Bhagavad-gītā for Everyone

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Сообщение Jayanti » 28 фев 2021, 17:10

TEXT 21

Nature is said to be the cause of all material activities and effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world.

PURPORT

This is an important, fundamental verse. Nature, or in the highest sense God, is the cause of the emergence of both the whole world and specific bodies, but whether the soul is happy or suffering is the result of his own actions. The soul, acting at his own discretion, forms his future and, thus, experiences happiness or suffering then. God creates everything as a whole, in totality, nevertheless, the position of the soul within the material world is formed by the soul himself. It is important to understand this point. Sometimes people say, "If God is omnipotent, why shouldn't He make everyone happy?" But if God interferes in the life of the material world, then souls will lose their independence. However, no one here wants to lose their independence and, by and large, almost no one here wants to know about God. Even so-called belivers are preoccupied with themselves and are not interested in spiritual science. God can change everything, but if people do not want, He does not do it.

People seek happiness for themselves, but their desire for happiness is associated with a desire for personal domination. The desire of the imperfect soul to dominate gives rise to all kinds of suffering within matter. Imperfect rulers, dominating, give rise to problems for subordinates, imperfect husband and wife give rise to strife within the family, imperfect scientists only increase destruction and suffering everywhere. The soul located in this world wants to dominate, he wants to attract everyone by himself, demonstrating his beauty, strength, influence, intelligence and other qualities, but since he is imperfect, all this basically causes only problems. Modern education and upbringing emphasize the exclusivity of everyone, cultivate selfishness in people, therefore, the problems of this civilization will grow more and more.

The solution is to follow God's instructions, accept spiritual practice and understand the scriptures with all thy mind. Nominal external religiosity, worship in the temple, holidays, pilgrimages and others will not solve this problem; knowledge and preaching are necessary. Temple worship in the present age (the age of Kali) has lost its power, therefore everyone should learn and further become a selfless preacher. Thus, through knowledge and preaching, one can most quickly cognize God and reach Him, while having a connection with God, the soul becomes completely happy. The more a devotee realizes the greatness of God, the less his problems become, but our goal is not just liberation and not just the personal happiness of the rasas, but eternal devotional service expressed as preaching.

TEXT 22

The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species.

PURPORT

Whether the soul receives this or that particular body, whether he is happy or suffering, this is the result of the activity of the soul himself. It is not God who sends happiness or suffering to the soul, but the soul himself forms such things by his behavior. When the soul follows the instructions of God, in this case he falls under His protection and guidance, but acting by him own, the soul himself is responsible for the consequences of any of his activities. The instructions of God are aimed at making us direct our attention to Him, which will lead to renunciation of this world. God does not advises anyone to try to settle in matter and become rich, for example. He advises to think about the spiritual world and turn our attention from the world of matter to the spiritual world. Materialists reply to such words that it will be a life in an illusion, that one must live a real life and not an illusory one. But a preacher-devotee, who develop knowledge and focus his attention on the spiritual, gradually cognizes God and becomes intelligent and experienced, while the materialists, who cherish themselves and constantly focus on matter in search of money and other things, degrade more and more.

Ultimately, everyone here is temporary, but those who ignore the temporality of their lives end up being defeated. In the same way, this entire materialistic civilization aimed at the production of things will be destroyed. They produce thousands of things, increasing only the garbage on the planet, nobody will be able to become happy in this way. Therefore, God advises us to serve Him and not this garbage civilization. God gives us knowledge and helps us to return to the spiritual world, and such "scavengers" will remain here forever with their ideas and their stupid attempt to pretend to be the masters of life.

TEXT 23

Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul.

PURPORT

God is in everyone's body, but in order to reach Him, we need to follow the instructions of the holy scripture. Many people like to say "God is in the soul", others say God guides them from their heart and therefore "one need to listen to one's heart", but both of them should start following the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. The Supersoul prompts the individual soul, but the Supersoul takes into account all the desires of the soul. This means that if one is guided by the Supersoul, spiritual practice can lengthen over thousands of births, because everyone has too many personal desires. Therefore, the scriptures, the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda are much better than the instructions of the Supersoul, because they can greatly speed up the process of developing spiritual knowledge.

The Supersoul does not impede a person's actions, but he awards the appropriate consequences. The Supersoul can warn about the consequences, but as a rule, people either do not hear Him or ignore Him, acting as they please. In this sense, the scripture speaks everything much more loud and clearly, but the scripture not only gives us principles and commandments, it teaches how to cognize God. Following the restrictive principles alone is not enough at all for spiritual development; knowledge about God, devotion to Him, and the preaching of spiritual science are also necessary.

One should understand that the soul is different from the Supersoul, and when one feels spiritual uplift, one must behave correctly, not considering oneself powerful and independent. The Supersoul is powerful and not dependent on anything, but even if we are connected with God, we still remain a soul, that is, dependent. A pure devotee acts in various ways, maintaining his dependence on God, but he does not try to manifest any superpower and does not consider himself a representative of God. Only God Himself can create a representative of God. A pure devotee does not consider himself as such, even when he has already become a representative of God.

In fact, every materialist uses the energy of the soul or Supersoul to present himself as the enjoyer and master. Therefore, the process of spiritual life is a reverse process, when we give all the fruits of out activities to God, without attributing them to ourselves, including energy and senses. Even when the soul realizes his qualitative oneness with God, he must understand his quantitative difference and avoid various tendencies of domination. The power of a devotee lies in the power of his knowledge of spiritual science, in his ability to enlighten people and help them to develop understanding, and not in dominating someone, posing as a representative of God or a guru. We are always atomic and dependent. When God wants, He exalts the devotee, but if the devotee is inclined to dominate, any blessings of this kind become dangerous for him. God wants people all over the planet to understand spiritual science, and not just do the cult of this or that guru or even set up temples everywhere and externally worship Him. The knowledge, God-realization are needed, it has value.

As long as a person is not God-conscious and is not engaged in preaching, he will be immersed in materialism. Religious materialism is not much different from ordinary materialism, therefore, although there seem to be so many religious people on the planet now, this does not change anything - this is an external, nominal religiosity. As long as people's goal is personal well-being, there will never be peace and happiness. Love of God transcends all selfish interests, and the devotee naturally avoids both unnecessary possessions and unnecessary attention.

TEXT 24

One who understands this philosophy concerning material nature, the living entity and the interaction of the modes of nature is sure to attain liberation. He will not take birth here again, regardless of his present position.

PURPORT

It means when a person has really realized the soul and God, he achieves liberation, but theoretical knowledge does not give liberation. Realization of God can also be expressed to varying degrees, so it is difficult to name the exact criterion of liberation. A devotee can be God-conscious in the initial degree, in the developed degree, and in the full degree. The initial degree is theoretical knowledge of God and dedication oneself to some extent to devotional service. A developed understanding of God is an active dedication to preaching and an initial direct perception of God or the beginning of spiritual feelings, both in direct relationship and in separation. The full degree means God's complete control over a devotee in a direct relationship, and it can also be in feelings of separation. Although a devotee can get liberation from any position, the chance of liberation increases with the growth of attachment to God, spiritual knowledge and preaching. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes that one should make every effort to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness - this is the main condition for liberation.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 02 мар 2021, 18:24

TEXT 25

That Supersoul is perceived by some through meditation, by some through the cultivation of knowledge, and by others through working without fruitive desire.

PURPORT

All three methods have one thing in common: as a result, the person can focus on God. When a person is attached to the fruits of labor, to a good life, he is absorbed by his family, work and others, while renunciation of the fruits of labor frees the consciousness of a person and, accordingly, absorption in God can arise. Developing knowledge can help us understand the ultimate goal of life and to understand the need for God-realization. Further, a person begins to study philosophy as part of spiritual science and spiritual practice. Renouncing the fruits of labor, the personality becomes more philosophical and instead of being carried away by a gross body and gross needs (including external religiosity), reasoning and thinking begin to dominate in a person's life. Once the Supersoul is understood as the ultimate destination of philosophical search, the devotee begins to meditate. True meditation nowadays is mainly contemplating on God, studying Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and preaching.

Preaching is the most powerful, active form of meditation that can seriously engage a person's senses. The entire Bhagavad-gītā explains that vigorous activity for God, like Arjuna fought on the battlefield, can elevate a person to the highest spiritual level. At first, Arjuna did not want to fight, considering such activities not spiritual, but by entering the battle, fighting for God and under His guidance, Arjuna achieved the highest samādhi of spiritual life. Although Arjuna was an experienced devotee, fighting for God brought even greater happiness into his life. In fact, passive meditation can never be as powerful as preaching, when by communicating, defending the principles of spiritual life, understanding many contexts and situations, a devotee completely engages his senses in devotional service to God. In essence, preaching is devotional service in its highest form and the main chanting of the holy name, therefore pure devotees of Lord Caitanya and Lord Caitanya Himself are eternally engaged in the preaching process, preaching both in the world of matter and in the spiritual world.

TEXT 26

Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death.

PURPORT

Our main authority is Śrīla Prabhupāda, also authoritative all those who carefully investigate and follow His teachings. Nowadays, after Śrīla Prabhupāda brought the science of spiritual life to the Western world (and to India), the popularity of spiritual topics has grown and many gurus have emerged, most of whom are non-authoritative. They began to do business from preaching of spiritual science, trying to increase their popularity and make money from this. We can see their portraits and some of their quotes everywhere now, but the problem is that the preaching of such gurus does not elevate actually no one. The preaching of guru-kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, or materialistic gurus, may not be so bad as an initial introduction to spiritual science, but for further development one must study spiritual science from the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda, change one's life, and engage in preaching.

A guru who rides back and forth on the money of his disciples and just eats, sleeps, and preaches only within a religious community is certainly a materialist. This is a new type of priests, where instead of waving a censer, they have learned to give entertaining lectures about the "Vedic" family, about health, how to get rich, about love for one's neighbor, or even about rasa-līlā. All such people who call themselves "authorities of Vedic science and culture" or spiritual masters cannot bring liberation to anyone. And rather than listening to such senseless lecturers it is much better to read Śrīla Prabhupāda's books. Such lecturers charge a fee for their lectures and seminars and, as a result, speak only what people want to hear from them. Similarly, there are fee-paying "Vedic institutions" where people are cheated for money, telling them that after studing in these "institutions" they have already become brāhmaṇas or have received some special initiation. All of these are fraud and an offense to spiritual life and God.

Such false gurus give out fictitious initiations, having no idea whether a disciple is suitable for spiritual life or not. On the other hand, the disciples of such gurus also internally want to be deceived and, doing almost nothing, want to consider themselves devotees of the highest category. Each of the sects created by such gurus (including modern ISKCON, which under the guidance of such gurus, mostly no longer follows Śrīla Prabhupāda), tries to prove the superiority of their teacher over all others. All this is primitive materialism, not worth any attention. The guru preaches to the world, he preaches on the streets of cities, he is available for communication, available to both devotees and non-devotees, and does not cultivate a sect of his own worship.

Accepting a materialistic guru cannot give liberation to anyone, because such gurus are not liberated themselves. When there is no suitable guru, then one can follow Śrīla Prabhupāda's books by studying them, chanting a mantra, and preaching. Reading books is also listening to an authoritative master and it also can lead one beyond the circle of birth and death. Modern false gurus will say to this it is impossible to develop spiritually by reading books, then we ask them: "Why did Śrīla Prabhupāda put the main emphasis on the distribution of His books?" Books are also transcendental sound and rather listening to various materialistic gurus, it is much better to read a pure devotee, and regular preaching will lead to the fact that one has to investigate and understand everything properly.

All these false gurus are on exactly the same spiritual level as those to whom they preach, they are just more arrogant and get a hang in deceiving people. External initiation is not a sign of authority; a person who has just passed the initiation ceremony does not become either knowledgeable or liberated. Materialists want to convince everyone that having passed the initiation ceremony, a person enters the sampradāya chain, but the ceremony itself cannot enter anyone into the sampradāya chain, since the ceremony is a series of mechanical actions that do not change consciousness. True initiation is a gradual spiritual ascent when a person, knowing the main philosophical positions, gets an experience that confirms them all.

To be in parampara means to understand all the key points of spiritual philosophy and put them into practice, and the rites of initiation mostly do not play any role. Initiation means the person gradually realizes Brahman, the greatness of God and other spiritual truths. When a disciple has realized himself at least as Brahman, when he preach and does not have much interest in matter and his position in it, then he is initially initiated. When a discipline has manifested spiritual feelings within himself, has become absorbed in them and, accordingly, is constantly engaged in preaching according to his own personal desire, in this case he is a madhyama-devotee. In fact, only madhyama can be considered a devotee or an initiated devotee. If a person has passed only a formal, external initiation and remains a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī all his life, absorbed in money, family and so on, what kind of initiation or what kind of guidance from a guru can we talk about?

