Tag: Srimad Bhagavatham Canto 2

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.5

1. The renounced order of life is never meant for begging or living at the cost of others as a parasite.
2. The first duty of a person in the renounced order of life is to contribute some literary work for the benefit of the human being in order to give him realized direction toward self-realization.
3. Amongst the other duties in the renounced order of life of Śrīla Sanātana, Śrīla Rūpa and the other Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, the foremost duty discharged by them was to hold learned discourses amongst themselves at Sevākuñja, Vṛndāvana. For the benefit of all in human society, they left behind them immense literatures of transcendental importance.
4. Those who cannot give any contribution should not go to the householders for food, for such mendicants asking bread from the householders are an insult to the highest order. Śukadeva Gosvāmī gave this warning especially for those mendicants who adopt this line of profession to solve their economic problems. Such mendicants are in abundance in the Age of Kali.
5. When a man becomes a mendicant willfully or by circumstances,
   • he must be of firm faith and conviction that the Supreme Lord is the maintainer of all living beings everywhere in the universe. Why, then, would He neglect the maintenance of a surrendered soul who is cent-percent engaged in the service of the Lord? A common master looks to the necessities of his servant, so how much more would the all-powerful, all-opulent Supreme Lord look after the necessities of life for a fully surrendered soul. 
   • He will accept a simple small loincloth without asking anyone to give it in charity.He simply salvages it from the rejected torn cloth thrown in the street.
   • When he is hungry he may go to a magnanimous tree that drops fruits, and when he is thirsty he may drink water from the flowing river. 
   • He does not require to live in a comfortable house but should find a cave in the hills and not be afraid of jungle animals, keeping faith in God, who lives in everyone’s heart
   • He should always live alone, without company, and he must be fearless.
6. According to the regulations of the sanātana-dharma institution, one is trained from the beginning to depend fully on the protection of the Lord in all circumstances. Everyone can become a fearless and honest person if his very existence is purified by discharging the prescribed duty for each and every order of life. 
7. A human being is required to accumulate daivī sampat, or spiritual assets; otherwise, the next alternative, āsurī sampat, or material assets, will overcome him disproportionately, and thus one will be forced into the entanglement of different miseries of the material world.
8. Lord Krsna says Arjuna had divine qualities because he was considering the pros and cons and he was not acting under the influence of anger, false prestige or harshness.
9. Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. 
10. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.

SB 2.2.45 TRANSLATION: 

Are there no torn clothes lying on the common road? Do the trees, which exist for maintaining others, no longer give alms in charity? Do the rivers, being dried up, no longer supply water to the thirsty? Are the caves of the mountains now closed? Or above all, does the Almighty Lord not protect the fully surrendered souls? Why then do the learned sages go to flatter those who are intoxicated by hard-earned wealth?

CLASS NOTES: 

RENOUNCED ORDER OF LIFE

The renounced order of life is never meant for begging or living at the cost of others as a parasite. The renounced order is meant for contributing something substantial to society and not depending on the earnings of the householders.  In the sanātana-dharma institution, alms-giving to the mendicant is part of a householder’s duty, and it is advised in the scriptures that the householders should treat the mendicants as their family children and should provide them with food, clothing, etc., without being asked. Pseudomendicants, therefore, should not take advantage of the charitable disposition of the faithful householders

RENOUNCED ORDER OF LIFE DUTIES 

The duty of a person in the renounced order of life is to 

1. To contribute some literary work for the benefit of the human being in order to give him realized direction toward self-realization.
2. Example – Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami 

WHO CANNOT GIVE ANY CONTRIBUTION SHOULD NOT GO TO THE HOUSEHOLDERS FOR FOOD,

However, those who cannot give any contribution should not go to the householders for food, for such mendicants asking for bread from the householders are an insult to the highest order. Śukadeva Gosvāmī gave this warning especially for those mendicants who adopt this line of profession to solve their economic problems. Such mendicants are in abundance in the Age of Kali. 

When a man becomes a mendicant willfully or by circumstances

1. He must be of firm faith and conviction that the Supreme Lord is the maintainer of all living beings everywhere in the universe.
2. Why, then, would He neglect the maintenance of a surrendered soul who is cent-percent engaged in the service of the Lord? A common master looks to the necessities of his servant, so how much more would the all-powerful, all-opulent Supreme Lord look after the necessities of life for a fully surrendered soul. 
3. He will accept a simple small loincloth without asking anyone to give it in charity.He simply salvages it from the rejected torn cloth thrown in the street.
4. When he is hungry he may go to a magnanimous tree that drops fruits, and when he is thirsty he may drink water from the flowing river. 
5. He does not require to live in a comfortable house but should find a cave in the hills and not be afraid of jungle animals, keeping faith in God, who lives in everyone’s heart
6. He should always live alone, without company, and he must be fearless.

THE LORD MAY DICTATE TO TIGERS AND OTHER JUNGLE ANIMALS NOT TO DISTURB HIS DEVOTEE.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura, a great devotee of Lord Śrī Caitanya, used to live in such a cave, and by chance a great venomous snake was a copartner of the cave. Some admirer of Ṭhākura Haridāsa who had to visit the Ṭhākura every day feared the snake and suggested that the Ṭhākura leave that place. Because his devotees were afraid of the snake and they were regularly visiting the cave, Ṭhākura Haridāsa agreed to the proposal on their account. But as soon as this was settled, the snake actually crawled out of its hole in the cave before everyone present and left the cave for good. By the dictation of the Lord, who lived also within the heart of the snake, the snake gave preference to Haridāsa and decided to leave the place and not disturb him. So this is a tangible example of how the Lord gives protection to a bona fide devotee like Ṭhākura Haridāsa. 

ACCORDING TO THE REGULATIONS OF THE SANĀTANA-DHARMA INSTITUTION, ONE IS TRAINED FROM THE BEGINNING TO DEPEND FULLY ON THE PROTECTION OF THE LORD IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. 

The path of renunciation is recommended for acceptance by one who is fully accomplished and fully purified in his existence. This stage is described also in the Bhagavad-gītā (16.5) as daivī sampat. A human being is required to accumulate daivī sampat, or spiritual assets; otherwise, the next alternative, āsurī sampat, or material assets, will overcome him disproportionately, and thus one will be forced into the entanglement of different miseries of the material world.

 A SANNYĀSĪ SHOULD ALWAYS LIVE ALONE, WITHOUT COMPANY, AND HE MUST BE FEARLESS.

He should never be afraid of living alone, although he is never alone. The Lord is residing in everyone’s heart, and unless one is purified by the prescribed process, one will feel that he is alone. But a man in the renounced order of life must be purified by the process; thus he will feel the presence of the Lord everywhere and will have nothing to fear (such as being without any company). Everyone can become a fearless and honest person if his very existence is purified by discharging the prescribed duty for each and every order of life. One can become fixed in one’s prescribed duty by faithful aural reception of Vedic instructions and assimilation of the essence of Vedic knowledge by devotional service to the Lord.

A very nice explanation of a self sufficiency of a devotee. A devotee does not have to be a stooge of a rich person and praise them for his existence and maintenance. He knows that the LORD is the supreme maintainer and he is all opulent. Lord promises that he will provides what the devotee lacks and preserves what devotee has.
When the child is 5 years old, the parents take the child to the Guru and they are educated to be renounced, live simply, serving master, hearing the scriptures. Child is the father of the man. What the child learns in the early age they will maintain it throughout their life. If they are taught of simple austerities, life of brahmachari..
Even if they get married they will not become teh slaves of sense gratification.
Krsna tells Arjuna – you were born with transcendental qualities.

(BG 16.5)The transcendental qualities are conducive to liberation, whereas the demoniac qualities make for bondage. Do not worry, O son of Pāṇḍu, for you are born with the divine qualities.

Lord Kṛṣṇa encouraged Arjuna by telling him that he was not born with demoniac qualities. His involvement in the fight was not demoniac, because he was considering the pros and cons. (Demons will not do that) . He was considering whether respectable persons such as Bhīṣma and Droṇa should be killed or not, so he was not acting under the influence of anger, false prestige or harshness. (This is very important point)

Paraupakar – doing good to others, not exploiting others, transcendental qualities of a devotee. Hazrat Ali was fighting a war against enemies. He knocked one person down and he was about to kill him. He spit on his face. He paused and cleaned his face. The enemy asked why dont you kill me. He said, I became angry so I will not kill you. As long as he was doing the duty of pleasing Allah, I will kill, but now my anger came in, and this is not acting as per my duty and he does not kill the enemy. Major difference between a devotee and demon. Devotee is regulated. Demons are not regulated. Therefore what happens to such people, they become entangled in self interested activities, like more and more money and ignore the duties of trying to go back to godhead.

(SB 7.5.31) UNLESS ONE IS A DEVOTEE OF THE LORD, ONE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE EXISTENCE OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.
The general tendency is to work hard and play hard. Because when you die all is over, there is no God, there is no judgement… 

Prahlāda Mahārāja declined to accept such a seminal guru or take instruction from him. An actual guru is śrotriya, one who has heard or received perfect knowledge through paramparā, the disciplic succession. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja did not recognize a seminal spiritual master. Such spiritual masters are not at all interested in Viṣṇu. Indeed, they are hopeful of material success (bahir-artha-māninaḥ). The word bahiḥ means “external,” artha means “interest,” and mānina means “taking very seriously.” 

Unless one is a devotee of the Lord, one cannot understand the existence of the spiritual world. Gurus, teachers, who are simply interested in this material world are described in this verse as andha, blind. Such blind men may lead many other blind followers without true knowledge of material conditions, but they are not accepted by devotees like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Such blind teachers, being interested in the external, material world, are always bound by the strong ropes of material nature.

Knowledge is accumulation of facts, wisdom is how to use all these facts in service of Krsna. Both knowledge and wisdom have materialistic and spiritualistic interpretation. Unless we know the spiritualistic interpretation, it is very hard.
Example – Doctor quit his job and started a Fedex store. You do not need to go to school to open a store. The whole myth of education is misleading. Most of these things you learn in college, you do not use it in your real life. Real education is learning your language (English).
Materialistic – Wisdom is outsmarting people and coming up with ideas and selling products. That was what was taught.
Real knowledge is knowing Atma Tattva. Wisdom is using that Knowledge in service of Krsna.
Wisdom  Dictionary Definition – There is no mention of God. the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.
Anything without Krsna is half the chicken. 

What we are hearing in last 2 verses is explained in BG also –

BG 4.19
One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every endeavor is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker for whom the reactions of work have been burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.

BG 4.20
Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, ever satisfied and independent, he performs no fruitive action, although engaged in all kinds of undertakings.

PROJECT –
What are those qualities that Krsna has that we dont have. If we dont understand the difference between jiva and Bhagavan, we cannot understand the unique position of Krsna and His  transcendence.

Krishna can expand himself infinitely. Yogis can expand ten times. Each expansion of His can be doing entirely different things. These expansions of the Lord  can be present at the same time, engaging in the same place. That is something that no one can emulate.
He has Ashta Gunas besides the siddhis, these are mystic powers no one else has.

Weightless
Infinitely heavy
Ability to be there anywhere
Realize of posses anything and everything
Control whole natural forces
Create the world

Sad aiswarya: 6 opulences in full – knowledge, renunciation, beauty, fame, strength, wealth
Ashta Siddhis – Anima, lagima, mahima,  etc.,
Ashta Gunas:  Kṛṣṇa cannot be polluted by any sinful activity, Kṛṣṇa never dies, Kṛṣṇa never becomes old, Kṛṣṇa is never subject to lamentation, Kṛṣṇa is never hungry, and He is never thirsty. Whatever He desires is perfectly lawful, and whatever He decides cannot be changed by anyone. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.4

1. The necessities of life for the protection and comfort of the body must not be unnecessarily increased. Human energy is spoiled in a vain search after such illusory happiness.
2. Animals maintain healthy life even without the intelligence to build big houses & furniture. 
3. The reserve energy of human life, which is far superior to that of animals, should simply be utilized for self-realization. 
4. The advancement of human civilization must be towards the goal of establishing our lost relationship with God, which is not possible in any form of life other than the human. 
5. Self-complacence with a polished type of animal civilization geared to sense gratification is delusion, and such a “civilization” is not worthy of the name. In pursuit of such false activities, a human being is in the clutches of māyā, or illusion.
6. Great sages and saints in the days of yore were not living in palatial buildings furnished with good furniture and so-called amenities of life. They used to live in huts and groves and sit on the flat ground, and yet they have left immense treasures of high knowledge with all perfection.
7. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī were high-ranking ministers of state, but they were able to leave behind them immense writings on transcendental knowledge while residing only for one night underneath one tree.
8. So-called comforts of life are not actually helpful for progressive civilization; rather, they are detrimental to such progressive life. 
9. In the system of sanātana-dharma, of four divisions of social life and four orders of progressive realization, there are ample opportunities and sufficient directions for a happy termination of the progressive life, and the sincere followers are advised therein to accept a voluntary life of renunciation in order to achieve the desired goal of life
10. If one is not accustomed to abiding by the life of renunciation and self-abnegation from the beginning, one should try to get into the habit at a later stage of life as recommended by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and that will help one to achieve the desired success. (Once the responsibilities in Grihastha Ashrama are done, one is strongly recommended to downsize)
11. The transcendentalist is specifically warned herewith to be fixed in mind, so that even if there is difficulty in plain living and high thinking he will not budge even an inch from his stark determination.
12.  For a transcendentalist, it is a suicidal policy to be intimately in touch with the sense gratifiers of the world, because such a policy will frustrate the ultimate gain of life.

