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.

• Only devotees and not others can understand Bhagavad-gita and get benefits.
• One can only know and one can only do what one is allowed to do, and this process is established by God, not by us. What we can do is set. Men think only because I've figured something out I am in control.

• The body itself, the process to understand and the knower - the Lord and the jiva - only the devotees can understand this, and even devotees with too much material tinge cannot understand. That means, without the mercy of pure, unalloyed devotees, without acaryas' commentaries we could not understand scriptures, because we would be carried away by karma and jnana. If we follow acaryas, we are put into category of pure, unalloyed devotees by practice.
• Sahajiyas and mayavadis think they can understand without acaryas.
• We get the reaction if we are trying to enjoy the activities. The activities are carried out by the material nature, and the Lord is controlling.
• We are only complaining about getting bad results.
• 13:10 Is there such a thing as "good and evil" for an ant
• Only human beings on this planet can increase their pious activities. Demigods and humans in other varsas can only spend them. They can lose them faster for improper activities, but they cannot increase them.
• Lord Krishna and Supersoul.
• 19:45 Demigods performing devotional service?
• They are not so inclined. They may, but generally, by their modes of nature they don't.
• When Narada Muni was a Gandharva.
• 24:40 Are residents of Brahmaloka transferred to the spiritual world after the annihilation?
• They may, but they may not, or only go to Maha-vishnu. It also depends whether Lord Brahma is a devotee.
• 28:00 How we got in the material world? The details are not so important, the main thing is rebellious nature.
• Mechanics may be helpful in getting out.
• We have to understand where we are right now and which way is out. Knowing details of where we first turned off before getting lost is not so important.
• 37:30 The odds of jiva coming in contact with devotional service - turtle on the bottom of the ocean and wood log
• We take it for granted that there are thousands of devotees, devotional books everywhere, we think, "Take it or leave it," but this is very, very special.
• Rockefellers father and son.
• 42:00 How is it that Citraketu had 10 million wives, but Krishna had only 16,108? God is more smart than the jiva.
• If people understand how relationships work, many more people can live in one place.
• Western people have problem with relationships, eastern people with space.
• If we don't identify with the modes of material nature, we are not affected by them. It's very simple, but we are also very stubborn.
• Jiva will take shelter of material nature to engage the imprints in his consciousness to enjoy it, until those imprints are destroyed by devotees association.
• The living entity ins attached to a particular combination of the modes of nature. Only by the association of devotees we can destroy that attachment.
• 51:30 How is it that the superior jiva takes shelter of the inferior prakriti?
• 53:00 Men base their relationships on discussing the field of activities or working together to get a result.
• Women are after experience, therefore men cannot sort out relationships among women.
• Women can only accept bad experience, if it is short and gives immediate result, like a piercing.
• 57:30 Maharaja talks in Bengali
• We do not act upon intelligence based on Guru, sadhu and shastra and therefore have problems.
• 65:40 Is intuition the Supersoul speaking to us?
• If what we feel is in line with Guru, sadhu and shastra, then we may take it as Supersoul's direction.
• But otherwise it may be the mind.
• Around 69:00 "The attack of the mobile phones."
• 70:00 Analyzation of different self-help processes:
• People who have some self-confidence - start to contemplate the field, then the "law of attraction" will  work, there will be goals, and then person will endeavor.
• Thinking about result doesn't generate result, but contemplating generates attachment, and then the person acts.
• People who don't have confidence - they inspire people that they can do whatever they want, then they will think about the field, get attracted, get attached, then do
• Those who are confident, attracted, see the field, they need to go to "goal-orientation," because then they will prioritize and focus, then get result
• Those who have everything above, but are not sure how to get it, for them - strategic planning
• 75:50 "There is only one school of self-help and that's called Vedanta. Because it deals with all that, it explains the field, who we are, what are results you can get, therefore what processes are there, so all that."
