Bhagavad-gītā for Everyone

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Сообщение Jayanti » 27 окт 2020, 15:55

TEXT 5

All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.

PURPORT

The totality of actions accumulated by the soul and their consequences is enormous. In the material world, any action or inaction causes consequences, and both good and bad consequences, in principle, cause the same. Kṛṣṇa says that the soul is essentially helpless in the face of this world element, and he is also quite helpless in the matter of controlling his own body and mind. Next, the soul is active, he cannot remain inactive, such is the quality of the spirit - he is eternal and eternally active. Even in sleep, when the whole body is resting, the mind continues to produce some images, because the soul is not asleep and this energy continuously flowing out of he, illuminating the mind.

The soul was in the spiritual world, then he foolishly went into the material world for the sake of personal domination, but the situation cannot be corrected with the help of mechanical renunciation of the world. Mechanical renunciation of the world is ineffective, and in fact it is impossible, only the execution of actions directed towards God provides a solution to the problem. We did not just live outside this world, we lived together with God, so the way out is not to renounce the world, but to reunite with God. It is quite useful to explain this principle over and over again.

TEXT 6

One who restrains the senses and organs of action, but whose mind dwells on sense objects, certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender.

PURPORT

Keeping senses mechanically while thinking about sensual happiness, there is always a deception to one degree or another. At the cost of great efforts, ascetics somehow make their mind even, but at any moment they can fall again. On the other hand, a person who devotes his activities to God is purified both faster and more painlessly. As for preaching, we always need to be a little aware of the events of the material world, commenting on them in a spiritual way.

Sometimes materialistic spiritual teachers say that the most important preaching is preaching within a religious community. However, the point is that our preaching should be aimed at creating preachers, while preaching to materialistic believers, both inside and outside the spiritual society, is the same, and it is more relevant to preach to people outside of society. But from the point of view of material comfort, it is much more convenient to "preach" to people within society who a priori agree with everything. Of course, when a preacher is already in his old age and it is difficult for him to withstand heavy loads, he can inspire those who are inside society to actively preach outside.

TEXT 7

On the other hand, he who controls the senses by the mind and engages his active organs in works of devotion, without attachment, is by far superior.

PURPORT by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

Instead of becoming a pseudo-transcendentalist for the sake of wanton living and sense enjoyment, it is far better to remain in one's own business and execute the purpose of life, which is to get free from material bondage and enter into the kingdom of God. The prime svārtha-gati, or goal of self-interest, is to reach Viṣṇu. The whole institution of varṇa and āśrama is designed to help us reach this goal of life. A householder can also reach this destination by regulated service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For self-realization, one can live a controlled life, as prescribed in the śāstras, and continue carrying out his business without attachment, and in that way make progress. Such a sincere person who follows this method is far better situated than the false pretender who adopts show-bottle spiritualism to cheat the innocent public. A sincere sweeper in the street is far better than the charlatan meditator who meditates only for the sake of making a living.

PURPORT
Śrīla Prabhupāda's commentary contains the words "show-bottle spiritualism." "Show-bottle" this is a bottle that was filled with a colored liquid depicting medicine and displayed in the pharmacy window. “Show-bottle” is an imitation of a medicine, and “show-bottle spiritualism” is an imitation of spirituality, exposing it to the public.

TEXT 8

Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work.

PURPORT

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes quite a lot about pseudo-yogīs, this is relevant for India because India's religious culture is still quite high and such pseudo-yogīs, pseudo-gurus, pseudo-ascetics can make money on this. Sometimes it is said that if India is so spiritual, why is it so poor? But firstly, the reason for this is two hundred years of English colonization when the country was continuously plundered, and secondly, people with a high spiritual culture have completely different values. Western countries are materialistic countries where material domination and all the attributes associated with it come first. The British brought impersonalism to the West along with their loot during colonization, and hence a whole series of impersonal philosophers in Europe. Pseudo-yogīs such as Osho, Aurobindo and others went to the West along the same British path. Both yoga and impersonalism were new to Western culture. The devotees also traveled to the West, but the prim English aristocracy was too inert, while later the youth of the United States of America, dissapointed with bourgeois ideals, was more suitable for the preaching mission.

Of course, some religious festivals in India are simply stunning in their scope and the atmosphere of universal happiness and spiritual peace they create. There is no even a close example of such religion in Western countries and in Russia, but the prayerful asceticism of russian Christianity is also exalted in its own way. In general, India is a karmic country that is sinking in materialism now, like the whole world. One of the disadvantages of India is their strong attachment to family life, and the advantage of Russia is that the country is not systematic and therefore it is always in some anarchy and search. Russia is not well suited for a sensual life, willy-nilly, life here is always ascetic, so people have depth. Perhaps because of these and other positive aspects, Russia will be chosen to start a new era. However, before that, the spiritual uplift will begin in China.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 28 окт 2020, 04:56

TEXT 9

Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.

PURPORT

Sacrifice is sometimes associated with animal sacrifice or even human sacrifice, but more often it means sacrificing time and dedicating one's consciousness to God. As for animal sacrifice, the scriptures of the world mention this, but it is not relevant now and it is prohibited. There is a lot of fictional staff in religions and people do stupid things considering it "sacred." From an absolute point of view, it makes no difference what to sacrifice to God. He doesn't really need any sacrifice, but the principle of sacrifice is necessary for people to remember God. And the sacrifice of knowledge is higher than the sacrifice of material property, and material property can be used for God by publishing books about spiritual life. The best sacrifice is to dedicate one's life, family, and work to God by chanting the holy name, studying the scriptures, and preaching. Actually, I wanted to write my commentary only for preachers, but I was told that the Bhagavad-gita should be for everyone, this means that everyone should preach.

TEXT 10

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things."

PURPORT

God gives the best formula: "Live this life happily and return to Me in the end." Both the Vedas and the Bible give a description of creation: God created everything in many stages, "days", and one such "day" is millions of years. First, there were created the space of the universe, the elements, the demigods, and after that other living beings, including humans. We see that the world has a structure and laws. If there is a complex subtle arrangement, then it was created by someone, wasn't it? If everything formed by itself, it would continue to develop by itself, and we would be idle, but the world is dominated by destruction, chaos, decomposition; objectively, chaos is growing in the universe, not order. A person is born - then he grows old; in the same way the universe is created - then there is only destruction. And the goal of human life is to get out of here; here everything will continue the same - the material world will never become something good.

TEXT 11

The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you; thus nourishing one another, there will reign general prosperity for all.

PURPORT

In a commentary on this verse, Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: "The demigods are empowered administrators of material affairs. The supply of air, light, water and all other benedictions for maintaining the body and soul of every living entity are entrusted to the demigods, who are innumerable assistants in different parts of the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Everything in the world has a personal nature , all the elements of the world are controlled by someone, similarly, there are electricity and water in homes because it is provided by someone. We see practically that the decline of religiosity in the world is followed by a decline in the functioning of nature. Now there are frequent violations of the seasons and natural disasters are increasing. We are taught that the ancient people lived in ignorance, but the scriptures and archaeology say the opposite: the ancient people were more advanced than we are. They knew about the subtle structure of the universe, about the demigods, and had a connection with them, so their civilizations flourished. But anyway, everything is destroyed in this world and that system has also collapsed. Although the demigods are exalted, they are residents of the material world too, so only worshiping the demigods cannot give people perfection and inevitably leads them to a dead end. Worship of the demigods should lead even higher, to God, otherwise it does not make much sense.

TEXT 12

In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajña [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return, is certainly a thief.