SB 2.2.4 TRANSLATION: 
When there are ample earthly flats to lie on, what is the necessity of cots and beds? When one can use his own arms, what is the necessity of a pillow? When one can use the palms of his hands, what is the necessity of varieties of utensils? When there is ample covering or the skins of trees, what is the necessity of clothing?

CLASS NOTES: 
THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE FOR THE PROTECTION AND COMFORT OF THE BODY MUST NOT BE UNNECESSARILY INCREASED.Human energy is spoiled in a vain search after such illusory happiness. 

ANIMALS MAINTAIN HEALTHY LIFE EVEN WITHOUT BEDS, BIG HOUSES & FURNITURE

If we make a study of the general life of the animals, we can see that they have no intelligence for building big houses, furniture, and other household paraphernalia, and yet they maintain a healthy life by lying down on the open land. They do not know how to cook or prepare foodstuff, yet they still live healthy lives more easily than human being.  

THE RESERVE ENERGY OF HUMAN LIFE, WHICH IS FAR SUPERIOR TO THAT OF ANIMALS, SHOULD SIMPLY BE UTILIZED FOR SELF-REALIZATION. 
This does not mean that human civilization should revert to animal life or that the human being should live naked in the jungles without any culture, education and sense of morality. An intelligent human cannot live the life of an animal; rather, man should try to utilize his intelligence in arts and science, poetry, and philosophy. In such a way he can further the progressive march of human civilization.

THE ADVANCEMENT OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION MUST BE TOWARDS THE GOAL OF ESTABLISHING OUR LOST RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, WHICH IS NOT POSSIBLE IN ANY FORM OF LIFE OTHER THAN THE HUMAN. 

One must realize the nullity of the material phenomenon, considering it a passing phantasmagoria, and must endeavor to make a solution to the miseries of life. Self-complacence with a polished type of animal civilization geared to sense gratification is delusion, and such a “civilization” is not worthy of the name. In pursuit of such false activities, a human being is in the clutches of māyā, or illusion.

I am this body, I am from North India, we beat our wife this is our culture… This is all illusion.  Illusory false knowledge leads you to deluded stage. One time there was an announcement that water is changing on a particular date. Everyone drank the water and one guy did not. Every one became insane and except him. He is feeling lonely as he is left out. He also drinks water becomes insane and joins them.  This is called peer pressure.  This happens with the children in School. We are all living in a stage of phantasmagoria… just like a magician cuts a man and the man is split into two and he comes back as normal and jumps up and down. 
Great sages and saints in the days of yore were not living in palatial buildings furnished with good furniture and so-called amenities of life. They used to live in huts and groves and sit on the flat ground, and yet they have left immense treasures of high knowledge with all perfectionŚrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī were high-ranking ministers of state, but they were able to leave behind them immense writings on transcendental knowledge while residing only for one night underneath one tree. They did not live even two nights under the same tree, and what to speak of well-furnished rooms with modern amenities. And still they were able to give us most important literatures of self-realization. So-called comforts of life are not actually helpful for progressive civilization; rather, they are detrimental to such progressive life. 

In the system of sanātana-dharma, of four divisions of social life and four orders of progressive realization, there are ample opportunities and sufficient directions for a happy termination of the progressive life, and the sincere followers are advised therein to accept a voluntary life of renunciation in order to achieve the desired goal of life. If one is not accustomed to abiding by the life of renunciation and self-abnegation from the beginning, one should try to get into the habit at a later stage of life as recommended by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and that will help one to achieve the desired success.
This theme is coming back over and over again in this section of SB and BG and also in Canto 1 – That is “Simple living, Higher Thinking”. “complicated Living , lower thinking”. There was a video made in Matchless gifts shop, what is Krsna Consciousness – Although KC – sitting on floor, eating prasadam, sleeping on the floor, High level although living on the low level… Materialists they live on high level but they are living low level. Amenities complicate our life. They require maintenance. People are inspired to buy things that they do not need. The promise of improved or increased sense gratification convinces them to buy all these things.
SP had one chair, one table and on the table there was deity of Chaitanya. There are two rooms, one room he had books and sit on a mat to meet people and write stuff. Another room there was a cot one table and one chair. That is how simple he lived. Books, few clothes, plate, glass.. He set an example of how to live.

He gives the example of Sanatana Goswami and Rupa Goswami, they gave everything up and lived like paupers in Vrindavan, not even sleeping under one tree for more than couple days. They were sent to Vrindavan to excavate the places of past times and to write down the past times of the lord.

There is a philosophy in ancient Greece called stoicism –  the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint. Patience forbearance, endurance, acceptance, perturbality, calmness, coolness, solidness, are some words related to Stoicism. Stoicism is a school of philosophy that hails from ancient Greece and Rome in the early parts of the 3rd century, BC. It is a philosophy of life that maximizes positive emotions, reduces negative emotions, and helps individuals to hone their virtues of character.

It talks about acceptance and patience and has elements of mundane goodness. But no mention of Krsna. It is a negative way of doing things.

Sridhara Kolavecha – Brahmana, associate of Caitanya MahaPrabhu. He would sell fruits, cups, and plates made from banana leaves. He hardly made 5 anas, half of what he made every day he would donate to worship Ganga Devi. The other half he would live with it. He had only one cloth. He would bathe every day and wear the washed dhoti. He had one broken iron pot and put water in it. Everyday Lord Caitanya would come to see him, he would steal from him and drink water from the pot. Every time he sees the sankirtan party of the lord he would jump and dance in ecstasy.

If you have a car and a big house and amenities, you need to use them in the service of Krsna under the guidance of the spiritual master – siksha and diksha gurus.

Maharaj started out as a Brahmacari – 22 yrs old. I was sleeping on the floor right infornt of the door of the toilet. I had one or 2 dotis, torn shirt, broken glasses string on one side. When I got married – car, apartment, pots and pans, second child – bigger apartment. To move in we could fit in everything in one car. 3rd child, moved in with a truck, 4th child came, bigger home, Company, Bigger home,

That is what material life is – we cannot detach. When kids grow big you can downsize and then sleep in one corner or in front of the bathroom. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom how to use knowledge for the positive effect. You do not get knowledge by accumulating facts. Unless you regularly hear from SB and BG and go out on sankirtan you cannot get wisdom. 
SB 2.2.3
The transcendentalist is specifically warned herewith to be fixed in mind, so that even if there is difficulty in plain living and high thinking he will not budge even an inch from his stark determination. For a transcendentalist, it is a suicidal policy to be intimately in touch with the sense gratifiers of the world, because such a policy will frustrate the ultimate gain of life.
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. One might note that Śukadeva Gosvāmī never met Mahārāja Parīkṣit while he was ruling as a great king. For a transcendentalist, the mode of activities is explained in the next śloka.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.3

1. The whole universe, or for that matter all material existence, is moving on as jagat, simply for planning business to make one’s position very comfortable or secure, although everyone sees that this existence is neither comfortable nor secure and can never become comfortable or secure at any stage of development.
2. The whole material creation is a jugglery of names; in fact, it is nothing but a bewildering creation of matter. 
3. The buildings, furniture, cars, bungalows, mills, factories, industries, peace, war, atomic energy and electronics, are all simply bewildering names of material elements with their concomitant reactions of the three modes. 
4. The devotee of the Lord knows them perfectly well, he is not interested in creating unwanted things for a situation which is not at all reality, but simply names of no more significance than the babble of sea waves.
5. The great kings, leaders and soldiers fight with one another in order to perpetuate their names in history. They are forgotten in due course of time, and they make a place for another era in history. But the devotee realizes how much history and historical persons are useless products of the flickering time.  
6. The fruitive worker aspires after a big fortune in the matter of wealth, woman and worldly adoration, but those who are fixed in perfect reality are not at all interested in such false things. Devotees consider fruitive activities to be merely a waste of time.
7. 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.
8. Human life is simply meant for self-realization. One should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God’s gift without the diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment.  
9. The transcendentalist desiring freedom from the clutches of māyā, or the illusory activities of life, is warned herewith not to be captivated by the external features of fruitive actors. For him, it is a suicidal policy to be intimately in touch with the sense gratifiers of the world, because such a policy will frustrate the ultimate gain of life.
10. The transcendentalist is specifically warned herewith to be fixed in mind, so that even if there is difficulty in plain living and high thinking he will not budge even an inch from his stark determination.
11. 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. One might note that Śukadeva Gosvāmī never met Mahārāja Parīkṣit while he was ruling as a great king.
12. (SB 1.2.8) we have to engage ourselves in occupational engagements that will evoke our divine consciousness. This is possible only by hearing and chanting the divine activities of the Supreme Lord, and any occupational activity which does not help one to achieve attachment for hearing and chanting the transcendental message of Godhead is said herein to be simply a waste of time. 
13. (SB 1.2.8) This is because other occupational duties (whatever ism they may belong to) cannot give liberation to the soul. 
14. (SB 1.2.8) The gross materialist can practically see that his material gain is limited only to time and space, either in this world or in the other. Even if he goes up to the Svargaloka, he will find no permanent abode for his hankering soul. 
15. (SB 1.2.8) The hankering soul must be satisfied by the perfect scientific process of perfect devotional service.
16. (SB 1.2.9) One should not engage himself in any sort of occupational service for material gain only. Nor should material gain be utilized for sense gratification. 
17. (SB 1.2.10) Bhāgavatam says that one should not live for sense gratification. One should satisfy the senses only in as much as required for self-preservation, and not for sense gratification. Because the body is made of senses, which also require a certain amount of satisfaction, there are regulative directions for the satisfaction of such senses. But the senses are not meant for unrestricted enjoyment.
18. (SB 1.2.10) In every sphere of life, the ultimate end must be seeking after the Absolute Truth, and that sort of engagement will make one happy because he will be less engaged in varieties of sense gratification.

SB 2.2.3 TRANSLATION: 

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.

CLASS NOTES: 

“For this reason” –  SB 2.2.2 – The way of presentation of the Vedic sounds is so bewildering that it directs the intelligence of the people to meaningless things like the heavenly kingdoms. The conditioned souls hover in dreams of such heavenly illusory pleasures, but actually they do not relish any tangible happiness in such places.

This should be read by the jihadis who are promised of 70 virgins in the zennet> what is the difference between 70 virgins in Islam and heavenly planets with apsaras in Hinduism. Both are similar. They are trying to get sense gratification by doing sacrifices or suicide by killing others. 

“For this reason the enlightened person should endeavor only for the minimum necessities of life while in the world of names.”  This does not mean that people have to walk half naked like Gandhi. Real sadhu does not put arms around the women. Gandhi was even sleeping with women, his claim is I was proving that I am not attached to sex. He was not a yogi and he looked like a yogi, he was not a politician and he acted like a politician. He was so involved in politics that he did not answer SP letter about asking to making preaching BG through out the country, now that the independence is achieved.
endeavor only for the minimum necessities – If you earn a million dollars a day that does not change what your stomach can hold. You can only eat 2 -3 rotis, sabjis. Life style should not change, spending all the rest for the service of the Lord. 

Example of Sudama Vipra – His wife forced him to go to Krsna in Dwaraka and ask for money to get rid of their poverty. He tied up the chipped rice in a dhoti and he goes walking. Krishna receives him so well and respects him by washing his feet, gives Prasadam and asks his reason of arrival. Krishna asks what is that in your bag and it has the chipped rice. Krishna eats and finds out why he came and blesses him. Sudhama vipra does not even tell him, but Krsna knows. When Sudhama gets back home, he does not see his village any more, he sees all these palaces. He sees a lady waving and smiling… that is his wife in opulent clothes living in this palace. He knows that Krsna blessed him. He did not change his style of living. He lived like a modest Brahmana. So that is what it means by minimum necessities of life. Remaining very very humble and simple in all your habits and very strictly doing sadhana..

THOSE WHO ARE CAPTIVATED BY THE ILLUSORY ADVANCEMENT OF MATERIAL CIVILIZATION (FOLLOWING THE WAY OF PHANTASMAGORIA) ARE CERTAINLY MADMEN

The whole universe, or for that matter all material existence, is moving on as jagat, simply for planning business to make one’s position very comfortable or secure, although everyone sees that this existence is neither comfortable nor secure and can never become comfortable or secure at any stage of development.

NAMES OF NO MORE SIGNIFICANCE THAN THE BABBLE OF SEA WAVES. 

The whole material creation is a jugglery of names only; in fact, it is nothing but a bewildering creation of matter like earth, water and fire. The buildings, furniture, cars, bungalows, mills, factories, industries, peace, war or even the highest perfection of material science, namely atomic energy and electronics, are all simply bewildering names of material elements with their concomitant reactions of the three modes. Since the devotee of the Lord knows them perfectly well, he is not interested in creating unwanted things for a situation which is not at all reality, but simply names of no more significance than the babble of sea waves. 

