Bhagavatam study 7 – 1.2.16-22 – Practice the process of joy with joy

We will continue in our next session which discusses principles of dharma is now continuing and in this section we see that the process by which one becomes purified and attains taste is being described in the previous verses the analysis was given in terms of the glory of bhakti and and the section from 1.2.6 to 1.2.15 it talked about how bhakti is the conclusion bhakti is the purpose of an ashram bhakti automatically leads to jnana and vairagya bhakti is the paradharma it is by bhakti that the absolute truth is known it is bhakti that leads to liberation and therefore one should remember Krishna that was 1.2.15 that by remembering Krishna one can cut through the bondage of karma so now the question may come ok I understand the glory of remembering Krishna but I don’t feel inspired to remember him so what should I do so here the solution is given śuśruśaṁ śraddhadhānasya vāsudeva kathā ruchi that vāsudeva kathā ruchi the attraction to the kathā of vāsudeva earlier it has been said that viśvakṣeṇa kathā pādeda devatim śrama eva hi kevalam that if one does not have attraction for vāsudeva kathā for viśvakṣeṇa kathā then everything else is śrama eva hi kevalam it is a labour with no fruit so here the same point of vāsudeva kathā ruchi is talked about and how is vāsudeva kathā ruchi to be developed śuśruśaṁ śraddhadhānasya śuśruśaṁ is a learning service of hearing śuśruśaṁ śraddhadhānasya so in the process of hearing with śraddhā Bhagavatam has used the word śraddhā earlier to talk about śraddhadhānāmunayo jñānavairāgyayuktaya that the faithful yogis, the faithful seekers they realise the absolute truth by practising bhakti so with faith one hears and develops vāsudeva kathā ruchi when one complements the process of hearing with service śuśyān mahat-sevayā vipraha vipraha mahat-sevayā vipraha means service of the great souls who are vipras puñya-tīrtha-niśevanāt so puñya-tīrtha these are pure souls those who are cleansed of vices niśevanāt so what it means is that the person bhāgavata and the process bhāgavata and the book bhāgavata or the messenger of the bhāgavata and the messenger of the bhāgavata these two are integrally interrelated and we develop attraction to the message of the bhāgavatam when we serve the messenger of the bhāgavatam and in this way we move closer to the to both to bhagavān who is revealed through the message and the messenger now how does this happen? actually our desires are triangular not linear that means it is not that when we see an object we automatically develop desires for them yes for some sense objects we may develop desires but for some things we may not even know what it is so for example an Indian goes to America and has never heard of baseball and starts people start seeing baseball Indian may just find it strange but if Indian sees baseball fans crazy for baseball delirious in watching the game when they see their desire for baseball the desire for enjoying baseball will awaken in the Indian’s heart also so when we see so the desire forms a triangle between us the enjoyers of that object that object and coming back to us that’s the three sides of the triangle so similarly with respect to bhāgavatam you may wonder what is the point in sitting for hours and discussing or hearing but if we recognise the reality that desire is a triangle then when we see others sitting discussing hearing we will want to relish it ourselves and as we study it as we relish it we will recognise oh this is wonderful wonderful wonderful and that way we will move onwards so the bhāgavatam is now giving the key that all this process of purification centres on serving the great souls the word punya is used a second time over here so when we hear about Krishna Krishna’s own pastimes extremely pious the lord is situated in our heart the abhadra the inauspicious thing that is situated there also those who are those who are pursuing sattva the absolute truth the bhāgavatam reveals the sattva I will start with the first verse so the bhāgavatam really reveals the sattva and when we focus on the sattva by the process of bhakti we become purified and we move forward and attain the supreme how do we attain? the lord is surata he is surata not just in the sense that he is our great well-wisher he is surata also in the sense that he is our benefactor he is situated in our heart so he is not just a benefactor but he is also situated close to us in our own heart and to the extent we recognise and relish his proximity to that extent we move onwards in our journey towards him and he helps us to realise and relish his proximity when we desire that proximity and express the desire for that proximity by trying to serve him through hearing about him Krishna is like a loving father who wants his children his estranged children to