PURPORT

There are many stories related to demigods, but they are considered myths now. Having classified the stories about demigods as myths, modern people have preferred to consider fictional literature to bear the truth. With the decline in the influence of religion, a whole culture of fictional literature has been created in society, and people compete to find out who can invent something better. Such inventors are paid money, given state awards, and honored at various ceremonies. Modern civilization creates an unprecedented illusion and lives immersed in it. There is ever less humanity between people, families are ever weaker, there is less love, but instead of restoring all these, people are given a surrogate, a fake made up of fictions. Morality and ethics are falling ever lower, accordingly, negative characters and negative tendencies begin to prevail in culture and society. People are becoming more violent, which is reflected in the increase of crime and wars. A technocratic civilization based on atheistic, mechanistic principles inevitably leads to this.

Now in society, we are no longer talking about demigods, but simply about human values that are being eliminated. Unfortunately, this tendency cannot be stopped yet, and if everything continues in this way, it will lead to the next war from which already no one will emerge victorious. It will be a nuclear war which will greatly change the face of the whole world; sitting on the wreckage of modern civilization, people will definitely have to think. In some ways, this will be a turning point after which people will begin to build a new culture based on the principles of a new science. These will be the consequences of modern mythology.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 28 окт 2020, 21:40

TEXT 13

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.

PURPORT

Food, nutrition is one of the main life processes, so it is important to dedicate it to God. In Vaishnavism it is the offering of prasadam, in Christianity it is a prayer before meals or sacred sacrament, in other religions it is halal food, kosher food, etc. It is an offer of prasādam in Vaishnavism, it is a prayer before meal or holy communion in Christianity, in other religions it is halal food, kosher food, and so on. Therefore, offering food to God is an important thing that has a spiritual meaning. The same like we offer food to God, we can also devote all our actions and work to Him; this will spiritualize life and make a person happy. Offering to God does not have to be something “divine” or directly related to God, it can be almost any work or creativity, except for criminal or some unethical things. In the spirit world, there are also ethics and respect for each other, both between souls and in relationship with God.

TEXT 14

All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rain. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties.

PURPORT

The basis of agriculture is grain and milk. There is nothing more efficient in terms of productivity in the world. Grains are created in such a way that they do not require weeding - growing wheat clogs all the weeds with itself, and after it has grown, it can be stored for many years. Human gets an increase of 30-200 times by having planted one grain, just as a cow produces milk from grass which grows everywhere for free. Many different products are made from milk; and melted cow's oil (ghee) can be stored for hundreds of years while improving its quality. But the cow also produces manure, this is an important aspect of agriculture. Now cows are actively killed, therefore, dairy products are expensive; and instead of natural fertilizers, the chemicals are added to the ground poisoning the soil and people. Along with heart disease due to constant stress, cancer also came to the fore due to the chemistry in food and air. The cow and the bull are the main components of agriculture. A cow gives 10-25 calves in a lifetime almost for free, therefore, killing cows, people get many problems in their lives and health.

The devotees are try to establish their own agriculture and farms. The basis of such an agriculture should be private property because it is unlikely that there will be success with collective farm property. The man must be personally interested. Then the community can build houses for new arrivals on the condition that they will work it out on construction or in other matters necessary for the community. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes that the community should not engage in business or cultivation for sale, almost everything should go to domestic consumption. Perhaps this is one of the problems because people want to receive some modern goods, and to receive goods they need money, although I think it would be possible to do without such goods. The creation of such communities is virtually continuous because the idea is generally attractive, but due to the fact that people still have possessive motives and most of the devotees are quite materialistic, the result is mixed villages of devotees and nondevotees, where the element of spirituality is quite low. This may exist as some way of life, but temple worship and communities will always smolder without preaching activities.

TEXT 15

Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

PURPORT

Thus by sacrificing everything to the Supreme God, a person moves to the highest perfection. Generally, this material world is not needed either by us, much less by God, but it is created at the desire of lost souls; so if the soul finds heself in such a meaningless situation, he can devote everything to God, rise up and get rid of material sufferings forever.

TEXT 16

My dear Arjuna, a man who does not follow this prescribed Vedic system of sacrifice certainly leads a life of sin, for a person delighting only in the senses lives in vain.

PURPORT

In the material world someone is poor, someone is rich, one is inglorious, others are famous, but success or failure is judged by the future, by the next birth: those who reach the spiritual world are successful, others are unsuccessful. Living beings are die and born all over the universe: there is a stream of souls to the Earth, thay will be born here, and also there are streams of souls emanate from here in all directions of the world. Sometimes people ask whether they will remember their relatives in the spiritual world, but then there is the question: what kind of relatives among the millions of their fathers and mothers, and millions of children? The soul has new parents and children in each new life, but people cannot create anyone, this is just an illusion of kinship.

When the soul goes for the spiritual world, he forgets everything local that happened to him in the material world; only the general experience of life here remains, which forever protects him from falling. However, when there is a spiritual connection between people, it can be preserved in the spiritual world because all spiritual relations are indestructible. In the spirit world, of course, we may look different, but in any case, everyone is beautiful there. So, like-minded people can continue communication there or a married couple also has the potential to get back together. God can create separate living conditions for everyone, so whatever a person wants, it will be fulfilled there. In the spiritual world, intimate family relationships are also possible, but as a rule, it does not come to this, since the diversity and happiness of the spiritual world absorbs living beings much more strongly. Therefore, sex there is not such a hot topic as it is here.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 31 окт 2020, 19:40

TEXT 17

One who is, however, taking pleasure in the self, who is illumined in the self, who rejoices in and is satisfied with the self only, fully satiated—for him there is no duty.

PURPORT

When a person cognizes himself and God, he gradually rises above all the regulations. This is happens because his whole life becomes dedicated to God. Regulations are needed until a person rises to the level of a loving relationship with God. It may be a servant, friendship, or parental relationships. In the conjugal rasa, we also seek to take the side of servants, following the wisdom of our authorities, but the soul may desire to love God and become His wife or lover. Of course, such an impulse can also be materialistic in nature, so one must strive to purify oneself by studying the scriptures and preaching. Although God has an infinite number of wives, nevertheless He can be with each one individually - such is His omnipotence. However, even after returning to the spiritual world, a person can meet a preacher again who will teach her something even higher, opening him up new spheres of spiritual existence. As for the spiritual world, one should not try to figure out where from he can "jump" into what rasa, everything is possible in the spiritual world, and various clever schemes are not needed there. One can go from any rasa to any other rasa, it is only a matter of desire, but usually the soul wants to stay in its own rasa.

Ācārya is a spiritual master who not only perfectly knows all spiritual science, but who is always, eternally preaches in the material world. Thus, preaching life after life, He becomes the embodiment of all knowledge and all experience, He becomes "heavy" also because of endless asceticism. Certainly, such an ācārya is able to reform the entire planet, in His presence the movement spreads like a fire. He is also the incarnate eternity, the eternity of Lord Caitanya's love.

TEXT 18

A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.

PURPORT

This is the description of true renunciation. A man who has renounced is never affected by the performance of duties, he will not experience any problems from any job or any position in society, high or low. This is real Sannyas, or renunciation. Often so-called "spiritual people" do not want to work or they are afraid to work, they may be afraid of communication with "materialists" or physical difficulties – well, they have already gathered to God. Sure, work is unnatural for the soul, in the spiritual world no one works under compulsion; but ordinary work, compared to real preaching, is generally not difficult, so in some ways, devotee has a rest at work. Working in the material world, one can meet people everywhere and correctly tell them about the spiritual life; and real sannyasis are never afraid to be left without livelihood. Some devotees, including gurus, avoid both working and preaching in the streets (the only thing they are not afraid of is eating dinner and receiving honors). In fact, such fears seriously bind people, and if a person is renounced, then what is the difficulty for him to work?

