Naradamuni ordered to spread the Message of the Glories of the Lord!

SB 2.7.52 (A Prji):

* In the verse we see that Brhmaji has asked Naradamuni to preach in all the directions
* Naradmuni is a brahmachari
 - one meaning is brahma mean the Lord, chari means one who goes around preaching. So Naradamuni true to his name was always going around preaching the message of the Lord
* In material concept
 - conception of the Supreme Lord as a person is tough to understand
 - impersonal void seems more easy for them to understand
 - But this is a fearful stage of life, without proper knowledge
* Such ppl are in the true diseased condition of life
* With so many types of philosophies about impersonal conception, many more are totally confused
* But by the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, one can come out of the confusions and follow devotional service in a most perfect way
* One must have desire for self-realization in the beginning
 - by execution of DS under guidance of SM will take one self-realization, slowly taking one krishna prema, the highest perfectional stage of life, being freed from all material attachments
* So Naradamuni was instructed by his SM, Brahmaji
 - then Naradamuni became a SM and continued to spread this message around for the purification of the entire material world

SB 2.7.51 (Ma Prji):

* Importance of hearing SB from a pure devotee and self realized soul is mentioned here
* The Bhagavata Puran?a is therefore the direct incarnation of the Lord in the form of transcendental sound, and one should receive this transcendental knowledge from the bona fide representative of the Lord in the chain of disciplic succession from the Lord to Brahmaji, from Brahmaji to Narada, from Narada to Vyasa, from Vyasadeva to Sukadeva Gosvami, from Sukadeva Gosvami to Suta Gosvami.
* Simple hearing is not all, one must also realize the text by hearing with rapt attention. Then one can realize
Krishna in every page of SB
* The secret of knowing SB is mentioned here
 - no one can give rapt attention who is not pure in mind
 - no one can be pure in mind, who is not pure in action
 - no one can be pure in action who is not pure in eating, mating, sleeping and defending
* Nityam bhagavata sevaya
* Two kinds of bhagavata seva
 - serving the book bhagavata and serving the person bhagavata
 - we need to serve both
* Guru is the highest bhagavata devotee, who is a tattva darshina
* Guruvashtaka also, we sing daily
 - by service if we can satisfy him, then my path for self realization is gauranteed
* One should not associate with proefessional SB recitors, that is one who is not in disciplic succession and who is not in bhakti yoga
* According to Vedic injunctions, SB can only be recited by one who has unflinching faith in Krishna, basically a pure devotee, Guru
* Only through the process of devotional service, one should and can hear the SB
* It is very important to read daily SB. Why?
 - Because the glorification of the SPG is performed in the parmapara system
 - It is done by those who are no longer interested in the material world
 - by repeatedly hearing, it will get imbibed in us

Our true ever well-wisher!

SB 2.7.50 (Sa Prji Boston):

* "My dear son, I have now explained in brief the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is creator of the manifested worlds. Without Him, Hari, the Lord, there are no other causes of the phenomenal and noumenal existences."
* SP being a wonderful vaisnava, he is also a kavi, a poet
 - In this purport too, SP most wonderfully writes these statements
* Potencies of the Lord are classified as
 - internal energy (everything in the spiritual stratum)
 - external energy (temporary material world made of 5 gross elements and 3 subtle elements)
 - marginal potency (the jivas, the living entities)
* Krishna is however aloof from all these energies
* We are allowed to play around these energies, especially the external energy
 - so when we fall down from the spiritual world, Krishna gives us this material world to try and Lord it over
everything
 - everything around us is differentiation of the material elements given to us and a representation of our false ego
* BG 9.4
 - maya tatam idam sarvam....
 - the mayawadi's always say that everything is Krishna, u and I are Krishna. But to refute this, Krishna is clearly stating this previous verse of BG
 - everything comes from Krishna, but everything is not Krishna
 - All beings are in Krishna, but Krishna is not in them
* Krishna is the source of all causes
* Then SP gives one more important point:
 - One should not deprecate the Supreme Lord for the creation of this miserable world, just as one should not blame the king for creating a prisonhouse in the government
* If something goes wrong, then we keep pointing here and there, finally we blame God.
 - But that's exactly what SP is saying here, don't blame Krishna
* Actually we are responsible for messing up the material world
* It is we who forced Krishna to making this material world, similar to the creation of a prison house, where the Government makes it only because of the disobedient people
* When we say Krishna I don't want to serve you, I reject you. Then the most merciful Lord gives us this material world for us to play as pseudo-lord
* Of course, only by the mercy of Guru, Krishna, SP, we have been served
* Purpose of the prisonhouse is
 - to punish and reformation of the person
 - So in one sense, the creation of this material world is to reform us and claim us back to the spiritual world
* SP writes: "Since He has no direct attachment to this material world, He is not to be blamed for its creation."
* Our true ever well-wisher in this material world is Srila Prabhupada (SP)