A true guru is an uttama-adhikārī who has no interest in money, has no interest in family well-being, and his only goal is to preach a high-quality message around the world, which does not imply either personal wealth or personal fame. Initiation means consistent training that does not imply payment for it, either in a disguised form (for example, in the form of selling guru lectures, entrance tickets to lectures, paid "Bhakti-śāstrī" courses, perseverance of the guru's entourage in collecting donations, etc.), nor in a undisguised form. Initiation means the disciple can gradually practically realize Brahman, the greatness of God and the rasas of Kṛṣṇa-līlā and Gaura-līlā. A God-conscious devotee cannot help preaching, it is technically impossible. He preaches almost all of his free time, because his emotions for God will not allow him to do anything else.

It does not happen that a person has realized God and does not preach, this is from the realm of fantasy. A devotee may have some external contamination, but it is important what his consciousness is occupied with, and a real, true devotee is always a preacher who does not seek respect for himself or money. Lord Caitanya explains, "My devotees never seek respect for themselves, they preach to everyone they meet and they are tolerant like a tree." When a devotee has realized God, which is outwardly expressed as constant preaching and an even attitude towards material goods, then he is truly initiated. Such initiation can also be obtained by consistently studying the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Most modern gurus are, in fact, scammers. Everyone should to understand that Śrīla Prabhupāda's books are the basis of spiritual life, which is why they are published and widely distributed. People mostly don't need a guru, but good communication, good communication on spiritual topics – this is also a form of initiation. Once again, initiation is the practical realization of various parts of spiritual science. Until a person is practically aware of them, he is not initiated by anyone.

TEXT 27

O chief of the Bhāratas, whatever you see in existence, both moving and unmoving, is only the combination of the field of activities and the knower of the field.

PURPORT

Dead matter is inert and cannot act on its own. Therefore, any movement within matter occurs not due to the properties of matter itself, but it is possible only in the presence of the soul. Any material body immediately begins to decay without a soul. In other words, all bodies and all activities exist due to the presence of the soul in a particular body or phenomenon. The bodies of insects, birds, fish, and humans are supported by souls. All these bodies are active while the soul is in the body, but after the soul leaves, they decompose and disappear. Not only are the bodies of animals and humans supported by souls, but the giant bodies of the planets in the universe also support souls.

The movement of planets, atoms, molecules, bacteria, insects, the movement of air and other elements - all these are possible only because the soul is connected to a specific body. Someone may ask: "How can a soul create an atom or a planet?" But any body, in fact, is created by God or by the world order established by Him. We do not create our own body, but only use a ready-made one, in the same way the bodies of atoms, mountains, planets and elements are created by God. The planets are controlled by souls, or demigods, and the planets also full of life in various forms.

For example, it is difficult for us to understand whether a mountain is a separate living being or a part of the planet, but in general this is not important. The stone can be part of the body of a mountain, a mountain can be part of the body of a continent, and a continent can be part of the body of the Earth. The stone can be an already dead part of the body of a mountain or form a new living part; the same goes for mountains and continents. Just as a stump is a decaying remnant of a tree, but a new life can already be born inside the stump. One way or another, whatever we see, it is always a union of body and soul. Brahman, the Spirit, is everywhere, it is the greatest, unshakable Eternity that permeates everything. This Eternity can also be understood as a totality of souls that live everywhere. Seeing an infinite number of souls inhabiting all kinds of elements (earth, water, fire, air, and space) is also a form of Brahman realization.

TEXT 28

One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual soul in all bodies and who understands that neither the soul nor the Supersoul is ever destroyed, actually sees.

PURPORT

A devotee first realizes himself as Brahman and he also sees everything around him as a manifestation of Brahman. By deepening this understanding and meditation, a person realizes God who is behind the boundless Brahman - God is even more boundless and Brahman is only the radiance of His body. Brahman is also the universal or world greatness and various forms of its realization can be accepted as authoritative. In its pure form, Brahman is eternal transcendental effulgence, but the realization of all-pervading greatness can be manifested in other forms, because God is infinite. For example, a devotee does not see the effulgence itself, but realizes the all-pervading Truth - this is also a form of Brahman realization. Brahman is spirit and, as in some cases with God, it is not always necessary to see it for it realization.

Thus, having realized Brahman, a person increases his knowledge and begins to understand the greatness of God behind Brahman. Just as we gradually become aware of Brahman - first by understanding this position theoretically, then practically realizing the impersonal manifestation of greatness when looking at the external world, realizing ourselves as a part of Eternity or as all this great Eternity, increasing such awareness and seeing the position of the Absolute Truth everywhere - in the same way, the awareness of the greatness of God increases. God as the supreme almighty, God as the One who maintain this world in perfect balance, God as a manifestation of the supreme justice. God as a Person, as the One who have a form, a spiritual body, stunning with His beauty and power, or God as the Supersoul of all that exists.

This verse refers to the process of meditation when a devotee sees both the soul and the Supersoul with an inner vision, but the realization of God through the scripture or through meditation is quite similar. There is also an identity between Lord Nārāyaṇa, the Supersoul or any other form of greatness of God. Therefore, to realize God as the omnipotent Lord Nārāyaṇa is the same as to realize the presence of the Supersoul. The idea is for the devotee to realize any form of God's greatness and thus achieve eternal and indestructible happiness and knowledge. The Supersoul, Lord Nārāyaṇa, and all other forms of God are eternal, just as the soul is eternal. Having attained God-realization, the soul comes to the stage of supreme happiness and will never want to part with the omnipotent Personality. Realization of eternity of the soul and the Supersoul is only the beginning of spiritual knowledge, and gradually surrendering his life to God in knowledge and preaching, the devotee comes to the highest peace, regardless of whether he lives or dies.

The problem in that process is the wandering mind and the presence of endless material desires. But first one need to understand these things theoretically and then, by focusing on God and chanting the mantra or without chanting the mantra, begin to realize Him who is behind the whole world. When such realization increases, the person is filled with happiness - first with the happiness of eternity or impersonal happiness, and then with the happiness of the power of God. Anyone can follow this path; it does not require any special renunciation, seclusion or something like that. Brahman, spirit, is everywhere, just like the almighty God is everywhere. Whether we are in the forest or on a city street, this does not affect the perception of God in any way.

First, a devotee attains God realization, for example, in favorable conditions, then one must learn to be steadfast, learn to maintain God realization in all conditions. Theoretically, a devotee can develop God consciousness and improve it endlessly by studying the theory, but without preaching, it is unlikely to be possible to realize God quickly. Theoretical knowledge and some meditation, of course, spiritualize and elevate a person, but as a rule, contaminations still remain strong, which is basically an obstacle to achieving the highest goal in one lifetime. We see in practice that chanting the mantra purifies people, however, using this effect, most of them are eagerly undertake to establish their worthless material life. No matter how many people have property or recognition almost none of them can stop, they are like crazy continue to improve their external well-being. Or people go to the other extreme, suddenly deciding to renounce or move somewhere in a deserted place. Therefore, first one needs to accept the process of studying the scripture, individual practice of chanting the mantra, and practice of reflection, meditation on God, and then one needs to start the process of a feasible preaching.

There is a man who is trying to start preaching right now. He goes out regularly with books on the streets, but he does not dare to offer them to anyone. Nevertheless, going out 2-3 times a week, after about a month or two of such walks, he began to feel a spiritual uplift. How so? As he walks around and thinks about how to offer books, God blesses him. Maybe he did not offer it to anyone, but he really wants to learn this; that is how he develops spiritually right now, in real time. Anarthas, which prevent him from approaching people, gradually disappear from him, he throws off the burden of all his previous births with each such step.

And who will succeed in preaching? Success will be achieved by those who can come under the control of God. Personal qualities are not so important here, what is important is a person's unselfish desire to gradually come under control in the process of developing knowledge and preaching. Maybe someone knows how to deftly talk with people, tell them something, but if he is not unselfish and has personal goals, for example, to show himself somehow, to make money on it, or to get something else like that, his whole preaching will have little or no fruit at all. But those who are able to preach selflessly can eventually reach the top, or realize God. God is the all-pervading Eternity and the omnipotent Supersoul, and when a devotee preaches from person to person or even tries to preach, he can gradually gain the protection and blessings of God.

Therefore, from the theoretical and initial perception of God, the person must move to the practical actions of preaching. Many things are beyond our comprehension now, but when we follow God's instructions, exactly the instruction to preach, everything can be revealed.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 12 мар 2021, 19:29

TEXT 29

One who sees the Supersoul in every living being and equal everywhere does not degrade himself by his mind. Thus he approaches the transcendental destination.

PURPORT

This realization of Eternity (Brahman) or the Supersoul is accompanied by spiritual uplift. Therefore, an equal vision of everything does not seem like dullness; it is an impulse of happiness and knowledge. Realizing the presence of God everywhere, a devotee also understands the nature of various phenomena. Being spiritually enlightened, he avoids many problems lurking everywhere, and he can explain the essence of almost any activity. A self-realized devotee does not care about the external world with its changing happiness and suffering. Feeling eternal happiness, he is full of himself. However, God orders everyone to engage in preaching, so such an enlightened transcendentalist takes up the preaching work.

We do not need any personal fame, just as we do not need any donations or money from other people. A devotee, in fact, does not really care where he is, nor is he afraid of any work and difficulties. People suffer not from lack of food and not from backbreaking work, but from the meaninglessness of their lives and chaotic desires. Having set themselves some meaningless goals of their own greatness and material prosperity, they strive for this all their lives, exhaust themselves and ultimately lose everything. A devotee looks calmly at what is happening in the world, he also has no goals of dominance, domination or accumulation of property, so his mind is always clear and fresh.

A devotee is also not too eager to visit or live in holy places, because God consciousness is universal and can be manifested anywhere and at any time. Materialists, on the other hand, first strive to have as much fame and property as possible (including while being in religious positions), but later they only suffer from this. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means that one sets spiritual goals, learns the science of God step by step, and becomes more and more aware of God Himself. At the same time, a devotee is not afraid of work, family or lack of it, he give no much importance to it; the key point for him is the development of knowledge and preaching. Sometimes people think that by becoming a guru, priest, sannyāsī, by accepting renunciation or establishing a religious family, they will touch the great spiritual mysteries, but all this is self-deception. All that is needed for spiritual development are Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, personal practice, and preaching. Preaching will also make anyone happy, because all possible happiness lies in communication and preaching is the best type of communication.

The verse says, "Thus he approaches the transcendental destination." The Supersoul is not the supreme aspect of God, but by following the path of Supersoul realization, the personality is purified and attain salvation. The influence of the mind means that a person can be overwhelmed by doubts, delusions, desires, that he can be unstable in consciousness, create various plans of material dominance, and as a result, he is again forced to be born and die inside matter. Everyone should understand the temporality of this world and the bodies in it, and never attach much importance to the material component.

TEXT 30

One who can see that all activities are performed by the body, which is created of material nature, and sees that the self does nothing, actually sees.

PURPORT

In the highest sense, the soul is not connected with matter. First, the devotee realizes the impersonal aspect, then the greatness of God, and as he becomes more and more engrossed in God, he ceases to pay attention to the course of material affairs. At first we renounce matter to some extent, but in the process of development, the devotee simply ceases to pay attention to it. Ultimately, he also understands the inevitability of death and looks at such a fact in general calmly. Engrossed in preaching, spiritual science, and the pastimes of God, the devotee forgets about his bodily actions or they become associated with God, which is essentially inaction. Mystics have to renounce from the actions of the body and shut themselves off from the outside world in order to achieve renunciation, samādhi, but devotees go into the world with preaching, which is an even higher type of samādhi.

In general, the body is created not by us, but by nature. And all physiological and other material needs, likes and dislikes of a person also come from the body and do not touch the soul. The physical body of a person, the beliefs of a person, the type of his thoughts and character - all this is determined (predetermined) by material nature due to the previous actions of the person (in other words, predetermined by fate), but the soul, being in a particular body, considers himself a source of such desires, which is essentially impossible. Although each person is determined and his future is also already predetermined and known, nevertheless there is freedom as an opportunity to choose a spiritual path. There is no freedom within matter, freedom is impossible in it. The material world is like a gigantic mechanism in which there is a constant transmigration of souls from one body to another. At the same time, all bodies are created by God and are different from souls, but when souls migrate, each time they believe their bodies are themselves. Some people drive in expensive comfortable cars, others - in simpler ones, but none of the drivers is the car itself. Similarly, souls are in different bodies, but none of them are these bodies.

Mystics have to renounce the activities of the body and meditate in order to gradually see the primacy of the soul and his transcendence both to the body and to the whole material world. Devotees direct their thinking and senses towards God, which also spiritualizes the gross body. In the spiritual world, everyone has a spiritual body, and the spiritual inhabitants are engaged in activities related to God, but exactly the same principle can be implemented in matter. When a devotee attains direct connection with God, even his gross body can be accepted as spiritual, because it gradually becomes fully connected with God. Thus, there are several points in this topic:

1. The material body is different from the soul and is an obstacle in spiritual life.
2. By renunciation from the activities of the body (and mind), one can understand the higher nature of the soul.
3. But even by engage the mind and body in spiritual activities (in the development of knowledge, thinking about God, preaching, and in some cases in the physical activity for God), a devotee realizes his higher spiritual nature.