In this regard, I remembered a good story about Madhvācārya: He and his disciples were traveling somewhere in India, and in one locality the ruler arrested them and said them that they had to work on finding water for three days. Madhava replied, "Okay, I will stay here to work until you find water." Here is an example of renunciation, not like this: "I'm afraid to work, it's hard for me." Also we must understand that they could not find water for many years. Here is renunciation and real chivalry and strength. The ruler accepted this challenge and replied: "Okay, then I will dig with you." And so they worked together side by side - the great saint and the king. And when a person is afraid of everything, he is always very vulnerable. (This story is also mentioned by Śrīla Prabhupāda in Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-līlā, 9.245, com.)

If a person has been distributing books all his life, he will never be lost or confused, it is simply impossible. If a person has spent his entire life in a temple or in a religious position and then lost that position, yes, then he will have a lot of problems; but Śrīla Prabhupāda writes everywhere that a temple is not a place to eat and sleep. Pāñcarātrika is service in the temple, service to the deity, sādhana, and so on - all these are secondary; in the first place is always scripture, holy name, and preaching.

TEXT 19

Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty; for by working without attachment, one attains the Supreme.

PURPORT

How much time God has devoted to this topic. I hope the main points have become clear. Doing something out of a sense of duty is often a mode (guṇa) of goodness. Sometimes there are some incentives for activity, sometimes there are not, but a person continues to fulfill his duties - and this means stability. In general, constancy and stability are very important in spiritual life. Materialists always strive to diversify their lives with new events and impressions, but the faithful live mostly monotonously and strive for a calm, measured life. On the other hand, preaching is always some kind of events and adventures. At the beginning of our spiritual life, we like such events in connection with us, but over time the devotee loses the taste for self-glorification and becomes attached to God. The life of a devotee is always really calm, even if he is in the center of a fight - this is the nature of active samādhi, and the kṣatriyas only gain more strength in war. It is like Lermontov writes: "...as if in storms it finds peace." Therefore, stability, constancy are important: chanting the holy name every day, reading the scriptures every day, preaching constantly, every day, every year, and year after year.

TEXT 20

Even kings like Janaka and others attained the perfectional stage by performance of prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the sake of educating the people in general, you should perform your work.

PURPORT

Although liberated souls may no longer follow any prescriptions, they strive to follow all of them. They cannot but preach, and they fulfill other precepts as an example to others. A devotee outwardly may be imperfect, but for God we are all imperfect in some ways, so sincerity is important and the efforts that a person makes are important. It is relatively easy for someone to fulfill some instructions, for others it is not possible to fulfill them in their entire life, but God sees it. And even if some things do not work out for us, nevertheless we still try; perfection may come without fulfilling some of the requirements. A responsible devotee who uses intelligence, who really tries to avoid self-interests, will be noticed by God and rewarded in due time. Sometimes we give lectures, explaining subtleties that most people cannot understand, but God listens, and even if there is no one who appreciates it, God will definitely appreciate it. Therefore, nothing is ever lost in devotional service.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 01 ноя 2020, 13:50

TEXT 21

Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.

PURPORT

An ācārya, or perfect spiritual master, must meet all the requirements of the scripture. If a person does not correspond to something, he can teach based on his position, teach what he himself corresponds to, without accepting the title of guru. Now many gurus do not follow much, but hide it. There are also some gurus who seem to follow everything, but behind their following are their material interests such as selfishness, the desire for fame and money, and if such gurus come to power, it is not good. One way or another, the guru institution is established and, of course, time will make its dropout and put everything in its place. In fact, the situation in the material world is the same: time makes a very tough dropout, sweeping away the next batch of materialists.

TEXT 22

O son of Pṛthā, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I need to obtain anything—and yet I am engaged in work.

PURPORT

This is the position of God. He is the one Absolute, the source of everything that exists, the only existing reality that has no beginning or end. Where did He come from? He exists eternally, and there is no other reality outside of Him. But why should we believe this? We do not need to believe, we just need to rise up a little and comprehend this all-pervading ocean of Eternity. A person can personally be convinced of the existence of the Truth, which is boundless, eternal, and has neither beginning nor end - and this is also Him. The greatness of God is limitless as the great Eternity is limitless, but the number of His qualities is even more limitless. God is the One who has no limits, and God is the One who can fulfill all desires. Now we see only this material world, this is only a small part of the Absolute, but even it impresses us with its size and its structure.

Materialists looking for the cause of the universe, always start from the middle, they say that there was an explosion or something else, but where did this explosion come from, what is its nature and why do we have consciousness? We do not have a single example of "something" coming out of nothing. By definition, "nothing" does not exist, and it is impossible to perceive or think of it in any way. If "nothing" is accessible to perception or thinking, it is already "something." Thus, the cause of the world is not emptiness or "nothing". If we all have consciousness and consciousness is not only in people, but also in animals, birds, fish, insects, and everyone else, so this is a global phenomenon, it means the source of consciousness is in the Ultimate Cause. Therefore, this is our source: unlimited, full of consciousness and qualities. What are His main qualities? We have already figured out: eternity, knowledge, and happiness - all this is manifested in us, in spirit souls, in His particles, everyone strives for these things.

Such is God, such is Eternity. And despite His total, absolute superiority, He says that He is fulfilling duties, but why? He does it to give an example to others and because it is not difficult for Him; God, in addition to absolute wealth, also has absolute renunciation. He created us as His children and He is pleased to take care of us. He created us, He created the entire spiritual world, millions and myriads of life forms, He created His energy, which charms everyone with Her beauty, He is omnipotent, He fulfills all His desires, that's why He says here: "Nor have I need to obtain anything."

Now Arjuna does not fully understand the position of Kṛṣṇa as God because he is on friendly terms with Him; but later Kṛṣṇa will manifest His greatness and we will find out where this will lead.

TEXT 23

For, if I did not engage in work, O Pārtha, certainly all men would follow My path.

PURPORT

If God will break the rules, then everyone will break the rules. In the material world, most people already violate everything, and this is what the material world was created for – "to live as I want and to do what I want." But in order for souls to suffer less and have the opportunity to return to the spirit world, God sets the rules and also follows them Himself. The Bible well says: "God is not mocked" - God is perfect and He also acts flawlessly. When He comes to the material world, He behaves Himself according to all the rules of human society. Sometimes people think that He is not God, but a human, some kind of historical person or just a fictional character; however, there are historical evidences, and the main evidence is the scripture which can be verified. For example, the Bhagavad-gītā – everything told in it can be verified by following the process. It is so complete, clear, and harmonious that there can not be even a shadow of doubts.

Second, God exists. Over time, any believer collects many of his own practical confirmations that God exists, and then we do not just compute whether He exists or not, we establish a spiritual relationship with Him. Sometimes people are very convinced by miracles. Well, there are many miracles in our experience, but even higher than miracles is He Himself - almighty, unshakable, mysterious, renounced, loving. God is strong, faithful, unattainable in some ways, it is impossible to get into His mind - these are all Lord Nārāyaṇa - He conquers by Himself and nothing can defeat Him. Even when millions of living beings offer prayers to Him, although He is benevolent, but in the highest sense it still does not affect Him. This is God in greatness – no equality with Him is possible, He is always superior, so everyone is in awe of Him. And no matter how much we talk about God, words about Him never run out, feelings for Him do not run out, the feeling of Him does not run out. There is no limit to His power and it is impossible to flatter Him, His gaze is the gaze of Eternity, which is all-pervading and which knows everything from beginning to end.