come back to him and when the estranged child expresses the eagerness to return to the father the father goes out of the way to help that son to come back so now this is the basic motive of the prodigal son story and the point is that the soul has gone away from god not just physically but emotionally the soul itself is not physical so in terms of consciousness Krishna bahirmukha hoya as it is said we have turned away from Krishna and the way we show Krishna that we want to turn towards him is by hearing about him so the more we hear about him the more he sees our interest in him the more he sees our desire to turn towards him and then he himself starts removing the obstacles which have come between us and him so those are the anarthas abhadrani ultimately the most inauspicious thing is that which causes us to forget Krishna and that which brings remembrance of Krishna is the most auspicious thing so Krishna helps us remember him and move closer to him by giving us the opportunity to love him, to serve him, to attain him now he removes the anarthas so the previous verse said that if we hear from the great soul if we serve the great souls who are messengers of the bhagavata that is punya and hearing their message is also punya and it said that serving the great souls will give us taste for the message of the bhagavata and once we get the taste for the message Krishna will become pleased by our desire and he will purify us the lord is in the heart, the anarthas in the heart the lord will cleanse the anarthas in the heart but he doesn’t cleanse them unless we want, we show him that we want them to be cleansed and we show that desire to him by our eagerness to hear so then how that vidhunoti happens that is described in subsequent verses 18th verse text nashta prayeshwa badreshu nityam bhagavata sevaya bhagavaty uttama shloke bhaktir bhavati naishtakir nashta prayeshwa badreshu that most of the abhadras that are there, the majority of abhadras prayeshwa most of them nityam bhagavata sevaya by constant hearing of the bhagavata they are nashta they are destroyed bhagavaty uttama shloke unto the lord who is uttama shloka bhaktir bhavati naishtakir unto him naishtakir form bhakti is awakened so vidhunoti was mentioned in the previous verse that same cleansing, that same metaphor of removing of the undesirable is conveyed in a different way, one is cleansing vidhunoti, now it is nashta destruction so when there is something unwanted in our house we may just use a broom to sweep it out that is vidhunoti but if something is in a tangible form we may just crush it, say if there is a use and throw plate or use and throw glass, we may just first crush it and then after its form has been crushed and is distorted once the form has been destroyed at least the tangible form, then we put it in a garbage can and then we throw it away, so basically both the metaphors of cleansing and destroying, they convey removal of the unwanted most of the anarthas get removed a regular service to the bhagavata and what is this regular service to the bhagavata, this regular service to the bhagavata centres on recognising that the bhagavata is the supreme, is Krishna himself as will be told in the later verses in the first canto the bhagavata the bhagavata is the manifestation of Krishna so ityam bhagavata sevaya means serving the bhagavata and serving the person bhagavata both and how is this to be done it is not something to be done once a year or one week a year one week a year intense hearing intense bhagavata is good but the important thing is that there has to be regular hearing also, we want to be connected with Krishna throughout our life, in fact our connection with Krishna is eternal and we want to stay always connected with him so ityam bhagavata sevaya and what will happen bhagavateer uttama shloke that lord will describe through choice poetry uttama shloka bhaktir bhavati naishtike and to him bhakti will be born which will be naishtike which will be very strong, very firm so naishtike bhakti refers to in the nine stages of bhakti which rupa Goswami has given in the bhakta samaj sindhu shraddha sadhu sang bhajan kriyan artha ruti nishtha so nishtha is the fifth stage so if you see the first fifth and ninth stages are essentially progressions of shraddha of faith initially it is tender faith shraddha then it is firm faith nishtha and it is fully mature faith that is love so here it is stated that bhaktir bhavati naishtike unseekable faith is created in the heart by the that sort of bhakti awakens so it is the same power of desire which when directed towards material things causes bondage and when directed towards krishna brings liberation and that is why these two are talking about the same breath as nishtha prayeshu abhadreshu nityam bhagavate sevayam that as the by the service of bhagavata the abhadra goes away