Benefits of the knowledge of the Spirit Soul!

SB 2.7.49 (Ss Prji):

* Two fundamental concepts
 - basic concepts of soul and the SPG
 - the body being material
* Krishna says in BG
 - for the soul there is neither birth nor death...
 - two kinds of souls, anu atma and vibhuatma. These 2 are situated on the same tree of the material body. Soul is trying to enjoy and supersoul/vibhuatma is just observing
* Many benefits of having knowledge of the soul
 - changes man's attitude for life
* ...
* Drawing millions of circles with a common circle, there will be no clash
 - similarly, if Krishna is the center for all, then peace exists everywhere
* Death is basically transfer of soul from one body to another
* Devotee has no fear of death cause he knows he is not the body and is only interested in chanting the holy name of Krishna
* Modern man is associating himself with the body, so is just pampering the body without giving any food to the soul
* Only loving service to God can awaken the identification with the soul
* With knowledge of self, self awareness can come in leading to self realization
* We need the courage to manage our own self
* It will let us go away from negative thinking
* This attitude can lead to going away from stress, anxiety etc.

Indra does not have to dig a well!

SB 2.7.48 (Kp Prji):

* Previously, Lord Brahma told:
 - What is realized as the Absolute Brahman is full of unlimited bliss without grief. That is certainly the ultimate
phase of the supreme enjoyer, the Personality of Godhead. He is eternally void of all disturbances and fearless. He is complete consciousness as opposed to matter. Uncontaminated and without distinctions, He is the principle primeval cause of all causes and effects, in whom there is no sacrifice for fruitive activities and in whom the illusory energy does not stand
* Now he is continuing to say:
 - In such a transcendental state there is no need of artificial control of the mind, mental speculation or
meditation, as performed by the jnanis and yogis. One gives up such processes, as the heavenly King, Indra, forgoes the trouble to dig a well
* Those who are engaged in DS, for them remembering the Lord is so easy that he heavenly King, Indra, forgoes the trouble to dig a well. Because for him, he is the controller of rain, what is there for him to dig a well then
* There is such a vast difference between yogic processes and devotional service
 - that is why the translation says: In such a transcendental state there is no need of artificial control of the
mind, mental speculation or meditation, as performed by the jnanis and the yogis

The Vedic Authorities..

SB 2.7.43-45 (A Prji):

* If we simply worship the original person, then we need not fear anything
* We can put an end to material life by one stroke
 - there is no need to follow all the difficult processes of hatha yoga etc
 - by accepting KC, we can immediately rise to the spiritual world
* Like a blacksmith, one big hammer stroke of bhakti will finish this material world for us
* If KC is not taken up, the hellish conditions of the world will continue like anything
* Surrender unto Krishna, will help reduce all the fog of material conditioning
* This can be done by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra
 - this will help us acquire the correct knowledge by which we can distinguish between what is essentially needed and what is just shown as needed for us
* Choice is ours

Prowess of Vishnu, not understood by Modern Scientists!

SB 2.7.40 (Ss Prji):

* Here, Brahmaji is explaining that no one can explain the prowess of Vishnu, not even the modern day scientists
* Personality of Godhead lives in each and every universe as Garbodakashayi Vishnu and Ksirodakashayi Vishnu
 - (more description given as we have heard before)
* Beyond this material nature, there is another spiritual nature
 - we do not know this material world itself, then how can we know the spiritual world
 - it can be known and understood only by hearing from the Supreme Lord Himself
* We cannot reach the Vaikunta planets with mechanical means
 - it can be reached only through the authentic descriptions given in the Vedas
* ...
* ...
* 7 layers of atmosphere
 - troposhpere,.., ionosphere
* This modern knowledge is like a witch who allures the common man initially, but finally inflicts all pain on the person
 - eg: Putana witch coming as a beautiful woman, but still trying to kill Krishna
* Modern amenities, technologies offer a lot of dazzle, but they somehow make us blind and we put blind faith into whatever is promoted by modern scientists
* It is only due to the deep rooted Vedic culture that a simple villager of India thinks not to commit any mistake due to the knowledge of Karma. But the modern man just goes ahead committing mistakes, without any knowledge that it will come back to him for sure

Guna Avatars of the Lord!