This is God in His greatness. But on the other hand, God creates an energy that makes some forgetfulness for Him (yoga-māyā) to make Him gets even more happiness, because in the aspect of greatness He knows everything in advance, and in a sense, happiness is impossible or incomplete in such a situation. Omnipotence is an ideal situation to defeat enemies, to rule the world, however, for a simply happy life, if you know everything in advance - every word, every gesture, every look - what kind of love is there? Therefore there is spiritual forgetfulness. It is also His energy, it exists for both God and souls. For example, Arjuna considers God simply as his friend. Why is this happens? Because God likes just friendship without reverence. If Arjuna realized Kṛṣṇa as God in greatness, no friendship between Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa would be possible. Why does God do this? Because in such relationship, there are more feelings, more emotions. In fact, He raises the little soul to the same level with Himself. Therefore, on the one hand, God is great in His power and always acts as a ruler, and on the other hand, other relationships with Him are possible too.

TEXT 24

If I should cease to work, then all these worlds would be put to ruination. I would also be the cause of creating unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all sentient beings.

PURPORT

The conception of children should be planned. Ideally, the child should appear in a family where parents love each other and where the child is expected, and not conceived by accident and then still think about whether to have an abortion. One or another person comes to the family depends on the consciousness of the parents at the time of conception and their common fate. A child is not a tabula rasa, a blank slate on which you can write anything; a child comes to a family with a complete set of things from a past life, with inclinations and habits. Upbringing is the development of good inclinations and the suppression of bad ones, but the upbringing process is also not unlimited in its possibilities, and in some cases, even by diligently educating, one may not achieve the desired result.

Nowadays, the conception of children is usually not regulated, therefore, children are born randomly in families, and sometimes a bad person can be born in a good family, and a good one in a dysfunctional family. The Western tendency to give children freedom and not punish them is very dangerous. Western civilization does this some consciously, since children independent of their parents can be manipulated in any direction. Thus, without sufficient parental influence, the child grows selfish, more primitive, and later becomes a good material for exploitation. On the other hand, excessive punishment also traumatizes the child, suppressing him or making him violent.

There is a widespread belief that if a child's parents are religious, then the child will grow up to be religious, but this is not always the case. As we have already said, the child comes with a full set of conditionality, which manifests itself as far as child grows and develops. Otherwise, children brought up under the same conditions would grow up with the same tendencies and habits. Even twins are two different personalities, with different characters and destinies. The second point is that religion is the only completely free process in the world: it is impossible to "make" anyone the faithful or religious, it is always a personal choice of a man. Of course, religious parents give a child more chances to make a choice in the direction of God, but there is no strict law that a child of religious parents will necessarily be religious.

God gives religion and also supports it by His example. Human society becomes civilized only through religion. If you consider the origins of any cultural phenomenon, you will find that in all cases the source is religion. Materialism cannot create morality because materialistic goals always imply only personal gain, i.e. calculation, and this is already outside of morality. In theory, a society may try to establish some kind of morality for the sake of well-being of all, but we see in practice that such a method does not work, and the more materialistic the society is, the greater the collapse of moral principles there. There is not a single reason for a materialist to begin to voluntarily and unselfishly limit himself in something, therefore materialism always leads to an increase in chaos and crime.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 03 ноя 2020, 03:48

TEXT 25

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

PURPORT

Sometimes there is no need for a devotee who has developed to take any actions. He can live without studying some sections of the scripture, or without working, or without a family. However, for the sake of others, he can set a good example for everyone by doing a job or starting a family. A truly renounced person does not really care whether he is married or living without a family. At the same time, there are so-called sannyasis, or monks, who avoid family simply for fear of household obligations. Kṛṣṇa further will say that those who renounce because of fear of difficulties will never rise to the platform of real renunciation. Generally, spiritual life does not imply any drastic changes, there is no need to give up work or family.

TEXT 26

Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to fruitive action. They should not be encouraged to refrain from work, but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.

PURPORT

Although life in the material world is completely meaningless, just as any activity inside it is meaningless, nevertheless we need to act dedicating our work to God. Of course, we criticize the material world, and criticism is always a part of the preaching, but we criticize it not so that everyone stops acting, but so that people change the purpose of activity and consciousness.

TEXT 27

The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.

PURPORT

The soul does not choose the place of birth, gender and his inclinations - all these are formed by his previous activities; and the Supersoul summarizes the previous actions and gives the next body. Thus, a person is completely determined having been born in a specific place, in a specific body, with a specific inclinations, by a specific parents, in a specific culture, that means, his future is predetermined by all these factors. It can also be added here that the soul himself does not form his body and almost does not regulate the processes occurring in the body - all this is carried out by the modes (gunas) of nature. There are three gunas: goodness, passion, and ignorance. In short, goodness is a serene state and knowledge, passion is an active state, and ignorance is a passive state or destructive activity.

Everything that exists in the world is created by these three qualities, including our body too. The soul cannot create either a body, not even a single atom, but the soul is present in already created body and uses it. The soul does not belong to the material world, however, when he wants activity independent of God, he is given the opportunity to enter here and act as he sees fit. The soul does not mix with the body, does not create it, and, in fact, does not control anything, yet the soul considers himself to be the body and identifies himself with the activities of the body. It's just like when a man watches a movie on TV, he sits in his room, but he is captured by the plot and he begins to empathize with the main character. This person is thousands of kilometers from the place where the film was shot, he is also not the hero of this film, but he likes the plot, he likes the character, and he begins to identify himself with him. When the character enters the fight, the man's fists clench involuntarily; when the hero experiences love or sadness, the man also feels these emotions. Similarly, the soul is outside the body, but wants to dominate and identifies himself with a particular body. Therefore, everything that happens in the material world has nothing to do with the soul. The material world is like a gigantic machine where there are millions and billions of bodies, and the soul enters it and accepts some body as his own. So, identifying himself with the material body, he gets, respectively, illusory happiness and illusory suffering.

As long as a person wants to receive some result or some emotions from his activities, he continues to shape his future in the material world. But if a person dedicates his activity to God, his activity takes on an absolute character, and he gradually gets out of the influence of the modes of nature. As we already wrote, everyone who was born in the material world is conditioned by the body, and his entire future is known, but there is also freedom as a choice between material and spiritual activities. When a person accepts the spiritual path, he accordingly becomes free from the totality of his past actions and future reactions. Simply said, he gradually resets his fate and leaves the material world. This is why the soul is called marginal energy: it can take refuge in the spiritual or in the material realm.

The position of the soul within the material world depends on the proportion of religious and materialistic activities: when this proportion is "fifty to fifty", the soul receives a human body; if there is more religiosity, the soul is born in paradise; and if there is less, he goes to the lower planets. The Earth is a middle planet, so there is approximately equal proportion of happiness and suffering, in paradise there is more happiness, and on the lower planets there is more suffering. But even paradise life will not make a person happy; happiness is possible only in relationship with the Supreme Lord.

TEXT 28

One who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, O mighty-armed, does not engage himself in the senses and sense gratification, knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive results.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 03 ноя 2020, 23:07

TEXT 29

Bewildered by the modes of material nature, the ignorant fully engage themselves in material activities and become attached. But the wise should not unsettle them, although these duties are inferior due to the performers' lack of knowledge.

PURPORT

A devotee understands the futility of material life, but sometimes being inspired, he does not understand that most people do not want to give up material activities and material "comfort." Therefore, God advises to be wiser and teach them the feasible principles of karma-yoga or knowledge and do not try to tear them away from their favorite activities. Most people have little interest in spiritual life, so a devotee can go from person to person preaching spiritual life, and so be constantly busy. Everything takes time and even a small contact of a person with spiritual knowledge will gradually growing in him.