SP uses very interesting language in this purport, he talks about the “The world of names” Names are different from the kings. You can say coco-cola through the day but you cannot taste it. But when you chant Krsna, it is nondifferent than Krsna. 
This is the correct description of the material world. Someone who is a sense gratifier reads this they are bewildered. “What, he is belittling everything I am attached to and working hard for”

Society, family, friendship, grandchildren, great-grandchildren.. Are all part of the jugglery of names.. In Hindi there are names for different relationships – Babhi, batija, chacha… all names at the end everyone dies and there is only name on the cemetery. Maharaj asked mom if she wanted to go to her country – she did not want to go as everyone died and no one is left…. Just names are left.

HISTORY AND HISTORICAL PERSONS ARE USELESS PRODUCTS OF THE FLICKERING TIME.
The great kings, leaders and soldiers fight with one another in order to perpetuate their names in history. They are forgotten in due course of time, and they make a place for another era in history. But the devotee realizes how much history and historical persons are useless products of flickering time. 

So much time is wasted in school by teaching History and studying history. 

Poet Colrich when doing research – He comes across the tribute to great ancient egypt king – Ozymandias. It was in the middle of the desert in noman’s land. It said “ He was a greatest king, everyone was scared of, he had so many horses, elephants…… “ What is there to remember – a broken monument in middle of no where and a tribute no one sees…
Anytime people work for sense gratification the end result is nothing. Just some sort of hazy memory, nothing tangible, it is all subject to birth, oldage, disease and death.

FRUITIVE RESULTS ARE ALL FALSE THINGS

The fruitive worker aspires after a big fortune in the matter of wealth, woman and worldly adoration, but those who are fixed in perfect reality are not at all interested in such false things. For them it is all a waste of time.

People thought Hitler was God’s gift to humankind, what did it lead to the complete death of so many germans. There are many theories that he got away… usually there is lot of lies in history… the history is generally written by the conquerors.
 

VALUE OF TIME
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. Therefore, the transcendentalist desiring freedom from the clutches of māyā, or the illusory activities of life, is warned herewith not to be captivated by the external features of fruitive actors.

HUMAN LIFE IS NEVER MEANT FOR SENSE GRATIFICATION, BUT FOR SELF-REALIZATION. SB TEACHES THE SAME.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end. Human life is simply meant for self-realization. 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.


THE MATERIALISTIC ADVANCEMENT OF CIVILIZATION IS CALLED “THE CIVILIZATION OF THE DEMONS,” which ultimately ends in wars and scarcity. The transcendentalist is specifically warned herewith to be fixed in mind, so that even if there is difficulty in plain living and high thinking he will not budge even an inch from his stark determination.

FOR A TRANSCENDENTALIST, IT IS A SUICIDAL POLICY TO BE INTIMATELY IN TOUCH WITH THE SENSE GRATIFIERS OF THE WORLD, BECAUSE SUCH A POLICY WILL FRUSTRATE THE ULTIMATE GAIN OF LIFE.
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. One might note that Śukadeva Gosvāmī never met Mahārāja Parīkṣit while he was ruling as a great king. For a transcendentalist, the mode of activities is explained in the next śloka.

How to lead life with MINIMUM MATERIAL NEEDS and aim for ultimate perfection is described in SB 1.2.8 – 10.

(SB 1.2.8) ANY OCCUPATIONAL ACTIVITY WHICH DOES NOT HELP ONE TO ACHIEVE ATTACHMENT FOR HEARING AND CHANTING THE TRANSCENDENTAL MESSAGE OF GODHEAD IS SAID HEREIN TO BE SIMPLY A WASTE OF TIME.

The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead. 

 But less intelligent people have no information of the needs of the spirit soul.
Because foolish people have no information of the soul and how it is beyond the purview of the body and mind, they are not satisfied in the performance of their occupational duties. The question of the satisfaction of the self is raised herein. The spirit soul’s needs must be fulfilled. Simply by cleansing the cage of the bird, one does not satisfy the bird. One must actually know the needs of the bird himself.

The need of the spirit soul is that he wants to get out of the limited sphere of material bondage and fulfill his desire for complete freedom. He wants to get out of the covered walls of the greater universe. He wants to see the free light and the spirit. That complete freedom is achieved when he meets the complete spirit, the Personality of Godhead. There is a dormant affection for God within everyone; spiritual existence is manifested through the gross body and mind in the form of perverted affection for gross and subtle matter. Therefore we have to engage ourselves in occupational engagements that will evoke our divine consciousness. This is possible only by hearing and chanting the divine activities of the Supreme Lord, and any occupational activity which does not help one to achieve attachment for hearing and chanting the transcendental message of Godhead is said herein to be simply a waste of time. This is because other occupational duties (whatever ism they may belong to) cannot give liberation to the soul. Even the activities of the salvationists are considered to be useless because of their failure to pick up the fountainhead of all liberties. The gross materialist can practically see that his material gain is limited only to time and space, either in this world or in the other. Even if he goes up to the Svargaloka, he will find no permanent abode for his hankering soul. The hankering soul must be satisfied by the perfect scientific process of perfect devotional service.

(SB 1.2.9) OCCUPATIONAL SERVICE SHOULD NEVER BE PERFORMED FOR ULTIMATE LIBERATION

All occupational engagements are certainly meant for ultimate liberation. They should never be performed for material gain. Furthermore, according to sages, one who is engaged in the ultimate occupational service should never use material gain to cultivate sense gratification.

One should not engage himself in any sort of occupational service for material gain only. Nor should material gain be utilized for sense gratification. How material gain should be utilized is described as follows.

This does not mean that you cannot have a business and cannot earn money. Be an honest businessman and earn even a million dollars – but you decide what your minimum needs are and stick to them. Eating, sleeping, dressing modestly, Time for KC while performing duties as Grihasthi. This is the minimalist Ethos. SP SP lived for self preservation so he can have maximum time for KC and he demonstrated tremendous energy in those 11 years of his life travelling around the world 7 times and establishing so many temples and preaching and making disciples all over the world. 

(SB 1.2.10)  THE ONLY THING TO DESIRE FOR &  THE GOAL OF ONE’S WORK

Life’s desires should never be directed toward sense gratification. One should desire only a healthy life, or self-preservation, since a human being is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth. Nothing else should be the goal of one’s works.

Self-preservation – regulated eating, sleeping and mating as per KC. 

The completely bewildered material civilization is wrongly directed towards the fulfillment of desires in sense gratification. But the Bhāgavatam says that one should not live for sense gratification. One should satisfy the senses only in as much as required for self-preservation, and not for sense gratification. Because the body is made of senses, which also require a certain amount of satisfaction, there are regulative directions for satisfaction of such senses. But the senses are not meant for unrestricted enjoyment. 

Foolish men do not know that family planning is automatically executed as soon as there is search after the Absolute Truth. Seekers of the Absolute Truth are never allured by unnecessary engagements in sense gratification because the serious students seeking the Absolute Truth are always overwhelmed with the work of researching the Truth. In every sphere of life, therefore, the ultimate end must be seeking after the Absolute Truth, and that sort of engagement will make one happy because he will be less engaged in varieties of sense gratification. And what that Absolute Truth is is explained as follows.

KEY TAKEAWAYS from HH Harivilas Maharaj’s Morning Bhagavatam class on SB 2.2.2:

1. The conditioned soul is always engaged in laying out plans for happiness within the material world even up to the end of the universal limit.
2. One thinks of a superior way of life in this country or that, or on this planet or another, but nowhere in the material world can he fulfill his real desire of life, namely eternal life, full intelligence and complete bliss.
3. There are innumerable universes and also innumerable planets in each of them. But none of them is immune to the chief miseries of material existence – birth, death, old age and disease. 
4. Conditioned souls are strictly under the laws of fruitive activities, and as such they sometimes go up to Brahmaloka and again come down to Pātālaloka, as if they were unintelligent children on a merry-go-round
5. The real happiness is in the kingdom of God, where no one has to undergo the pangs of material existence. Therefore, the Vedic ways of fruitive activities for the living entities are misleading.
6. People, in general, are not very intelligent, and due to their ignorance, they are most attached to the fruitive activities recommended in the karma-kāṇḍa portions of the Vedas. They do not want anything more than sense gratificatory proposals for enjoying life in heaven, where wine and women are available and material opulence is very common.
7. It is stated in Vedas that anyone desiring elevation to heavenly planets must perform sacrifices. Men with a poor fund of knowledge think that this is the whole purpose of Vedic wisdom (enjoying in heavenly planets). It is very difficult for such inexperienced persons to be situated in the determined action of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
8. They have no faith in liberation from material bondage, and they are very much attached to the pompous ceremonies of Vedic sacrifices.
9. Happiness derived from a combination of the senses and the sense objects is always a cause of distress and should be avoided by all means. (BG 18.38)That happiness which is derived from contact of the senses with their objects is like nectar at first but poison at the end.
10. (BG 5.16) When, however, one is enlightened with the knowledge by which nescience is destroyed, then his knowledge reveals everything, as the sun lights up everything in the daytime.
11. (BG 18.46) By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, a man can attain perfection through performing his own work.
12. The Supreme Lord is the beginning of life of every living entity. One should know that as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord one has his duty to render service unto the Supreme. In whatever occupation one may be engaged, if he serves the Supreme Lord he will achieve the highest perfection. The Supreme Lord Himself takes charge of delivering such a devotee. 
13. Everyone should be engaged in devotional service to the Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
14. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī affirms that Mahārāja Parīkṣit, in the last stage of life, should not desire to transfer himself to the so-called heavenly planets, but should prepare himself for going back home, back to Godhead. 

SB 2.2.2 TRANSLATION:

The way of presentation of the Vedic sounds is so bewildering that it directs the intelligence of the people to meaningless things like the heavenly kingdoms. The conditioned souls hover in dreams of such heavenly illusory pleasures, but actually they do not relish any tangible happiness in such places.

CLASS NOTES: 

THE CONDITIONED SOUL IS ALWAYS ENGAGED IN LAYING OUT PLANS FOR HAPPINESS WITHIN THE MATERIAL WORLD, 

even up to the end of the universal limit. He is not even satisfied with available amenities (nice things for comfort)  on this planet earth, where he has exploited the resources of nature to the best of his ability. He wants to go to the moon or the planet Venus to exploit resources there.

NONE OF THE MATERIAL PLANETS, NOR THE AMENITIES AVAILABLE THERE FOR LIVING CONDITIONS, IS EVERLASTING; THEREFORE ONE MUST HAVE A FACTUAL RELUCTANCE TO ENJOY SUCH TEMPORARY HAPPINESS AS THEY AFFORD.

There are innumerable universes and also innumerable planets in each of them. But none of them is immune to the chief miseries of material existence, namely the pangs of birth, the pangs of death, the pangs of old age and the pangs of disease. 

Conditioned souls are strictly under the laws of fruitive activities, and as such they sometimes go up to Brahmaloka and again come down to Pātālaloka, as if they were unintelligent children on a merry-go-round

The real happiness is in the kingdom of God, where no one has to undergo the pangs of material existence. Therefore, the Vedic ways of fruitive activities for the living entities are misleading.

One thinks of a superior way of life in this country or that, or on this planet or another, but nowhere in the material world can he fulfill his real desire of life, namely eternal life, full intelligence, and complete bliss.

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī affirms that Mahārāja Parīkṣit, in the last stage of life, should not desire to transfer himself to the so-called heavenly planets, but should prepare himself for going back home, back to Godhead. 

When we talk about Sastra/ Vedas – “The way of presentation of the Vedic sounds is so bewildering that it directs the intelligence of the people to meaningless things like the heavenly kingdoms. The conditioned souls hover in dreams of such heavenly illusory pleasures, but actually they do not relish any tangible happiness in such places.” Then why those sections of vedas called Karma Kanda are offered for material benefits. It is to attract the people who are not interested in KC. The whole idea is to wean them off gross sense gratification and bring them to the regulated sense gratifications. Vedas are big tents and everyone can fit under it. Those enticements – you can do the sense gratification is a nobler way, at the same time get regulated and gradually become KC. But those ritual performances for regulated sense gratification is not the purpose of Vedas. There is high purpose. This verse is related to BG 2.40

When there is something too good to believe do not believe it.
People know that people want sense gratification and they cheat them for that. The sophisticated way of fleecing is through offering Vedic rituals for sense gratification without telling the ultimate purpose of the Vedas.
Everyone wants Vaikunta in the material world. But that is not possible. 

(BG 5.16) KNOWLEDGE OF KRSNA
When, however, one is enlightened with the knowledge by which nescience is destroyed, then his knowledge reveals everything, as the sun lights up everything in the daytime.

What is needed is Knowledge of Krsna and actively performing service to please Krsna. 

(BG 18.46) IN WHATEVER OCCUPATION ONE MAY BE ENGAGED, IF HE SERVES THE SUPREME LORD HE WILL ACHIEVE THE HIGHEST PERFECTION.

By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, a man can attain perfection through performing his own work.

Really important verse in BG. 

The Supreme Lord is therefore the beginning of life of every living entity. Therefore one should worship the Supreme Lord with His energies. Generally, the Vaiṣṇava devotees worship the Supreme Lord with His internal energy.  The Supreme Lord by the expansion of His plenary portion as Paramātmā is situated everywhere. He is the Supersoul of all demigods, all human beings, all animals, everywhere. One should therefore know that as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord one has his duty to render service unto the Supreme. Everyone should be engaged in devotional service to the Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is recommended in this verse.
Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses. And by the result of the work in which one is engaged, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, should be worshiped. If one thinks always in this way, in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then, by the grace of the Lord, he becomes fully aware of everything. That is the perfection of life. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (12.7), teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā. The Supreme Lord Himself takes charge of delivering such a devotee. That is the highest perfection of life.

