. 

FOR A NON DEVOTEE LORD IS APPRECIATED AS THE ULTIMATE DEATH

The atheist, therefore, understands the presence of God as death, but the devotee understands the presence of God always within his heart, takes dictation from You and lives transcendentally, unaffected by the contamination of the material world.

Ex : Cat’s mouth for a kitten and for a rat. 

A DEVOTEE CAN IMMEDIATELY SEE YOUR HAND IN EVERY MOVEMENT OF MATERIAL NATURE AND YOGA MAYA CAN NEVER COVET THE EYES OF A DEVOTEE

The curtain of yogamāyā cannot cover the eyes of the devotee of Your Lordship, but it can cover the eyes of the nondevotee. 

The conditioned soul feels the pangs of material contamination as the threefold miseries as long as You are not visible to him. And as soon as You are visible by the development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all miseries of material existence are simultaneously vanquished.”

LORD TELLS SRUTADEVA THE INFLUENCE OF GREAT SAGES

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is naturally very much affectionately inclined to His devotees. When He heard Śrutadeva’s prayers of pure devotion, He was very pleased. He says –  the influence of great sages and saintly persons is so great that by seeing them one immediately becomes completely purified.

Therefore the special duty of the human being is to hear at all times in all places, without any hindrance. The hearing process we are doing everyday it is the most important thing and the special duty to change our consciousness and to change our activity from material to spiritual. Our hearing should be solidified by the process of chanting.

We should always speak endearing words to the Lord.  We understand this by the prayers of the Brahmana Srutadeva.