A neophyte devotees usually want to do everything "as best as possible" and generally strive to fulfill all the external prescriptions, so that "everything will be right." This is a good desire, but in many cases it is impracticable - it is impossible to correspond to everything at once. But even if one manages to do this, most of the outer rules are still secondary. Due to the lack of understanding, almost at any religion some secondary things and rituals are emphasized. Therefore, it is better to focus your enthusiasm on studying the scriptures, the holy name, and preaching which can gradually help you discover the essence.

Communication with devotees means communication with those who have similar interests. Sometimes it can be two or three people, as the Bible says: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name." Of course, it is great when there are many such people, for example, in a spiritual society; but the big problem of confessions is that they can teach something false, that is when truth can be combined with wrong things or wrong contexts (although the spectrum of all confessions represents some stages of spiritual life, and people are distributed in them according to the mixture of their spiritual and material desires). In some ways, this is all natural. A neophyte, both in a spiritual society (church) and outside of society, at the beginning cannot determine for himself what is right and what is wrong; one way or another, these things are become clear over time due to the efforts and sincerity of a person.

Every denomination offers everyone a "starter pack of true spirituality." Usually this is something formalized, understandable to the majority, "for general use." In Christianity, this is baptism, communion, confession, and attendance at services, despite the fact that Christ emphasized the preaching; He did not conduct services, He did not require confession, He did not encourage the funerals. In Vaishnavism, these are initiation, temple attendance, regulative principles, books, and lectures. It looks better, but the lectures in this "package", regrettably, can be about anything; although the very principle of the lecture is still good. Certainly, in some ways it is not difficult to accept the "true set of blissful spirituality" and within a year realize oneself as a "true believer", with a medal "for taking spiritual heights", which usually happens. In principle, being even in some immature church is always useful for humility, but their preaching can be very ambiguous, since they can teach anything. One way or another, any person in spiritual society and outside of society will have to gradually understand everything himself. Well, since most people are not very interested in this, then everything is as it is.

All people who have been formally converted into a particular religion, who are not taught properly, but only engaged in rituals or even outward chanting, they will be passive in spiritual development or they will slightly correct their affairs and leave. Why will they leave? Because all that does not really concern them and does not change their consciousness. And this happens because the administration of a religious society (or guru) is passive itself in spiritual life; "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" – money and honor cover their spiritual interests.

Preaching means giving oneself. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasized preaching and had a strike force of preachers, actively preaching all over the world and engaging almost all the devotees. As a result, they opened temples and took some passive devotees. If a spiritual master recruits disciples who are mostly preoccupied with themselves, the disciples will slowly but surely pull him down. And in the end it turns out that neither the disciples really do anything, nor he is no longer c able to do anything significant. Of course, preaching is always a risk and the ways of the God are inscrutable, but the scripture says to be attentive to this issue.

TEXT 30

Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with mind intent on Me, and without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy, fight.

PURPORT

A person in such a consciousness will always be happy, active, and basically nothing will bother him. When a person realizes God, he is happy, and the absence of possessive motives will remove obstacles in his life. God is present everywhere like the air or the sky, and even looking at the material sky one can feel His greatness, but for those who follow His instructions, He will manifest Himself in a special way. When a person tries to introduce God to other people, God will always prompt him how to do it better and give him even more understanding. This is a universal position and any preacher knows it from his personal experience.

TEXT 31

One who executes his duties according to My injunctions and who follows this teaching faithfully, without envy, becomes free from the bondage of fruitive actions.

PURPORT

In some ways, it is not so difficult to get liberation - you need to follow the instructions of the scripture, develop understanding, preach as feasible, trust in God, strive for the spiritual world. God has no interest in us being here and He can take the person to Himself. The turning point in life is death: what a person thinks about at the moment of death will be a continuation of his next life - and he thinks about his strongest attachments. As a rule, when difficulties come, we rather want to get rid of them than think about God; we have this innate habit - in trouble grasp at dad, mom, relatives, or our money, connections, and so on. On the other hand, a person has a whole life when he can devote himself to God day after day, and difficulties during life are a good thing that teaches us. Death is a critical moment, but if a person has tried his whole life for God, his chances of getting liberation are high, whether he thinks about God at the moment of death or not. In general, the desire for liberation is a natural and positive thing, although it does not quite correspond to the central ideas of spiritual life.

However, the material world is harsh, and even liberated souls try to go through life with minimal risks. The position of pure devotees in the material world is determined by God and it is called poṣaṇa - they are born according to God's plan, and in no phase of their life are they in the same situation as ordinary souls, although outwardly they do the same. Once a pure devotee is born, he quickly begins to regain his spiritual consciousness. Such devotees develop a peculiar skill of perseverance in relation to the material world and the skill of perseverance in maintaining consciousness. The soul is not God therefore any soul, even a liberated one, forgets his past, and it needs time to restore his spiritual memory. But an ordinary devotee should not think that he is such a liberated soul, no devotee should think that he is a liberated soul. Among believers there are people who are visited by some kind of vision, perhaps in some cases such visions are favorable, nevertheless most of them are fantasies, when someone suddenly begins to consider himself a "second incarnation" and so on. Any real spiritual leader follows the scripture and he is a maha-bhagavata who understands the essence of everything.

Of course, God could have done everything by Himself, but He does not want to violate the freedom of living beings; He is also God, and He is not the executor of the desires of the rebellious masses; thirdly, preaching is an opportunity for the soul to express his love to Him, and preaching in the material world in the mood of Lord Caitanya is essentially a classic situation of separation from God. After completing their mission, such devotees return to the spiritual world and then they are reborn in another place in the material world. This is the eternal poetry of their love - when Śrīla Prabhupāda writes his message to God on a ship off the coast of America and then he goes to the slums of New York. In some ways it is not even for the salvation of someone, first of all it is His eternal love for God.

TEXT 32

But those who, out of envy, disregard these teachings and do not practice them regularly, are to be considered bereft of all knowledge, befooled, and doomed to ignorance and bondage.

PURPORT

Unfortunately, most of them, and even those who are religious, accept religion formally and they are often not inclined to follow God's instructions. Those who do not accept religion at all punish themselves - material nature is always killing them here. The conditioned soul is eternally born and dies in the material world where all his hopes for happiness are destroyed. Sometimes they say that the soul lived here for five or twenty-five lives, but all souls have been here since time immemorial, that is, an unlimited amount of time, and with the same innumerable number of lives. Sometimes people think that after death everyone will go to heaven or that ultimately everyone will be liberated, but those who are in the material world are nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned. In the same context, the Bible speaks of "eternal hell"; eternal hell - it means the entire material world.

All this does not require faith; all this can be understood from the structure of the universe, the position of God, and the desires of living beings, moreover, this can be understood from various points of view. Of course, at the beginning a person is not able to realize everything, therefore he is forced to simply listen, study or believe what he has heard, but those who are sincere can immediately receive confirmation of the truth from within themselves. In any case, spiritual life involves the development of knowledge, not blind faith. Any provision of the scripture can be confirmed by logic, since all this is created in accordance with the single law of God.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 04 ноя 2020, 09:08

TEXT 33

Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows his nature. What can repression accomplish?

PURPORT

As long as a person has no taste for spiritual life, it is difficult for him to resist material desires. Later, when the main aspects of spiritual life are understood, the person becomes unshakable, having received factual confirmation of everything that is said in the scripture. Then he goes even higher and exchanges feelings and love with the Supreme Lord. Realizing the eternity of this connection, the devotee understands that he has attained perfect wealth and has reached the final point of spiritual life. However, such perfection is not static and it is always supplemented by more and more new impressions and knowledge. God and the spiritual master gradually guide the devotee into the radiant realm of spiritual life where everyone is happy and where there is an eternal celebration. A devotee can meet many scripture characters there, and all this is very interesting. The spiritual world is unlimited, riches or fame are also unlimited there – everything is given to everyone in abundance. Everyone is still more serene at the highest levels of the spiritual world, and Lord Kṛṣṇa in His highest aspect does not control anything, everyone is eternally busy with relationships and events in the spiritual world.

