http://seminary.bhaktivedantaacademy.com/classes/bhagavad-gita-seriatim/

Given in Bhaktivedanta Academy, Sridham Mayapur, September 2010-April 2011

The following are lecture notes briefly delineating its contents.

• We progress because of faith.
• If we are convinced and striving for perfection, Krishna will fill the gap.
• We must be convinced that Krishna consciousness covers for everything else.
• 10:00 Prescribed duties are a medium of expressing devotion to Krishna, but prescribed duties do not generate attachment to Krishna, unless they are performed in connection with Krishna.
• Connecting sex life to Krishna. Varnashrama makes it easier to connect things to Krishna.
• West do not have definition for male, female, intimacy etc, they cannot even define sex desire, so how can they get rid of it?
• 23:00 Material desires are born of mental speculation, because material enjoyment never works, but still we are trying to find ways that in would work.
• By following Vedic principles we get the best out of material arrangements, and we can then see that it still does not satisfy us. Combining knowledge with proper practice, we get realization that we get true happiness only in connection with Krishna. But we still continue performing activities proper for our position.
• 33:30 When the mind is controlled by spiritual intelligence, it will control senses and prevent them from engagement in material sense gratification
• Material life means that spiritual life is covered by conditioned nature. Conditioned nature does not stand on its own.
• The writers of other Vedic schools, such as Patanjali, know the conclusions given by Vyasadeva, but they are trying to catch people who deviate, and therefore they do not give those conclusions in their writings.
• Liberation is only half of brahma-bhuta stage, the other half is moving towards devotional service in Krishna consciousness.
• Removing passion is the central point to achieve liberation. Passion is sense of enjoyment, material desires. In the material world, passion is based on ignorance, abhideya is based on sambandha. Impersonalists apparently remove passion, but ignorance remains, because they don't know who they are, therefore the passion will again come up.
• When we change our identity to "I am servant of Krishna," we are no longer dealing with sambandha in ignorance, we are dealing with the sandhini potency, sat, eternality. Then goals will be pleasing Krishna, and abhideya will be under cit potency, instead of passion, and therefore it will be spiritual.
• To move from bhava to prema through the brahma-bhuta platform, one has to have that dynamic desire, only then one will get the association of nitya-siddhas
• Brahmavadis also achieve the ananda-maya stage, but there are more deep levels to that.
• There are 10 stages of prema, the material body can only handle the first two of them.
• In the spiritual world, Krishna is in everyone's heart because everyone has love for Him, but in the material world He has to be there as Paramatma
• Liberation without connection to Krishna is temporary.
• 77:00 Krishna consciousness goes beyond spiritual understanding.
• Feeling of oneness with Krishna is the lowest end of spiritual understanding, the highest is oneness of mood in relationship
• 81:30 Bhagavad-gita is the basis. Bhakti shastri study is serious.
• Residents of the spiritual world do not wish suffering for anyone.
• 90:00 Supreme Lord will preach, but only if someone is interested. But as Lord Caitanya, as a devotee He delivers all.
• Discussion on the structure of Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literatures
• Discussion on how meat eating destroys austerity, intoxication -mercy