the same word was used in the previous verses abhadrani so as the abhadra goes away that means the misdirection of our desire stops when the misdirection of the desire stops automatically the redirection of the desire starts and strengthens and that is how the two go together in the tenth kanto so when the effects of hearing the rasleela is talked about at that time also it is said kriditam vraja vadhavedam javishno shraddhan tonne shunayal tava ranayedhyah so bhakten param bhagavate patilabdhukam rudhrogam asvapahinotya chirenadhirah so it is said that bhakten param bhagavate bhakti will awaken as rudhroga the heart disease that will go off the heart disease is selfish desire the two happen concomitantly that is what is indicated here in the 18th text and once the anarthas are gone then the bhakti we may also feel some bhakti right now but our bhakti is not naishtiki it is unsteady right now but when we become purified our bhakti will become naishtiki so 19th text is tadarjas tamo bhavah kamalobha dayas cheta etairana vidham sitam satve prasidati tadarjas tamo bhavah at that time tadarjas tamo bhavah the darkness caused by the lower modes kamalobha dayas cheta what is the what are the effects of these lower modes of kamalobha dayas cheta kamalobha dayas cheta so what happens to it cheta etairana vidham the consciousness becomes purified of these anavidham cleansed sitam satve prasidati anavidham sitam satve prasidati so it becomes situated in goodness and not just situated in goodness prasidati one becomes joyful so here another effect of purification is explained in terms of the analytical framework of the three modes the whole concept of purification might seem a little abstract little vague is it intangible or tangible so of course we could say at one level that the whole inner arena is intangible but that is true if we consider tangibility only in terms of things things are in physical form but things are not just physical or rather only physical things alone are not real experiential things are also real for example when we see some sense of object we experience desire craving for that object that desire is real in the sense that it’s something which is not tangible of course when a person acts on that desire and does certain things that’s clearly tangible but before that even if it is not tangible in the physical sense still it’s tangible in the sense that we experience it in our heart we experience it in our consciousness similarly the point made here is that kama and lobha these are for us experiences which when we see something we crave for it we desire it so kama and lobha desires which awaken these are coming out because of because of the modes of passion and ignorance and one is no longer affected by them so normally when we are exposed to the sense of objects and our consciousness is affected by the lower modes then the perception of the sense of objects causes desires to awaken within us but when we are purified then the desires don’t awaken because we see that we are ourselves pure that because we are getting because the impressions which kindle those desires those impressions have been cleansed out of our consciousness and thus thus we become being unaffected we directed to the higher spiritual reality we feel satisfied being situated in situated in sattva in goodness we become cheerful this cheerfulness comes because at one level as we become purified we realise that desires are actually not source of pleasure they are source of torment an alcoholic who is trying to recover from alcohol the desire for alcohol is a torment oh one is dragged towards it again and again and again even if one doesn’t want to now suppose that person suddenly woke up one morning and found oh I have no desire for alcohol that would be such a freedom it would be akin to liberation for that person something similar happens when we become purified in the practise of bhakti suddenly we realise oh this desire is no longer tormenting me so that relief from torment itself is a pleasure and beyond that beyond that relief from torment there is a further pleasure that comes because one is connected with Krishna Krishna is the source of all happiness one is remembering Krishna and remembering him steadily so one becomes cheerful 1 to 20 in this way the cheerful mind bhagavad bhakti yoga bhagavad bhakti yoga and practises bhakti yoga for the bhagwan what happens by that bhagavad tattva vijnanam the vijnanam of bhagavad tattva that is the experience knowledge the experiential knowledge of bhagavad tattva when we get that when we relish that then mukta sangasya jayate mukta sangasya jayate so earlier it had subsided but now one becomes liberated of that mukta sangasya sanga is here referring to attachment so mukta sangasya jayate that liberation awakens happens earlier also the point that one was practising bhakti