However, one should never neglect Lord Nārāyaṇa who is the head of all religions and all worlds. There is no contradiction between feelings for Lord Nārāyaṇa and feelings for Kṛṣṇa. In the regulated practice of spiritual life (rāgānugā-sādhana-bhakti), this distinction can be made as a help to the practitioner, but in the spiritual world, there are no contradictions, they are impossible. A close relationship with God certainly surpasses knowledge of the greatness of God, but the awareness of His greatness is absolutely and always amazing. Sometimes devotees provoke God to manifest His universal power in order to enjoy this great, unsurpassed Personality! In fact, the whole spiritual life is an admiration for God and an endless story about Him, or relationship with Him. Well, those who preach within the material world are certainly always connected with Him, with the Lord and Almighty of all worlds. By the way, this term "Vaiṣṇavas" (from the word "Viṣṇu" - "all-pervading", which indicates the aspect of the greatness of God) firmly fixed the fact that without knowing the greatness of God, no achievement and preaching of the rasa is possible.

Therefore all spiritual practice, which may sometimes seem difficult or painful, leads to the eternal triumph of knowledge and spiritual beauty, it leads to freedom and love for God.

TEXT 34

Attraction and repulsion for sense objects are felt by embodied beings, but one should not fall under the control of senses and sense objects because they are stumbling blocks on the path of self-realization.

PURPORT

When one develops spiritually, he naturally loses interest in material life. But especially at the beginning, some kind of conscious, mechanical regulations also help in the gradual movement towards perfection. One way or another, everyone can find some reasonable compromise with matter and practice spiritual life. Regulations or restrictions help to increase interest in a spiritual subject; nevertheless, they are still only additional means, since they cannot give a spiritual result by themselves. Sometimes people hear about God, and being innocent, they are inspired by such stories, but without developing knowledge and without knowing all aspects, they can be easily confused. Spiritual life is exalted and always consists of a combination of knowledge and love.

TEXT 35

It is far better to discharge one's prescribed duties, even though they may be faulty, than another's duties. Destruction in the course of performing one's own duty is better than engaging in another's duties, for to follow another's path is dangerous.

PURPORT

God has infinite patience in teaching living beings. He says important things for you and me. When a person is conditioned, it is better not to try to change this situation abruptly, because such changes are unlikely to bring improvement, and they may well add problems. Māyā (illusion) is māyā everywhere. There is māyā in goodness, there is māyā in passion, but both are matter. Arjuna, faced with difficulties on the battlefield, says, "Isn't it better for me to become a pious brāhmaṇa (priest) and leave this terrible battle?" It is clear that behind such thoughts there are personal interests and not religiosity; and the next moment Kṛṣṇa explains in this verse: a person risks choosing a foreign path, because he tries to replace his natural and stable position with someone else's duties, which are not peculiar to him. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes that purification is always gradual, but those who are pure can already act in any way.

When one is renounced, he is not disturbed by any duties or any work; this is the perfection of renunciation. He can act in any role without seeing the difference between them. Materialists want to take a "high" position and they are afraid of a "low" one, they want to be worshiped and they are afraid of becoming dependent, but such things do not bother the devotees, because it doesn't really matter. On the contrary, a low position is easier, and it is always more favorable to serve than to accept service. The material world is mainly composed of fools who crave recognition and respect for them, but a devotee who is free from such desires easily slips between them and preaches everywhere.

Humility is following the directions of the scripture. Humility does not mean serving everyone by becoming a material servant; humility is fulfilling the mission of a spiritual master, or preaching. A spiritual organization is not a point of social assistance, it is a point of spiritual assistance and spiritual guidance. Humility is also not forgiveness, and love for one's neighbor is not tender emotions for one another. Love for one's neighbor means preaching spiritual knowledge; help means helping a person to get on the path of spiritual life. Everything else is insignificant and one should not waste time on it.

TEXT 36

Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?

PURPORT

Even when a person has already understood what is good and what is bad for the spiritual life, it can be difficult for him to follow it. "Blessed are the poor in spirit" - this is about those who want to follow, make efforts, but they fail. To some extent, they can be forgiven for certain shortcomings, however, if someone violates and does not even think about correcting it, this position is dangerous.

Everyone wants happiness, but true happiness comes when we give everything to God. We are His parts, and He is a complete whole; we cannot be happy on our own, we are happy when we are connected with Him. This is a universal principle of love, it works even in material love; as long as a person has selfish interests, love, accordingly, is impossible, and an unselfish person will always be happy, whether his love is mutual or not. Certainly, we are not interested in materialistic love, but it is often easier for a man to understand some things from close examples, so we draw certain analogies between ordinary love and love for God. The mood of separation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the pinnacle of all kinds of selflessness, and even in the spiritual world not everyone is initiated into this secret.

Devotional service and material life can go in parallel. A person needs to take a stable position - and much will come with time. Waiting and enduring, including one's own imperfections, refers to patience. Patience is an essential part of spiritual life. On the other hand, those who are absorbed in the spiritual process simply do not notice many difficulties.

Repentance for your own sins is also a part of spiritual life, but there is no particular need to confess your sins to someone. Such confessions are a dubious practice that arose as a desire to emphasize sinfulness, to increase a person's sense of guilt both before himself and before the priest-administrators. When a person constantly feels guilty, it is easy to manage him, and knowing his weak spots, it is easy to make him vulnerable. This is a long story where confession came from in Christianity. Since Christians decided to deify Christ, and it is not obvious at all from the scripture and His words that Christ is God, so salvation was put forward instead of love for God. The sinfulness of man began to be artificially emphasized and inflated in order to highlight the greatness of the salvation of everyone by Christ. The more the priests talked about universal sinfulness, the more people felt guilty and sinful, the more Christ's feat shone throughout the world. However, all this is a disservice. Jesus Christ is undoubtedly the savior of people, but such contextual glorification destroyed the church, since the essence of Christ's teaching is not salvation. Later, Protestants emerged from this oppression of the created atmosphere of universal sinfulness, who quite rightly rejected such a view of spiritual life, but they went to the other extreme.

The point is that it is not always easy to combine knowledge and love, it really requires one to give oneself; and when people want to live a material life, they basically take one point of the scripture and make it a fetish. Some distinguish love - there are "confessions of love" singing blissfully, raising their hands to heaven; others emphasize knowledge - there is Protestant with a scribbled book, where one quote points to another; still others create some kind of "social denominations" that continuously "weave shirts" to their neighbors; all these are varieties of sects or such a fragmented, not integral approach in religion.

However, it is both natural and fruitful to repent of one sins before God or before oneself, against the background of intensive spiritual practice. Of course, we do not repent on purpose, but it happens. There is a task that God has entrusted to us - this is preaching (and He has no other tasks here, for example, business related to money or something else like that); we follow this instruction regardless of personal imperfections, this is our main occupation, nevertheless, we personally experience our shortcomings. And such repentance, such prayer elevates a person.