The understanding of the difference between body and soul, achieved through the mechanical systems of yoga, is an initial and impersonal principle. As souls we are different from the material body, but as souls we also have a spiritual body and are engaged in spiritual activities - this is a higher understanding. In devotional service, both methods are suitable, for example, we can first try to understand ourselves by somewhat renouncing matter, and in the process of development, we can become self-realized by already being involved in positive spiritual activities.

The spiritual body basically will be different from the current material body, but sometimes it may coincide with it. For example, a girl who has realized herself as the mother of Kṛṣṇa while still being in a material body, acts in this body in relation to God, so in principle her material body is no different from her spiritual body. Of course, the material body is temporary and not so beautiful, and the spiritual body is eternal and full of beauty, but when she realizes God and acts for Him in her current material body, her material body becomes an attribute of devotion and, in fact, is a direct embodiment of the spiritual body. When the companions of God come with Him to the Earth for His pastimes, it seems that they were born in ordinary material bodies, but in fact they are spiritual bodies. And those who attain God during their lifetime have a similar situation. This is an example of the fact that in the highest sense even a material body can be spiritualized.

It is also necessary to explain the word "see", which is usually understood as "perceive visually; look at; view". The point here is that most people will not be able to directly view Brahman, Paramātmā, and God, but this does not make spiritual perception inaccessible to them. God is not material, so to perceive Him visually, to hear Him or to hear about Him, to think about Him - all these are completely identical actions. Ideally, a person, of course, perceives visually both Brahman and God, but now, in the present age (the age of Kali), the majority will not be able to elevate to such a level. Therefore, classically devotee really view God, but in practice it is not so principal to view God directly or to realize Him in the mind. Although the vision of God implies a high purity of personality, nevertheless, the realization of God without direct vision can also have greater power and purity. This remark is also important in connection with the emotions of separation, when a devotee is guaranteed not to be able to perceives God visually (because this is the specific nature of this mood), and this position is much higher than direct vision.

Therefore, in the following verses of this chapter:

28 One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual soul…
29 One who sees the Supersoul in every living being…
30 One who can see that all activities are performed by the body…
31 When a sensible man ceases to see different identities…
32 Those with the vision of eternity can see that the soul is transcendental…
35 One who knowingly sees this difference between the body and the owner of the body… –

we translated the English word "see" in three versions – "видеть" ("perceive visually; look at; view"), "понимать" ("understand") and "осознавать" ("realize"). To begin with, visual perceiving starts with understanding anyway. Without understanding, a person will not accept the process and will not be able to improve it. Sometimes people can spontaneously view an all-pervading radiance or even rare to view God or other revelations; all such types of vision are the result of spiritual practice from previous lives, but without systematic development and knowledge, these types of vision are of little value. Whether a person visually perceives the past or the future, Brahman or God, without consistent spiritual development, these have no special value, just like all physical miracles from God.

Therefore, seeing as visual perceiving begins with understanding. And further a devotee can connect with God, including by developing understanding alone. The connection with God exists in 99.99% through the study of spiritual science and through preaching and, as a rule, does not concern the activities of the physical world around us. The connection with God basically does not imply gaining money, success, good health, family, fame, protection, and other things. Sometimes God can do some kind of protection in this sense, but more often there will be no such protection, since it is meaningless and often only worsens the spiritual situation of a person. The whole Gītā is dedicated to getting out of all kinds of such duality - happiness and unhappiness, success and failure, honor and dishonor; this is obvious.

By acting only on the level of developing knowledge and understanding (and behaving accordingly), a devotee can also come to a strong connection with God, but now in Russian language the word "понимание" ("understanding") mainly has a context of “theoretical understanding”. Therefore, if we were translate the English "see" only as "to understand", it would seem that it is enough just to read and understand in the mind the provisions given in the verses (for example, the difference between the soul and the body) in order to achieve perfection, but in reality this is not enough. So, we took the Russian word "осознавать" ("to realize") as the main translation of the word "see". It most accurately describes the essence of the phenomenon - a devotee realizes God, even if he does not directly view Him (also Śrīla Prabhupāda established the basic concept - the concept of "Kṛṣṇa consciousness").

Thus, in the translation of the verses mentioned above, three words are used: "видеть" ("perceive visually; look at; view"), "понимать" ("understand"), and "осознать" ("realize"); they are all identical and imply a direct connection with God and not theoretical knowledge. However, this topic also has a certain problem - when people, trying to add themselves weight in the eyes of others, declare they have realized the soul or God, although in fact this is not so. Many modern gurus portray their own greatness or try to flatter the feelings of the public with the same purpose - to convince everyone of their high spiritual qualifications, to convince others to accept them as gurus and great authorities, and this is done for the sake of personal glory or for raising money. Moreover, all such people can actively rely on the scriptures to justify their behavior. Also, many people are inclined to engage in self-deception, believing they have realized themselves, Brahman or God. A God-realized devotee is practically an expert in all spiritual science, he is not concerned with self-aggrandizement. Such a devotee spread spiritual science all over the world, not a cult of himself.

To determine someone's qualifications, a person must have his own qualifications. Without at least some general, theoretical, or better practical qualification, it is impossible to distinguish a bonafide guru from a false one. Since this is the age of Kali and there is a lot of deception everywhere, God has placed Śrīla Prabhupāda and his books at the center of everything. Śrīla Prabhupāda's books are a qualification criterion for anyone and at the same time his books are the means of spiritual development.

TEXT 31

When a sensible man ceases to see different identities, which are due to different material bodies, he attains to the Brahman conception. Thus he sees that beings are expanded everywhere.

PURPORT

When a devotee becomes more and more elevated, he feels spiritual upliftment, supreme happiness and gradually ceases to distinguish living entities on the basis of the body. Such a vision or perception can take many forms. For example, a devotee can directly see how everything is immersed in the infinite Brahman and not see external bodies. Or he can see both the bodies and the souls enclosed in them. Also, this awareness may not be strongly pronounced: when a devotee realizes the omnipresence of the soul rather in the form of spiritual emotions and understanding, than in the form of direct vision. Practically speaking, it is not necessary for us to fully realize the impersonal aspect, although at the beginning of the spiritual path, such things may make the devotee more stable. The brahmanic nature of a devotee is always a good help, but higher positions are certainly more difficult to realize than attaining general brahminism.

Having sufficiently realized Brahman, the devotee moves on to the realization of the greatness of God. Brahman realization, however, is absolute, and at any stage of spiritual life, a devotee can periodically see the world from this point of view; there is no flaw in this.

TEXT 32

Those with the vision of eternity can see that the soul is transcendental, eternal, and beyond the modes of nature. Despite contact with the material body, O Arjuna, the soul neither does anything nor is entangled.

PURPORT

The soul is not connected with the material world in any way and he is not affected by anything. The soul is the consciousness of a person, but now our consciousness, passing through the body, is defiled and we consider ourselves to be body and mind. By focusing on himself, on the soul, a person can practically achieve his eternal blissful nature - this is called self-realization. The soul is eternal, immortal, and eternally blissful, and any material happiness is only a tiny glimpse of the soul's own bliss, but even higher is the happiness of God-realization, starting with the realization of God's greatness.

Although the soul passes through many bodies, he himself remains uncontaminated, and none of these bodies changes him - each and every soul always remains eternal and belongs to the spiritual nature. However, desiring to dominate, the soul can eternally remain in the cycle of birth and death, and everyone we see within the material world is classified as an eternally conditioned soul. Someone is beautiful and the other is smart, but both of them will die and get the next body. This is the real problem of material life. All these bodies that we see are created by māyā, and the souls within them believe that they are the cause of everything. People think that they are the cause of everything around them, while, in fact, they are not control anything. This whole situation was created according to the desires of souls; but the soul cannot dominate because he is atomic, therefore, the illusion of his dominance is created with the help of temporary bodies.

We do not need to try to mechanically preach to others that they are not the body, it is necessary to person realized himself and not just formally accept this statement. We have all "grown" into our body, so the process of self-realization is gradual, based on practical implementation. Some theory is necessary, but if one do not realize oneself as a soul, the theory will remain a theory.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 17 мар 2021, 05:11

TEXT 33

The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix with anything, although it is all-pervading. Similarly, the soul, situated in Brahman vision, does not mix with the body, though situated in that body.

PURPORT

All material elements and objects are located in space, but space is not contaminated by their presence and does not mix with them. For example, there is a wardrobe in a room, but it does not affect the space in which it stands. If the wardrobe is removed, the space in which it was located will remain the same. In the same way, the soul, being in the body, does not mix with the body, and although it seems that the soul is bound by the body, in the highest sense the soul still remains free and transcendental.

The soul becomes connected with a particular body because he wants to dominate. It is like, for example, children want to have fun on a dodgem car race, and they get into the cars and ride. While the children are riding, they are absorbed in cars, but in reality the children are not these cars and they have no idea who created these cars and invented this attraction. In the same way, the souls, desiring to dominate, enter the giant wheel of the material universe, where the soul is transmigrated from one body to another, having no relation to any of them.

Souls forget previous births, because all previous births ended in collapse and death. If the soul remembered this, how could he be happy in this life? Someone will say, "Why would not God leave a memory for souls?" - but the answer is that souls want to live each life carefree and do not want to remember collapse and death. They do not want to remember God, they want to consider themselves great. They want to live as eternal but in temporary bodies, and no matter what, no matter what type of body, souls want personal happiness and domination.

The situation within the material world is created by souls; it is not God who forms it, but the souls themselves by their desires and actions. If the soul says, “God, you are omnipotent, I want to live without You and become You myself” - and insists on this, God agrees and creats an illusion. Someone will say, "If creation is ultimately flawed, why does God agree to this?" If God refused, then He would deprive the soul of his independence. The soul would have no choice but to live with God, and also the principle of freedom is included in the concept of love. God is omnipotent, and if the soul wants to live outside of Him, He has created such a situation. And there are a huge number of souls who simply crave it and do not want to be deprived of such an eternally painful freedom at all.

When a person is aware of himself, he understands, practically realizes or sees that the soul is not connected either with the body or with material activities. The body and the external situation change, but the soul, or consciousness, never changes and is always eternal.

TEXT 34

O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.

PURPORT

Modern science believes that there are many suns in the universe, but the Vedas say the sun is one. Ultimately, if we accept the idea of ​​the energetic origin of the universe, including the big bang theory, we must agree that somewhere there must be an original source of the origin of the universe. I do not mean God now, we are talking about the primordial physical, energetic beginning of the universe. Everyone will agree that our planet is supported by the Sun, and the set of nearby planets is called the Solar System. Our Sun and other stars are certainly not the main reason for the existence of the entire universe, but where then is the source of all these shining planets? If the universe has a beginning, and no one argues with this, then somewhere there must be a source of energy from which all the other stars and planets appeared.

Scientists may say that the original sun exploded and scattered into billions of "small" suns, however, being consistent, we must also accept the hypothesis that the original sun did not explode, but continues to exist and exudes more and more new suns and stars. Moreover, the second hypothesis is more convincing, because, for example, the existence of our Sun is quite stable and it appeared much later than the emergence of the entire universe. At the present moment, the age of the Sun, according to science, is 4.5 billion years, and the age of the universe, according to the same data, is 12 billion years. Consequently, the Sun arose from some source, when the universe was 7.5 billion years old (that is, much later than the moment of the emergence of the universe or the "big bang") and it will exist, according to scientific data, another 5.5 billion years.

A star of the same mass as the Sun should exist on the main sequence for a total of approximately 10 billion years. Thus, the Sun is about in the middle of its life cycle now (D. Goldsmith, Owen. University Science Books, 2001. P. 96).

Our Sun is a stable, sustainable structure, which means that the original sun is even more stable and sustainable. The Vedas also say that the age of the Sun is about half of its life cycle now, they also claim that we live in the middle of the universe life cycle. Thus, both the Sun and the entire universe are in the middle of the path.

Generally, we do not recognize the data of scientists: today they say one thing, tomorrow they will say another thing, but the Sun that we see is objectively stable, and the duration of the stability of the Sun is comparable to the lifetime of the universe. Therefore, the Sun is a stable universal object that is a derivative of the original sun (or energy center), the source of all stars and planets.

There is no doubt that Brahmaloka is the original sun of the universe. Brahmaloka, being the closest to the spiritual world, radiates the brightest effulgence. Further, the effulgence of Brahmaloka manifests itself as the light of our Sun or many other suns (stars). The original sun is one - this is the planet of Lord Brahma - but Brahmaloka is not an ordinary physical object, it is not manifested at the level of gross physical elements, including at the level of fire. Brahmaloka can be both understood and achieved only with the help of the intellect, and in a certain sense Brahmaloka can be called all-pervading. The energy of Brahman, or Brahmaloka, is everywhere: this is our Sun and many other suns, this is the light of fire, the light of electricity, and all types of energy, since Brahmaloka is the original substance from which the entire universe was created. Therefore, the original sun is one, but for us it is manifested as our local Sun or as other stars.