(BG 2.42-43) MEN OF SMALL KNOWLEDGE ARE VERY MUCH ATTACHED TO THE FLOWERY WORDS OF THE VEDAS

Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this

This is pointing out the danger of becoming addicted to regulated sense gratification by the performance of rituals of karma kanda section of vedas. The purpose is to calm down the beast with regulation, but to eventually go towards, giving up the sense gratification and satisfying only Krsna’s senses.

People in general are not very intelligent, and due to their ignorance they are most attached to the fruitive activities recommended in the karma-kāṇḍa portions of the Vedas. They do not want anything more than sense gratificatory proposals for enjoying life in heaven, where wine and women are available and material opulence is very common.

It is stated in Vedas that anyone desiring elevation to heavenly planets must perform sacrifices.

men with a poor fund of knowledge think that this is the whole purpose of Vedic wisdom. It is very difficult for such inexperienced persons to be situated in the determined action of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As fools are attached to the flowers of poisonous trees without knowing the results of such attractions, unenlightened men are similarly attracted by such heavenly opulence and the sense enjoyment thereof.

This is due to the corrupted priests, no one tells the ultimate purpose of vedas and everyone propagates only sense gratifications. There are 2 themes in every religion –
Shreyas and Preyas – Immediate result and ultimate result. 

In the karma-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas it is said, apāma somam amṛtā abhūma and akṣayyaṁ ha vai cāturmāsya-yājinaḥ sukṛtaṁ bhavati. In other words, those who perform the four-month penances become eligible to drink the soma-rasa beverages to become immortal and happy forever.

Abraham bhuvana loka… everywhere from Brahma’s highest planet to the lowest planet patala loka are places of misery. There is no question of eternity and unabated happiness. 

Even on this earth some are very eager to have soma-rasa to become strong and fit to enjoy sense gratifications.(Super foods, energy drinks, coffee , tea, … ). Such persons have no faith in liberation from material bondage, and they are very much attached to the pompous ceremonies of Vedic sacrifices

By performing vedic rituals people become attached to getting to heavenly planets and then dream of having sensual pleasures. “but actually they do not relish any tangible happiness in such places.” What starts as nectar ends as poison is in BG 18.38 

(BG 18.38) WHAT STARTS AS NECTAR ENDS AS POISON

That happiness which is derived from contact of the senses with their objects and which appears like nectar at first but poison at the end is said to be of the nature of passion.

Happiness derived from a combination of the senses and the sense objects is always a cause of distress and should be avoided by all means.

ACTING OUT OF DUTY –  GRIHASTA ASHRAMA
BG 1.31 Lecture – https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/730724bglon/

So gṛhastha means to live with wife and children, and cultivating spiritual life. That is called gṛhastha.It doesn’t matter, you live with your wife and children, or you live with brahmacārī, sannyāsī. Anything. It doesn’t matter. Therefore there are so many divisions of life. Whichever status of life is suitable for you, you can accept—brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa āśrama. Āśrama. When the word is added, āśrama, that means it has got reference with the cultivation of spiritual life. So gṛhastha-āśrama. One can live at home with wife and children, but the business should be Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

We don’t accept the Māyāvādī sannyāsī, because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Simply by becoming sannyāsī… Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: “This world is false. Brahman is truth. So I give up this world.” That kind of sannyāsī we do not accept. Either you become gṛhastha or sannyāsī or brahmacārī, there must be Kṛṣṇa. Then it will be called āśrama. Gṛhastha-āśrama, sannyāsa-āśrama, brahmacārī-āśrama. Therefore this word is added, āśrama.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.1

1. Lord Brahmaji, being the incarnation of the passion mode of material nature, is empowered by the Lord to generate the beautiful material manifestation.
2. Yet due to his being one of the numerous living entities, he is apt to forget the art of his creative energy.
3. This forgetfulness of the living being — beginning from Brahmā down to the lowest insignificant ant — is a tendency which can be counteracted by meditation on the virāṭ-rūpa of the Lord.
4. If a human being follows the instruction of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and begins to meditate upon the virāṭ-rūpa, then revival of his pure consciousness and counteraction of the tendency to forget his eternal relationship with the Lord can follow simultaneously. 
5. And as soon as this forgetfulness is removed, the vyavasāya-buddhi follows at once. 
6. This ascertained knowledge of the living being, leads to loving service to the Lord, which the living being requires. All jivas being parts and parcels of the Lord and are meant for rendering a particular pattern of service to the Lord.
7. The conditioned soul, even in the position of a Brahmā, forgets this by the influence of the illusory material energy generated out of false egoism. One can counteract such false egoism by invoking God consciousness.
8. Liberation means getting out of the slumber of forgetfulness and becoming situated in the real loving service of the Lord, as exemplified in the case of Brahmā. 
9. The service of Brahmā is the sample of service in liberation distinguished from the so-called altruistic services full of mistakes and forgetfulness. 
10. Liberation is never inaction, but service without human mistakes. 
11. Vyavasaya Budhir – (BG 2.41) –   Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.
12. A strong faith that by Kṛṣṇa consciousness one will be elevated to the highest perfection of life is called vyavasāyātmikā intelligence.
13. Faith means unflinching trust in something sublime. When one is engaged in the duties of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he need not act in relationship to the material world with obligations to family traditions, humanity or nationality. 
14. When one is awake in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, 
    • he need no longer endeavor for good results in his activities. 
    • all activities are on the absolute plane, for they are no longer subject to dualities like good and bad. 
15. The resolute purpose of a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is based on knowledge. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ: a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the rare good soul who knows perfectly that Vāsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa, is the root of all manifested causes
16. By acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can render the highest service to everyone – namely self, family, society, country, humanity, etc. If Kṛṣṇa is satisfied by one’s actions, then everyone will be satisfied.
17. Service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is best practiced under the able guidance of a spiritual master who is a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa, who knows the nature of the student and who can guide him to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
18. “By satisfaction of the spiritual master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes satisfied. And by not satisfying the spiritual master, there is no chance of being promoted to the plane of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”

SB 2.1.1 TRANSLATION

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Formerly, prior to the manifestation of the cosmos, Lord Brahmā, by meditating on the virāṭ-rūpa, regained his lost consciousness by appeasing the Lord. Thus he was able to rebuild the creation as it was before.

CLASS NOTES: 

THE EXAMPLE CITED HEREIN OF ŚRĪ BRAHMĀJĪ IS ONE OF FORGETFULNESS. MEDITATION ON THE VIRAT RUPA OF THE LORD CAN COUNTERACT THE FORGETFULNESS.

Brahmājī is the incarnation of one of the mundane attributes of the Lord. Being the incarnation of the passion mode of material nature, he is empowered by the Lord to generate the beautiful material manifestation. Yet due to his being one of the numerous living entities, he is apt to forget the art of his creative energy. This forgetfulness of the living being — beginning from Brahmā down to the lowest insignificant ant — is a tendency which can be counteracted by meditation on the virāṭ-rūpa of the Lord.

AS SOON AS THIS FORGETFULNESS IS REMOVED, THE VYAVASĀYA-BUDDHI FOLLOWS (RESOLUTE IN KC)

And as soon as this forgetfulness is removed, the vyavasāya-buddhi, as mentioned here and in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.41), follows at once. This ascertained knowledge of the living being leads to loving service to the Lord, which the living being requires. 

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS UNLIMITED; ALL JIVAS ARE MEANT FOR RENDERING A PARTICULAR PATTERN OF SERVICE TO THE LORD

 therefore the number of the assisting hands of the Lord is also unlimited. The Bhagavad-gītā (13.14) asserts that the Lord has His hands, legs, eyes and mouths in every nook and corner of His creation. This means that the expansions of differentiated parts and parcels, called jīvas or living entities, are assisting hands of the Lord, and all of them are meant for rendering a particular pattern of service to the Lord. 

The conditioned soul, even in the position of a Brahmā, forgets this by the influence of the illusory material energy generated out of false egoism. One can counteract such false egoism by invoking God consciousness.

LIBERATION IS NEVER INACTION, BUT SERVICE WITHOUT HUMAN MISTAKES.

Liberation means getting out of the slumber of forgetfulness and becoming situated in the real loving service of the Lord, as exemplified in the case of Brahmā. The service of Brahmā is the sample of service in liberation distinguished from the so-called altruistic services full of mistakes and forgetfulness. Liberation is never inaction, but service without human mistakes.

 
If we want to be a liberated person engaged in service without human mistakes that is possible.People are making mistakes everyday. A man is filing a divorce, that is a biggest mistake a man can ever do. His dharma is to protect his wife.

Liberation is never inaction – Mayavadis think that liberation is inaction. That type of renunciation is false. They are rejecting everything including Krsna. 

“The service of Brahmā is the sample of service in liberation distinguished from the so-called altruistic services full of mistakes and forgetfulness.”

Altruistic service – good natured and trying to do good to others. There is a man around the corner holding a board saying, “Vietnam vet, god bless, anything helps” –  If you give money to him, if he buys liquor then you will get the sin. If you really want to give something to him, you can give him prasadam. Service offered based on feelings and not any sastric evidence.
Analogy is not a proof, but it is not sastric. Proof is Sastra. But even there you have to be careful.  Lets read tomorrow’s verse – 

SB 2.1.2

“The way of presentation of the Vedic sounds is so bewildering that it directs the intelligence of the people to meaningless things like the heavenly kingdoms. The conditioned souls hover in dreams of such heavenly illusory pleasures, but actually they do not relish any tangible happiness in such places.”

We have to depend on vedas as explained by the acharyas in the line of Krsna, but not on our own feelings. Arjuna had his feelings.
Doing things based on feelings,  – blood is thicker than water, my family, my country, my house, Familial bonds are more important than friendships. I wake up in the morning and think, I dont feel like going to mangala arti that is feeling. BUt vow is no matter I do what I vowed for. 

Vyavasaya Budhir – (BG 2.41)
Srila Prabhupada gave so many lectures on this verese what is Krsna Consciousness, guru disciple relationship, how disciple can be successful. 

vyavasāyātmikā buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca
buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām

Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

vyavasāya-ātmikā — resolute in Kṛṣṇa consciousness;
avyavasāyinām — of those who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Resolute in KC – I am going to keep my vows in hell of heaven.
Resolute in purpose – I am only going to do things pleasing to Guru and Krsna.
Irresolute – One day they want to become rich, one day they want to increase sense gratification, one day they want to leave and become buddhist…

A strong faith that by Kṛṣṇa consciousness one will be elevated to the highest perfection of life is called vyavasāyātmikā intelligence.
The Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.62) states:

‘śraddhā’-śabde – viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya

FAITH MEANS UNFLINCHING TRUST IN SOMETHING SUBLIME.

When one is engaged in the duties of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he need not act in relationship to the material world with obligations to family traditions, humanity or nationality. 

It does not say obligations to family it says family traditions. 

FRUITIVE ACTIVITIES BOTH GOOD AND BAD ARE BAD

Fruitive activities are the engagements of one’s reactions from past good or bad deeds. When one is awake in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he need no longer endeavor for good results in his activities. 

WHEN ONE IS SITUATED IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS, ALL ACTIVITIES ARE ON THE ABSOLUTE PLANE, 

for they are no longer subject to dualities like good and bad. The highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is renunciation of the material conception of life. This state is automatically achieved by progressive Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Frutive is not a word in english. It is a word that was coined by Srila Prabhupada. It means selfish interest. It is a negative context. Fruit is a positive word. Fruits from both good and bad deeds are bad as both are binding. 

Karma Good and bad are both bad. Because they keep you in ignorance.

Karma Good and bad are both bad. Because they keep you in ignorance.
he need no longer endeavor for good results in his activities.  – Doing puja for material benefits is bad. Puja by itself is good, but doing it for fruitive results is bad. 

When one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all activities are on the absolute plane, for they are no longer subject to dualities like good and bad – Everything is based on duality in this world.  Heat and cold, happiness and sadness.. 

THE RESOLUTE PURPOSE OF A PERSON IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS IS BASED ON KNOWLEDGE. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ: a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the rare good soul who knows perfectly that Vāsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa, is the root of all manifested causes. As by watering the root of a tree one automatically distributes water to the leaves and branches, so by acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can render the highest service to everyone – namely self, family, society, country, humanity, etc. If Kṛṣṇa is satisfied by one’s actions, then everyone will be satisfied.

SERVICE IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS IS, HOWEVER, BEST PRACTICED UNDER THE ABLE GUIDANCE OF A SPIRITUAL MASTER WHO IS A BONA FIDE REPRESENTATIVE OF KṚṢṆA, WHO KNOWS THE NATURE OF THE STUDENT AND WHO CAN GUIDE HIM TO ACT IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS.

 As such, to be well versed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one has to act firmly and obey the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and one should accept the instruction of the bona fide spiritual master as one’s mission in life. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura instructs us, in his famous prayers for the spiritual master, as follows:

yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo
yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ’pi
dhyāyan stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyaṁ
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam

“By satisfaction of the spiritual master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes satisfied. And by not satisfying the spiritual master, there is no chance of being promoted to the plane of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I should, therefore, meditate and pray for his mercy three times a day, and offer my respectful obeisances unto him, my spiritual master.”