Over time, when person has reached a certain maturity, he will be able to understand the supreme mood of separation from God, but a devotee must be strong and he must know the scripture perfectly in order to stand very firmly. Unrequited love is hard to endure even in the material world, and sometimes it turns out that a person falls in love for the first time, but having received the consequences - separation, disappointment - having experienced pain, he decides never to love again. Of course, spiritual separation is another sphere, but nevertheless these emotions are also difficult. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu describes them as a mixture of nectar and poison: such feelings are like poison, they "kill", but there is no happiness in the world higher than that. "Without giving me audience, You kill me, You break my heart; still, You are my Lord, You are my worshipable Lord, nobody else." There is no question that person will find such love having some childish consciousness and ideas like "how to live well" in the material or spiritual world. The devotee should stand like a monolith, otherwise the storm of these feelings will blow him away. In the material world, people suffer for a year or two: they cry and then jump further to seek their happiness; but the mood of separation is eternal.

Thus, our imperfections are part of this path. Sometimes devotees want to experience spiritual feelings, but they do not know how to do it, they think whether to try to grieve or maybe try to feel happy; but it is enough to follow at least some lines from Śrīla Prabhupāda's comments, and He will gradually lead us to the right place. Śrīla Prabhupāda is the mahā-bhāgavata.

How one can teach the higher emotions of separation in a world where everyone is already separated from God and at best would like to simply get rid of sufferings or just learn something about God? In a world where the majority have no desires other than personal happiness. It would be interesting to hear your ideas. Therefore Śrīla Prabhupāda occupies the highest position among the devotees of Lord Caitanya and eternally leads the entire succession.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 04 ноя 2020, 20:22

TEXT 37

The Blessed Lord said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world.

PURPORT

The desire for personal sensual happiness lies at the core of this world. The Vedas describe the creation of the material world, and sometimes people think that such things are inaccessible to perception, but this is not so. For example, the first element of creation is the creation of the ego, the creation of a consciousness of separation, personal being; and we see practically that the ego is the most important and most painful and explosive problem in every human being. People can experience certain difficulties and endure them, however, when a person is insulted, his ego is hurt, he can immediately explode and do some destructive nonsense. Since the ego is the primary element, it is the essence of everyone's conditioning. Ego means our self-interest and our desire to take the place of God. What is an insult? This is most often an indication of the insignificance of a person. And why does a person become angry? Because he sees himself as great or wants to consider himself great; that is, the claim to one's own greatness is the basis of this world. This is even higher than lust. However, lust, or the desire for personal happiness, is an extension of the same ego. Therefore, after the ego, feelings are created, through which the personality will continue to play the role of God, or the enjoyer.

The scripture actively criticize the material principles of happiness, however, the soul is happy in the spiritual world. Sometimes, due to active criticism of material life (and such criticism is both necessary and fair), people get the impression that everything in the spiritual world is emasculated. The practice of spiritual life is somewhat strict: “this is not possible, this is unfavorable;" in fact, everything in the material world is unfavorable, so having studied this subject, the believer automatically extrapolates the restrictions to the spiritual world. Sometimes people are afraid to think about spiritual things: if there is a lot one cannot do here, then what will be there? And even when a person learns about the beauty and feelings of the spiritual world, there are still some concerns remain. Therefore, as a result of studying the scripture from such an angle, it seems to him that in the spiritual world there is only something decorous and dignified, and hosts of priests in black robes are walking around the spiritual world. - And if there are trees and beautiful gardens? - Then the priests will lie down under the trees with a modest spiritual meal, but is that good? - But living beings do something in eternity, don't they? For example, the Quran enlightens us on this issue:

"(There will be) therein all that inner-selves could desire, and all that eyes could delight in" (QS 43:71).

Thus, the soul falls into matter for the sake of his own personal desires, for his personal separated happiness, but when such desires are associated with God, they are spiritualized. The person lives freely in the spiritual world, he does not think about what is possible and what is not; love for God is present in a natural way there and nothing needs to be regulated.

TEXT 38

As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, similarly, the living entity is covered by different degrees of this lust.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

There are three degrees of covering of the living entity by which his pure consciousness is obscured. This covering is but lust under different manifestations like smoke in the fire, dust on the mirror, and the womb about the embryo. When lust is compared to smoke, it is understood that the fire of the living spark can be a little perceived. In other words, when the living entity exhibits his Kṛṣṇa consciousness slightly, he may be likened to the fire covered by smoke. Although fire is necessary where there is smoke, there is no overt manifestation of fire in the early stage. This stage is like the beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The dust on the mirror refers to a cleansing process of the mirror of the mind by so many spiritual methods. The best process is to chant the holy names of the Lord. The embryo covered by the womb is an analogy illustrating a helpless position, for the child in the womb is so helpless that he cannot even move. This stage of living condition can be compared to that of the trees. The trees are also living entities, but they have been put in such a condition of life by such a great exhibition of lust that they are almost void of all consciousness. The covered mirror is compared to the birds and beasts, and the smoke covered fire is compared to the human being. In the form of a human being, the living entity may revive a little Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and, if he makes further development, the fire of spiritual life can be kindled in the human form of life. By careful handling of the smoke in the fire, the fire can be made to blaze. Therefore the human form of life is a chance for the living entity to escape the entanglement of material existence. In the human form of life, one can conquer the enemy, lust, by cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness under able guidance.

TEXT 39

Thus, a man's pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.

PURPORT

God is not against the personal happiness of the soul, but one of the problems that arise in the material world is that the soul himself is not able to fulfill his desires. Even having a world created by God, a world that has all the ingredients for the happiness of the soul, souls are try to dominate each other which causes them to fall lower and lower. God is the center of the spiritual world and, of course, the attention and feelings of all its inhabitants in various forms are directed towards God. However, souls can have many relationships with each other there, but in connection with God. For example, God has a beloved daughter, she loves her Father, and He arranges her life and gives her palaces and beautiful parks; the daughter gets married and lives quite happily. She travels with her husband everywhere and live a busy life. Also she is involved in various arts. Thus, love for God does not deprive living beings of some kind of personal happiness, although as the soul develops spiritually, he can himself shift the emphasis towards God, this is his personal choice.

It doesn't really matter which rasa or spiritual relationship the soul enters into. The spiritual world fulfills all desires, so by entering into any relationship, then the person can fulfill all his desires. In the material world, everything is limited and everyone tries to imitate God – there is a struggle for superiority and leadership; so by analogy, people also want "higher", "better" or they worry not lose something in spiritual life. But in the spiritual case there are no problems, problems are impossible due to the very structure of the spiritual world. Therefore, whatever mood or whatever role the soul in the spiritual world desires, all this will be both spiritual and auspicious. One should be calmer and more persistent in following religious precepts, in this sense one should not be afraid to lose or miss something - “make a mistake,” “do not get the highest,” and so on.

Since the spiritual world is not limited and there is no time factor, the soul can be in different roles, from our point of view, simultaneously. Because there is no time, it looks like a series of eternities: the soul can be in one role for some time (eternity), then he moves to another role or situation and this will also continue for eternity. Since there are no restrictions, the soul can experience whatever he wants: in one role he is experiences one relationship and in another - others. Certainly, the soul has his natural constant position, nevertheless, spiritual sages can travel in different situations and in different roles of the spirit world.

We would like to experience this kind of happiness here, outside of God, but we make mistakes and we are limited, so here our desires are fulfilled to an extent, which is our own fault. Lust, the desire to dominate is inextinguishable: no matter how much power a person gets, he wants more power, no matter how many opportunities he has, he wants even more. Our feelings are not satisfied because we are eternal and we need eternal, unlimited happiness; and this is possible only in bond with God because he is eternal and unlimited.

TEXT 40

The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.

PURPORT

God describes everything analytically, He explains how everything works, how everything happens, so that every person understands and consciously practices spiritual life. What is faith when every detail is described, and many things are in ourselves, so they can be perceived directly. Faith itself is weak and there is no particular need for it. A person who studies everything becomes enlightened, confident and calm in his spiritual life. Of course, there are always many things that we do not know and that we have to learn; but spiritual life is a slender building and we rise in it floor by floor.