As for the description of the universe, we meet different descriptions, moreover, sometimes diametrically opposite. For example, the universe is described as a lotus flower where all the planets are located in the stem of the flower, but the same universe elsewhere is described as the giant continent of Jambūdvīpa where all the same planets and levels of the world system are described as parts of this continent. It is just necessary to understand that the universe is arranged in a very complex way. It is much more complex than a molecule, atom, or solar system.

Scientists can hardly understand any interrelations even at the local level, but it is a huge non-trivial intelligence is needed to understand the structure of the universe. Therefore, in order to give a general idea of ​​the structure of the universe, the scripture considers it from different points of view, just as designers create drawings of one part in different planes. For example, a drawing of a rod in one projection will look like an elongated rectangle and in another projection it will look like a circle. So, it is not surprising that the description of such a complex system as the universe may look contradictory, although it is clearly a complete system.

So there is the original sun, Brahmaloka, under the control of Lord Brahma and there is the local sun, which we see, under the control of Vivasvān. Sometimes the scripture speaks of the sun as one and only, meaning our local sun. Sometimes the scripture speaks of the original sun and it calls all the other suns stars. There is no contradiction in this.

It is obvious that the local Sun as such, consisting of the element of fire, cannot be taken as Brahmaloka. However, this is one of the expansions of Brahmaloka. It can be assumed that Brahmaloka is within this Sun where other elements, including fire, gradually arise from pure intelligence. It can be assumed that Brahmaloka is located at the top of this universe and our Sun is only a reflection of it. It can be assumed that Brahmaloka is present in every atom (and now we can all see what energy is contained even in one atom). The point is that Brahmaloka is made up of intelligence, so it cannot be attained or understood by any method based on mechanical, gross physical principles.

Lord Brahma created this world, therefore Brahmaloka is present everywhere, but at the same time it is a local planet, which can be reached either by mystics or by souls with great intelligence. By and large, it is not possible for an ordinary soul to understand the structure of the entire universe, only have reached the level of Brahma and having his intellect, one can understand the whole principle and structure of the entire universe. On the other hand, our goal is to develop God consciousness, so there is no great need for us to fully understand all universal principles. It is enough for us to know some general things that the scripture gives, and further develop God consciousness.

A reasonable approach to understanding this situation is that the universe is quite complex and that some ordinary people will not be able to understand this either for a year, or for five years, or even their entire lifetime. The science of the structure of the universe is a complex science, so anyone who tries to understand something from this great science should show humility and not try to understand all these things at the level of modern primitive linear principles.

Thus, when the Vedas speak of the Sun illuminating the entire universe, they do not mean our particular Sun, but the original sun (Brahmaloka) which is the source of all other suns and stars. Scientists do not see it yet.

Whether we accept scientific theories or accept the Vedic ones, in this case Kṛṣṇa uses the sun to illustrate the propagation of the soul's light in the body. Just as the primordial sun illuminates the universe (or our Sun illuminates the Solar System), in the same way the soul illuminates the entire body, filling it with consciousness. Maybe we cannot determine the lifetime of the universe, just as scientists can be wrong about everything, but everyone can realize or see themselves as a soul. In general, it is not difficult practically by any method: by the method of karma-yoga, and by the method of jñāna, and even more so by the method of dhyāna.

Each of us is a soul, this is available for direct perception and this can be seen always and everywhere by indirect signs. Each of us is eternal, sat, and this sat-śakti continuously shines, spreading throughout our body, just as our Sun is spreading its radiance throughout the entire Solar System. Atheists deny God and spiritual science, they reject spiritual science in principle, not wanting to investigate it, because everything that we write can be scientifically proven. Atheists are afraid of proof of the soul and God existence, so they do not even theoretically admit the possibilityof God's existence, although everywhere we see the structure and consciousness. Atheists are horrified by the idea that God exists, because in this case all their frog theories will turn out to be deceptions, and their whole life will be built on violations of the supreme law and hypocrisy. They want to consider themselves, not God, as the luminaries of the world, and as much as they hate God, so are such pseudoscientists and lovers of a "free life" insignificant.

TEXT 35

One who knowingly sees this difference between the body and the owner of the body and can understand the process of liberation from this bondage, also attains to the supreme goal.

PURPORT

Knowledge means understanding the difference between body, soul, and Supersoul. First, a person thinks about the meaning of life, then he reads the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda and accepts the process of spiritual practice. If a devotee practices, over time he realizes himself as a soul and all questions and doubts about this matter are immediately removed. But we still need to realize our difference from the Supersoul, we are not equal to the Supersoul - this is an important point. Impersonalists and monists, having attained the effulgence of the soul, or infinite Brahman, declare Brahman as the source of all existence and stop there. Impersonalists, yogīs, and sometimes devotees can begin to identify with God, realizing Him in a personal aspect. This identification with God is also impersonalism, when the soul, seeing or perceiving God, begins to consider himself Him. We are not equal to God and cannot be equal to Him, but when the soul's consciousness is defiled, he may tend to regard Brahman as the source of everything or to consider himself equal to God.

Therefore, the perfection of knowledge is to understand the difference between body, soul, and Supersoul. The soul is part of the eternal Brahman, and Brahman is one with God and different from Him. Furthermore, the soul is part of the Supersoul, also being one with Him and different from Him. We need to properly understand our oneness and difference from God and later realize this in practice. Full realization of the oneness of the soul with God and the difference from Him (gaura-vāṇī) is the highest perfection of devotional service and spiritual life, which can be understood over time, as the spiritual development progresses.

Everyone should take the path of spiritual life by studying Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, chanting the mantra, and preaching. Preaching is a universal process and everyone can and should do it, regardless of their inclinations and position. Sometimes people say they have a different nature and they are not preachers, but we all have the same spiritual nature and a person does not preach only in one case - when he does not want to develop intensively, when he wants to preserve his material desires. One should not preach for the sake of one's own greatness and righteousness, moreover one must not preach for the sake of money, one should to preach by developing knowledge and selflessly. A spiritual master is anyone who teaches knowledge and preaching practically, based on the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 17 мар 2021, 05:37

Chapter 14. The Three Modes of Material Nature

TEXT 1

The Blessed Lord said: Again I shall declare to you this supreme wisdom, the best of all knowledge, knowing which all the sages have attained to supreme perfection.

PURPORT

Kṛṣṇa speaks mainly of knowledge in almost the entire Bhagavad-gītā and hardly speaks of faith. God and the spiritual master teach concrete things - the understanding of the material world, the soul, and God, but do not urge disciples or ordinary people to believe in it. If God created the entire world, why should not God describe it? A spiritual person is primarily a knowledgeable person, not a believing person. The materialists have gone so far as to call all religious people "believers" to emphasize that religion is based only on faith in God and that the existence of God cannot be confirmed, substantiated, or proven. Materialists do not want any knowledge of God, so they say that one can only believe in God - this is materialism and impersonalism.

The Bhagavad-gītā provides the basis of knowledge, it fundamentally describes the structure of matter, the qualities of the soul, and the main qualities of God. This is scientific knowledge which does not require faith, but requires study, following, and practical application. Scientists can say that the gunas (three basic qualities, states of nature, three modes) are invented, but we see a passive, active, and serene state everywhere. The passive state is extinction, destruction; the active state is the phase of creation, constructing; the serene state is a positive life based on knowledge. Therefore, the existence of three qualities of material nature has a completely scientific, proven justification, moreover, this classification can be applied in any area, from academic science to everyday life and household. Real knowledge, real truth can be applied everywhere, accordingly, knowledge about the soul, about God, about the modes of nature can be applied everywhere and preached everywhere.

Unlike modern scientific theories, which are mostly not proven, this knowledge has been around for thousands of years, solving people's practical problems. Although such knowledge is authoritative, or given to us from above, from God, this does not mean that it must be accepted blindly. This knowledge presupposes analysis, correct critical thinking, and practice, practical confirmation. Such knowledge may be outwardly different from modern science, but what is the value of science, which leads everyone to disaster? The celebration of modern science will soon be over - when people from all sides will be hit by troubles from global warming, crop losses, water problems, troubles from new diseases, environmental pollution, including garbage, from nuclear energy and, ultimately, from world nuclear war. What kind of science is this that only destroys all life? And the Bhagavad-gītā for thousands of years illuminates the path of people to the spiritual world and solves all the main problems of humanity.

As long as people followed the scriptures, they lived much more calmly and happily than at the present time when the whole world is filled with various kinds of contradictions. Modern people lose all kinds of well-being and true prosperity, but blinded by pseudoscience and technology, they think they are developing. People create many mechanisms, while becoming more and more selfish, proud, sinful, cruel, and unhappy. They strive to dominate personally and at the level of nations, states, and humanity, as a result, this begins to manifest itself as a lot of wars and an increase in all types of crime and immoral behavior.

The main thing that true religion does in relation to human society is to reduce the level of people's claim to dominance, because when people want to dominate, all types of conflicts will expand and strengthen. At the same time, the Bhagavad-gītā does not call people to blind faith in God, but explains everything consistently and scientifically.

TEXT 2

By becoming fixed in this knowledge, one can attain to the transcendental nature, which is like My own nature. Thus established, one is not born at the time of creation nor disturbed at the time of dissolution.

PURPORT

When a devotee becomes God-realized and does not deviate from this realization, then he attains liberation. Remembering God is not so difficult because God created everything that exists. People want to see beauty and power, they want to see qualities - and God has the best qualities. One can think about any form of God or think about different forms of God, it does not matter. A God-realized devotee becomes happy, and when such God-realization reaches the highest development, the devotee realizes qualitative oneness with Him.

Nobody prevents everyone from thinking about God and doing the most important thing in their life - to realize Him, but some petty concerns distract people. Thinking about God, a person does not even lose anything material, but fools refuse to do this. God-realization is supreme happiness, no family, no money, no entertainment can compare with this. After all, whatever a person wants, everything is possible only with the highest sanction of God.

Religion has been turned into some kind of musty church, where almost no one knows anything about God. Although, for example, the Bible contains descriptions of God, but almost no one uses them, replacing everything with rituals. The Vedas say God is beautiful and powerful - and these are the qualities that people seek everywhere inside matter. Is it hard to understand what God looks like? The soul has an eternal natural habit of seeing God and therefore seeks within the material world for the same qualities as He has.

Our consciousness is already spiritual, but it is covered with matter now; when a person thinks about God, his consciousness is purified, and as a result, realizing God, the person becomes happy. Moreover, the realization of God can increase to such an extent that even the fear of death overcomes. So, each person can enter the spiritual world to become truly happy. Realizing God directly, one should not be proud of it and should not tell others about it; one should preach a standard sermon, beginning with topics are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Speaking about the qualitative equality of the soul and God, Śrīla Prabhupāda confirms the existence of their qualitative unity (because qualitative equality in the highest development is a qualitative unity with a quantitative difference): “After acquiring perfect transcendental knowledge, one acquires qualitative equality with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, becoming free from the repetition of birth and death. One does not, however, lose his identity as an individual soul."

TEXT 3

The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth, and it is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible the births of all living beings, O son of Bharata.

PURPORT

The soul is Brahman, but the totality of the material elements is also Brahman, or it is spiritual. Matter is spirit, but it is a special spirit, a specific spirit that separates us from God. Individual souls are living entities with their own personal desires and material energy is a combination of elements in which conditioned souls can try to fulfill their desires. Although matter is spirit, nevertheless it appears for us as matter itself, because it separates us from God.

Brahman as material nature is divided by God into various material elements to make up the entire structure of the universe. Thus, the Supreme Brahman (God) creates a field of activity for the soul, after which He introduces living beings into the world of matter with His glance. Receiving a new body, the soul rejoices at new opportunities, but the body gradually grows old, withers and the soul feels sorrow. After passing through death, the soul is born again and again is full of enthusiasm to exploit the body, which again does not lead to anything good.

Materialists do not want to hear about the problem of death, they either say, “Everyone will die, but we have to live,” or they agree with the existence of reincarnation, but do not attach any importance to it. While the materialist is alive, he wants to increase his property, and when problems come, he is filled with grief or leaves the body like an animal - not knowing where he will go next, not knowing what to do at the moment of death, and not possessing the appropriate skills. Some difficulties during life are not so bad, because they help us learn to remember God in difficult situations. In fact, there is only one problem in the world - the problem of birth and death, and until a person understands this, his life is wasted. But the solution to this problem is not to constantly think about death and preach it, but to think about God and preach spiritual science.

The solution to the problem of birth and death is the realization of God, not a fight with death as such. Each of us is spiritual and eternal and we all want to perceive infinite qualities. Having fundamentally realized our eternal nature, further we must develop knowledge and awareness of the greatness of God. The mood of separation is also one of the forms of God-realization - when a devotee feels separated from God. Although a devotee feels separation from God in this case, nevertheless it is still thoughts of God and connects the devotee with God. If a devotee is established in the mood of separation, he becomes virtually invincible, because any difficulties only increase his remembrance of God.

