This notes

This note is based off my reading as well as under the careful guidance of Ojasvi Prabhu's class. The class on isopanishad started on 27th May, 2025 as part of the Melbourne japa group (Zoom session).

27 May, 2025

Material education gives us successs in material life - vijay Spiritual edudcation gives us - gentleness vinay - gentleness, vivek - disciplined and Vairagya - Detachment. With Attachment comes expectaion, from expectation comes frustration.

Vidya vinaya sampanne...BG Ref.

Conditioned state defefects

In conditioned state, we have 4 defects.

• Commit mistakes.
• Always in illusion (Maya means something that is not)
• Self-cheating propensity - We fool ourselves.
• Imperfect changes

Any jnanan that is material is useless - shrama eva kevalam. We need vijnan - Transcendental knowledge.

Prabhupada explained four defects and then gives a beautiful analogy. Many times people challenges "Can you show me god?" but the question that prabhupada asks back is "Do you have the eyes to see god?". We cannot see god with out mundane eyes for these eyes cannot even see what's in the dark regardless of how beautiful the eyes are. Thereforce, Our senses are imperfect.

Beyond control

• Always bound to commit mistakes
• Commit mistakes
• Imperfect senses

In control

• Self cheating propensity - this is the only defect in our hands. This inlcudes cheating others. Despite knowing the consequences of cheating others, one may still conciously choose to sleep.

What are we?

We are not hindus, gujratis, aussies etc. - What we are is the spirit soul and we are always under a varnasrama dharma as mentioned in BG 4.13

• Chaturvarnam maya sristam.

Axiomatic truth

• Vedas are accepted as is - because that is the truth. Everything else is not to be accepted as truth.
• Our stool, impure, we take a bath if we touch but cow-dung is pure and is accepted.
• Instead of trying to figure out, one should just accept vedas as this knowledge is perfect.
• There is no need to experiment with Vedas as knowledge from Vedas is perfect.
• Vedas are not human knowledge but rather they are spiritual knowledge.
• Vedas are also known as sruti - passed on verbally.
• All shastras say that Krishna is the supreme personality of godhead and we accept it.

27 May, 2025

3 Ways of learning

Prabhupada describes three ways of learning - pratyakṣa, anumāna and śabda.

Imperfect ways of learning

• pratyakṣa - direct - not perfect.
• anumāna - bassed on deduction - it maybe like this like that - It is incorrect - Example: Darwin's theory.

Perfect way of learning

• śabda pramana is perfect knowledge passed on.
• Another name is sruti. Sruti means knowledge.

Aim of all sastric study

• Prabhupada: Aim of vedic knowledge is to understand and know kirhsna, to worship krishna.
• Otherwise srama eva kevalam
• This is why a bonafide spiritual master is needed so that we are able to receive perfect knowledge.

If someone says man is mortal, if we try to find out there is an immortal, then the deduction does not end - inductive. If we instead accept from authorised source that man is mortal - then it is conclusive.

About Krishna

• We have a start and end.
• Krishnna does not have start or end. BG-4.9
• This is why we always see krishna as 15-20 year old boy.
• Same is from Brahma-Samhita.

Vedas

• Originally when Brahma spoke, it was just one. People would remember it as spoken in the previous yugas.
• Vyasadeva divided the vedas into 4 for Kali yuga as people would not have sharp memories.
• This is the creation of Rg, Sama, Atarva and Yajur.

28 May, 2025

Guru & Krishna

• Guara leela -> Ishwara Puri
• Krishna -> Sandipani muni
• Rama -> Vishwamitra
• Vyasa deva -> Narada. Vyasadeva gets instruction to write SB -> Because vedanta sutra (ultimate knowledge).
• What prabhupada said śabda pramana is true - based on the experience that Ojasvi prabhu has shared

Krishna says

• BG 15.15 Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah

Commentaries

• Gaudiya commentary has come through baladeva bhushana and other vaishanvas.
• What we want is only the absolute truth always regardless of commentaries.
• Therefore one must read BG and SB.

What we need

• First vision - centered for vision.
• Next action - without vision, we will be digressed from real duty which is to serve Krishna.

SB Ref

• Krishna is sva-rāṭ and abhijñaḥ.
• janmādy asya yataḥ is fully explained.

My summary (for self-reading)

Introduction

Prabhupada's lecture

The introduction starts based on a lecture “Teachings of the Vedas” by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, delivered on October 6, 1969, at Conway Hall, London:

Summary: Teachings of the Vedas

What Are the Vedas?

• Veda means knowledge, specifically perfect, original knowledge.

• Human beings in the conditioned state suffer from four defects:

  1. Mistakes (e.g. even great men like Gandhi or Kennedy can err).
  2. Illusion (e.g. misidentifying the body as the self).
  3. Cheating propensity (posing as knowledgeable without real understanding).
  4. Imperfect senses (e.g. relying on vision, which is limited).

Authority of the Vedas

• Vedas are not human compilations, but come from the spiritual world, specifically from Lord Kṛṣṇa.
• They are also called śruti (knowledge received by hearing) and are considered the mother of knowledge.
• Experimental knowledge is limited; śabda-pramāṇa (evidence from sound or scripture) is most reliable.

Transmission of Vedic Knowledge

• Passed down via disciplic succession starting from Lord Brahmā.

• Accepting Vedic knowledge saves time and error in the search for truth.

• Vedic understanding requires approaching a bona fide spiritual master (guru) who:

  • Has heard from proper authority.
  • Is firmly situated in spiritual realization.

Structure of Human Society: Varṇāśrama

• Human society is naturally divided into four varṇas (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra) and four āśramas.
• This system is not sectarian or “Hindu,” but universal and divinely ordained.

Importance of Accepting Authority

• There are three sources of knowledge:

  1. Pratyakṣa (direct perception) – unreliable due to imperfect senses.
  2. Anumāna (inference) – speculative and often inconclusive.
  3. Śabda (scriptural authority) – best method for acquiring transcendental knowledge.

• Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate authority, and understanding Him is the goal of all Vedic study.

Nature of Kṛṣṇa

• Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, accepted by all major schools of thought (including Śaṅkarācārya and the Vaiṣṇavas).
• His form is eternal, infallible, youthful, and all-pervading.
• Kṛṣṇa can be understood easily through His pure devotee, not just by scholarship.

Compilation and Purpose of the Vedas

• Vyāsadeva, under divine guidance, compiled the Vedas into:

  • Ṛg, Sāma, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas.
  • Mahābhārata and Purāṇas (for less intelligent classes like women, śūdras, and dvija-bandhus).
  • Vedānta-sūtra – the philosophical summary.

• Vyāsa’s own commentary on Vedānta is the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which begins with the same aphorism as the Vedānta-sūtra: janmādy asya yataḥ.

Final Teaching

• The goal of all Vedic knowledge is to know Kṛṣṇa.
• Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam elaborates on the Vedānta-sūtra and presents the nature of the Absolute Truth as self-effulgent consciousness (Brahman/Kṛṣṇa).
• The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is grounded entirely in these Vedic principles.