November 13, 2013 Sadhu-Sanga — HH Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja read from the Srimad Bhagavatam

Topic: Vidura Approaches Maitreya

Here is the recording of the November 13, 2013 sadhu-sanga.

• The only interest a devotee has with human society is to explain their relationship to the Supreme Lord, and the process for achieving the highest perfection of life, Krsna prema. Everything else is misuse of energy, leading others into maya (illusion).
• Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada instructs the devotees to avoid maryada-vyatikrama, display of disrespect or impertinence toward more senior devotees.
• The form of the Lord appears everywhere for those whose eyes are anointed with the salve of devotion. However, this form is not the same as the Universal Form of the Lord which Krsna displayed to Arjuna.
• If the Lord wants His devotee to go to hell for whatever reason, they will do that. The idea here is not that we seek to go back to Godhead, but that we wish to surrender to the will of the Lord. That is the devotee’s only desire.
• The virat-rupa as seen by the mundane people is not the svayam bhagavan, the original form of the Lord. However, Sripad Puri Maharaja emphasizes that the various forms displayed by the Lord are not illusions, as taught by the Mayavadi philosophers.
• A person who thinks themselves to be a devotee, but who is not engaging in devotional service is a devotee in name only. One cannot have a personal relationship with the Lord without such loving service. A genuine devotee automatically wants to serve out of love and not merely as a duty or obligation.
• Some difficulties may come to a devotee — physical, mental, whatever. Being unaffected by the gunas means being transcendental to them, beyond their influence. However, this can only occur by the Lord’s mercy. No one can do that by their own ability.
• The activities of the Lord are inconceivable to a materialistic person. But, by the grace of the Lord, a devotee can easily understand. Furthermore, if we view everything from the plane of consciousness, which is malleable, then such mysteries become more understandable.
• It is impossible to explain the activities of the body in terms of chemical or mechanical processes only. The living body can grow and reproduce, processes not found in a mechanical system. Such higher functions must be brought into science if we are to have a rational understanding of reality. It is not that there is a material reality and a separate spiritual reality. There is only one reality, but it must be understood at a deeper level. Soul and body are not the same, yet the body can be said to be the expression of the soul’s delusion. Even with such a deeper understanding, not everything is conceivable by the human mind. In addition, one’s mood toward such things is all important.
• Countering the errors of the Mayavadi philosophy, a proper philosophy realizes that the subjective plane of spirit can be both active and differentiated — eternally restless. Where there is eternal rest, there is no life.