TEXT 4

It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.

PURPORT

Nature gives souls different bodies and the source of the souls is God. The number of bodies and souls in the universes is infinite and they are all created by the infinite God. When the material world is destroyed, all conditioned souls enter the body of God where they remain in an unconscious state, and at the time of creation, these souls enter with the glance of God in the material world again and occupy there the same position in which they were at the time of the destruction of the material world. Although both bodies and all life in the material world are illusory, birth and death are painful for the soul - getting different bodies again and again, the soul does not achieve any result. Building houses, buying cars and apartments, having a family, children, then the soul loses everything and goes to the next body and all this is repeated in a circle without bear any fruit to the soul.

Therefore, a devotee who is at least to some extent self-realized cannot but preach. All these people around us who value their bodies and their property are really doomed and only spiritual knowledge can save them. There are many atheists and many materialistic believers in the world, but even if there are several billion atheists, then they all go into animal forms or lower. Mass atheism or mass sinfulness does not save or justify anyone - if there are five billion atheists, all five billion will go into animal forms and new souls will be born in their place. The material world is free and the law of cause and effect work like charm: if the soul is not interested in God, he remains inside the circle of birth and death. Similarly, materialistic, formal believers continue to be born again and again.

Although this punishment is quite fair, but our duty is to think how to help all these people by preaching. A devotee has no other concerns than preaching, and there can be no other concerns. It is necessary to somehow solve their affairs, so that there is something to live on, and then to engage in preaching. The preaching also can save ourselves, because without preaching, the chance to realize God and break away from māyā is very low. If a person does not study and preach spiritual science, then he is engaged in some kind of materialism. A person cannot be silent and have no interests, therefore, if his interests are not preaching, then he is still immersed in māyā or has insufficiently realized God. The best preaching is selfless preaching.

If a person thinks that he himself can achieve more than God can give him, he is simply stupid. God owns everything, but as a rule, He does not give material benefits, because people tend to get carried away by wealth and fall. We are here temporarily and there is no any need to acquire a lot of property. A person who is not burdened with extra property is easy-going, more free, and less at risk of himself. Therefore devotees do not have developed property or are not attached to it, but they have knowledge. Lord Caitanya and His associates show us exactly the same example.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 19 мар 2021, 21:34

TEXT 5

Material nature consists of the three modes-goodness, passion and ignorance. When the living entity comes in contact with nature, he becomes conditioned by these modes.

PURPORT

Śrīla Prabhupāda uses two English words for the Sanskrit "guḥāḥ": "qualities" (in synonyms) and "mode" (in the translation of the verse). The word "quality" has the meanings: "characteristic", "level", "property". The word "mode" has the meanings: "regime", "method", "form", "condition", "modus", etc. Accordingly, the meaning of the word "mode" in this context is closest to the meaning of "modus", since the term "modus" just denotes certain qualities of the object, that is, it is close in meaning to the word "quality" and well reflects the essence of the described phenomenon. The philosophical definition of modus is as follows:

Modus, mode (lat. modus - measure, method of execution, pattern, type) is a philosophical term denoting a property of an object that is inherent in it only in certain states and depends on the environment of the object and the relations in which it is located. Modus is the opposite of attribute - an inalienable property of an object, without which it can neither exist nor be thought." Also, mode is "...a way of being, acting, experiencing, thinking."

Thus, the modes of nature are the qualities of material nature that it manifests in certain situations. Or, which is also true, these are qualities that affect matter, creating its variable states: in one case the matter is under the influence of ignorance, in the other - under the influence of passion, in the third - under the influence of goodness, and basically the modes affect everything at once, just one of them prevails. In other words, objects, atoms, and elements are the same, but their qualitative state can change. This happens under the influence of three modes.

The term "quality" is not accurate in this sense, but when people hear or read the word "modus", they may not quite understand what is meant. On the other hand, the word “quality” in general can be used, since modes are ultimately qualitative states of matter. For example, fresh food may have the quality of goodness, but spoiled food already has the quality of ignorance. Therefore, there is no mistake to say that food is in the quality of goodness or ignorance, and the word "quality" itself is more clear to people.

Now let us examine how the modes, or gunas, of material nature appeared. God creates matter and gives the impulse of life to the material world. The very structure of the world is a mode of goodness, and everything that keeps the world and living beings in harmony is goodness. The impulse of creation is a manifestation of the quality of passion, and the subsequent extinction of the original impulse is a manifestation of ignorance. Matter itself is inert or matter is ignorance in its pure form, but the transcendental impulse emanating from God gives matter the qualities of goodness and passion, further gradually falls back into ignorance.

Therefore, the modus can also be understood as an independent unit that changes the qualities of matter. In this sense, it is often said about the influence of the modes of material nature and the like. Guna, modus, or quality can influence as an independent unit, spread its influence. The original source of modes is the impulse of God's creation and the given inertness of matter. The combination of the impulse of creation and the inertness of matter creates all the variety of qualities and movements of matter.

The verse also clearly states that the soul enters into the world of matter and is conditioned. God has no interest in the soul living in the world of matter, the soul's arrival in the material world is the fulfillment of the soul's own desire, and it has nothing to do with God. God does not need material nature, He also condemns souls for choosing life in matter and always seeks to help them get out of such a bad situation. If God Himself decided where the soul should be, then the material world as a phenomenon would disappear, but the desire to live in matter is the desire of the soul, not of God, God only gives such an opportunity, therefore the material world exists. God also comes Himself into the world of matter or sends His representatives to establish religion in this world of chaos, so it would be absurd to say that God sends souls here. Then it would turn out that first God sends souls here and then tries to save them.

The soul comes here on his own, because of his desire for domination. Being in a serene state of spiritual existence, the soul does not even imagine what consequences the arrival to the world of matter may have. The soul is not all-pervading and not omniscient, so once he decides to play the role of master, he falls into the material world, where māyā or the energy of illusion can cover soul forever. The description of the fertilization of material nature by God does not refer to the moment of the soul's fall; this is already a description of the stage of the cyclical existence of the material world itself. Having fallen into matter, the soul changes bodies, and at the moment of destruction of the material world he enters the body of God; in the new creation soul again takes his position - the one in which he was at the moment of destruction. All this is a description of the phases of destruction and creation of the material world and not a description of the fall of the soul.

When the soul falls from the spiritual world into the world of matter, the qualities of matter bind it. The basic desire of all conditioned souls is the desire for domination and dominance, which we see everywhere in various forms. Everyone wants to take the position of master or God. People want to increase their wealth, influence, beauty, and power indefinitely, eventually becoming like God at the head of a family, business, religion, country or world. But the idea of ​​getting out of such a situation is not to externally renounce all this, but to direct one's activity towards God.

As already explained, all matter is a hidden spirit, so when we direct our activities to God without being attached to the results, it is purified, eventually leading the person to knowledge. God does not need any activity within matter, but by dedicating his ordinary activities to God, a person thinks more and more about Him and finally finds peace, begins to remember God steadily and develop knowledge about God.

TEXT 6

O sinless one, the mode of goodness, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in that mode develop knowledge, but they become conditioned by the concept of happiness.

PURPORT

The guna of goodness (sattva-guna) does not mean ordinary material happiness. Nowadays, people often mean by goodness their ordinary feeling of happiness and external purity, but goodness is close to a transcendental state when a person realizes himself as a soul and begins to realize God. Since goodness is close to transcendental, then it is not affected by adversity, woes or external imperfections. A person in the mode of goodness feels good everywhere - both on the streets of cities with a preaching, and at a factory. A person in the mode of googness is not contaminated by anything, because he is above ordinary duality and purity or impurity.

Kṛṣṇa says that the criterion of goodness is knowledge; a knowledgeable person is a person in the mode of goodness. What is knowledge? This is the realization of oneself and God. That is, not in the way that modern people think ordinary happiness is a sign of goodness. Goodness is happiness that is close to transcendental, such happiness is no longer affected by external events.

Goodness is also the pursuit of a pure way of life, but ultimately one must rise above goodness. A devotee should strive to follow the instructions of the scripture and follow the principles, yet it is often difficult to comply with everything. Therefore, trying to become as good as possible, one must focus on oneself as a soul and on God and rise above ordinary goodness. Arjuna seemed to want to act according to the principles of goodness by refusing to fight, but God explained to him that actions in God consciousness are above all goodness and transcendental. Arjuna entered a battle filled with dust, mud, and the like and attained the highest spiritual enlightenment. This is the transcendental position.

However, there are two dangers in understanding the transcendent: it is to ignore the regulative principles by referring to the transcendent, or to commit some bad actions by referring to the transcendent. But the transcendental is pure, there is no self-interest or material motives in it. Everyone should understand that God knows all the thoughts, actions, and motives of any person, so one must act responsibly and try not to use the scripture for selfish purposes.

Beginners are always more or less self-interested and choose what they like from the scriptures. This is natural and partly correct, but as time passes, we should try to purify ourselves more and more, and the process of purification is based mainly on the realization of oneself and God. Now there are many seminars and courses where they tell you how to achieve this or that spiritual success. People like to listen to this; they have an illusion that by attending such seminars, they are purifying or will be able purified as a result, but purification is a process of self-realization and preaching from person to person.

TEXT 7

The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, O son of Kuntī, and because of this one is bound to material fruitive activities.

PURPORT

Sattva-guna is the development of knowledge and preaching. When the soul has no interest in knowledge, God, and preaching, then he is attracted by material desires, material dominance. As long as the soul wants prestige and expansion of his possessions, this distracts him from God and the development of knowledge. Someone directly strives for domination, others cover it up with external religiosity, but as long as a person wants personal domination in various forms, he will be born inside matter. And the devotee is interested in the dominance of knowledge of God.

In the mode of passion, male and female attraction is the center, as Śrīla Prabhupāda describes in his commentary on this verse:

"The mode of passion is characterized by the attraction between man and woman. Woman has attraction for man, and man has attraction for woman. This is called the mode of passion. And, when the mode of passion is increased, one develops the hankering for material enjoyment. He wants to enjoy sense gratification. For sense gratification, a man in the mode of passion wants some honor in society, or in the nation, and he wants to have a happy family, with nice children, wife, and house. These are the products of the mode of passion. As long as one is hankering after these things, he has to work very hard. Therefore it is clearly stated here that he becomes associated with the fruits of his activities and thus becomes bound by such activities. In order to please his wife, children and society and to keep up his prestige, one has to work. Therefore, the whole material world is more or less in the mode of passion. Modern civilization is considered to be advanced in the standards of the mode of passion. Formerly, the advanced condition was considered to be in the mode of goodness. If there is no liberation for those in the mode of goodness, what of those who are entangled in the mode of passion?"

TEXT 8

O son of Bharata, the mode of ignorance causes the delusion of all living entities. The result of this mode is madness, indolence and sleep, which bind the conditioned soul.

PURPORT

Ignorance has a special nature. Under the influence of ignorance, a person takes good for bad, and vice versa. Theoretical knowledge about God, about the gunas can also be a form of ignorance. Sometimes people expound the theory correctly, but when their goal is money and personal domination, then such a preaching is ignorance. As long as a person is attached to matter, he will always be in the lower gunas. Wanting to dominate and be known as great preachers, people begin to deceive others or become angry at fair criticism.

Goodness is detachment from results and ignorance is always an attempt to extract a selfish result. The self-interest of religious materialists is no different from the self-interest of ordinary materialists, only ordinary materialists want to dominate in the ordinary sphere and believers want to dominate within religion. However, it is virtually the same thing. The solution to this problem is the development of knowledge and selfless preaching; one can gain recognition of God without any positions and designations, such as "brāhmaṇa", "sannyāsī" and others.

The religious nomenclature preaches for the sake of money and recognition, but it is possible to preach privately, having no goals of dominance, and reach God. Ignorance in religion is the deification of symbols, ranks, and attributes, and the most important manifestation of idleness is the absence of preaching from person to person. While the soul sleeps in darkness, he does not preach, he is seized by spiritual laziness and idleness and he begins to think that possession of things, worldly or religious glory will make him happy.

Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura said that those who do not preach are dead, and in fact they are: they are spiritually dead and they are dead because they will have to be born, and therefore, die again and again. A person who is able to preach year after year without the aim of recognition, income, and to preach it in any conditions, should be considered in the mode of goodness. Regarding the manifestation of ignorance among ordinary people, Śrīla Prabhupāda (in his purport on this verse) describes it:

"The definition of the mode of ignorance is stated in the Vedic literature: under the spell of ignorance, one cannot understand the thing as it is. For example, everyone can see that his grandfather has died, and therefore he will also die; man is mortal. The children that he conceives will also die. So death is sure. Still, people are madly accumulating money and working very hard all day and night, not caring for the eternal spirit. This is madness. In their madness, they are very reluctant to make advancement in spiritual understanding. Such people are very lazy. When they are invited to associate for spiritual understanding, they are not much interested."
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Сообщение Jayanti » 20 мар 2021, 08:41

TEXT 9

The mode of goodness conditions one to happiness, passion conditions him to the fruits of action, and ignorance to madness.

