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SB 2.2.35 part 4 Notes – 05/05/21

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.35 – Part 4

  1. The superior principle of Superself is guiding and supplying us according to our desire.
  2. By taking advantage of the guidance of Superself in the form of intelligence, we can either continue to study and to put into practice our conclusion that “I am not this body,” or we can choose to remain in the false material identification, fancying ourselves to be the possessors and doers.
  3. Our freedom consists in orienting our desire either toward the ignorant, material misconception or the true, spiritual conception.
  4. We can easily attain the true, spiritual conception by recognizing the Superself (Paramātmā) to be our friend and guide and by dovetailing our intelligence with the superior intelligence of Paramātmā.
  5. The Superself and the individual self are both spirits, and therefore the Superself and the individual self are both qualitatively one and distinct from matter.
  6. But the Superself and the individual self cannot be on an equal level because the Superself gives direction or supplies intelligence and the individual self follows the direction, and thus actions are performed properly. 
  7. The individual is completely dependent on the direction of the Super self because in every step the individual self follows the direction of the Super self in the matter of seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling, willing, etc.
  8. So far as common sense is concerned, we come to the conclusion that there are three identities, namely matter, spirit and Super spirit. Now if we go to the Bhagavad-gītā or the Vedic intelligence, we can further understand that all three identities, namely matter, individual spirit, and the Super spirit, are all dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
  9. The Superself is a partial representation or plenary portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavad-gītā affirms that the Supreme Personality of Godhead dominates all over the material world by His partial representation only. 
  10. God is great, and He cannot be simply an order supplier of the individual selves; therefore the Superself cannot be a full representation of the Supreme Self, Puruṣottama, the Absolute Personality of Godhead. 
  11. Realization of the Superself by the individual self is the beginning of self-realization, and by the progress of such self-realization, one is able to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead by intelligence, by the help of authorized scriptures, and, principally, by the grace of the Lord. 
  12. The Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary conception of the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the further explanation of the science of Godhead. So if we stick to our determination and pray for the mercy of the director of intelligence sitting within the same bodily tree, like a bird sitting with another bird (as explained in the Upaniṣads), certainly the purport of the revealed information in the Vedas becomes clear to our vision, and there is no difficulty in realizing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. The intelligent man, therefore, after many births of such use of intelligence, surrenders himself at the lotus feet of Vāsudeva, as confirmed by the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19).

CLASS NOTES: 
SB 2.2.35  Translation: 
The Personality of Godhead Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is in every living being along with the individual soul. And this fact is perceived and hypothesized in our acts of seeing and taking help from the intelligence.

SB 2.2.35 – Part 4

At this point in our investigation, we may consider the following question: on the one hand we realize that all our perceptions and activities are conditioned by arrangements of material nature, yet we also ordinarily feel and say, “I am perceiving” or “I am doing.” Therefore we can say that our material senses of perception and action are moving because we are identifying the self with the material body, and that the superior principle of Superself is guiding and supplying us according to our desire. By taking advantage of the guidance of Superself in the form of intelligence, we can

  1. either continue to study and to put into practice our conclusion that “I am not this body,” or
  2. we can choose to remain in the false material identification, fancying ourselves to be the possessors and doers.
  3. Our freedom consists in orienting our desire either toward the ignorant, material misconception or the true, spiritual conception.
  4. We can easily attain the true, spiritual conception by recognizing the Superself (Paramātmā) to be our friend and guide and by dovetailing our intelligence with the superior intelligence of Paramātmā.
  5. The Superself and the individual self are both spirit, and therefore the Superself and the individual self are both qualitatively one and distinct from matter.
  6. But the Superself and the individual self cannot be on an equal level because the Superself gives direction or supplies intelligence and the individual self follows the direction, and thus actions are performed properly.The individual is completely dependent on the direction of the Superself because in every step the individual self follows the direction of the Superself in the matter of seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling, willing, etc.

So far as common sense is concerned, we come to the conclusion that there are three identities, namely matter, spirit and Superspirit. Now if we go to the Bhagavad-gītā, or the Vedic intelligence, we can further understand that all three identities, namely matter, individual spirit, and the Superspirit, are all dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

  1. The Superself is a partial representation or plenary portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavad-gītā affirms that the Supreme Personality of Godhead dominates all over the material world by His partial representation only.
  2. God is great, and He cannot be simply an order supplier of the individual selves; therefore the Superself cannot be a full representation of the Supreme Self, Puruṣottama, the Absolute Personality of Godhead.
  3. Realization of the Superself by the individual self is the beginning of self-realization, and by the progress of such self-realization one is able to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead by intelligence, by the help of authorized scriptures, and, principally, by the grace of the Lord.
  4. The Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary conception of the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the further explanation of the science of Godhead.
  5. So if we stick to our determination and pray for the mercy of the director of intelligence sitting within the same bodily tree, like a bird sitting with another bird (as explained in the Upaniṣads), certainly the purport of the revealed information in the Vedas becomes clear to our vision, and there is no difficulty in realizing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. The intelligent man therefore, after many births of such use of intelligence, surrenders himself at the lotus feet of Vāsudeva, as confirmed by the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19).

With reason we can understand that we are not matter and we are spirit. Upto this point reason and perception can be used to understand that  we are spirit and there is supreme intelligence. After that need the help of scriptures to understand that Supreme intelligence.

Fundamental assumptions of science.

By our intelligence we can understand that we are not this body. That means there is seer and seen.
When you purchase a computer you have to purchase a software, you have to get a provider to connect to the internet. OUr ability to use the computer is dependant on other things. Our ability to use the senses which are given to us is dependent on the Supreme.
We can follow the dictation of Krsna, Guru, or we can follow the dictation of lust, anger and greed. Which authority we are going to follow? That is the fundamental decision we need to make.

There are lot of subtleties in this purport –
6 steps to conclude that there is a super soul. This is done through reasoning and perception – 

  1. You are a person
  2. There is a difference between seer and seen
  3. Instruments of seeing, objects of seeing, the process of seeing are all given to you. nobody else you know has created them. Therefore we are dependent on the supreme who has given us these abilities.
  4. Our seeing is limited
  5. Difference between the body and the soul. The soul is the source of consciousness. We feel dissatisfied.  The difference between matter and spirit is understood by dissatisfaction. Prabhupada is giving the example of a Tree, if a human stood like a tree he will be dissatisfied and frustrated.
  6. Things we see cannot be animate without intelligence. nothing moves without intelligence.  Everybody before that starts moving they use intelligence. Everybody is learning from somebody else.

7th Step is to understand that the Super soul is a partial representation or plenary portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme cannot be understood through reason and perception. To learn about the supreme we need to rely on the Vedic intelligence, by accepting the bonafide spiritual master and through sincere devotional service, the revelation happens. 
Serving the best person is intelligence. Serving the devotees you will serve Krsna. That is not only using intelligence, reason, and perception. It is going to the root of everything that s Krsna.

The tree or the embryo in the mother’s womb is able to bear all the suffering because the consciousness is very low. The higher consciousness, you cannot even bear even small suffering and they want to do something about it.  Cows can tolerate much more pain than humans.