SB 2.7.39 (Kp Prji):

* At the beginning of creation there are penance, myself [Brahmā], and the Prajāpatis, the great sages who generate; then, during the maintenance of the creation, there are Lord Visnu, the demigods with controlling powers, and the kings of different planets. But at the end there is irreligion, and then Lord Śiva and the atheists full of anger,  etc. All of them are different representative manifestations of the energy of the supreme power, the Lord.
* The guna avatars are being explained here by Lord Brahma
* Creation is done by Lord Brahma
* Maintainence is done by Lord Vishnu
* Destruction is done by Lord Siva of this material world
* Different kinds of pralay's (destruction) exist
* All these incarnations are actually of Lord Krishna Himself. The power of the demigods, the supremacy of the mighty beasts, actually the source of all these is Krishna Himself
* Ultimately, the material creation is but a temporary manifestation meant to give the chance of liberation to the
conditioned souls, who are entrapped in the material world, and one who develops the mode of goodness under the protection of Lord Visnu has the greatest chance of being liberated by following the Vaisnava principles and thus being promoted to the kingdom of God, no more to return to this miserable material world.

Kalki Avatar of the Lord!

SB 2.7.38 (K Prji):

* This chapter, we have seen Lord Brahmaji telling about all the scheduled incarnations of the Supreme Lord, to Naradamuni
* Lord Krishna when came to this earthly planet, gave his instructions in the form of the Bhagavad-gita
* But at the end of kaliyuga, the degradation is so much that the Lord comes as Kalki avatara and kills all to 
relieve them of their sins
* We can see now that Kaliyuga is already degraded so very much, just 5000 years into this yuga
* In SB, 12th Canto, Chapters 1, 2 and 3, more details are given about how the kaliyuga will exist
 - that kaliyuga will be ruled by meat-eaters and more
* SB 12.2.1, the qualities that will reduce are very clearly mentioned
 - all good qualities will slowly diminished
 - max duration of life for human beings will become 50 years
* But very imp and good quality of Kaliyuga is also mentioned in the 12th Canto of SB
 - just by chanting the Holy name of Krishna, the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, one can very easily get liberated
* Sri CM brought this forward and then Srila Prabhupada brought it to the whole world. We are very fortunate to be a part of the mercy of SP
* The supreme Lord coming as Kalki is also mentioned in other scriptures other than SB
 - Vishnu purana, Padma Purana, Agni Purana

Lord Buddha...

SB 2.7.37 (S Prji):

* Lord Brahma is explaining these incarnations
* He creates this universe, but knows that this is kind of a thankless job
* Purpose of the universe is to frustrate us in spite of all our efforts to be happy away from Krishna
* Since the universe's creation, there have been several philosophies spoken on God realization
* At one point, the Brahmins were using Vedas to promote animal killing and other such vices
* Lord Buddha came to correct this mistake among people
 - so he taught the basic common sense principles like be good and do good to other
 - he also taught principles of karma, non violence etc
* People liked it so much that they started worshipping Buddha himself
* SP comments that the definition of non-violence must be understood really well
 - non violence must be based on the principles of compassion
* We should respect all living beings, this is real compassion
* Being humble, prideless, having compassion for all living beings are the basic common sense principles
* That will help us achieve the ultimate goal of life

Unlimited Desires...