The whole process, however, depends on perfect knowledge of the soul beyond the conception of the body – not theoretically but practically, when there is no longer a chance for sense gratification manifested in fruitive activities. One who is not firmly fixed in mind is diverted by various types of fruitive acts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.1.39

1. The great gosvāmī Śrīla Śukadeva tries to impress upon us that instead of diverting our attention to several branches of self-realization, we should concentrate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the supreme object of realization, worship and devotion.
2. Self-realization is offering a fight for eternal life against the material struggle for existence, and therefore by the illusory grace of the external energy, the yogī or the devotee is faced with many allurements which can entangle a great fighter again in the bondage of material existence.
3. One is warned against such allurements (yogic powers, wealth, women) because entanglement again in such illusory pleasure means degradation of the self and further imprisonment in the material world.
4. Lord is the Supersoul of everything. When a man sees anything, he must know that his seeing is secondary and the Lord’s seeing is primary. One cannot see anything without the Lord’s having first seen it. That is the instruction of the Vedas and the Upaniṣads.
5. The virāṭ-rūpa, or the gigantic feature of the Supreme Lord, includes everything materially manifested, and therefore virat rupa of the Lord is the Supersoul of all living and nonliving entities. 
6. But the virāṭ-rūpa is also the manifestation of Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu, and going further on and on one will eventually see that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate Supersoul of everything that be.
7. The conclusion is that one should unhesitatingly become a worshiper of Lord Kṛṣṇa, or, for that matter, His plenary expansion Nārāyaṇa, and none else.
8. Being an emanation from the glancing potency of Nārāyaṇa, the whole material creation is non-different from Him. But because it is the effect of His external energy (bahiraṅgā māyā) and is aloof from the internal potency (ātma-māyā), the whole material creation is different from Him at the same time.
9. The whole material creation, therefore, is one with and different from Nārāyaṇa, simultaneously, and this supports the acintya-bhedābheda-tattva philosophy of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
10. This material creation is exactly a dreamlike creation of the Lord, but He, being the transcendental Supersoul, is neither entangled nor affected by the reactions of such a dreamlike creation. He is always in His transcendental position, but essentially, He is everything, and nothing is apart from Him. 
11. As a part of Him, one should therefore concentrate on Him only, without deviation; otherwise, one is sure to be overcome by the potencies of the material creation, one after another.
12. BG 9.7 – “O son of Kuntī, at the end of the millennium every material manifestation enters into My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency, I again create.”
13. The human life, however, is an opportunity to get out of this repetition of creation and annihilation. It is a means whereby one may escape the Lord’s external potency and enter into His internal potency

SB 2.1.39 TRANSLATION:
One should concentrate his mind upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who alone distributes Himself in so many manifestations just as ordinary persons create thousands of manifestations in dreams. One must concentrate the mind on Him, the only all-blissful Absolute Truth. Otherwise, one will be misled and will cause his own degradation.

CLASS NOTES: 

Sukhdev Goswami tries to impress upon us that instead of diverting our attention to several branches of self-realization, we should concentrate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the supreme object of realization, worship and devotion.

SELF REALIZATION IS A FIGHT FOR ETERNAL LIFE AGAINST THE MATERIAL STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

Self-realization is, as it were, offering a fight for eternal life against the material struggle for existence, and therefore by the illusory grace of the external energy, the yogī or the devotee is faced with many allurements which can entangle a great fighter again in the bondage of material existence. A yogī can attain miraculous successes in material achievements, such as aṇimā and laghimā, by which one can become more minute than the minutest or lighter than the lightest, or in the ordinary sense, one may achieve material benedictions in the shape of wealth and women. But one is warned against such allurements because entanglement again in such illusory pleasure means degradation of the self and further imprisonment in the material world. By this warning, one should follow one’s vigilant intelligence only.

Self realization offers a fight – almost everyone is bewildered by the struggle for existence that they do not have the time for the self realization. Without the self realization, we will lose the battle. Yogi can do miraculous things but they are all material benedictions and binding. All of us are re·cid·i·vist (a convicted criminal who reoffends, especially repeatedly). We are repeatedly making the same mistake of getting entangled in this material world.

LORD IS THE SUPERSOUL OF EVERYTHING. 

The Supreme Lord is one, and His expansions are various. He is therefore the Supersoul of everything. When a man sees anything, he must know that his seeing is secondary and the Lord’s seeing is primary. One cannot see anything without the Lord’s having first seen it. That is the instruction of the Vedas and the Upaniṣads. So whatever we see or do, the Supersoul of all acts of seeing or doing is the Lord.

This is a huge statement. Primary quality of everything is super soul. Secondary quality is all the measurable things. If you read philosophers, they say primary quality is something you can measure. If you do not see that primary quality is krishna then you are in illusion.

THE VIRĀṬ-RŪPA, OR THE GIGANTIC FEATURE OF THE SUPREME LORD S THE SUPERSOUL OF ALL LIVING AND NONLIVING ENTITIES.

This theory of simultaneous oneness and difference between the individual soul and the Supersoul is propounded by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. The virāṭ-rūpa, or the gigantic feature of the Supreme Lord, includes everything materially manifested, and therefore the virāṭ or gigantic feature of the Lord is the Supersoul of all living and nonliving entities. But the virāṭ-rūpa is also the manifestation of Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu, and going further on and on one will eventually see that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate Supersoul of everything that be. The conclusion is that one should unhesitatingly become a worshiper of Lord Kṛṣṇa, or, for that matter, His plenary expansion Nārāyaṇa, and none else.

People who stop at the virat rupa, the mayavadis go till brahman effulgence,  yogis go till paramatma, few stop at Narayana is the source of Krsna.

Sri Vaishnavas who say Krsna is source of Narayana – Kulasekara, Goda devi, Alwars,
If we cannot see something that does not mean that things do not exist. Animals can see and hear much better than human beings. Our senses are imperfect. 

The whole material creation, therefore, is one with and different from Nārāyaṇa, simultaneously, and this supports the acintya-bhedābheda-tattva philosophy of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

THIS MATERIAL CREATION IS EXACTLY A DREAMLIKE CREATION OF THE LORD, 

but He, being the transcendental Supersoul, is neither entangled nor affected by the reactions of such a dreamlike creation. He is always in His transcendental position, but essentially He is everything, and nothing is apart from Him. As a part of Him, one should therefore concentrate on Him only, without deviation; otherwise one is sure to be overcome by the potencies of the material creation, one after another.

REPITITION OF CREATION AND ANNIHILATION 

Bhagavad-gītā (9.7) as follows:
sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya
prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām
kalpa-kṣaye punas tāni
kalpādau visṛjāmy aham
“O son of Kuntī, at the end of the millennium every material manifestation enters into My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency, I again create.”

THE HUMAN LIFE, HOWEVER, IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET OUT OF THIS REPETITION OF CREATION AND ANNIHILATION. It is a means whereby one may escape the Lord’s external potency and enter into His internal potency.

Start a project starting today, where we do some research and write down how Krsna is different from a living entity, but yet there is a grain of similarity also. Also, every living entity is a microcosm of Krsna.  Write down How Krsna is One and different.

The ability to understand if a person is genuine or nonsense is absolutely important.
Difference between being clever and being intelligent. Clever guy knows how to obfuscate. (obscure, unclear, bewilder someone). This is what all charletons do. They are selling snake oil. It heals everything. 

SB 2.1.38

This process of concentrating on the different bodily parts of the Lord will gradually diminish the demoniac challenge of godlessness and bring about gradual development of devotional service to the Lord. Everything being a part and parcel of the complete whole, the neophyte student will gradually realize the hymns of Īśopaniṣad which state that the Supreme Lord is everywhere, and thus he will learn the art of not committing any offense to the body of the Lord. This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one’s pride in challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are parts and parcels of the supreme body.

If you talk about the toddler who sucks the breast and that woman is killed and body becomes 12 miles long. People will not understand. If you talk about the Bones, teeth, veins, limbs, hands of virat rupa, people can understand… Talking about confidential past times of Rasalila , people will diminish Krsna. Lord caitanya never preached in public. He only preached to his close associates. In the public he did sankirtan and distributed prasadam. People do not want to sit in rituals. When there is kirtan, jumping up and down, throwing flowers, taking prasadam. Lord Caitanya did large sankirtan where every living entity including animals participated with ecstasy.

They talk about inclusion, racial equality in the school, but they do not include animals…
 “diminish one’s pride”  – people are pride about car, watch, finger nail colors, dress,

Questions: 

What happens to the supersoul when the creation gets annihilated.

BG 15.18
The Supreme Lord, in His localized aspect of Paramātmā, is also described in the Vedas themselves. The following verse appears in the Vedas (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.12.3): tāvad eṣa samprasādo ’smāc charīrāt samutthāya paraṁ jyoti-rūpaṁ sampadya svena rūpeṇābhiniṣpadyate sa uttamaḥ puruṣaḥ. “The Supersoul coming out of the body enters the impersonal brahma-jyotir; then in His form He remains in His spiritual identity. That Supreme is called the Supreme Personality.” This means that the Supreme Personality is exhibiting and diffusing His spiritual effulgence, which is the ultimate illumination. That Supreme Personality also has a localized aspect as Paramātmā. By incarnating Himself as the son of Satyavatī and Parāśara, He explains the Vedic knowledge as Vyāsadeva.

KEY TAKEAWAYS from HH Harivilas Maharaj’s Morning Bhagavatam class on SB 2.1.38

1. One who seriously desires liberation should concentrate his mind on the Virat rupa form of the Lord because there is nothing more than this in the material world.
2. The goal of yoga is to fix one’s mind on Lord Krsna whether it is Virat Rupa form or Personal form of Krsna.
3. Material nature is only an order-carrying agent of the Lord.
4. Lord’s appearance in the material world as one of us is also His causeless mercy upon the fallen souls.
5. He is transcendental to all material conceptions, but by His unbounded mercy upon His pure devotees, He comes down and manifests Himself as the Personality of Godhead.
6. Materialistic philosophers and scientists are too much engrossed with atomic energy and the gigantic situation of the universal form, and they offer respect more seriously to the external phenomenal feature of material manifestations than to the noumenal principle of spiritual existence. 
7. The materialistic philosophers and scientists think of everything in terms of their own experience. Because they are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, the Lord is kind enough to demonstrate the virāṭ feature of His transcendental form.
8. Sukhdev Goswami concludes that there is nothing beyond this gigantic feature of the Lord. None of the materialistic thoughtful men can go beyond this conception.
9. Each and every item of the material manifestation entails a part of the body of the gigantic form, and thus the flickering mind can be fixed in the Lord only and nothing else.
10. This process of concentrating on the different bodily parts of the Lord will gradually diminish the demoniac challenge of godlessness and bring about gradual development of devotional service to the Lord.
11. Everything being a part and parcel of the complete whole, the neophyte student will gradually realize the hymns of Īśopaniṣad which state that the Supreme Lord is everywhere, and thus he will learn the art of not committing any offense to the body of the Lord.
12. This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one’s pride in challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are parts and parcels of the supreme body. 
13. When Kṛṣṇa comes He has no needs, for He is pūrṇa, ātmārāma. Nonetheless, He descends to this material world to protect the devotees and vanquish miscreants
14. This is the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and devotees also have the same mission. 
15. One who executes this mission of para-upakāra, performing welfare activities for people in general, is recognized by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as being very, very dear to Him. 
16. Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised this para-upakāra, and He has especially advised the inhabitants of India:“One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of  all other people.” (Cc. Ādi 9.41) On the whole, the duty of a pure Vaiṣṇava devotee is to act for the welfare of others.
17. You simply repeat what Kṛṣṇa has said in the Bhagavad-gītā, you become guru. To become guru is not… But if you want to be a bluffer, cheater, then you can talk all nonsense. But if you actually talk only Kṛṣṇa’s words, then you become a guru. It is not very difficult.

SB 2.1.38 Translation: 
I have thus explained to you the gross material gigantic conception of the Personality of Godhead. One who seriously desires liberation concentrates his mind on this form of the Lord, because there is nothing more than this in the material world.
CLASS NOTES: Material nature is only an order-carrying agent of His
In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), the Supreme Personality of Godhead has verily explained that the material nature is only an order-carrying agent of His. She is one of the different potencies of the Lord, and she acts under His direction only. As the supreme transcendental Lord, He simply casts a glance over the material principle, and thus the agitation of matter begins, and the resultant actions are manifested one after another by six kinds of gradual differentiations. All material creation is moving in that way, and thus it appears and disappears in due course.