PURPORT

The manifestation of the gunas (modes) of nature can be described in many ways. Goodness is basically knowledge and a feeling of happiness, which is independent of external conditions and is the most stable in comparison with other types of happiness. Happiness in passion is characterized by the fact that a person wants to be happy due to external activities, external environment; a person the mode of ignorance is happy due to his own degradation. Happiness in the mode of goodness is happiness by virtue of knowledge; the very principle of the development of knowledge is a principle of goodness, but when knowledge is false, then it is ignorance. The Bhagavad-gītā describes the principle of the gunas in general, but not all knowledge is goodness, and not all activities are passion. All this must be investigate with using the intelligence.

When happiness is associated with the personality himself, it is usually ignorance. For example, complacency is ignorance. However, the highest type of complacency - self-sufficiency due to self-realization as a soul - is already a transcendental, spiritual level. Nevertheless, the self-realization as a soul occupies the lowest position among the spiritual levels. Whenever the soul puts himself at the center, it will always have the character of ignorance or have a lower nature. In the same way, the gradation of rasas is also built on the basis of a decrease in egoism.

The position of Brahman realization is absolute spiritual egoism, while in the highest rasa of relationship with God (in spiritual separation from God), egoism is minimal and the happiness of the soul is maximal. The soul is atomic, therefore he cannot occupy a central position. All types of deification of the soul, and in particular the deification of people, should be attributed to ignorance; an attempt to get rid of such ignorance is passion; true spiritual goodness is the realization of God. We can give dozens of examples of various gunas manifestation, but our main task is to shift our attention from ourselves to God and thus solve all the problems.

TEXT 10

Sometimes the mode of passion becomes prominent, defeating the mode of goodness, O son of Bharata. And sometimes the mode of goodness defeats passion, and at other times the mode of ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way there is always competition for supremacy.

PURPORT

The gunas are always in a mixed state in a man, the qualities and activities of a man, as a rule, are not in one particular guna, but they are of a mixed character. For example, a person chants a mantra - this is goodness or a spiritual level, then he turns on the TV - this is the mode of ignorance, then he feels hunger and eats food - this is passion. However, one should understand that basically everything is determined by the consciousness of a person. For example, a devotee chants a mantra but thinks about sensual life - this is chanting in ignorance; or he thinks of material plans for the day - this is chanting in passion. To chant a mantra being aware of oneself as a soul is transcendental, nevertheless it is a lower spiritual level; to chant a mantra while thinking of preaching is a spiritual passion; to chant a mantra while thinking of God is spiritual goodness or even higher.

Only one who is on the spiritual level can determine which guna prevails in a particular situation, because while a person is in ignorance, his understanding is distorted by ignorance and he is not able to give the correct characterization. For example, the desire for family happiness is ignorance; a religious family among all types of families is a principle of goodness or transcendental principle, but when the emphasis is on the family as such, this is ignorance again and it does not matter that the family is religious.

When a person is in ignorance, all his assessments at the level of ignorance too. A person who is in ignorance will not be able to correctly qualify various situations, even using the scripture. Therefore, the principle of understanding the gunas lies in practical spiritual elevation, while theoretical knowledge about the gunas is necessary, but it is preliminary, because as long as a person is mainly under the influence of ignorance, he will interpret everything distorted and egoistic way.

We can also illustrate the ambiguity of the definition of gunas. For example, watching TV as entertainment is ignorance, but when there is a program about God on TV, it is already goodness. When a person watches TV and he has come up with a plan for good preaching, it is transcendental, but when he even watches a program about God for entertainment, it is ignorance again. Devotional service performed for personal goals is always ignorance, passion is when a devotee is focused on the process itself, and goodness is when he is realizes himself or God. For example, cleanliness is a quality of goodness, but when a person cleanses for his own sake or when he cleanses for the sake of cleanliness or out of excessive disgust, it is ignorance. When a person is in an unclean place and it does not disturb him or defile him, this is goodness or the transcendental level.

In general, the transcendental does not depend on external qualities, but the scripture gives some general external criteria so that there is no chaos. For example, the scripture specifies cleanliness as one of the criteria, and further, expanding the understanding, it describes various situations where external cleanliness can be neglected. Or the scripture establishes the principles of morality, and then, as contexts, there are examples when morality does not play any role.

A devotee should understand the value system and then understand the basis of this system or what is God-realization. The basis is God, not the gunas and rules. What brings us closer to God is goodness; what leads us away from God is ignorance. For example, a devotee follows all the principles, but has developed pride in this regard, that is, outwardly he follows religion and seems to be in goodness, but pride distances him from God, therefore this is ignorance. If another devotee neglects principles for personal reasons, but justifies himself by doing it for God, that is ignorance again.

Neither following principles, nor disregard for principles can be criteria that determine something; everything determines the motives and consciousness of a person. For example, the gopis have disregarded the principles of morality, but since it was really done for God, it is a transcendental act. Others have disregarded principles for personal gain - this is already an act in sheer ignorance. Therefore, if a person is not honest with himself, he will never understand the gunas and will never understand the scriptures correctly. Understanding comes when a person following. Theoretical knowledge can be taken as a preliminary understanding, but without really following, without really purifying, it is impossible to achieve true understanding.

Therefore the uttama-guru is important. Because he can immediately, on the spot, give an accurate description of everything and direct everyone. Religious activity that does not focus on the study of Srila Prabhupada's books and their distribution is ignorance. General lectures that do not lead to the distribution of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books is ignorance. Temple worship without preaching is essentially the lowest religious level. Trying to achieve personal purity as such is ignorance. Whatever one accomplishes with personal goals in mind - temple worship, distributing books, following principles, donations - itvwill always be in the mode of ignorance.

Passion is enthusiasm in the preaching process and preaching plans, and goodness is self-realization and independence from external factors. The pursuit of personal happiness in any form is always ignorance, enthusiasm to preach is passion, and transcendental happiness no longer depends on anything and it eternally manifests itself in all forms - both in preaching and in any other activity.

It is not so difficult to come to the initial level of self-realization. One may still be sufficiently conditioned, but what is the difficulty to realize one's eternal nature? Therefore, if a devotee does not even have this initial realization, then he is full of ignorance and has many personal goals. Small-minded people do not understand that preaching from person to person, distributing Śrīla Prabhupāda's books is the highest, fastest, and most direct way of spiritual development. Lord Caitanya Himself sets the example of continuous preaching from person to person throughout almost His entire life.

TEXT 11

The manifestations of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge.

PURPORT

In fact, material goodness is not our goal. A devotee should strive for external brāhmaṇism in order to live more purely and as an example to others, but in the highest sense this is not the goal. If we do not realize ourselves and God, then the observance of any principles and any qualities of goodness are meaningless. Materialists may live very purely outwardly, but this does not make them God-conscious. And having realized himself and God, the person becomes naturally detached from external activities, both good and bad.

When a person is focused on God, he will be pure naturally, the spiritual energy that permeates his entire body will make his body clean under all circumstances. Such a devotee has no selfish motives, so he is pure inwardly too, but since we are preaching, we should to some extent set a good example to others and behave according to general principles and pāñcarātrika.

The main gates of the body are ears, eyes, and mouth. If a person hears the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and true teachings (uses his ears), reads the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda (uses his eyes), then he is purified within himself and in time he will eventually begin to preach (use his mouth, including indirectly in the process of written preaching). Thus, the main gates of the body will be cleansed. If the main gates of the body are clean, then all other gates will be in order.

TEXT 12

O chief of the Bhāratas, when there is an increase in the mode of passion, the symptoms of great attachment, uncontrollable desire, hankering, and intense endeavor develop.

PURPORT

In the mode of passion, one wants to have as much money, fame, power, influence, pleasure, or entertainment as possible. Passion is characterized by a certain excitement of endless growth: for example, if a person has some money, he wants to have it even more. Passion is preoccupation with the process, preoccupation with growth. At the heart of passion is the desire for possession and the desire to feel superior to others. If in goodness a person is interested in the essence, knowledge, then passion makes a person active, as materialists say, "happiness is an endless development."

Thus, people nowadays believe that modern civilization does not degrade but develops and that each of them develops within this civilization. Passion is always somewhat demonstrative - a person wants to have a car better than others, a house better than others, a family, children better than others. And even when he has a car, a house, and a family, it still seems to him that this is not enough and he is looking again and again for how to earn even more.

Having become rich, a man takes many mistresses, and a girl, having become rich, spends money to have a beautiful figure, attract everyone around her, and buy a large number of fashionable clothes. Having gained power, a person becomes attached to the fact that he is above others and wants to endlessly increase his influence, eventually claiming the place of the God of this world. Having fame, a person wants to constantly increase it and suffers greatly when the fame becomes less or even goes away.

The desire for a constant growth of wealth, fame, strength, beauty, the desire for a steadily increasing self-greatness clearly indicates that the soul is a part of God who possesses all these things. Having come to the world of matter to imitate God, every soul wants to dominate in varying degrees and passion is the most vivid expression of this tendency. People of knowledge are more pacified, but a people of passion are always active and experiences many fluctuations in feelings, from strong excitement to intense suffering.

In general, passion is a high mode. Nowadays, few people are in pure passion, people are mostly in ignorance with an admixture of passion or goodness. Passion implies both nobility and beautiful impulses of the soul in its pure form, but modern people experience a passion of the lower levels, a passion in ignorance when low interests prevail.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 20 мар 2021, 19:24

TEXT 13

O son of Kuru, when there is an increase in the mode of ignorance madness, illusion, inertia and darkness are manifested.

PURPORT

At the present time, most everyone is in the mode of ignorance, where passion and goodness can be mixed. Even trying to follow this or that religion, it is difficult for people to get out of the influence of ignorance. For example, God is described in the Vedas in sufficient detail and clearly, but being under the influence of the mode of darkness, billions of people cannot understand that this is a description of God. They worship some general idea of ​​God, considering God to be an unknown power.

Not knowing anything about God and not wanting to know about Him and understand this knowledge, the world is filled with materialistic activities related mainly to the mode of ignorance. Modern science, manufacturing, and technology are all related to ignorance because they destroy the environment. Although some people, including some scientists, understand the destructiveness of science and technology, they are not able to stop such activities. In the coming decades, the problems of climate, global warming, and the crop loss will come to the fore - all this is the result of activities in the mode of darkness.

There are many examples of modern ignorance. This is the production of endless variations of household items, and senseless driving around in cars, and flying back and forth. Modern mass culture talks about anything, but not about God. And even modern religions, which know nothing about God and only helplessly try to preach piety. The whole world is in the mode of ignorance now, but this situation can only be changed by preaching knowledge about God and not by external renunciation and piety as such.

Everything can be changed by creating preachers, not by giving up machines. Superfluous machines and aspirations will disappear by themselves if people become interested in spiritual knowledge and take the path of preaching. Without preaching, it is unlikely to change even one own life, so preaching is the main chanting of the holy name in the age of Kali and the main form of manifestation of religion and religiosity.

TEXT 14

When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets.

PURPORT

Those who seek to develop spiritual knowledge and study the Vedic scriptures or other scriptures such as the Bible and the Koran, who pray to God, try to live piously, seek the highest meaning of life can rise to the level of heaven. When the qualities of the mode of goodness prevail in the personality, he rises to the planets of sages or to the higher levels of paradise, but those who are not so pure are born in the lower stages of heavenly life where the inhabitants are engaged in creativity, where heavenly beauties live and everything is full of sensual serenity. Such a birth is not safe, because while resting and enjoying the heavenly senses, the soul may eventually fall back on planets such as the Earth. Have entered in paradise, one should continue spiritual practice without being too tempted by heavenly pleasures.

Being born in heaven can be called some prize for materialists and materialistic believers, but we are only interested in attaining the spiritual world. From the spiritual point of view, there is little difference between paradise and Earth, and devotees generally do not aspire to the heavenly planets at all, we are not attracted to paradise at all. A devotee dreams only of the spiritual world and aims only there.

TEXT 15

When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when he dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom.

PURPORT

When people leave the body or dying, they are mainly born in the animal world, including those who were only outwardly religious. It is quite difficult to determine who is truly religious and who is not. If a person prioritizes himself and his material situation, he will go into animal forms, where one does not even need to work to live. If a person had an emphasis on spiritual life, he is born again as a human being or can ascend to heaven. And this is not God's bias, but simply the fulfillment of people's desires. If the goal of an individual is basically "to live well" - to eat without problems, sleep without problems, have a family without problems, then the body of an animal is much better suited for this.

There are also many who think about the welfare of humanity, about progress, who are engaged in fruitful activities. They can be born again among humans, but without changing such inclinations, they will inevitably fall into animal life too. Or if a person is very sinful, then it does not matter what he did, he will go to animal forms, to the lower planets or to hell.