SB 2.7.32 (Ss Prji):

* Lord Brahmaji is mentioning the Govardhan pastime here
* Two aspects come out here
 - transcendental body of Krishna
 - no need for demigod worship
* Krishna was never on the level of the ordinary man, and even in His advanced age He appeared a young boy 16 years old. These are the particular features of the transcendental body of the Lord.
* This is given in Brahmasamhita too
* There are 33 crores of demigods, but Krishna is the source of all of them
* Demigod worship is not forbidden but doing so only for material possessions is described in BG as being less intelligent
* Fact is that demigods themselves derive power from the Supreme Lord
* The proper method is to depend on the Supreme Lord
* A devotee always depends on the Supreme Lord, however, a devotee can also worship a demigod specifically to develop pure devotional service to the Supreme Lord
* Having material desires is no problem in approaching the Supreme Lord. In all these cases, Krishna will satisfy the desires and then also promote the person towards pure devotional service
* SB 1.2.12 to SB 1.2.22
* Example of Dhruva Maharaj is very much useful for us to learn from
* Krishna can easily fulfill all desires
* Story of King, the beggar, the begging bowl made of the human mind
 - our desires will never end, cause it is the manifestation of an unsatisfied mind
* Krishna might not give what we want, Krishna will give what we need
* Our only desire must be to serve the Supreme Lord

Real service mood...

SB 2.7.31 (M Prji):

* Brahmaji is spending a lot of verses to describe the glories of the SPG Krishna, although he only used 1-2 verses for all other incarnations
* After Govardhan lila pastime, the pastime of Nanda Maharaj being arrested by Varuna happens
* Residents of Vrindavan were totally dependent on Lord Krishna and Balaram
* Lord Krishna and Balaram then go to the palace of Varuna to rescue Nanda Maharaj. Varuna welcomes them and tells that by mistake his servant had arrested His father
* Varuna says that the Lord bestowed His mercy on him by coming there and glorifies Krishna over and over again
* Nanda Maharaj is stunned as to why Varuna is praising the Lord so much
* Krishna shows the Vrindavan people all the Vaikunta planets and tells them that they will also go back there soon
* SP emphasizes the aspect of training in the chapter 28 of the Krishna book
* Sri CM emphasizes the aspect of humility, which in turn needs training. The SM is also giving us training
* Spiritual world, everybody is naturally in the dasanudas mode. But unfortunately in the material world, there is competition to perform service, not the mood of being a servant of someone who is doing service
* Especially when the spiritual master comes, competition comes forward. But we should not do this, we should try to serve or be assistant to one who is serving
* Sri CM's Mahaprakash lila time
 - the pastime of Dukhi, the maid servant of Srivas's house
 - she was running to the Ganga and getting water for performing abhishek of Sri CM, she never wanted to go right in front of Sri CM to do this service
 - So Sri CM recognizes that and he initiates her and changes her name to be Sukhi
* By staying in the background, we see that we always will gain
* Another pastime of Sri CM, when he is planning to go to Vrindavan
 - this brahmana wants to serve, but cannot
 - So he meditates and in his meditation constructs a path and decorates it very nicely for the Lord
* So we should understand that serving the devotees serving the Lord or the Spiritual master, is the best service

Krishna subduing Kaliya !

SB 2.7.28 (SA Prji)

* Then also when the cowherd boys and their animals drank the poisoned water of the River Yamunā, and
after the Lord [in His childhood] revived them by His merciful glance, just to purify the water of the
River Yamunā He jumped into it as if playing and chastised the venomous Kāliya snake, which was lurking
there, its tongue emitting waves of poison. Who can perform such herculean tasks but the Supreme Lord ?
* Similar verse in SB 10.15.49-50
* These 2 verses are strikingly similar
* Pastime of "Subduing Kaliya" is described
* Kaliya was initially living in the Ramanaka Island (which in present day is Fiji)
* Kaliya was powerful, so it was thinking that it is Supremely powerful
 - that is the problem with material strength
* Garuda chastised Kaliya and because of him, Kaliya had to leave Ramanaka Island
* Separate from this, Saubari muni had cursed Garuda to not come to his area, a lake near River Yamuna
 - So Kaliya decided to come and stay in this place, which was now in Braja bhoomi
* Reason why Krishna decided to purify Kaliya
 - The lake where Kaliya stayed was full of poison
 - this poison spread to Yamuna river too
* This poison is compared to enviousness
 - Krishna comes down to the material world to purify us from this enviousness
* Similar pastime also happened during the churning of the milk ocean
 - The Supreme Lord explains why poison was present in the bed of the ocean
 - First thing that came out from the churning was poison, not nectar
 - Just because we became selfish, over a period of time people throw all junk into the ocean bed, this
poison was formed
 - Similar to us too, polluting environment is a big mistake we will have to pay for
* Krishna climbed the Kadamba tree and jumped into the lake
* This annoyed Kaliya and he bit the chest of Krishna
 - just by drinking the water in the nearby river, all the Gopa's had died
 - But here, even with a bite from this snake, nothing happened to KRishna. This shows us that Krishna's
body is completely spiritual
* The fight between Krishna and Kaliya started and continued
* Finally, Krishna decided to finish it off
* Krishna jumped onto the hoods of Kaliya and started dancing there
* Srila Sanatana Goswami explains
 - This Kaliya was so powerful, that he could built solid items under the water. He had prepared his own
city under the lake
 - But Krishna's dancing was so fierce that all this was destroyed
* Kaliya wad subdued and the he was sent back to the Ramanaka Island

Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead

SB 2.7.27 (A Prji):

* The vedic scriptures give us perfect knowledge about the Personality of Godhead
* Lord Krishna is the Supreme Controller, as said in BS
* As told in BG, SB, Krishna is the God all in all
* It is also confirmed by all the great acharyas
* When we hear Bhagawan, we should have no doubt that He is the Supreme of all
* Krishna possesses all 64 qualities
 - Living entities have 50 qualities
 - Lord Brahma and Siva have 55 qualities
 - Lord Vishnu has 60 qualities
 - Lord Krishna is the swayam bhagawan, and has the complete 64 qualities
* This confirms that Lord Krishna is the SPG!

False Pride and Krishna's promise!

SB 2.7.25 (Ss Prji):

* Lord Brahma is continuing the narrations of the incarnations of the Lord, to Narada mahamuni
* 2 imp points
 - pride, false prestige
 - If Krishna wants to kill you, no one can save you. If Krishna wants to save you, no one can kill you
* On False prestige
 - Especially for educated people, pride comes in due to the scholarly achievements
 - Due to material achievements, one does not recognize Krishna as the Supreme
 - Even Lord Caitanya condemned austerities and gyana, that cause pride
 - Another thing of False pride is one wants to get name and fame
 - Some people want to get photo with imp people, just to make themselves proud
 - For devotees too, wealth, power can bring us into the enjoyment mode
 - Nothing is ours, it is God's service. Service means whatever makes God happy. And He reveals it
through Guru, Sadhu and Sastra
 - carefully guard against arrogance and pride
* In Ramayana, Rama faces Ravana with no armour at all, whereas Ravana comes with all his full
paraphernalia
 - But Ravana's pride covers him from seeing the beauty of the Lord
* We don't realize that the Lord always tries to save us from this pride, but we don't recognize it
* Krishna has said that in BG, that His devotee never perishes
* ....
* If Krishna wants to kill you, no one can save you. If Krishna wants to save you, no one can kill you
 - So many examples in the past
 - Prahlada Maharaj example
 - Queen Draupadi's example
 - The Lord incarnates to save His devotees and kill the miscreants
* "Make Srila Prabhupada's mission as your life and soul. To do that, take shelter sincerely of the Holy
name..."

Continuing Lord Ramachandra's Pastimes and Lessons for us!

SB 2.7.24 (M Prji):