Less intelligent persons with a poor fund of knowledge cannot accommodate the thought of this inconceivable potency of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by which He appears just like a human being (Bg. 9.11).His appearance in the material world as one of us is also His causeless mercy upon the fallen souls. He is transcendental to all material conceptions, but by His unbounded mercy upon His pure devotees, He comes down and manifests Himself as the Personality of Godhead.
Materialistic philosophers and scientists are too much engrossed with atomic energy and the gigantic situation of the universal form, and they offer respect more seriously to the external phenomenal feature of material manifestations than to the noumenal principle of spiritual existence. NOUMENOL- Exists but we cannot see, electro magnetic waves atoms, you can only know them by their work. For example, you have a maid, she comes when you are not there and she cleans the home. Once you come back and see the house clean, you know that maid came and cleaned the home. The seasons are cycling one after the other., renewal of spring every year, rising and setting of the sun, the child growing… .. This proves that something exists but you might not be able to see it with eyes… The transcendental form of the Lord is beyond the jurisdiction of such materialistic activities, and it is very difficult to conceive that the Lord can be simultaneously localized and all-pervasive because the materialistic philosophers and scientists think of everything in terms of their own experience.   

Obviously, it is a very limited level. They try and put God in their limited level. Two fish looking at the moon. One fish asks the other what is that shining in the sky, the other says it is a fish. The fish asks why it is shiny. The other fish says it is a shiny fish. The fish says now I understand. The Atheist says there is no God. Bringing everything to our level of consciousness is the work of less intelligent people. 
Because they are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, the Lord is kind enough to demonstrate the virāṭ feature of His transcendental form, and herein Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has vividly described this form of the Lord. He concludes that there is nothing beyond this gigantic feature of the Lord. None of the materialistic thoughtful men can go beyond this conception of the gigantic form.

Therefore whether you meditate on one part of Virat rupa or all parts of Virat rupa you gradually become Krsna Conscious. It is the strategy to preach to atheists or impersonalists.The minds of materialistic men are flickering and constantly changing from one aspect to another. Therefore, one is advised to think of the Lord by thinking of any part of His gigantic body, and by one’s intelligence, only one can think of Him in any manifestation of the material world — the forest, the hill, the ocean, the man, the animal, the demigod, the bird, the beast or anything else. Each and every item of the material manifestation entails a part of the body of the gigantic form, and thus the flickering mind can be fixed in the Lord only and nothing else
This process of concentrating on the different body parts of the Lord will gradually diminish the demoniac challenge of godlessness and bring about gradual development of devotional service to the Lord. The whole point of yoga is to fix the mind on Krsna, whether it is Virat rupa or the personal form

Everything being a part and parcel of the complete whole, the neophyte student will gradually realize the hymns of Īśopaniṣad which state that the Supreme Lord is everywhere, and thus he will learn the art of not committing any offense to the body of the Lord.
When we realize that God is everywhere, there is nowhere we can hide or be private. We can’t get away, He is witnessing everything we think and everything we do. Body of the ant, body of the plant everything is sacred to the devotee of the lord and for a nondevotee they are not because devotee sees everything relation to the Lord. 
This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one’s pride in challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are parts and parcels of the supreme body. 
Srila Prabhupada in his purports is explaining how everyone in this world can cooperate and work towards one common goal – everything belongs to Krsna and everything should be used in the service of Krsna.  People are being misled due to improper education, it is making people separated than united. Kali-yuga will get so bad that every home becomes a country, It has its own borders and flags and currency, No unity at all..
(ISO 5) hymns of ĪśopaniṣadThe Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.

Here is a description of some of the Supreme Lord’s transcendental activities, executed by His inconceivable potencies. The contradictions given here prove the inconceivable potencies of the Lord. “He walks, and He does not walk.” Ordinarily, if someone can walk, it is illogical to say he cannot walk. But in reference to God, such a contradiction simply serves to indicate His inconceivable power. With our limited fund of knowledge, we cannot accommodate such contradictions, and therefore we conceive of the Lord in terms of our limited powers of understanding. For example, the impersonalist philosophers of the Māyāvāda school accept only the Lord’s impersonal activities and reject His personal feature. But the members of the Bhāgavata school, adopting the perfect conception of the Lord, accept His inconceivable potencies and thus understand that He is both personal and impersonal. The bhāgavatas know that without inconceivable potencies there can be no meaning to the words “Supreme Lord.”
An athiest and a mayavadi cannot accommodate the inconceivable potencies of the lord. We see it everyday, yet people deny it due to envy and ignorance. As long as we try and bring God to our level we become atheists. A devotee is defined as Paraupakari, one who acts for the true welfare of others. One of the best descriptions for a devotee is Paraupakara. This is the major theme. Why does devotee act like that, because Krsna also is Paraupakari. He shows the Virat rupa to help the atheists and impersonalists to gradually come to the platform of devotional service. he does not have to do that. He explains how the virat rupa actually exists in the real way. He does not ignore devotees. Prabhupada talks about this in SB 10.8.4(SB 10.8.4) ParaupakaraAs factually stated by Nanda Mahārāja, Garga Muni, being a devotee, had no needs. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes He has no needs, for He is pūrṇa, ātmārāma. Nonetheless, He descends to this material world to protect the devotees and vanquish miscreants (paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām). This is the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and devotees also have the same mission. (BG 18.69)One who executes this mission of para-upakāra, performing welfare activities for people in general, is recognized by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as being very, very dear to Him (na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ). 
Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised this para-upakāra, and He has especially advised the inhabitants of India:
“One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.” (Cc. Ādi 9.41) On the whole, the duty of a pure Vaiṣṇava devotee is to act for the welfare of others.

BG 9.3 lecture – Toronto (https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/760620bgtor/)

So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to enlighten people so that they can accept these principles of Bhagavad-gītā. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission is para-upakāra. And He advises everyone, especially Indians, to become a guru. He said, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128] = “Every one of you, you become a guru and try to deliver the persons where you are living.” “So how can I become guru?” “Yes, it is very easy.” “What is that?” Yāre dekha tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128], then you become guru. You simply repeat what Kṛṣṇa has said in the Bhagavad-gītā, you become guru. To become guru is not… But if you want to be a bluffer, cheater, then you can talk all nonsense. But if you actually talk only Kṛṣṇa’s words, then you become a guru. It is not very difficult.

This is the message of Krsna, Lord Caitanya and all Vaishnava acharyas. Simply repeat what Krsna said in Bhagavadgita and become a guru. It is important we understand what the aim of life is – to learn Bhagavadgita and teach it to others and acting for the true welfare of others. Do not become a miopic speculator to bring the Lord to your own level. BG 9.11 – The whole world is controlled by the Lord. That is why everything, works, everything is predictable, every year there is the repetition of season, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle that is functioning and working in a predictable way.

This purport today is very important. – This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one’s pride in challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are parts and parcels of the supreme body.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.1.37

1. Krishna Consciousness is Monotheistic. All varieties of demigods are included in the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; they are only the parts and parcels of the original whole. 
2. The divisions of the orders of human society, namely the brāhmaṇas (the intelligent class), the kṣatriyas (the administrators), the vaiśyas (the mercantile community) and the śūdras (the laborer class), are all included in the body of the Supreme. 
3. Hence all classes of men are recommended to perform sacrifice to the Supreme Lord, with feasible goods in order  to please the Lord. One does not have to perform sacrifices to many demigods under different names as mentioned in the Vedic literatures.
4. Generally, the sacrifice is offered with clarified butter and grains, but with the progress of time, human society has produced varieties of goods by transforming materials supplied by God’s material nature. 
5. Human society, therefore, must learn to offer sacrifices not only with clarified butter, but also with other *manufactured goods* in the propagation of the Lord’s glory, and that will bring about perfection in human society. – THIS MEANS THAT WE HAVE TO USE EVERYTHING IN LORD’s SERVICE.
6. By development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can know that everything has its use in the service of the Lord.
7. Those who are without knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness artificially try to avoid material objects, and as a result, although they desire liberation from material bondage, they do not attain to the perfect stage of renunciation. Their so-called renunciation is called phalgu, or less important.
8. On the other hand, a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness knows how to use everything in the service of the Lord; Thus everything becomes spiritualized, and there is no danger of a downfall and he does not become a victim of material consciousness.
9. By the cooperation of all classes of human beings, the sacrifice recommended in this age, namely the sacrifice of congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, may be executed for the common welfare of all the people of the world.
10. The sacrifice of Congregational Chanting of the holy name of the lord it not only benefits human beings, but every living entity both moving and non moving. This is demonstrated by Lord Caitanya Maha Prabhu. 
11. Various birds, including the peacock, saw Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and began to follow Him, chanting and dancing. They were all maddened by the holy nam.e of Kṛṣṇa.
12. When the Lord loudly chanted “Haribol!” the trees and creepers became jubilant to hear Him.The loud chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is so powerful that it can even penetrate the ears of trees and creepers, what to speak of those of animals and human beings. 
13. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu once asked Haridāsa Ṭhākura how trees and plants could be delivered, and Haridāsa Ṭhākura replied that the loud chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra would benefit not only trees and plants but insects and all other living beings. One should therefore not be disturbed by the loud chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, for it is beneficial not only to the chanter but to everyone who gets an opportunity to hear.
14. Thus all living entities in the forest of Jhārikhaṇḍa — some moving and some standing still — became maddened by hearing the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa vibrated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
15. In all the villages through which the Lord passed and in all the places He rested on His journey, everyone was purified and awakened to ecstatic love of God.
16. First, the holy name is vibrated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When someone hears from Him directly, he is purified. When another person hears from that person, he also is purified. In this way the purification process is advanced among pure devotees.
17. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and no one can claim His potency. 
18. Nonetheless, if one is a pure devotee, hundreds and thousands of men can be purified by his vibration. This potency is within every living being, provided he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra offenselessly and without material motives. 
19. When a pure devotee chants offenselessly, another person will become a Vaiṣṇava, and from him another Vaiṣṇava will emerge. This is the paramparā system.

SB 2.1.37 TRANSLATION: 
The virāṭ-puruṣa’s face is the brāhmaṇas, His arms are the kṣatriyas, His thighs are the vaiśyas, and the śūdras are under the protection of His feet. All the worshipable demigods are also overtaken by Him, and it is the duty of everyone to perform sacrifices with feasible goods to appease the Lord.

CLASS NOTES: 

MONOTHEISM IS PRACTICALLY SUGGESTED HERE

Offering sacrifices to many demigods under different names is mentioned in the Vedic literatures, but the suggestion made in this verse is that all those varieties of demigods are included in the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; they are only the parts and parcels of the original whole. 

The divisions of the orders of human society, namely the brāhmaṇas (the intelligent class), the kṣatriyas (the administrators), the vaiśyas (the mercantile community) and the śūdras (the laborer class), are all included in the body of the Supreme. 

SACRIFICE TO THE SUPREME LORD IS RECOMMENDED 

Sacrifice by all divisions of the human society,  in terms of pleasing the Supreme by feasible goods is recommended. Generally, the sacrifice is offered with clarified butter and grains, but with the progress of time, human society has produced varieties of goods by transforming materials supplied by God’s material nature. Human society, therefore, must learn to offer sacrifices not only with clarified butter, but also with other manufactured goods in the propagation of the Lord’s glory, and that will bring about perfection in human society.

The intelligent class of men, or brāhmaṇas, may give direction for such sacrifices in consultation with the previous ācāryas; the administrators may give all facilities to perform such sacrifices; the vaiśya class or mercantile community, who produce such goods, may offer them for sacrifice; and the śūdra class may offer their manual labor for the successful termination of such sacrifice

Thus by the cooperation of all classes of human beings, the sacrifice recommended in this age, namely the sacrifice of congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, may be executed for the common welfare of all the people of the world.

This is a brilliant explanation of text 37 by Srila Prabhupada. It begins by explaining different parts of Virat rupa, and he explains Monotheism is practically suggested here. Krsna Consciousness is monothiestic. Western people claim that monotheism begin with persians…zoroastrianism. . It was a speculative theory and was false. In modern times many are propagation of polytheism.

The concept of Godhead should be understood also. God is defined by Pancha tattva. Caitanya mahaprabhu, Advaita Acharya – Vishnu, Gadhadhara pandit – Radha rani, Srivas – Narada muni devotee.

Krishna – Balaram – 1st Chaturvyuha, 2nd chatur vyuha,
Ksirodakasayi Vishnu –
Krishna is never alone, he always expands Himself and appears along with his associates.
KC is strictly monotheistic, but yet you have acintya abeda beda tattva, simultaneous oneness and different … Lord Caitanya exhibits this through the Pancha Tattva.
The whole concept of Godhead is the KC.
Muslims – strict oneness – only one God
Christians – one god… 
Jewish Christian, Zoroastrianism – Speculative oneness
They all do not have the knowledge who God is, how he expands, what are his activities.
Mosses – prophet, they do not put him on the same level as Allah.
To know the truth we need to go back to the original Vedas.
Compartmentalism – We only use ghee or grains for sacrifice. We dont use subways, planes, laptops, bridges, roads.. 
Human society, therefore, must learn to offer sacrifices not only with clarified butter, but also with other manufactured goods in the propagation of the Lord’s glory, and that will bring about perfection in human society. – THIS MEANS THAT WE HAVE TO USE EVERYTHING IN LORDS service
When I go to temple I can pray once I go out,  I can do whatever I want. 

(BG 2.63) SHOWS INCOMPLETE NATURE OF RENUNCIATION OF MAYAVADIS AND IMPERSONALISTS AND ALSO DESCRIBES HOW EVERYTHING CAN BE USED IN THE SERVICE OF THE LORD

By development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can know that everything has its use in the service of the Lord. Those who are without knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness artificially try to avoid material objects, and as a result, although they desire liberation from material bondage, they do not attain to the perfect stage of renunciation. Their so-called renunciation is called phalgu, or less important. On the other hand, a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness knows how to use everything in the service of the Lord; therefore he does not become a victim of material consciousness.