The lower the planet, the more hellish existence is there, and below hell there is also the darkness, where souls no longer show any signs of life at all. This darkness extends at the bottom of the universe (it is also partially manifes as the total darkness of the universe). This darkness is like a dark silt, where those who are not corrected even by hell are constantly falling - souls who are in fact constantly aimed at domination, at destroying others, striving for this under any circumstances and ultimately destroying themselves as a personality.

There are two types of soul suicide: the highest type - there are those who dissolve in Brahman, and the lower type - there are those who fall to the bottom of the universe, almost completely losing consciousness. Since the lifetime of the universe in the "creation - destruction" cycle is infinite, the number of souls at the bottom of the universe is also infinite and they are in this state, as a rule, forever. All this is a continuation of the description of the greatness of God and the immense darkness of life in matter.

The picture of death and new births is very depressing and at the present time the vast majority of people go to hell. Our preaching could reduce the number of such people, so all devotees should be engaged in preaching tirelessly at least for such motives, even though such motives are not the best. Also, everyone needs to understand that external religiosity alone does not solve the problem of birth and death and one must seriously engage in spiritual science and practice.

In the past, we were shocked when we learned that this or that person received a hellish punishment, but the more the picture of life opens before us, the clearer it becomes that the hellish future now, in the age of Kali, is ordinary (and all life around us is more and more takes on hellish features). To go to hell or to animal forms is almost the same, because it means going into a cycle of millions or billions of births of a hopeless existence.

We are all conditioned, we all are sinful in some way, nevertheless, we need to aim at the development of knowledge, at preaching, and attaining the spiritual world; without such determination it will be very difficult to escape from the world of matter. It is not necessary to exaggerate the probability of punishment by hell, yet religion gives a certain protection, but it is not necessary to exaggerate one's own religiosity, also offensive chanting of the holy name may not protect against punishment. Especially with regard to leaders, the demand from them is very serious, but when materialists and demons faced with the prospect of money, power, and fame, they practically do not pay attention to any warnings of the scripture. When a person is stupid, he always considers himself superior to others, and if he is religious, he considers himself the most religious; the fate of such demons from religion is mostly unhappy.

As regards to take birth at least as a human being, Śrīla Prabhupāda in his purport on this verse writes: "Therefore, those who are actually serious about human life should take to the mode of goodness and in good association transcend the modes and become situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the aim of human life. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that the human being will again attain to the human status."

One should follow religious principles, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, study the scripture, and preach. If a person has not yet succeeded in observing all the principles, he should clearly understand this, repent, and always make attempts to improve. There is a huge difference between those who are sinful and consider it the norm and those who are sinful, for example to the same degree, but understand that they behave badly and try to correct themselves. Even if their attempts lead nowhere, each such attempt is a sign of a certain piety. However, everyone can chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, read the scripture, and preach, so there can be no excuses. Goodness basically means spiritual understanding and not external cleanliness or observance of some rituals.

Sometimes people chant the mantra, observe some regulatory principles, but due to lack of interest in God they go into animal forms (and there are not so few such people), while others violate something, outwardly not so religious, but go to paradise. It is all about the consciousness of a person, his real goals and priorities. When a person really has spiritual priorities, he will elevate, and external attributes are not so important in all this.

The existence of the material world is eternal and the fall and rise of souls is infinite here. It seems to us that the fall of souls into animal forms or into hell in such quantities is incredible, but it happens forever here. God is perfect and impeccable, Lord Nārāyaṇa is not concerned about the uplifting of souls or their downfall. As Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, liberation of one universe is meaningless because it is an immeasurably small quantity in the innumerable universes. This is the greatness of God. In the material world, there are an infinite number of such universes and inside the universes there are an infinite number of souls who either uplift or downfall, and all this happens eternally in accordance with the law of cause and effect.

TEXT 16

By acting in the mode of goodness, one becomes purified. Works done in the mode of passion result in distress, and actions performed in the mode of ignorance result in foolishness.

PURPORT

We should understand that only what is really connected with God can be considered goodness. Everything in the world is so defiled nowadays that only what is not formally dedicated to God bears the traits of some kind of goodness. Often people study the scripture, but are full of their material plans, or chant a mantra, but their whole life is devoted to themselves. Goodness is what leads a person to real spiritual uplift and self-realization.

In fact, apart from developing knowledge and preaching, everything else have a significant amount of ignorance in it. Although religious activity is theoretically in the mode of goodness, but when one devotes it to oneself and to one's needs, it also takes on the character of ignorance. Therefore, in the present age, the method of exaltation is mainly chanting the name of God, studying and discussing the scripture, and preaching. Temple life, festivals, and rituals alone, in fact, do not solve the problem of ignorance and the further the age of Kali goes, the more obvious it will become.

Although India is formally a bearer of spiritual culture, formal adherence to scripture has not made it spiritual. Temple and communal religiosity have little effect and influence. In the same way, Western religions are gradually fading away, losing any influence in society. Believers who outwardly seem to be in the guna of goodness are often in the guna of ignorance, preoccupied mainly with their own personal affairs and have no sufficient experience and knowledge to influence society. Therefore Lord Caitanya established the principle of Saṅkīrtana or widespread preaching in society based on the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Actions in the guna of goodness are mainly preaching and then temple worship to some extent takes a character of goodness too. It is much the same with the devotee's personal spiritual life: without preaching, personal sādhana often has no significant effect.

Passion in religion is the desire for personal gain in religion, or when the desire for fame and the lust for money surpass the desire for spiritual realization. A person theoretically knows what is good and what is bad, but money, fame or women come - and this takes his consciousness aside or fills him with material happiness. Having money or honor, such a person wants even more money, even more fame or power. Such desires, as a rule, never calm down and he never becomes satisfied. Many leaders in religion are influenced by passion, which makes them active, but generally does not bear sustainable spiritual fruit. Such leaders, being in passion, often do a gigantic job implying their own benefit or glory, but since there is little spiritual realization, usually the fruits of such "warrior's labor" are insignificant as a result.

Ignorance in religion is a passive state when people are ready to do something for themselves and do not want to do almost anything for God. A man is ready to build a big house for himself, he runs around and fusses, arranging his affairs, but such people do not want to preach or lead it when there is an incentive of fame or money. Almost any ordinary life in its essence is ignorance, periodically interspersed with passion. God is all-attractive, however, when people do not understand this, they are busy with their dull lives, entangled in hundreds of attachments and do not know true happiness. If a person is not inclined to preach, it will be very difficult to move him out of this state of ignorance.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 21 мар 2021, 15:57

TEXT 17

From the mode of goodness, real knowledge develops; from the mode of passion, grief develops; and from the mode of ignorance, foolishness, madness and illusion develop.

PURPORT

Goodness is basically God-realization mixed with pious activities. Any action performed without realization of God or even realization of Brahman can hardly be called action in goodness.

We should first understand the gunas of nature as a whole, and then understand the gunas in more detail and from a higher point of view. For example, there is food in goodness. When a person eats such food, he eats in the mode of goodness, but when a person eats it only for himself, this is already an act of ignorance. Thus, simply to eat food that is in the mode of goodness is not enough, because once a person acts for himself, it will ultimately be food in goodness eaten in ignorance.

When a person offers goodness food to God, this is a higher position than simply to eat goodness food. The goodness food offered to God becomes even more pure and, ideally, transcendental. However, if such an offer of food is formal and the food is offered only with the idea of ​​eating well, that is ignorance again. Thus, all kinds of rules of goodness can be fulfilled in ignorance, but this is ignorance of different levels: to eat goodness products for oneself is ignorance, to formally offer it to God is ignorance, but of a higher order, and so on. Therefore, it turns out that, seemingly following principles of goodness, a person can still remain in ignorance, it is worth to understand this point.

Practicing the scriptural rules only for the sake of following them or practicing rules for the sake of oneself is ignorance. But rejecting the rules is ignorance too. Therefore, the center of life and goodness can only be God and the development of knowledge, and not external things. The verse says, "sattvāt sañjāyate jñānaṁ" - true goodness gives knowledge, understanding.

For example, a person is so keen on preaching or God that sometimes he eats food, forgetting to offer it. Is it goodness? It can be in the mode of goodness and it can even be transcendental. Person, preaching in distant lands, having no conditions to cook, eats karmic bread, is that goodness? It can be both in goodness and transcendental. And the other, instead of preaching, spent half a day to bake his own blessed bread. How can this be qualified? This is ignorance. He spends half a day in order to fulfill some secondary principle and does not preach - this is ignorance. The problem is solved very quickly: one went to the store, bought bread, ate, and went to preach. Therefore, goodness as such, in fact, does not exist, goodness is possible only when there is devotion to God, and in its pure form goodness is always knowledge and not compliance (or non-compliance) of external rules.

Passion is always the desire to get fruits such as money, fame, honor, power, women, family, house, car, garage, and the like. Endlessly hoarding various things, a person in the mode of passion never comes to any kind of pacification. If he has ten million rubles, then he wants to have twenty million, and then one hundred million. Such people say, "You cannot have too much money," but they are all, in fact, crazy. The desire for fame and money can lead a person very far, even to criminal activity, and this applies to everyone, both non-believers and believers, including priests, sannyāsīs, gurus and others.

TEXT 18

Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.

PURPORT

Without interest in God, a person cannot even ascend to heaven. Pious actions alone are not enough to ascend to heaven, since paradise life is based on devotion to God and on the knowledge of God. To ascend to heaven, there must always be some interest in God and spiritual science. If such interest is mixed with the desire for material prosperity, the soul is born in the heavenly planets. And everyone should understand that a religious position does not solve anything in such things. Here, on Earth, a person can be known as a religious figure or guru, but fate is not formed by titles, the essence is important: what really interests a person, plus his actions. There are outwardly non-religious people but seeking God, they may ascend to heaven, and there are outwardly religious people but preoccupied with themselves, they may go to the lower planets. The end of life and aspirations of a person at the end of his life are also important, however, since we do not know when our end will come, we should always think about God and always preach

When a person is absorbed in passion and there is some kind of non-formal religiosity in this (the development of spiritual knowledge), in this case he can be born on Earth or planets of this type again. Following the usual passion, without interest in spiritual science and practice, almost no one will be able to get a human body, but will go to lower forms of life or to hell. Why do people go to hell? Because they have killed a lot or contributed to murder and destruction. Almost all modern life, industry and science are destructive, people also, for example, eat meat uncontrollably, killing animals. Sometimes people eat meat, but at the same time they have an interest in God or they follow the rules of their religion, then this can be forgiven and a person will rise to heaven or higher. But ordinary meat-eating will not be forgiven, and after killed thousands of animals in his life or payed for their killing, a person will be forced to answer for it.

Therefore, living an ordinary life, a human, as a rule, goes to animal forms or even to hell, and since people do not like to think about it, they deny religion in general. To "live in peace" and that nothing reminds them of responsibility. Knowing all this situation, we still should not preach to people making a lot of negative accents, we should to preach about God, because the acceptance of the idea of ​​hell or the acceptance of the idea of ​​following the principles will still not save people from problems without knowledge of God. Of course, following a religion out of fear can help people, but when religion focuses on fear, on punishment, eventually such approach becomes destructive.

We must understand that the essence of everything is knowledge about God, not external principles, and the essence of spiritual practice is further preaching and enlightening people. For example, vegetarianism reduces the bad fate of people, but vegetarianism alone is not enough to solve the problems of humanity or the problems of bad fate. As long as a person has no interest in God, no knowledge about God, no feelings for God, and does not follow the instruction to preach, it will be very difficult for him to avoid problems, because almost everything is defiled in the age of Kali.

Usually, modern believers are people who live on a grand scale and partly recognize God, or adherents of the church who follow something, condemn sin, but without knowledge and preaching they remain downtrodden sectarians. Christ said to preach and did not build a single temple in his life. Lord Caitanya said to preach and also did not build any temple. What other examples are needed to understand what is the essence of spiritual life?

TEXT 19

When you see that there is nothing beyond these modes of nature in all activities and that the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all these modes, then you can know My spiritual nature.

PURPORT

The entire material world is a gigantic machine that is not created by us and is not supported by us. Thoughts, senses, various desires, instincts, all kinds of ideas are formed from the mind and body, which are not created by us and are not supported by us. For example, a person is attracted by a certain food: this comes from the needs of the body, which was not created by him and is not supported by him. Then the person eats food and he has no idea about food assimilation in his body. Scientists say they understand the digestion process, but we do not consciously control the digestion process, do we? Or, for example, the principles of the mind. We do not understand them until we get out of the influence of the mind.

There are billions of people in the world and all their bodies are not created by them, they also do not understand that they received a deterministic mind at birth. In the same way, all other processes in the world are not created by us and are not supported by us, we can only change something in the world to some extent. When a person realizes that neither the world, nor his body and mind are his property and, moreover, that he himself is different from all this, when a person realizes himself as a soul and realizes God behind everything, then he has knowledge.

A person can renounce matter and understand the spiritual nature through this, but a person can dedicate his activities to God and also understand the spiritual nature. The material world is spiritual in the highest sense, therefore, it is possible to understand the spiritual nature through the dedication of matter to God. Direct cognition of God through dedication the matter to Him is the main path, and cognition of God through the renunciation of matter is secondary, auxiliary path.