• The Supersoul sanctions in the self-help processes, but He sanctions according to the rules, according to how we deserve.
• The results are up to the Lord, not up to us.
• "How many self-help books you need if they work? One. So, you mean, and the same author, after a few years, the next year, comes out with another one to explain something else. Covey, "The seven habits of this and that," and then people are using it for 20 years and it doesn't work. So then, what does he do? "The eighth habit" [Laughter] Because with that eighth habit, then the other seven habits work. Do you understand? So it's just goes on and on and on. They all come out with that, because the point is is, they see a principle, but then they don't, it doesn't get everything working, so then they think about it more and come up with something further. "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," and then they came out with something like "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and Teenagers are from Pluto" [Laughter] So, you know, it's just like that, they just have to keep going and going, because they don't know."
• They are doing some kind of research, but material nature, in one sense, is unlimited, and the living entity cannot figure it out. If they would apply the same amount of intelligence and endeavor in Krishna consciousness, they would attain eternal benefit
• The living entity gets in the way of himself. And even if they do everything perfectly, it only arranges the situation, but the main thing is relationships.
• No matter how we adjust the facility, still what matters is relationships. People save time to pay for the time they have saved.
• "You need patience to deal with dead matter. You need more patience to deal with people. So if you don't have the patience to deal with dead matter, which is a lesser thing, how are you gonna have patience to deal with people? You are washing dishes, but if you think about it, whose dishes are you washing? Your family's dishes. So it's a relationship, but we just see it as something to get done. So just there is dishes, but dishes aren't connected to the family, so therefore you get a machine, and the machine does it for you. But now, are you gonna spend more time with the family? No. Because you don't see the dishes in relationship with the family anyway. Do you understand? It's not that you couldn't, but they won't. This is the trick. So therefore then they have no patience for anything."
• People who are on the level of consciousness of artha, will quote dharma to get artha done.
• Dharma is working on the overall well-being of our life, while artha only shows how to gain in a particular situation. But beyond even dharma is Krishna consciousness.
• 90:30 All situations in life are a test. There is no situation that is not engagable in Krishna consciousness
• Vedic has faith and endeavor. Cultures in-between have faith, but no endeavor, because there is no sufficient understanding. The modern has endeavor, but no faith. Devotees tend to be more influenced by the modern, they rarely turn to the Vedic
• The only way how we can reach spiritual world and not have to return is to develop relationship with Krishna.
• Typical leader in Europe is someone who went through the system and became better than others.
• Americans like the idea of maverick.
• "Here it's said, you have to develop good qualities. But how are you gonna develop them? You are gonna develop them by seeing the Supersoul in every body. Not the mayavadi's "Supersoul is everybody," no it's in every body."
• "They [other living entities] are all part of the Lord, so then why wold you behave badly with them?And they are not actually the body, they are separate. If you see the Supersoul, you can see the soul. You know that the knowers are different from the field. And the field, they are only an instrument. So that means, they are not actually the cause of your reactions. So why would you get upset with them? Do you understand? So this is the real process of developing good qualities. The other processes actually don't really work."
• If the soul is eternal and he could do eternal work and get eternal results, why would the soul do temporary work, get temporary results? Because temporary for someone who is eternal, always is a problem. It's always gonna be a problem."
• Unique identity of the soul is not due to the body, but due to their relationship with the Lord.
• 113:30 Any religious, philosophical process is better than being a mudha, but for devotees it does not have value on its own, it will take on materialistic fragrance, impressions.
• Vedic shows how to get great material results, but not be entangled and go back to Godhead. It's not necessary to do, one can just go back to Godhead, but if one wants, one can get the material results.
• 116:00 Air is mixed with things, but ether is not mixed with anything.
• We should not only act according to our conditioned nature, but also according to our actual nature as a soul
• Even one without any qualification in karma, jnana and yoga will advance by hearing in association of devotees. Hearing is the best, but due to our conditioned nature, other processes are given.