KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.8.18:
- The common religion of all classes of human beings, regardless of whosoever and whatsoever one may be, is devotional service.
- Even the animals may be included in devotional service to the Lord, and the best example is set by Śrī Vajrāṅgajī, or Hanumān, the great devotee of Lord Śrī Rāma.
- Even the aborigines and cannibals can also be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord if they happen to be under the guidance of a genuine devotee of the Lord.
- Therefore devotional service to the Lord can be equally shared by every living being.
- As will be explained in this book by the greatest authority, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, there is no religion save and except the devotional service of the Lord, though this may be presented in different forms.
- People following the principles of devotional service to the Lord can never be put into difficulty, and thus there cannot be any question of āpad-dharma, or religion in distress.
- Religious affiliation in terms of different countries and cultural circumstances is obviously not the common religion of the human being; rather, the basic principle is devotional service.
- Even if a particular type of religious principle does not recognize the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the followers still have to obey the disciplinary principles laid down by a particular leader.
- Such a leader of a religious sect is never the supreme leader because such a circumstantial leader comes to the position of leadership after undergoing some penance.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not, however, require to be under disciplinary action to become leader, as we see in the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
- Persons generally conducted by the modes of passion and ignorance cannot be bona fide candidates for being situated in the transcendental stage of God realization. Only persons conducted by the mode of goodness can have the knowledge of the Supreme Truth.
- Effects of the modes of passion and ignorance are manifested by too much hankering after wealth and women.
- And those who are too much after wealth and women can rectify their leanings only by constant remembrance of Viṣṇu in His feature composed of impersonal potentcies.
- Pantheism in its higher status does not permit the student to form an impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth, but it extends the conception of the Absolute Truth into the field of the so-called material energy.
- Everything created by the material energy can be dovetailed with the Absolute by an attitude of service, which is the essential part of living energy.
- The pure devotee of the Lord knows the art of converting everything into its spiritual existence by this service attitude, and only in that devotional way can the theory of pantheism be perfected.
SB 2.8.18 TRANSLATION:
Questions on common religious, Occupational duties and
Please also explain what may generally be the common religious affiliations of human society, as well as their specific occupational duties in religion, the classification of the social orders as well as the administrative royal orders, and the religious principles for one who may be in distress.
Common religious affiliation – In all religions there is service to God, Islam, Christianity, Budhism, Atheism.. There is the concept of service.. SP is so brilliant, it is coming from the guru parampara..
The common religion of all classes of human beings, regardless of whosoever and whatsoever one may be, is devotional service. Even the animals may be included in devotional service to the Lord, and the best example is set by Śrī Vajrāṅgajī, or Hanumān, the great devotee of Lord Śrī Rāma. As we have already discussed, even the aborigines and cannibals can also be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord if they happen to be under the guidance of a genuine devotee of the Lord. In the Skanda Purāṇa there is a narration that a hunter in the jungle became the most enlightened devotee of the Lord by the guidance of Śrī Nārada Muni. Therefore devotional service to the Lord can be equally shared by every living being.
If animals can do it.. Even the lowest of mankind can do it..
Religious affiliation in terms of different countries and cultural circumstances is obviously not the common religion of the human being; rather, the basic principle is devotional service. Even if a particular type of religious principle does not recognize the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the followers still have to obey the disciplinary principles laid down by a particular leader. Such a leader of a religious sect is never the supreme leader because such a circumstantial leader comes to the position of leadership after undergoing some penance.
Rosicrucian – A man comes with a card saying that he is God. He said he dod some yoga.. Some courses to become God.
When Maharaj was in france.. His neighbor took him to a rosicrucian master.. This man is an older gentleman .. greeted us.. The neighbor introduced maharaj… and he asked to meditate on a kaleidoscope.. Master was teaching a neighbor how to pronounce OM.. a u m…. Upstairs while maharaj was down stairs.. Everything was old in the room… It looked like the 18th century.. Cats looking at maharaj.. Mystical power of sounds and mantras. They are western shaktas.. Sadguru is also a shakta and he teaches people how to develop powers.. This attracts people and feeds their false ego.. They are a bunch of nonsense people..
There is a way of preaching to them.. They want to go in a slow way.. The secret is to get them involved in devotional service..
Anyone, even the worst people, can become devotees…
Rama Krishna was also a shakta.. He was a little bit of everything. As soon as someone asks for a debate.. He would go on samadhi.. They develop power by purposefully sinning.. Eating stool, worshipping the yoni of wife, he was a freak.. He could not read, he was illiterate.. He made a big hodgepodge of religion.. It is still a religion..
In all these things people make little bit of progress, little purification, but their false ego gets so much puffed up..
Engaging people in Devotional service – Jayananda SP called him a saint, very nice guy, he was not preaching, he was engaging everyone in devotional service..
Building Rath he would engage everyone in service.. He planned the whole thing out to get people engaged.. We have to get better and better at engaging in service.
Many people have come into the movement because of ananda mela..
The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not, however, require to be under disciplinary action to become leader, as we see in the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
The occupational duties of the castes and the orders of society, following the principles of livelihood, also depend on the principle of devotional service. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that a person can achieve the highest perfection of life simply by awarding the results of his occupational duty unto the devotional service of the Lord. People following the principles of devotional service to the Lord can never be put into difficulty, and thus there cannot be any question of āpad-dharma, or religion in distress. As will be explained in this book by the greatest authority, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, there is no religion save and except the devotional service of the Lord, though this may be presented in different forms.
