12/5/06 Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami class on Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 2, Chapter 1
One thousand names of Vishnu is equal one name of Rama. Three names of Rama are equal to one name of Krishna (SB 1.19.6, purport).
Due to ignorance people think that they can get something for nothing. Materialists capitalize on this weakness of the people by arranging schemes like lotteries to make money for themselves. Devotees have nothing to do with either of these mentalities. They act in spiritual knowledge.
The first step of God realization is to learn to see everything is a manifestation of God's energy, although we initially have difficulty seeing in it that way. Thus, everything that we value is actually Krishna. Therefore Krishna is always there for us, while nobody else is always there for us.
Q: When something is engaged in devotional service does it change physically?
A: Does a copper wire change when electricity goes through it? The effect is different, and the effect is what matters. When a devotee speaks through the microphone the cit potency from the devotee enters the sound and affects the audience, who hears it, in a spiritual way. A nondevotee speaking the same sound would not have the same effect.
One mataji tells that a Kirlian photographer took a picture of some prasadam after it was offered, and it had a nice aura around it.
Maharaja said that we are so affected by the influence of the prominent shaktas of the age (the modern scientists who are devoted to the material energy) that we think that things have to change physically for the change to be significant.
If a brahmacari is happy with the food that is given to him, it will nourish his body, but if he is dissatisfied with it, it will destroy his body.
We are instructed to absorb our mind and intelligence in the Lord fully. The prohibitions exist for those who cannot do that.
Devotional service can attract the karmis by giving them the relationship they always wanted, and it can attract the jnanis by initially giving them the liberation they want and ultimately giving them higher spiritual pleasure of devotional relationships.
After class my friend Santi Parayana Prabhu, while convincing another friend of mine to take the Bhaktivaibhava course, mentioned that the elder Maha Vishnu Goswami tells a story of someone named Kaccha that illustrates the importance of knowledge. The conclusion is that one must be willing to die three times to get knowledge. I later found the colorful story of Kaccha on the Internet: http://www.indiayogi.com/content/indgods/kaccha.asp
