Bhakta-Repetition/Research work

aham sarvasya prabhavo
mattah sarvam pravartate
iti matva bhajante mam
budha bhava-samanvitah

aham--I; sarvasya--of all; prabhavah--source of generation;mattah--from Me; sarvam--everything; pravartate--emanates; iti--thus;matva--knowing; bhajante--becomes devoted; mam--unto Me;budhah--learned; bhava-samanvitah--with great attention.

TRANSLATION
I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

QUESTIONS FOR THE INQUISITIVE SOUL

(Only google in emergency)

1. Why did Gurudeva start the VRINDA mission? (sato vritte, gurudevas book)

2. Why is Guru considered so important?

3. What are the steps in the Yoga ladder from towards Prema?
4. What two processes of bhakti are considered most important?

5. Who and how is Krishna? Write down a few definitions or explainations.

6. Find a way of explaining the Gunas that could be understood by any Tom, Dick or Harry.

7. How did Bhagavatam end up in our bookshelves? What is the history?

8. Explain how we are not the body with some nice examples

9. What means sambandha, abhideya and prayojana? Which is most important right now?

Until next time, write down your answers AND You should be able to repeat loud or write on paper verse 10.8 in Bhagavad Gita with translation. (tip! Write it down many many times and then carry with you and repeat throughout the day)

Studies 3 - Going deeper

Bhagavad Gita 10:9

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māḿ nityaḿ
tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

mat-cittāḥ — their minds fully engaged in Me;
mat-gata-prāṇāḥ — their lives devoted to Me;
bodhayantaḥ — preaching;
parasparam — among themselves;
kathayantaḥ — talking;
ca — also;
mām — about Me;
nityam — perpetually;
tuṣyanti — become pleased;
ramanti — enjoy transcendental bliss;

TRANSLATION
The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about me.

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1. Read Arjunas prayers (in the introduction where we stopped last time) and then 9 lines more until “… the greatest”. What is your understanding by analyzing these verses?

2. Read through http://vedabase.net/sb/2/4/22/en2 and extract all the points being made in the purport. Make a walk through sentence by sentence and extract any new, concluding or confusing point being stated.

3. Find verses in Bhagavad Gita about:

a) Bhakti

b) Krishnas divinity

c) The demigods

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GLOSSARY

Rati – intense desire
Lobha – divine greed
Prema – love
Raga – spontaneous love
Ruci - taste
Priti (piriti) - love
Bhakti – mix of love and reciprocal action
Kama – lust
Hari-katha – talks about Hari and related to Hari

Studies 2 - The Scriptures

If you did not learn the "om ajnana verse" from heart, do that first. If you did, then learn the following verse from Bhagavad Gita 10:8: (You learn best from writing it down atleast 16 times, and by loudly reciting it over and over and over again. I promise you will be very grateful later to know these verses)

ahaḿ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaḿ pravartate

iti matvā bhajante māḿ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

aham — I; sarvasya — of all; prabhavaḥ — the source of generation; mattaḥ — from Me; sarvam — everything; pravartate — emanates; iti — thus;matvā — knowing; bhajante — become devoted; mām — unto Me; budhāḥ — the learned; bhāva-samanvitāḥ — with great attention.

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

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1. Continue in the Bhagavad Gita introduction from where we stopped last time. Stop where the prayers of Arjuna start...

a) Who are the transcendentalists? What is the difference between them? (Purport BG 8:14)

b) what are the main 5 different relationships (rasas) that a devotee can have to the Lord?

c) Srila Prabhupada mentions "svarupa". Please explain what it means. (research material for "svarupa": http://vedabase.net/cc/madhya/20/108-109/en1 and http://vedabase.net/nbs/3/)

2. What means Karma-kanda and why it has been given so much space in scripture?

3. What means the word “Upanishad”?

4. In which scripture can you read about Lakshmana and what section of the scriptures is it counted among?

5. Who wrote Srimad Bhagavatam and why?

6. What means the word Apauruseya? (research material http://vedabase.net/sb/2/4/22/en2)

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GLOSSARY

Sarva - all

Budha - learned

Bhaja - worship, adore (with love)

Studies 1 - Parampara

Studies 1 – Parampara, from Guru to disciple

om ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah

I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge.

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(Use your general notebook for writing your homework. Later we will sort the verses and topics for its respective notebook)

1. Write the above verse in your notebook 16 times. Try to learn it to your best capacity.

2. Read through the introduction to the Bhagavad Gita to p. 3 (ending with “…Kuruksetra”). What is Srila Prabhupada emphasizing throughout the text? How he illustrates his point?

3. Read from 4th chapter of Bhagavad Gita the 8 first verses. Read only the verses and then the purports to verse 4 and verse 6…

a) Write down any question, doubt, inspiration or thought that arises within you while reading. Also take note of the Sanskrit words that appear in the purports.

b) In the purport to verse 4 you can read about demons. Why Prabhupada divides people into demons and devotees? What makes a demon?

c) What does it mean that the Lord is “Transcendental”?

d) In these verses Arjuna asks a question to the Lord and the Lord answers. Your mission is to be able to explain the question and the answer. You have a lot of help from the purport of verse 6.

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GLOSSARY

transcdendental—beyond dualitites
maya—the illusion; the matrix; the temporary; “that which can be measured”
acharya—great teacher who represents His Guru
age of Kali—The present age of quarrel and iron.
parampara—diciplic succesion
ajnana-- ignorance;
jnana-- knowledge;
caksuh--eyes; sight; vision
namah—obeisance
.