* The pastimes of Lord Ramachandra are glorious and we recently celebrated the glorious festival of
Ramanavami
* Yesterday we saw how Mother Sita was kidnapped by Ravana and taken to Lanka
* In this verse: "The Personality of Godhead Rāmacandra, being aggrieved for His distant intimate friend
[Sītā], glanced over the city of the enemy Rāvaṇa with red-hot eyes like those of Hara [who wanted to
burn the kingdom of heaven]. The great ocean, trembling in fear, gave Him His way because its family
members, the aquatics like the sharks, snakes and crocodiles, were being burnt by the heat of the angry
red-hot eyes of the Lord."
* SP says in his purport, that all these sentiments exhibited by the Lord bring out the personal feature
of the Lord so perfectly.
* Continuing on the pastimes of Lord Ramachandra
* These pastimes of the Lord when we read sincerely, there is a lot of auspiciousness involved
* The benediction given by Sukadeva Goswami in the 9th Canto for a person listening to Ramayana is
 - ultimate freedom from the bondage of envy and fruitive activities
* We have lust, anger, greed, pride, envy and illusion as the 6 anarthas
 - all the 5 can be used in the service of Krishna, except envy
* So to remove this envy is very very important and only Lord Ramachandra has the weapon to do it
* When the living entity becomes envious of the Lord, he is sent down to this material world where he can try to enjoy the world and try to be the Lord
* But we know this world is a place of suffering only, so we have to make an effort to lose this envy
* By hearing the pastimes of the Lord, we not only lose envy but also develop love for the Lord
* So by developing love for the Lord, we slowly but automatically lose envy within our hearts
* Bhakti is the process of cultivating love for the Lord and for His devotees
* One pastime
 - When Mother Sita is kidnapped, Lord Rama and Lakshman go searing for her in the forest
 - They make friends with Sugriva and Hanuman
 - Sugriva forgets the promise that he will help Lord Ramachandra
 - That is the quality of the Lord, He gives free will to the living entity and never intervenes in what the living entity wants to do
 - Lakshmana however after 4 months goes in anger to remind Sugriva of his promise. The position of Lakshmana is the Spiritual Master. He intervenes and makes the living entity remember the Lord again
* Similar in our lives, it is the Spiritual Master and our siksa Guru's who help us in our path back to Godhead. We need to understand it and use their guidance accordingly
* Another wonderful pastime is of Hanumanji. Ramayan is incomplete without Hanumanji!

Lessons from Lord Ramachandra's Pastimes!

SB 2.7.23 (M Prji):

* 10-15 minutes are naturally very very less to speak about Lord Ramachandra. His pastimes are spoken
about for yuga's by various devotees, so we will just see one or two here.
* Lord Ramachandra in this incarnation comes as a human being, so we can relate to him closely here
* He also brings His expansions and all his entourage with Him
* Greatness of the Puranas or these incarnations, they instruct us indirectly
 - same here, through pastimes of the Lord, very nice instructions are given to us that we can follow in
our own life
* By hearing these pastimes again and again, we recognize that the bad qualities of Ravana etc are also
in me and therefore we will try to rectify them
* For example, materialistic man wants to run behind wealth without taking shelter of the Lord, which is
directly the thing of taking Sitaji without Lord Rama. This is Ravana mentality
* Three pastimes will be spoken about here
* 1) About mother Kaikeyi and Lord Ramachandra
 - by associating with Manthra, envy was invested into her and she lost all her intelligence
 - When we associate with envious persons, they infuse their envy into us
 - this is a great pastime of the Lord, which instructs us about association
* 2) About Ravana
 - Ravana had no desire to enjoy Sita at all. He was happy in Lanka totally ignorant of the presence of
Sitaji at all
 - However, Surpanaka, being envious of Sitaji, she goes to Ravana and infuses that envy into her. She is
the one who plants the seed of Material lust into her heart
 - Then Ravana started contemplating on Sitaji, then lust started to build, he wanted to enjoy
* 3) When Ravana kidnaps Mother Sita and is taking her away on his chariot, Jatayu see this
 - Despite his old age, he flies and starts to fight with Ravana. Although Mother Sita instructs him that
he is old and cannot fight Ravana, he still fought against Ravana
 - Both his wings are cut off by Ravana
 - by material perspective, Jatayu failed, but he actually pleased the Lord so much that he finally died
in the hands of the Lord Himself
 - key thing is not in the results of what is happening. It is all in how we please the Lord by how much
effort we put into our services
* So much inspiration is there in Ramayana, we can get so much shelter from these pastimes

Lord Parashurama!

SB 2.7.22 (A Prji):

* In this verse, we are talking about people who are miscreants and also foolish
* Krishna says in the BG
 - namam dushkritino mudah...
* Simply by surrendering oneself at the lotus feet of Krishna, we can overcome all problems
* Mukti is possible by this surrender, then why don't the leaders of society follow this simple path
* Even the great leaders like Brahma do this, but the leaders of this earth do not have any plans to
follow this path
* Material energy works closely with the Lord, since it is like the shadow of the Lord
* From the purport of the above BG verse, 4 different types of miscreants
 - foolish workers, who just work hard for sense gratification
 - naradhama
 - mayaya parta gyana (philosophers, scientists etc)
 - asuram bhavan ashritaha (grossly atheistic class)
* Yada yada hi dharmasya....sambhavami yuge yuge
* Higher principles of religion are attained through following the 4 orders of varnas and ashramas
* The Lord will come down anytime these religious principles are not upheld and destroy the miscreants
* Today's verse, Lord Parusharama's incarnation is for the same specific purpose

The Lord's Manu Avatar!