Every man's plans will be destroyed, in the same way all his connections will be destroyed, his position will be lost, and in the end he will lose everything. Every sober sensible person should understand these things. "If I lose everything, then is it worth to devote my life to something that will inevitably disappear?" One need to support oneself, but one also need to be aware of what is temporary and what is eternal and to transfer the emphasis in one's life to eternity. By doing this, a person gradually gets out of the influence of the material world, the influence of the gunas and eventually he will be able to cognize God who create everything, but who Himself is outside this world. Having attained the spiritual nature and realizing God, everyone becomes happy. All the problems of this world can be solved in only one way: by developing God-consciousness.

TEXT 20

When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.

PURPORT

By becoming self-realized, the person gradually gets out of the influence of material nature, the modes of nature. The awareness "I am the eternal immortal soul" is a concrete, direct realization of oneself. Spiritual life means direct perception of both oneself and God, and not just theoretical ideas about one's own nature and about God. At first, this is theoretical knowledge, but as spiritual practice progresses, theoretical knowledge begins to be embodied, realized in the life of a devotee. Everyone is a soul and our consciousness, or soul consciousness, permeates the body, but is usually spent on external things and various misconceptions. “I am the soul” - self-realized person becomes happy. Everyone wants happiness, but senses in contact with material objects do not give permanent happiness. When a person turns to himself, that is the beginning of eternal happiness, brahma-bhūta. Growing stronger, such a consciousness becomes stable and more and more fills a person's life.

Self-realization can go parallel to material life - when a person is outwardly engaged in ordinary activities, but in fact he has begun to realize himself. To free oneself from the gunas does not mean to go to a monastery or to the forest, it means to change one's perception and adopt spiritual practice - chanting a mantra, studying Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and preaching. "I am an eternal spirit soul, I always exist - I existed in the past, I exist now, and I will exist forever, eternally." "I am a part of boundless eternity, of a great indestructible spirit." As such consciousness growing stronger, it removes the personality from the influence of birth and death, the fear of old age and death weakens or disappears, and then the personality can leave the world of matter for the spiritual world. Such realization is not the end point, it is only the beginning of the spiritual path, but by realizing oneself and beginning to realize God, a person can reach the spiritual world.

All matter is dust and vanity of vanities, nothing material can bring happiness to the soul. A certain detachment from the world is a sign of jñāna, but then we must begin to realize God who is our source. By realizing God and realizing spiritual qualities that are above the all-pervading Eternity, a devotee can understand spiritual practice based on spiritual activities.

At first we perceive forms and activities as a manifestation of māyā and try to renounce them, but as our spiritual development progresses, we understand that māyā in the highest sense can be spiritualized. "I am the eternal soul in the world of illusory forms, but since God is absolute, I can use all these forms as an offering to Him." If a person realizes God, then all forms of matter gradually become connected with Him.

Devotional service immediately gives a person a method based on offering everything to God, which is also the position of Brahman realization. However, if this method is used in the wrong way, then its application looks like a material activity, albeit directed towards God. When a person is too absorbed in matter, his activities which should be transcendental, performed on the level of eternity, in fact become an ordinary materialistic religious activities with all its flaws. In this sense, Brahman realization is superior to materialistic religion.

Thus, devotional service can be on three levels: 1. Ordinary materialistic (karmic) religiosity. 2. Religion at the level of jñāna, or self-realization. 3. Transcendental devotional service to God. All three levels may externally look exactly the same: devotees offer something to God, chant a mantra or prayer, preach and so on, but there is a difference in the consciousness of devotees.

Ordinary religion is the materialistic activities directed towards God, or materialistic life mixed with temple worship or chanting a mantra, etc. Higher are the impersonalists who realize themselves as an eternal immortal soul, and even higher are those who have realized the spiritual qualities of God. Ordinary religion is filled with materialism of all kinds. Without realizing themselves and God, people follow only the external process and desire all kinds of material benefits. Also, materialistic religion has all kinds of deviations and distortions of the scripture, and basically all religions of the world are in a similar situation. Next comes the world of jñāna: impersonalists are often more consistent in their spiritual aspirations than religious karmīs, but tend to deny God as a Person.

Thus, as long as a person does not realize himself and God, he will always be a materialistic believer who lives for the fruits of his activities. Adherents of Vaiṣṇavism are also divided into three categories - karmīs, jñānīs, and devotees. The largest category is the believing karmīs. When they are steadfast in their material attachments, they are not suitable for pure devotional service (development of understanding); we generally ignore them.

Believing karmīs can be ordinary believers, sannyāsīs, brāhmaṇas, and gurus of all stripes. As long as a person does not realize God, he will be immersed in materialism of all kinds, sometimes disguising it with religion, sometimes not hiding his materialistic inclinations. First, the soul renounces māyā due to suffering, or materialists become gurus and sannyāsīs for material success, then the soul falls back into the world of animal forms, and so renunciation and downfalls can continue for thousands of lifetimes. God feels no emotion from this farce of false gurus and karmic believers, they constantly fall into māyā and ultimately may be buried in it, because they have no particular desire to do something unselfishly and develop real knowledge.

Therefore, everyone must study and become a preacher, otherwise the chances of liberation, at least of quick liberation, are very small. The spread of external religiosity, without real spiritual development, has no special value. Thus, if a person does not realize himself as a spiritual soul and does not move in the direction of the development of knowledge and preaching, he can get stuck in the world of matter for a long time, building his meaningless plans for this or that domination, including being inside religion.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 22 мар 2021, 20:34

TEXT 21

Arjuna inquired: O my dear Lord, by what symptoms is one known who is transcendental to those modes? What is his behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?

PURPORT

God explained that the best thing for us is to get out of the influence of material nature. And then Arjuna asks, "How can one determine who has escaped from such influence?" Arjuna does not approach everything theoretically, but practically. Although the signs of a liberated soul will be described below, it is still not so easy to recognize a liberated soul, because any signs can be imitated. There is also a difference between jñāna, renunciation of the world, and devotional service when a person can be externally absorbed in activities.

The answer is that a person can be active, implying the interests of God and not his own. What are God's interests? These are the interests of preaching. God does not have any other interests here. Similarly, a devotee may be interested in social life, politics, culture, or any area of ​​society in connection with preaching. A devotee has no interest in politics as such, but in connection with preaching we can use any interests of others.

TEXTS 22-25

The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active; who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a clod, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all fruitive undertakings-such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

Arjuna submitted the three different questions, and the Lord answers them one after another. In these verses, Kṛṣṇa first indicates that a person transcendentally situated neither envies anyone nor hankers for anything. When a living entity stays in this material world embodied by the material body, it is to be understood that he is under the control of one of the three modes of material nature. When he is actually out of the body, then he is out of the clutches of the material modes of nature. But as long as he is not out of the material body, he should be neutral. He should engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord so that his identity with the material body will automatically be forgotten. When one is conscious of the material body, he acts only for sense gratification, but when one transfers the consciousness to Kṛṣṇa, sense gratification automatically stops. One does not need this material body, and he does not need to accept the dictations of the material body. The qualities of the material modes in the body will act, but as spirit soul the self is aloof from such activities. How does he become aloof? He does not desire to enjoy the body, nor does he desire to get out of it. Thus transcendentally situated, the devotee becomes automatically free. He need not try to become free from the influence of the modes of material nature.

The next question concerns the dealings of a transcendentally situated person. The materially situated person is affected by so-called honor and dishonor offered to the body, but the transcendentally situated person is not affected by such false honor and dishonor. He performs his duty in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and does not mind whether a man honors or dishonors him. He accepts things that are favorable for his duty in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, otherwise he has no necessity of anything material, either a stone or gold. He takes everyone as his dear friend who helps him in his execution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he does not hate his so-called enemy. He is equally disposed and sees everything on an equal level because he knows perfectly well that he has nothing to do with material existence. Social and political issues do not affect him because he knows the situation of temporary upheavals and disturbances. He does not attempt anything for his own sake. He can attempt anything for Kṛṣṇa, but for his personal self he does not attain anything. By such behavior one becomes actually transcendentally situated.

TEXT 26

One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.

PURPORT

If a person performs devotional service (mainly hearing, chanting, and preaching) and does not reach even the Brahman level, then he performes something wrong. Without being at least to some extent a brāhmaṇa, it will be difficult for a person to understand the qualities of God. But we have to become brāhmaṇa by self-realization, not just by putting on a brāhmaṇa thread and pretending to be spiritual people. One may not be initiated as a brāhmaṇa, but being self-realized, he is a real brāhmaṇa. Kṛṣṇa does not say here that one must undergo brāhmaṇa initiation, He speaks about the qualities of a person, about those who are constantly engaged in preaching of spiritual science. After all, each of us is consciousness and what the body is doing is not so important. Materialists always emphasize physical devotional service, but the human consciousness is important, it is important what consciousness is engaged in. If we realize ourselves, God and preach, then everything is fine.

We need thousands of preachers and we do not need thousands of parishioners who simply worship the Deity and come to life only on religious holidays. We preach to everyone, not discriminating too much, but we pay more attention to those who are inclined to actively develop. Everyone should be informed and everyone should be explained the process of spiritual practice; also in the countries of the whole world it is necessary to eradicate the ideas of atheism, evolution, and technical progress, but more carefully we teach only those who will take up the baton of the preaching.

As for progress, from year to year the reactions for burning oil will be more and more strong, therefore, by hook or by crook - either people themselves will accept the unacceptability of modern methods and will change their approach to life or they will be left without crops, water and so on. The imbalance of nature leads to the fact that somewhere there is a drought and in another place everything is flooded with water - and so everywhere the land becomes unsuitable for crops. We must defeat the false ideas of modern science and mass culture, and not create another religion or sect.

TEXT 27

And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness, and which is immortal, imperishable and eternal.

PURPORT

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes that one should practically implement all the provisions of the scripture.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
The constitution of Brahman is immortality, imperishability, eternity, and happiness. Brahman is the beginning of transcendental realization. Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is the middle, the second stage in transcendental realization, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth. Therefore, both Paramātmā and the impersonal Brahman are within the Supreme Person. It is explained in the Seventh Chapter that material nature is the manifestation of the inferior energy of the Supreme Lord. The Lord impregnates the inferior material nature with the fragments of the superior nature, and that is the spiritual touch in the material nature. When a living entity conditioned by this material nature begins the cultivation of spiritual knowledge, he elevates himself from the position of material existence and gradually rises up to the Brahman conception of the Supreme. This attainment of the Brahman conception of life is the first stage in self-realization. At this stage the Brahman realized person is transcendental to the material position, but he is not actually perfect in Brahman realization. If he wants, he can continue to stay in the Brahman position and then gradually rise up to Paramātmā realization and then to the realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are many examples of this in Vedic literature. The four Kumāras were situated first in the impersonal Brahman conception of truth, but then they gradually rose to the platform of devotional service. One who cannot elevate himself beyond the impersonal conception of Brahman runs the risk of falling down. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that although a person may rise to the stage of impersonal Brahman, without going farther, with no information of the Supreme Person, his intelligence is not perfectly clear. Therefore, in spite of being raised to the Brahman platform, there is the chance of falling down if one is not engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. In the Vedic language it is also said: raso vai saḥ; rasaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati. "When one understands the Personality of God, the reservoir of pleasure, Kṛṣṇa, he actually becomes transcendentally blissful." The Supreme Lord is full in six opulences, and when a devotee approaches Him, there is an exchange of these six opulences. The servant of the king enjoys on an almost equal level with the king. And so, eternal happiness, imperishable happiness, eternal life accompany devotional service. Therefore, realization of Brahman, or eternity, or imperishability is included in devotional service. This is already possessed by a person who is engaged in devotional service.

The living entity, although Brahman by nature, has the desire to lord it over the material world, and due to this he falls down. In his constitutional position, a living entity is above the three modes of material nature, but association with material nature entangles him in the different modes of material nature, goodness, passion and ignorance. Due to the association of these three modes, his desire to dominate the material world is there. By engagement in devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is immediately situated in the transcendental position, and his unlawful desire to control material nature is removed. Therefore the process of devotional service beginning with hearing, chanting, remembering-the prescribed nine methods for realizing devotional service-should be practiced in the association of devotees. Gradually, by such association, by the influence of the spiritual master, one's material desire to dominate is removed, and one becomes firmly situated in the Lord's transcendental loving service. This method is prescribed from the twenty-second to the last verse of this chapter. Devotional service to the Lord is very simple: one should always engage in the service of the Lord, should eat the remnants of foodstuffs offered to the Deity, smell the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, see the places where the Lord had His transcendental pastimes, read of the different activities of the Lord, His reciprocation of love with His devotees, chant always the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and observe the fasting days commemorating the appearances and disappearances of the Lord and His devotees. By following such a process one becomes completely detached from all material activities. One who can thus situate himself in the brahmajyoti is equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in quality.
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