This course is part of Sastra-Caksus, Year 1 and consists of 91 lectures, available on:

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.

  • Krishna is not satisfied by good qualities on their own, because they are coming from Him. But He is very pleased by one who performs devotional service with these qualities.

  • What if one performs devotional service without these qualities? By performing sadhana-bhakti they will develop.
  • Qualities are obtained by His internal potency
  • "Krishna-ized means... It doesn't mean perfect in the way of it's manifestation is to the completest form it can be, but it means it's connected. The body is Krishna-ized, but the body is still temporary. But if you can function always with a Krishna-ized body, then that means you are comfortable with the fact of having the eternal body that it's only interest is engaging in Krishna's service."
  • The 26 qualities of devotees may or may not be manifest, so we should not commit aparadha if devotees don't have them, but the one quality of surrender to Krishna is always there.
  • Bhima is not know for his humility, but it doesn't mean he is not humble. The definition of qualities has to be Lord's, not ours.
  • Nondevotees have no good qualities, because the soul actually does not have that quality, they are just temporary manifesting the reflection of that quality
  • While dealing with materialists who have good qualities, we should see the qualities connected to Krishna, then we are not actually associating with materialists.
  • Vedanta works for everyone
  • Action is the central point. "The religion of eternal engagement"
  • 24:45 How important is the social structure.
  • Without understanding the technicalities of devotional service, one cannot understand Varnashrama.
  • Devotees who are expert in the mechanics of devotional service should be on the Varnashrama committee.
  • Sanatana Dharma means it explains the nature of everything
  • 33:00 Summary of chapters 7-12
  • Once the field is set in the first 6 chapters, middle six chapters bring cit acit and ishwara into that field, emphasizing the importance of surrender
  • Time of leaving the body is crucial, because depending on what one takes shelter of at the time of death, one attains the next body.
  • 9th chapter Lord explains His supreme position in more detail, His relationship with His energies. The essence of this knowledge is always thinking of Krishna and becoming His devotee. Just seeing Lord's transcendental position is not enough, one has to act upon that by surrendering.
  • In chapter 10 Arjuna fully surrenders to Krishna and thus demonstrates the result of transcendental knowledge.
  • It was already described in the previous chapters in connection of how to attain liberation, but now things are seen in connection with the person Krishna.
  • Even people without qualification can see Krishna in His vibhutis, but by
    association they can progress to understanding Him as a person.
  • Universal form means seeing all opulences in one place
  • Devotees see single things in the world in relation to Krishna, and they are just uddipana to remembering Krishna
  • 58:00 Vedanta philosophy can be applied down to the smallest thing, nothing else can
  • Those who are trying to be nice, are not capable of discussing how to properly apply the principle of war.
  • Krishna consciousness is the rarest and most valuable thing given, but we take it for granted and go looking for something more difficult
  • The path of impersonalism is hard, but it's meant for the less intelligent. The donkey's life is hard, but they are not intelligent.
  • The path of impersonalism means not being able to engage bod, mind and words in the transcendental process.
  • Some people are upset about sannyasis having things, because they think renunciation stands on its own. Their point is valid, but it's not engaged in Krishna's service.
  • In Hitopadesha jackal quoting dharma to get niti done.
  • Those enlightened by pious activities approach the Supreme Lord.
  • 68:30 "Bridge preaching"
  • Trying to say that material existence has substance and trying to connect it with spiritual by taking the position of the material.
  • Animal thinks reflection in the mirror is another animal.
  • There is nothing besides material and spiritual, but due to arrogance we try to create the 3rd category.
  • "We are a community of financially independent monasteries"
  • Why only yoga studio preaching is called bridge-preaching? Why not prison preaching? Why not preach to the old ladies playing bridge?
  • 85:30 STARTING CHAPTER 13
  • Ch 13-18 are technicalities to apply in devotional service with proper consciousness.
  • Vedic presentation always has 3 levels - giving essence, definition, greater definition or application.
  • There is no repetition, but there is different levels of explanation of the same thing, because in the essence, definition was not given, and in the definition, application was not given.
  • Knowledge about various aspects of Vraja is still sambandha-jnana, but some devotees think it's prayojana and think Prabhupada only gave basics.
    If they actually could understand rasa, they could see it in Srila Prabhupada's books.
  • Many times Krishna gives a list of bonafide opinions from the shastras, so that it would be appealing to people who are not completely purified, but at the end Krishna gives His own opinion, and through that we should see all other things. By seeing it in that way, we have relationship with Him. Technical details are meant to help us developing relationship with Krishna.
  • Details in illusion are not actually knowledge.
  • Each parampara appreciates different aspects of Krishna's personality, but they all accept His opinion.
  • If too many details were given in the beginning, we might be distracted, therefore technicalities are given after describing pure devotion.
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