Incomplete nature of renunciation of Mayavadis and Impersonalists

For example, for an impersonalist, the Lord, or the Absolute, being impersonal, cannot eat. Whereas an impersonalist tries to avoid good eatables, a devotee knows that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme enjoyer and that He eats all that is offered to Him in devotion. So, after offering good eatables to the Lord, the devotee takes the remnants, called prasādam. Thus everything becomes spiritualized, and there is no danger of a downfall. The devotee takes prasādam in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas the non devotee rejects it as material. The impersonalist, therefore, cannot enjoy life, due to his artificial renunciation; and for this reason, a slight agitation of the mind pulls him down again into the pool of material existence. It is said that such a soul, even though rising up to the point of liberation, falls down again due to his not having support in devotional service.

Christians, Muslims, Jews, …  have knwodledge of some parts which are useful, but they do not have complete understanding. Hence they have wars, fights,…
General theme in India when Father dies – who gets what, fight between siblings..
Incomplete knowledge is a dangerous thing. Therefore we have to read the whole BG, whole SB one verse at a time. Drop by drop the cup is filled.
In the same way knowledge and wealth are gained drop by drop. Someone who becomes rich overnight will not be able to benefit out of it.

Dad and son story – Son asked for money and Dad said you need to work for it. 

Moral of the story – Everything belongs to Krsna, and you have to do everything for Krsna and use everything in the service of Krsna. 

Unless you understand who owns everything you will never be able to deal with money properly. It will be an obstacle to Spiritual life rather than being a help for spiritual life.
 By development of KC one can know that everything has its use in service of Krsna.

The love of money is the root of all evil. It does not mean that money is evil. It means if one is too attched to use Money for sense gratification that is root cause of all evil.  Therefore the first thing one must learn is the concept of proprietorship. It isnot known in capitalism, socialism, anarchism, communism,,,,  it is only known through Krsna Consciousness. Everything belongs to Krsna and only be used in the service of Krsna. 

Even if one has more needs due to being married, those needs have to be minimized or controlled  as per acoording to spiritual principles and that way one does not become victim of maya. But as soon as one deviates, gets entangled in Maya and has less time for spiritual life and engages more and more time in material things. 

If you Have money – you are worried about how not  tolose it
If No money – you are worried how to earn more money,,, 

Thus by the cooperation of all classes of human beings, the sacrifice recommended in this age, namely the sacrifice of congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, may be executed for the common welfare of all the people of the world.

The basis of cooperaation of all classes of society is to perform the sacrifice of congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord. There will be harmony across all classes(national level, individual level, family level….) because of one over riding purpose everyone is working towards, that is pleasing Krsna, Guru and cooperate, so that everyone can make spiritual progress, not only humans, but animals and plants too.. This is what Sri Chaitanya Maha Prabhu demonstrated. 

CC MADHYA 17.34: 

Sometimes Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chanted very loudly while passing through the jungle. Hearing His sweet voice, all the does came near Him.
CC MADHYA 17.35: 

Hearing the Lord’s great vibration, all the does followed Him left and right. While reciting a verse with great curiosity, the Lord patted them.
CC MADHYA 17.36: 

“ ‘Blessed are all these foolish deer because they have approached Mahārāja Nanda’s son, who is gorgeously dressed and is playing on His flute. Indeed, both the does and the bucks worship the Lord with looks of love and affection.’ ”

CC MADHYA 17.37: 

While Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was passing through the jungle, five or seven tigers came. Joining the deer, the tigers began to follow the Lord.

CC MADHYA 17.38: 

Seeing the tigers and deer following Him, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately remembered the land of Vṛndāvana. He then began to recite a verse describing the transcendental quality of Vṛndāvana.

CC MADHYA 17.39: 

“ ‘Vṛndāvana is the transcendental abode of the Lord. There is no hunger, anger or thirst there. Though naturally inimical, human beings and fierce animals live together there in transcendental friendship.’ ”

CC MADHYA 17.40: 

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said “Chant ‘Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!’ ” the tigers and deer began to chant “Kṛṣṇa!” and dance.

CC MADHYA 17.41: 

When all the tigers and does danced and jumped, Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya saw them and was struck with wonder.

CC MADHYA 17.42: 

Indeed, the tigers and deer began to embrace one another, and touching mouths, they began to kiss.

CC MADHYA 17.43:

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw all this fun, He began to smile. Finally He left the animals and continued on His way.

CC MADHYA 17.44: 

Various birds, including the peacock, saw Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and began to follow Him, chanting and dancing. They were all maddened by the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.

CC MADHYA 17.45: 

When the Lord loudly chanted “Haribol!” the trees and creepers became jubilant to hear Him.

The loud chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is so powerful that it can even penetrate the ears of trees and creepers, what to speak of those of animals and human beings. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu once asked Haridāsa Ṭhākura how trees and plants could be delivered, and Haridāsa Ṭhākura replied that the loud chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra would benefit not only trees and plants but insects and all other living beings. One should therefore not be disturbed by the loud chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, for it is beneficial not only to the chanter but to everyone who gets an opportunity to hear.
CC MADHYA 17.46: 

Thus all living entities in the forest of Jhārikhaṇḍa — some moving and some standing still — became maddened by hearing the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa vibrated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

CC MADHYA 17.47
In all the villages through which the Lord passed and in all the places He rested on His journey, everyone was purified and awakened to ecstatic love of God.

CC Madhya 17.48-49
When someone heard the chanting of the holy name from the mouth of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and someone else heard this chanting from that second person, and someone again heard this chanting from the third person, everyone in all countries became a Vaiṣṇava through such disciplic succession. Thus everyone chanted the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and Hari, and they danced, cried and smiled.

THE TRANSCENDENTAL POTENCY OF THE HARE KṚṢṆA MAHĀ-MANTRA IS HEREIN EXPLAINED. 

First, the holy name is vibrated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When someone hears from Him directly, he is purified. When another person hears from that person, he also is purified. In this way the purification process is advanced among pure devotees. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and no one can claim His potency. Nonetheless, if one is a pure devotee, hundreds and thousands of men can be purified by his vibration. This potency is within every living being, provided he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra offenselessly and without material motives. When a pure devotee chants offenselessly, another person will become a Vaiṣṇava, and from him another Vaiṣṇava will emerge. This is the paramparā system.

This explains the prime importance of Chanting of Hare Krsna Maha Mantra in Kali Yuga. If it is very very effective if it is done properly Without commiting any offense, with the pure desire to please Krsna. It not only benifits human beings but also all living entities, moving and non moving. So this loud chanting of Hare Krsna is very important. At every step of our life we must be chanting in one way or the other and encourage others to take up chanting. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.1.34-36

1. The aesthetic sense of the Lord is manifested in the artistic, colorful creation of varieties of birds like the peacock, parrot and cuckoo
2. The musical rhythm of the celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas and Vidyādhara, represents the musical sense of the Lord.
3. Lord’s musical taste, artistic sense, and standard intelligence, which is never fallible, are different signs of His supreme personality. How then can He be impersonal?
4. Human society is the residential quarters for the Lord. This means that the human being is meant for God-realization and association with God.
5. This life is a chance for the conditioned soul to regain his eternal God-consciousness and thus fulfill the mission of life. 
6. Disruption in the matter of discharging the specific duty assigned to each and every living being is the cause of disharmony between one living being and another.  
7. But when the relation is reestablished in relation with the Supreme Lord, there is complete unity between all living beings, even up to the limit of the wild animals and human society.
8. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu displayed this living unity in the jungle of Madhya Pradesh, where even the tigers, elephants and many other ferocious animals perfectly cooperated in glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is the way to peace and amity all over the world.
9. BG 2.66 – One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?
10. This verse tells us how  – transcendental intelligence, steady mind => Peace => Happiness are connected in a progressive way. 
11. One cannot be a successful preacher if one is not happy. 
12. The gopīs were aware of the reason for Kṛṣṇa’s sudden disappearance. They could understand that when they had been enjoying Kṛṣṇa they thought themselves to be the most fortunate women within the universe, and since they were feeling proud, Kṛṣṇa had disappeared immediately just to curb their pride.
13. Kṛṣṇa does not like His devotees to be proud of their service to Him. He accepts everyone’s service, but He does not like one devotee to proudly consider himself better than others. If sometimes there are such feelings, Kṛṣṇa ends them by changing His attitude toward the devotee.
14. Worship means to adore or to show respect and honor to the worthy one. But service with love and faith is especially meant for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 
15. One can avoid worshiping a respectable man or a demigod and may be called discourteous, but one cannot avoid serving the Supreme Lord without being thoroughly condemned. 
16. Every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus every living entity is intended to serve the Supreme Lord by his own constitution. Failing to do this, he falls down. 
17. SB 11.5.3 – “Anyone who does not render service and neglects his duty unto the primeval Lord, who is the source of all living entities, will certainly fall down from his constitutional position.”
18. When Goips saw that it was getting gradually darker, they stopped. Their mind and intelligence became absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa; they all imitated the activities of Kṛṣṇa and His speeches. Due to their heart and soul being completely given to Kṛṣṇa, they began to chant His glories, completely forgetting their family interests. In this way, all the gopīs returned to the bank of the Yamunā and assembled there, and expecting that Kṛṣṇa must return to them, they simply engaged in chanting the glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa – Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

SB 2.1.34 TRANSLATION: 

O best amongst the Kurus, the clouds which carry water are the hairs on His head, the terminations of days or nights are His dress, and the supreme cause of material creation is His intelligence. His mind is the moon, the reservoir of all changes.

SB 2.1.35 TRANSLATION:

The principle of matter [mahat-tattva] is the consciousness of the omnipresent Lord, as asserted by the experts, and Rudradeva is His ego. The horse, mule, camel and elephant are His nails, and wild animals and all quadrupeds are situated in the belt zone of the Lord.

SB 2.1.36 TRANSLATION: 

Varieties of birds are indications of His masterful artistic sense. Manu, the father of mankind, is the emblem of His standard intelligence, and humanity is His residence. The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas, Vidyādharas, Cāraṇas and angels, all represent His musical rhythm, and the demoniac soldiers are representations of His wonderful prowess.

CLASS NOTES: 

(SB 2.1.36) HIS MUSICAL TASTE, ARTISTIC SENSE AND STANDARD INTELLIGENCE, WHICH IS NEVER FALLIBLE, ARE DIFFERENT SIGNS OF HIS SUPREME PERSONALITY.

The aesthetic sense of the Lord is manifested in the artistic, colorful creation of varieties of birds like the peacock, parrot and cuckoo.The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas and Vidyādharas, can sing wonderfully and can entice even the minds of the heavenly demigods. Their musical rhythm represents the musical sense of the Lord. How then can He be impersonal? His musical taste, artistic sense and standard intelligence, which is never fallible, are different signs of His supreme personality.

Human society is the residential quarters for the Lord. 

This means that the human being is meant for God-realization and association with God. This life is a chance for the conditioned soul to regain his eternal God-consciousness and thus fulfill the mission of life. 

None of the living beings is away from the Lord’s gigantic body. Each and everyone has a particular duty in relation to the supreme body. Disruption in the matter of discharging the specific duty assigned to each and every living being is the cause of disharmony between one living being and another, but when the relation is reestablished in relation with the Supreme Lord, there is complete unity between all living beings, even up to the limit of the wild animals and human society.  That is the way to peace and amity all over the world.

People need peace to be happy. Inorder to attain love they need happiness. Peace, love, happiness is connected in a progressive way. 

BG 2.66

nāsti buddhir ayuktasya

na cāyuktasya bhāvanā

na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir

aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham

One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

Happiness > Peace > transcendental intelligence, steady mind

A person who is not happy cannot be a successful preacher.
If you are constantly thinking of Krsna then you are a liberated person whether you are in Goloka or on this planet.
Kaamsa was constantly thinking of Krsna, how to kill him. This is not a favorable way of thinking.  Cowherd boys, Gopis, Nanda Maharaj & Yasodamayi are thinking in a favorable way.
Just like the sun can clean dirty things without becoming contaminated. Anyone who thinks even in an unfavorable way gets liberated. Prophylactic and antiseptic.
When you see a peacock, hummingbird you will be amazed by the creation.  The hummingbird stays at one place in the sky for a long time. There are many wonderful things in the world. You will look at them when you read about them.

False pride – incapable to perform austerity
Too much attraction to the opposite – cleanliness is destroyed
Meat eating – agitates mind and causes contamination


Meat-eating, gambling, intoxication, illicit sex – Department of argumentation.
If you read SB carefully, you begin to understand how material life is destroyed by these four things.

People who are Krsna Conscious are Tolerant, forgiving, peaceful, they diminish the material needs to the bare minimum. Krishna Consciousness is a science and not sentimentalism based on the solid foundation of Spiritual Absolute truths. 

The other day we were discussing how the wives of Krsna were meditating on HIm. Now we will learn about the Gopis.

KRISHNA BOOK CHAPTER 30 

The gopīs were aware of the reason for Kṛṣṇa’s sudden disappearance.