SB 2.7.20 (M Prji):

* One of the avatars of Krishna is Manu avatar
* "As the incarnation of Manu, the Lord became the descendant of the Manu dynasty and ruled over the miscreant kingly order, subduing them by His powerful wheel weapon. Undeterred in all circumstances, His rule was characterized by His glorious fame, which spread over the three lokas, and above them to the planetary system of Satyaloka, the topmost in the universe."
* Our life is probably for 65-75 years, it is not even a sneeze time of a Manu
 - so in this short life time we get caught in connections with the body, unnecessarily
* In one day of Brahma there are fourteen Manus, changing one after another. In that way there are 420 Manus in a month of Brahma and 5,040 Manus in one year of Brahmā. Brahmā lives for one hundred years according to his calculation, and as such there are 504,000 Manus in the jurisdiction of one Brahma.
* Right now, it is the 7th Manu called Vaivasvata Manu
* Krishna says in the 4th Chapter of BG: I instructed this yoga to Vivasvan, the Sun god, who then told it to Manu, the father of mankind...
* So this knowledge is coming from parampara, disciplic succession
* There are 2 ksatriya families in this world
 - one coming from the Sun God
 - one coming from the Moon God
* Manu, coming from the Sun God, is the father of mankind
 - man, word is coming from Manu
 - in sanskrit, it is manushya
 - And man is made in the same form as God
* Gradually if we go checking our lineage, we come to see that our supreme father is God
* First manu is Swayambuvamanu and Satarupa ...
 - (More details about the manu's are described here by Prabhuji....)

Learning from Bali Maharaj!

SB 2.7.18 (Ss Prji):

* In our life, when reversals happen, we either blame people around us or God
* In Bali Maharaj's case, the king of all the 3 worlds, when he was arrested by the Lord, it was really a
embarrassing situation. But his realizations at that time are so great that he became one of the Mahajanas
* He considered the punishment as most exalted because he considered the Lord the most worshippable
* He also considered the Lord the greatest welfare for him and also for the whole demoniac race
* The Lord is the greatest well wisher, the best protector. We just need to understand this and develop
this conviction by studying the shastras regularly and seriously
* Mere realizations is not enough, it has to be translated into action
* Reality is whatever we are blessed with in this life, are all gifts of God. So to use them in His
service is the best way for self-realization, the essence of our life
* When we misuse these gifts, we will face consequences as well
* Therefore, we have to use these gifts in the Lord's service
* Unlimited knowledge, worshipful for everyone, fearlessness in material existence, are the 3 things
which Bali Maharaja aimed to achieve, as did his grandfather Prahlada Maharaj
* Material opulence is temporary. DS to the lotus feet of the Lord is the only saving grace for us
* SB 2.2.3: every second of human life is important, any enlightened man should use every second for
developing his KC
* Civilization of soul is important finally!

Lord Vamanadeva and Bali Maharaj!

SB 2.7.17 (M Prji):

* Appearance of Lord Vamandeva is discussed here
* Bali Maharaj, is also the personification of atma nivedanam
* He is none other than the grandson of Prahlada Maharaj
* As a King, he conquered all the kingdoms and ruled everything
* Since he was pleasing the brahamanas, he acquired a lot of strength, he was able to win over heaven too
* Then the mother of the demigods, Aditi, to save her sons, performs austerities and asks for Vishnu's help
* (Story continues further....of Vamanadev being born of Aditi and then begging from Bali Maharaj)
* Our KC is never affected by our material possessions
 - if we are not KC now, then no material changes will affect it
* Bali Maharaj is always pleasing his spiritual master and hence gets all his strength
* He finally surrenders to the Lord by asking the Lord to place the third step on his head
* Another story
 - Karna's charity, but not for pleasing the Lord
 - no use of such charity
* Another story
 - Vibhishana's saranagati to Lord Rama, a real one
 - If we just say to Lord Rama: "My dear Lord, my senses are driving away from you. I am yours. I surrender unto you, please protect me". That way Lord Rama will surely save us!