Definitely, spiritual knowledge is knowledge that is given to us from above, this is descending knowledge. Theoretically, we might be able to understand everything ourselves by analyzing the material world as a reflection of the spiritual world, but this would take a huge amount of time. It is possible to understand even some esoteric things on the basis of our experience in the material world, but this is not necessary. In this sense, “faith” as the acceptance of knowledge from a higher authority is fruitful, but God nowhere emphasizes faith as the foundation of religion, and here He is talking about true knowledge.

Faith as the foundation of religion does not exist in Vaiṣṇavism, in the same sense it is absent in Christianity.
The idea of the primacy of faith was approved in Christianity at the so-called ecumenical councils, where the main provisions of the doctrine were established as dogmas, and the decision was taken by vote. In particular, at the First Ecumenical Council (in 325), the "Symbol of Faith" was thus established, which does not correspond to the first commandment and scripture in general. It should be understood that the "ecumenical councils", in fact, pursued mainly material goals even resolving issues related to the doctrine. Ecumenical councils were organized, financed, and often initiated by the secular authorities (the Emperor) who naturally pursued their own material interests. The Emperors often presided over these councils, and the Emperor also gave their decisions the status of state laws.

At the Fifth Ecumenical Council (in 553), the concept of reincarnation was abolished in Christianity. This concept was part of the teachings of Origen which gained popularity in the Byzantine Empire, although Origen himself had already left his body by that time. As a result, in order to “not violate the unity of the empire,” since not everyone was satisfied with this teaching, and especially the Pope, in 543 Justinian I declared Origen a heretic by his edict. Then this decision in the same year was confirmed by the local Council in Constantinople; and the final point - the condemnation of Origenism at the Ecumenical Council ten years later. It is also believed that the texts mentioning reincarnation were purposefully removed from the Bible.

Accordingly, as a result of the dogmatic definition of the basic provisions, and in particular after the "abolition" of reincarnation, the Christian teaching turned out to be lopsided and stopped answering a number of questions, so gradually the priests began to focus more and more on faith as unproven trust, or a blind faith, which finally led to dead end all Christian theology.

Therefore, in Christianity, ascetics came to the fore, who by their personal example gave confirmation of the truth of Christianity, and the reference to miracles is still an argument in Christianity. However, miracles are a weak argument both inside and outside of religion. Materialists began to show much more miracles and thus pushed religion into a far corner, and the lack of theology deprived it of the power to resist, which also contributed to the defeat of Christianity around the world. Although technically there are many Christians in the world, but their influence is very small now.

So, the lust of the rulers and the clergy who fell under their influence can cover the true knowledge of not only one soul, but the whole religion for millennia. As for reincarnation and miracles in religion, we will talk more about this later.
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Сообщение Jayanti » 06 ноя 2020, 10:48

TEXT 41

Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.

PURPORT

Similarly, Jesus Christ preaches in the Bible. In fact, there are no two religions or two paths to the spiritual world; there is one religion represented in different situations, and one path of spiritual life. A person technically cannot develop in another way. It's just that people can be in different phases of comprehending this unified science, which is why it may seem that there is some alternative. Materialists are very active in preaching that "everyone has their own path", but this is certainly a lie and just one of the variants of atheism.

When a person reduces the influence of fate (karma) on himself, he rises to the sphere of knowledge and move on to the next stage of spiritual life. A person absorbed in striving for gross material things cannot actively develop knowledge, but an active thinker cannot stop the mind and move higher to meditation, and a meditator cannot understand that spiritual activity is inaction. All these four sections are found in any spiritual practice, in any religion, in any view of spiritual life, since they come from the structure of the mind, body, the structure of the whole world and spiritual life. Therefore, the path of spiritual life is always the same, just as the Highest Truth is unchangeable. Yoga is built on the same principle: karma-yoga (activity), jñāna-yoga (knowledge), aṣṭāṅga-yoga (mystical-yoga, haṭha-yoga, or meditation), and bhakti-yoga (knowledge and love of God) - all these forms a unified methodology.

As for knowledge, one of the variants of sensual life and materialism is to sit and endlessly invent and concoct. One comes up with one theory, another comes up with another, and this people just like to make things up. By inventing, they hover in their minds, thinking they are both intelligent and exalted, and this is the next stage of defilement after gross materialistic conditioning. Those who are interested in the materialized fruits of life are called karmis, and those who are more interested in mental research are called jñānīs, from the word jñāna - the knowledge. However, this kind of theorists are far from real understanding of things. In fact, they are not interested in knowledge, they are interested in personal happiness and their personal ideas; this is all the same lust, just satisfied by other methods.

Modern scientists research matter, coming up with many names and terms. Since their research gives some kind of practical result, the authority of science for some time was considered indisputable. However time goes on, and 6 more and more people realize that science in most cases does not benefit people. Science that causes damage should not be considered as a knowledge - what is this knowledge that is destructive? Science which is based on atheism and the ideas of "evolution" are always half-hearted, and modern science is science is largely barbarism. Some scientists also understand this, but unfortunately, no one wants to hear their voice, so in the future people will face huge problems, mostly related to the environment. At the heart of this situation, we again see lust, or passion to rule the world, the desire to surround ourselves with comforts by destroying the human environment. A religion armed with spiritual knowledge is quite capable of defeating or transforming such an atheistic science, but the "religions of faith" are helpless and weak; in fact, preachers of such a faith are atheistic "agents" within the church.

TEXT 42

The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.

PURPORT

We practically see that feelings and consciousness are above dead matter. Living beings can control matter, modify it. From this it is obvious that the primary cause of the world is consciousness, a living being. The gradation of the world begins with intelligence and ends with gross matter. Since intelligence is the root cause of the world, then with the help of intelligence the world can be understood or reformed. The intelligence sees everything completely, it sees things in their totality, while the mind acts more locally. Intelligence is more connected with the soul and with the Supersoul, with God, who controls all creation; while the mind is lower in its position, analyzing in a more mundane, narrow range. All the five senses that give empirical knowledge or information enter the mind; and there are also five active sense organs. All of that will be explained in more detail in subsequent chapters.

Control of the mind is the center of yoga, or spiritual life. A devotee, guided by scripture and intelligence, seeks to control the mind and senses, but when one attains God, both the mind and the senses are quieted, because the person becomes happy. At the beginning, we do not have spiritual desires and we just make efforts in the spiritual direction, but the more a person reaches maturity in the spiritual life, the less he needs to make such efforts. here are those who are eternally on the level of perfection, they are called nitya-siddhi; there are those who achieve perfection through effort - sādhana-siddhi; and there are those who achieve perfection through blessings, this is kṛpā-siddhi, but it is difficult to count on kṛpā without doing anything. Having achieved perfection, all categories of siddhis preach the message of God.

TEXT 43

Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to material senses, mind and intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self and thus—by spiritual strength—conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.

PURPORT by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

This Third Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā is conclusively directive to Kṛṣṇa consciousness by knowing oneself as the eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without considering impersonal voidness as the ultimate end. In the material existence of life, one is certainly influenced by propensities for lust and desire for dominating the resources of material nature. Desire for overlording and sense gratification are the greatest enemies of the conditioned soul; but by the strength of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can control the material senses, the mind and the intelligence. One may not give up work and prescribed duties all of a sudden; but by gradually developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can be situated in a transcendental position without being influenced by the material senses and the mind—by steady intelligence directed toward one's pure identity. This is the sum total of this chapter. In the immature stage of material existence, philosophical speculations and artificial attempts to control the senses by the so-called practice of yogic postures can never help a man toward spiritual life. He must be trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by higher intelligence.
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