- Very thorough exposition of fundamental questions that need to be answered if one has to understand what is the purpose of life and how to attain it.
- Maharaj Parikshit is a highly educated person.. He wanted Sukhdev Goswami to explain to everyone in the future. Even after 5000 years we are reading it..
- It is not a DIY project, we need to get the help of bonafide devotees. Srila Prabhupada is the most bonafide we know of.
- Maya is so powerful, she is waiting for a little bit of wriggling room, to enter in. The room is the modern education.
SB 2.1.20
One’s mind is always agitated by the passionate mode of material nature and bewildered by the ignorant mode of nature. But one can rectify such conceptions by the relation of Viṣṇu and thus become pacified by cleansing the dirty things created by them.
Mode of passion – agitates mind
Mode of ignorance – bewilders the mind
Example – Kamsa driving the chariot for sister and suddenly gets agitated by the word of Akashvani and tries killing own sister
Crimes of passion happen all the time in the world – Remote control fights ending up in killing , divorce fights ending up in killing.
What do we do about it?
K-12 – All kids in the class are muslims.
They all had their burkha on.
Muslims are very smart, they know exactly what they are doing. They have all encompassing strategy to take over this country. They want to protect their people. They do not want their people to be duped by the modern education, technology, modern culture, they do not want their kids to be contaminated. They want to protect them from the onslaught of Kali yuga.
Why would a woman wear a burqa in public to stop instigating passion?
The woman should cover their hair. This was normal, previously no decent woman would be seen in public. Women used to go in palanquins..
Nowadays… young girls in uniform smoking cigarettes, talking nonsense.
Culture is changing very very fast. Is there a strategy not to become a victim of downward spiral of rajas and tamas, the muslims are not letting that happen.
Persons generally conducted by the modes of passion and ignorance cannot be bona fide candidates for being situated in the transcendental stage of God realization. Only persons conducted by the mode of goodness can have the knowledge of the Supreme Truth.
Everyone is in the modes of passion and ignorance.. They have no chance understanding the absolute truth unless they come to the mode of goodness. Women are wearing skimpy dresses to have good time. This is promoted publicity..
Effects of the modes of passion and ignorance are manifested by too much hankering after wealth and women. And those who are too much after wealth and women can rectify their leanings only by constant remembrance of Viṣṇu in His feature composed of impersonal potentcies.
Why does he say impersonal potencies of Vishnu instead of meditating on Vishnu..? Because massive people are not going to do that..only small people will do that. But more people can become impersonalists.. But at least has a chance to slowly progress.
BG 12.5
For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.
BG 12.3-4
But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, fixed and immovable – the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth – by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at last achieve Me.
Those who do not directly worship the Supreme Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, but who attempt to achieve the same goal by an indirect process, also ultimately achieve the same goal, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. “After many births the man of wisdom seeks refuge in Me, knowing that Vāsudeva is all.” When a person comes to full knowledge after many births, he surrenders unto Lord Kṛṣṇa. If one approaches the Godhead by the method mentioned in this verse, he has to control the senses, render service to everyone and engage in the welfare of all beings. It is inferred that one has to approach Lord Kṛṣṇa, otherwise there is no perfect realization. Often there is much penance involved before one fully surrenders unto Him.
In order to perceive the Supersoul within the individual soul, one has to cease the sensual activities of seeing, hearing, tasting, working, etc. Then one comes to understand that the Supreme Soul is present everywhere. Realizing this, one envies no living entity – he sees no difference between man and animal because he sees soul only, not the outer covering. But for the common man, this method of impersonal realization is very difficult.
Generally the impersonalists or monists are influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance. Such impersonalists think of themselves as liberated souls, but they have no knowledge of the transcendental personal feature of the Absolute Truth. Actually they are impure in heart on account of being devoid of knowledge of the personal feature of the Absolute. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that after many hundreds of births, the impersonal philosopher surrenders unto the Personality of Godhead. To acquire such a qualification of God realization in the personal feature, the neophyte impersonalist is given a chance to realize the relation of the Lord in everything by the philosophy of pantheism.
Pantheism – means Believe in many Gods..
Pantheism in its higher status does not permit the student to form an impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth, but it extends the conception of the Absolute Truth into the field of the so-called material energy. Everything created by the material energy can be dovetailed with the Absolute by an attitude of service, which is the essential part of living energy. The pure devotee of the Lord knows the art of converting everything into its spiritual existence by this service attitude, and only in that devotional way can the theory of pantheism be perfected.
Even a mayavadi,atheist, demon, can become spiritually advanced by doing devotional service. If you engage anyone in devotional service.. They become devotees..
You do not have to preach.. You just engage them in service… you can simply ask .. can you hold this broom.. Do you want to sweep along with me.. Now they are doing devotional service in the temple..
Example – Shyam Sundar engaged people outsiders in the food truck..
This is an extremely profound purport by Srila Prabhupada. If you can understand what he is saying it is a brilliant realization. Even the pantheist cannot see like this even the impersonalist cannot see like this.
Impersonalism can lead to Krsna – it is a slow and arduous process..