is there one was hearing one was serving that is true but here now once the craving has subsided once one has got some attraction to Krishna then one can practise bhakti cheerfully evam prasanna manaso prasanna manaso cheerfully one practises bhakti bhagavad bhakti yoga taha one practises bhakti with great cheerfulness and ultimately bhakti is an expression of affection and when affection is expressed resentfully or half-heartedly then the reciprocation of love is not very fulfilling if you know sometimes when parents the children come to teenage and suddenly they feel what happened to my sweet little boy what happened to my gentle girl suddenly another person has entered into their body the teenage and the teenage sometimes the children may be very contrary sometimes they may be very sweet for some time and suddenly they start becoming very very fierce at other times so dealing with the situation becomes difficult for the parents they just don’t know what to do so although there is love the parents love their child their teenager and the teenager also loves the parents but because of the physicality of adolescence actually that’s just the way the adolescent hormones start working and there is a whole new world the world of experience that suddenly awakens in the teenage mind so it becomes difficult for both the teenagers and the parents although there is love because there is this physicality there is sometimes there is frustration there is apathy so because of all this moodiness the relationship is not very sweet it’s turbulent but once the children navigate the adolescence and when they come to youth they also realise how much my parents have done for me then the relationship becomes stabler so and similarly we could say that as we become purified by steady hearing and practise of bhakti then we go beyond the adolescent moodiness and once we go beyond the adolescent moodiness then we start relation bhakti more and more because there are no forces which are dragging our consciousness away at least those forces even if they are present they are not all that forceful and we can resist them without much struggle and we can focus on Krishna and thus when we practise bhakti as we focus we offer our attention more and more to Krishna we start relishing Krishna more and more and thus we move on steadily towards him and we attain him and this is essentially what Krishna enables Krishna bhakti enables us to do this is what Krishna bhakti this is how Krishna bhakti becomes joyful and it leads to realisation of the absolute truth so earlier it had been stated right at the start of 1.2.7 it had been stated that by the practise of bhakti vairagyam gyanam chayadahaitukam generate ashvairagyam that vairagyam and gyanam gyanahaitukiyam that manifests by the practise of bhakti so that’s how that gyan manifests how that vairagyam manifests is described in a process over here that the vairagyam how the vairagyam manifests was talked about by how through the purification kama lobha one is no longer affected by them and that is the essence of vairagyam and now bhagavad tattva vijnana one gets one gets vijnana realised knowledge of bhagavad tattva this is gyanam chayadahaitukam so that knowledge is awakened in the consciousness and in this way the person moves onwards bhukta sangasya jayate so sanga is the sangoyam purushaha so it is because of attachment to material things that the soul becomes bound and to the extent that attachment is decreased to the extent that soul becomes progressive in the path of liberation so that same chain of thoughts is now continued and vidyate rdaya granthinsh chidhyante sarvasamsheha chidhyante chasya karmaani drishtevat manishvare vidyate rdaya granthinsh rdaya granthi but not in the heart this is a commonly used metaphor not earlier also it was used anubhyasinayuktah karmagranthinibandhanam anubhyasinayuktah so with anubhyasin with the sword of the remembrance of the lord karmagranthinibandhanam chidhyante in 1.2.15 one cuts off the ropes of attachment so here the point being made is that this cutting off it attains its completion vidyate rdaya granthinsh when there is a knot in the knot, knot ties two things are unconnected it brings them together so like that the senses and the sense objects, the consciousness the purusha and the prakriti, they are two separate but they are joined together by the knots in the heart and unravelling the knots takes a long time but if you want to do it fast then just use a sword or a knife and cut off the knots so vidyate rdaya granthinsh cut off the knot chidhyante sarvasamsheha as the attachments are cut off then doubts also go usually the two main forces that keep us away from Krishna are desire and doubt, desires are what make us crave for worldly things and doubts are what make us hold back on our journey towards Krishna so both the