Most Secret Part of Vedic Knowledge

Krishna says that He is the Lord of everything. Everything comes from Him - material and spiritual and somebody who knows this engages full time in His devotional service. Then,

bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati [Bg 5.29]

Krishna is the original beneficiary of all sacrifices and He is the owner of verything and he is the best friend. Knowing this one attains peace.

yo mam evam asammudho
janati purusottamam
sa sarva-vid bhajati mam
sarva-bhavena bharata [15.19]

One who knows Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead without doubting s the knower of everything and that person engages in His devotional
service and they attain the Supreme goal of life. So all this knowledge defines who Krishna is.

iti guhyatamam sastram
idam uktam mayanagha
etad buddhva buddhiman syat
krta-krtyas ca bharata [Bg 15.20]

This is the most secret part of the Vedic knowledge and Krishna says I am revealing it to you Arjuna because you are sinless. Anyone who understands
this becomes wise and his endeavours will attain perfection.

Therefore we have something that is extremely precious but we just have to realise how valuable it is. That is why we have class. That is why we come
together. But there are things that can destroy this. Krishna says:

isavasyam idam sarvam
 yat kinca jagatyam jagat
 tena tyaktena bhunjitha
 ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam [Iso mantra 1]

He is the isavasya - the owner and controller of everything and he has set aside for every living entity their minimum needs. Knowing this one should take only the minimum and use everything else in the service of Krishna.

kurvann eveha karmani
 jijivisec chatam samah
 evam tvayi nanyatheto 'sti
 na karma lipyate nare [Iso mantra 2]

One who works in this way can live for hundreds and thousands of years but they are never affected by the reactions of work. There are no reactions
because they are engaged in akarma. These are very profound verses of the Bhagavad-gita.

There was once a predator bird that swooped down and got a big fish out of a lake and it started flying but there were a thousand crows that saw this and
they started following the bird. The bird felt the other birds following it so it flew as high as it could but they followed. Then it flew as low as it could. They followed. Then it flew to the right, flew to the left and finally got exhausted and let go of the fish. When it let go of the fish all the other birds let the bird go and they went for the fish. Then the bird was sitting on the branch of the tree and he was thinking, "That fish was a real problem." This is our life. As soon as we take even one paisa of what was meant for Krishna beyond our minimum needs we get affected by the material nature.

In fact there is a very nice verse in the Bhagavatam seventh canto that says, "O my Lord because of lusty desires from the very beginning of one's birth the functions of one's senses, mind, body, religion, patience, intelligence, shyness, opulence, strength, memory and truthfulness are vanquished. So Prabhupada explains that the real sickness in the heart is kamam hrd-rogam [SB 10.33.39] It is lust. The successive desire to own and control things and exploit them for sense gratification. It is undoing us all in this material world.

It says that liberation is freedom from this lust we are troubled continually in this material world. Unless we can get a higher taste param drstva nivartate [Bg 2.59] When there's lust we remain anchored, shackled prisoners and our way of seeing things is affected eg. A mother sees her child with love, with a protective eye and with compassion but a child molester looks at the same child differently. They see it as an object to exploit, to control. They have no care at all about the welfare of the child. Therefore we are in this world because we don't see things correctly. The purpose of the Vedic knowledge is to teach us to see correctly. Just like it says an educated person sees all women except his wife as his mother. He sees the wealth of others as garbage in the street and he sees the sufferings of others as if it is his own. This is an educated person.

 

Prabhupada is trying to train us to become panditah sama-darsinah - have equal vision so when we look at the person we don't see the body we see the soul, more than that we see the souls connection to Krishna. Then we see correctly and we can deal with the person in a proper way with respect and in a way to help that person and that person will help us become Krishna conscious.

 

Therefore,

 

karma-jam buddhi-yukta hi
phalam tyaktva manisinah
janma-bandha-vinirmuktah
padam gacchanty anamayam [Bg 2.51]

 

Devotees are people who are striving spiritually to rid themselves of all unnecessary things by engaging full time in the devotional service of the Lord. It frees them from fruitive activities. It frees one from the cycle of birth and death and one can attain the state that is beyond all miseries.

 

(HG Harivilas Prabhu Lecture :: Sridham Mayapur Feb 21, 2012)