He has disappeared because of our pride.” The gopīs were aware of the reason for Kṛṣṇa’s sudden disappearance. They could understand that when they had been enjoying Kṛṣṇa they thought themselves to be the most fortunate women within the universe, and since they were feeling proud, Kṛṣṇa had disappeared immediately just to curb their pride. Kṛṣṇa does not like His devotees to be proud of their service to Him. He accepts everyone’s service, but He does not like one devotee to proudly consider himself better than others. If sometimes there are such feelings, Kṛṣṇa ends them by changing His attitude toward the devotee.

When someone is in transcendental love of Krsna they cannot divert their mind on anything else except Krsna. When we develop the love for the transcendental past times of the lord… 

BG 6.47
yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
sa me yukta-tamo mataḥ

And of all yogīs, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me – he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.

4 requisite qualities to become a pure devotee.

1. One has great faith in the Lord
2. Always is completely dependant on the Lord
3. Always thinks of the Lord
4. Always engages in the devotional service of the Lord

What is a pure devotee – intimately united with the Lord in consciousness without any deviation. 

A DEVOTEE IS ALWAYS ACTIVE AND PERFORMING DEVOTIONAL SERVICE. 

The word bhajate is significant here. Bhajate has its root in the verb bhaj, which is used when there is need of service. The English word “worship” cannot be used in the same sense as bhaj. Worship means to adore, or to show respect and honor to the worthy one. But service with love and faith is especially meant for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can avoid worshiping a respectable man or a demigod and may be called discourteous, but one cannot avoid serving the Supreme Lord without being thoroughly condemned. Every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus every living entity is intended to serve the Supreme Lord by his own constitution. Failing to do this, he falls down. The Bhāgavatam (11.5.3) confirms this as follows:

If you go to a church you are a spectator, if you do a puja you are a spectator. You are not involved. But in devotional service there is constant activity. Cooking, cleaning, bathing, … Full engagement in Krsna’s service.

ya eṣāṁ puruṣaṁ sākṣād
ātma-prabhavam īśvaram
na bhajanty avajānanti
sthānād bhraṣṭāḥ patanty adhaḥ

“Anyone who does not render service and neglects his duty unto the primeval Lord, who is the source of all living entities, will certainly fall down from his constitutional position.”

Direct Krsna Consciousness is constant direct activity all the time. What inhibits that activity- meat-eating, gambling, illicit connections, intoxication.
Incorporate culture, they play these games to help people to cooperate and conduct seminars to bond people. How can people cooperate they eat meat, drink wine and have sex… This does not work.
The Gopis much further in this type of craziness which is transcendental.

GOPIS ARE EXTREMELY SENSITIVE TO THE STIMULI OF KRSNA

It appears,” they addressed the deer, “that Kṛṣṇa, who is the Supreme Nārāyaṇa Himself, must have passed through this way along with His companion, Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune. Otherwise, how is it possible that the aroma of His garland, which is smeared with the red kuṅkuma from the breasts of the goddess of fortune, can be perceived in the breeze blowing here? It appears that they must have passed through here and touched your bodies, and thus you are feeling so pleasant and are looking toward us with sympathy. Will you kindly, therefore, inform us which way Kṛṣṇa has gone?

It appears that the flowers of the creepers must have been touched by the nails of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, how could they feel so jubilant?”

They were very much intense in the love of Krsna….Different levels of Intensity of love for Krsna. 

When they saw that it was getting gradually darker, they stopped. Their mind and intelligence became absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa; they all imitated the activities of Kṛṣṇa and His speeches. Due to their heart and soul being completely given to Kṛṣṇa, they began to chant His glories, completely forgetting their family interests. In this way, all the gopīs returned to the bank of the Yamunā and assembled there, and expecting that Kṛṣṇa must return to them, they simply engaged in chanting the glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa – Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

HOW DO WE DEVELOP THAT KIND OF LOVE FOR KRSNA-

Krsna Consciousness is an active service with love and affection. We are the Humble servant of the lord. We should not become proud. Active service is always serving to please the Lord.
A devotee never goes away from the service, they never give up their service. Rather, They add more services.  Chanting, preaching, cooking, dancing…
To actively engage in service – 
Not eat too much, sleep too much, not eat too little not sleep too little. Lead a balanced life, so we are always active and can serve Krsna. Srila Prabhupada till the last moment was active dictating the translations of Srimad Bhagavatam.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.1.33

1. By studying the rivers, trees, air, and passing ages, one can conceive of the Personality of Godhead without being misled by the formless conception of the Lord. 
2. In BG (12.5) it is stated that those who are much inclined to the formless conception of the Supreme Truth are more troubled than those who can intelligently conceive of the personal form.
3. The Personality of Godhead is not a dead stone, nor is He inactive, as is poorly thought by some schools. 
4. The power behind the activities is the supervision of the Lord, and thus the Lord is never inactive as is wrongly conceived. Not a blade of grass moves without His sanction. 
5. BG 3.22 – O son of Pṛthā, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I a need to obtain anything – and yet I am engaged in prescribed duties.
6. BG 3.23 – For if I ever failed to engage in carefully performing prescribed duties, O Pārtha, certainly all men would follow My path.
7. From the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa was performing all the religious duties at home and out of home, as required of a householder.
8. BG 3.34 – If I did not perform prescribed duties, all these worlds would be put to ruination. I would be the cause of creating an unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all living beings.
9. Although the rules and regulations are for the conditioned souls and not Lord Kṛṣṇa, because He descended to establish the principles of religion He followed the prescribed rules. Otherwise, common men would follow in His footsteps, because He is the greatest authority.
10. Although we have to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, we still have to remember that we cannot imitate Him.  
11. BG 3.25 – As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.
12. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and a person not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are differentiated by different desires. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not do anything which is not conducive to the development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
13. He may even act exactly like the ignorant person, who is too much attached to material activities, but one who is not Krsna Conscious is engaged in such activities for the satisfaction of his sense gratification, whereas the other is engaged for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa.
14. BG 3.26 – So as not to disrupt the minds of ignorant men attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not induce them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities [for the gradual development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness].
15. The learned Kṛṣṇa conscious person may act in such a way that the ignorant person working for sense gratification may learn how to act and how to behave. 
16. A slightly developed Kṛṣṇa conscious person may directly be engaged in the service of the Lord without waiting for other Vedic formulas. For this fortunate man, there is no need to follow the Vedic rituals, because by direct Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can have all the results one would otherwise derive from following one’s prescribed duties.
    

SB 2.1.33

O King, the rivers are the veins of the gigantic body, the trees are the hairs of His body, and the omnipotent air is His breath. The passing ages are His movements, and His activities are the reactions of the three modes of material nature.

CLASS NOTES: 

(SB 2.1.33) EVEN BY STUDYING THE RIVERS, TREES, AIR AND PASSING AGES, ONE CAN CONCEIVE OF THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD WITHOUT BEING MISLED BY THE FORMLESS CONCEPTION OF THE LORD. 

The Personality of Godhead is not a dead stone, nor is He inactive, as is poorly thought by some schools. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.12), the modes of nature act under His direction only, and as such no natural functions are blind or automatic. The power behind the activities is the supervision of the Lord, and thus the Lord is never inactive as is wrongly conceived.

The Vedas say that the Supreme Lord has nothing to do personally, as is always the case with superiors, but everything is done by His direction. As it is said, not a blade of grass moves without His sanction. 

So even by studying the rivers, trees, air and passing ages, one can conceive of the Personality of Godhead without being misled by the formless conception of the Lord. 

In the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) it is stated that those who are much inclined to the formless conception of the Supreme Truth are more troubled than those who can intelligently conceive of the personal form.

More detailed information on Virat rupa which is recommended to people who are materially inclined and are envious of the personal form of the lord.
Baby, child, adult, old… we have a material body, he has a spiritual body. Even though Lord appears as baby, child, man…. He retains his absolute nature. He is cognizant of every nook and corner of the creation. He is active. Philosophers of sankya yoga say, even if there is God, he does creation and retires and laws of nature take over. No, He is active he controls the 3 modes and is not controlled by them. 

(BG 3.22) THERE IS NO WORK PRESCRIBED FOR THE LORD WITHIN ALL THE THREE PLANETARY SYSTEMS
O son of Pṛthā, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I a need to obtain anything – and yet I am engaged in prescribed duties.

(BG 3.23) LORD KṚṢṆA WAS PERFORMING ALL THE RELIGIOUS DUTIES AT HOME AND OUT OF HOME, AS REQUIRED OF A HOUSEHOLDER
For if I ever failed to engage in carefully performing prescribed duties, O Pārtha, certainly all men would follow My path.

Although such rules and regulations are for the conditioned souls and not Lord Kṛṣṇa, because He descended to establish the principles of religion He followed the prescribed rules. Otherwise, common men would follow in His footsteps, because He is the greatest authority. From the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa was performing all the religious duties at home and out of home, as required of a householder.

Krishna is not obliged to do anything, but as the maintainer of dharma, he performs duties.

(BG 2.34) IF THE LIVING ENTITIES ARE MISGUIDED, INDIRECTLY THE RESPONSIBILITY GOES TO THE LORD
If I did not perform prescribed duties, all these worlds would be put to ruination. I would be the cause of creating an unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all living beings.

Varṇa-saṅkara is an unwanted population that disturbs the peace of the general society. 

The Lord is the father of all living entities, and if the living entities are misguided, indirectly the responsibility goes to the Lord.

We have to follow lord”s instructions, but we may not imitate him at any time. 

although we have to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, we still have to remember that we cannot imitate Him. Following and imitating are not on the same level. We cannot imitate the Lord by lifting Govardhana Hill, as the Lord did in His childhood. It is impossible for any human being.

Anusara – Following – example of the lord as grihastha – should be followed

Anukara – Imitate – Lord lifting Govardhan hill – should not imitate

Shivoham – Means I am Shiva. Sadguru says he is drinking poison, he is not able to drink ocean of poison like Shiva. Unless we understand the sophistry of these imposters, people get fascinated by the glittery presentations of the imposters.
There is a preacher called Jim Jones – used to display all theatrical miracles and He organized a massive suicide… later get prosecuted. If anyone claims to be God they have to show the Virat Rupa.

There is a large population of children who are not being properly educated by the parents and they end up causing the social disturbance.

(BG 3.25) (V IMP VERSE) DUTY OF THE DEVOTEE

As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.

A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and a person not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are differentiated by different desires.
A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not do anything which is not conducive to development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He may even act exactly like the ignorant person, who is too much attached to material activities, but one is engaged in such activities for the satisfaction of his sense gratification, whereas the other is engaged for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, the Kṛṣṇa conscious person is required to show the people how to act and how to engage the results of action for the purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

What do they do with the result of their work and what is the aim of life – to please guru and Krsna. We have to show the right example. 

(BG 3.26) A DEVOTEE BY WORKING IN THE SPIRIT OF DEVOTION, HE SHOULD ENGAGE THEM IN ALL SORTS OF ACTIVITIES

So as not to disrupt the minds of ignorant men attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not induce them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities [for the gradual development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness].

Examples – washing pots and dishes in the temple. Initiated devotees not doing that and engaging non initiated devotees to do that. That is an extremely bad example to show. This is indicating that we are higher, we are Brahmanas, we cannot wash pots… so we engage non initiated devotees,,, Even though one may not tell so, the actions imply.

Washing the dishes or dressing the deities it is the same. The person who thinks otherwise is nonsense. You serve along with other people and You train other people and give them a chance to do it.

A realized soul in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should not disturb others in their activities or understanding, but he should act by showing how the results of all work can be dedicated to the service of Kṛṣṇa. The learned Kṛṣṇa conscious person may act in such a way that the ignorant person working for sense gratification may learn how to act and how to behave. Although the ignorant man is not to be disturbed in his activities, a slightly developed Kṛṣṇa conscious person may directly be engaged in the service of the Lord without waiting for other Vedic formulas. For this fortunate man there is no need to follow the Vedic rituals, because by direct Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can have all the results one would otherwise derive from following one’s prescribed duties.

Jayananda – he was a devotee who did this. He was a highly advanced devotee who did mundane labor and engaged people. He made many many devotees. He trained many devotees. He built the first rath yatra cart. He got leukemia, he inherited a lot of money, he gave the whole amount to Srila Prabhupada.  SP asked him to get cured with that. He sent it back and said SP you can use it for the service of the Lord. He was the first saintly devotee.

Train people, engage them, not look down on people. We should all be extremely humble by giving association and engaging them in Krsna Consciousness.

Activity – Chanting, Mangal Arti, hearing lectures, cooking, cleaning,
People who use pots have to clean them.
The kitchen is as holy as the altar.
Krishna Consciousness – The more you advance the more humble you become. The exalted position is humility and unmotivated service.
Our duty – always be active, never any nonsense during the day. Be active in training and engaging people in the Krsna Consciousness.
We do not have a class consciousness movement. We are DAS’s any little service is done with enthusiasm. Every part of the temple and every service in the temple is holy. Unless we have that attitude.

Many possibilities to preach as a Grihasta. We should always attach ourselves to someone to cultivate. Indians love cows. If we don’t understand that we missed something big. Our duty is to inspire others to take Krsna Consciousness.

There was a couple who used to come and wash dishes together in the temple. After they stopped coming their relationship drifted apart. Serving Krsna together will bond us well. That should be the prime duty of Grihastas.