force which drags us down and the force which checks us from, which prevents us from going up the two forces, twin forces of desire and doubt they are removed so chidhyante sarvasamsheha chidhyante become cleansed then what happens after that chiyante chasya karmani so karma the karmic attachment the karmic bondage that is there for the soul, chiyante the soul stops engaging in karmically binding activities drishta eva atma nishvare, drishta on seeing atma nishvare the soul sees the one sees the atma to be the ishvara now how exactly the soul actually the soul is not meant to be a slave of the body but as of now we are dragged by our senses here and there so it is stated that the soul who runs because of desires here and there, that soul cannot attain krishna this is chaitanya saraswati amrit and as long as we don’t serve krishna we are forced to serve our mind and senses and our mind and senses they drag us down they humiliate us so if we choose humility before krishna then we don’t have to choose humiliation before maya we are saved from humiliation for maya and we, drishta eva atma nishvare we actually realise that we are we are at our core pure and as we gain spiritual satisfaction then we can break free from the pulls of sensual gratification and as we become as we become pure thus we become free from the pulls of sensual gratification then we feel more in control in control of our own lives, in the chariot body metaphor if we take, if the horses are running in different directions then the chariot goes out of control and if the horses stop madly chasing after this thing and that thing then the chariot here can act according to direction of the passenger and as the passenger becomes in control of the chariot so drishta eva atma nishvare we understand that the soul is in control and we can see that actually the soul is meant to be the controller of the body, the soul is meant to be the controller of the senses it is not meant to be controlled by the senses Krishna has also talked about this hierarchy in in 3.42 he says that that above the senses is the mind above the body is the senses, above the senses is the mind above the mind is the intelligence and above the intelligence is the soul, the soul is the highest in the hierarchy so when we situate ourselves on the spiritual platform then we understand that the soul is not meant to be meant to be dragged here and there by the body but instead the soul is meant to control the body and thus we perceive the soul to be the controller in the 22nd text so with this 21st verse the process of purification actually which leads to the realisation of the absolute truth that process of purification is how it gets completed and how one comes to the spiritual platform realisation that has been described in the 26th 2nd text the conclusion will be given therefore the wise people always they perform bhakti with great joy so that same Vasudeva and Bhagwati was used in the 7th text also when we talk about gyana by the practise of bhakti Vasudeva and Bhagwati same two words are used over here to refer to the absolute truth and here the significant point is that mudha and prasad they are used twice over here so what is the point here that which brings prasad that which brings satisfaction to the heart that bhakti the cowherds perform but it’s also said that they perform bhakti paramaya mudha with great joy they perform so the translation will mean that these are the wise people the cowherds perform bhakti with great joy and bhakti brings great joy so what is it what comes first does the joy come first or does the joy come at the end it is like suppose a person has been suffering from a terrible disease then and has finally found a medicine that cures the disease then certainly the cure for the medicine when the disease is cured there will be great relief and great joy but at the same time just the knowledge that oh I have got a cure that itself will bring joy because one will know now my nightmare is about to end if I just persevere I will become free from the disease so not only should the bhakti not only bhakti result in joy but bhakti should also be practised with joy so Prabhupada said chant Hare Krishna and be happy this is not just causal it’s instruction it’s a parallel instruction it is not just that chant Hare Krishna and we will become happy by that rather chant Hare Krishna and be happy while chanting Hare Krishna choose happiness as an emotion based on an awareness of the glory and potency of bhakti so the previous section described the potency of bhakti in leading us to supreme happiness leading us to the liberation from material existence and when we understand this potency of bhakti and we understand that we have the opportunity to practise such a glorious process of bhakti then we can practise it joyfully paramaya mudha thank you Hare Krishna