Gita 12.19 Seek satisfaction not by horizontal improvement, but by vertical advancement

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.

we can ensure that our spirituality stands tall beyond worldly duality.

Thank you. Krishna is continuing with, moving towards the conclusion of the description of the quality of his devotees, that endear the devotees to him. And here he says, that one stays equal, sees as equal, comparable.

Normally, we consider praise as wonderful, stuti is wonderful, wonderful, I want more and more of it. And ninda is criticism, we want to avoid it, we find it intolerable. So, stuti is like nectar, we want it to flow more and more and more.

And ninda is like poison, we want to stop it and stop it right away. So, now to be actually able to stay equal amidst ninda and stuti, that is not at all easy. So, to see them as comparable, Krishna has earlier talked about sama.

Sama means similar, Krishna uses a similar word over here, tulya, comparable. Tulya ninda astu telu, mauni, mauni is silent. Now, silence can be verbal, silence can also be mental.

Now, verbal silence is good, sometimes some people are chatterboxes, they just want to keep speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking, and then sometimes you will feel, hey, just silence, silence, I want some silence, stop speaking. So, now yes, sometimes if people are speaking too much and maybe want silence and that silence is good for spiritual growth and for our own inner contemplation and inner growth. Now, we also need mental silence.

The mind is the worst chatterbox and the mind keeps chattering, chattering, chattering. And this is like this, that is like that, why don't you get that, why don't you do this. So, so the mind is a maddening chatterbox, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter.

Sometimes people just by chattering, they drive us mad, so like that the mind also keeps chattering, chattering, chattering, chattering, and by chattering, it drives us mad. So, mauni, so both physical and verbal, verbal and mental silence, that's what a devotee has, a devotee's mind is peaceful. 6.27 Krishna says that the mind becomes peaceful for the yogi because the rajo guna has gone.

Upaiti, shanta, rajasam, brahma bhootam kalmasham, because one identifies oneself with one's spiritual core, recognizes that I am spiritual, brahma bhootam. So, mauni, tulinda, stir mauni, santushto, yena kena chit, santushto, peaceful, satisfied rather, yena kena chit, by whatever, one gets one is satisfied with that. Krishna has actually used the word santushta earlier in the same sequence, santushta, santushta, santushta, satatam, yogi, that was 12.14, santushta, satatam, always satisfied, and now here santushta, yena kena chit, whatever one gets one is satisfied by that.

So, this quality of satisfaction is considered so significant by Krishna that he repeats it twice over here in the same, in the sequence of verses. If there is no satisfaction, then there cannot be the foundation for spiritual take-off. If there is material dissatisfaction, now, actually speaking, even spiritual take-off requires some kind of dissatisfaction in life.

If our material life is going on fine, why would we want to practice spiritual? Why would we want to inquire about spirituality? But that's different when Krishna talks about satisfaction, santushta is talking about how the satisfaction that that enables a devotee to not, to not be restless at the material level. Okay, this is what I have, this is okay, let me move on. And so, the ambition that we have, we can direct the ambition spiritually, vertically upwards, not horizontally in the material world realm, trying to move to some other better material location, that will not lead to satisfaction.

So, we can direct our dissatisfaction vertically rather than horizontally. That means, let our dissatisfaction propel us vertically towards raising our consciousness towards Krishna, wherein we will find lasting satisfaction. Not horizontally, that means, in trying to find some situation materially which is, we feel really more comfortable than our present situation.

So, let your satisfaction, let dissatisfaction drive us vertically towards Krishna, not horizontally towards some other material situation, which we think will be more happy. That is, the grass is greener always on the other side. And actually, at the material level, there is going to be no satisfaction, just as the, you know, ocean, there may be less stormy water at one place and more stormy water in another place.

But even the water that is peaceful at one place, that is also going to eventually become stormy sooner or later. Waves are going to be there everywhere and some waves are going to be bigger than other waves. So, now this, moving upwards, taking our consciousness upwards, vertically, that point is stressed again or indirectly pointed towards.

Aniketan is home. Aniketa is no home. So, devotee is not attached to a particular home at a particular place.

No. Aniketa is sthiramati. Sthiramati means the consciousness is fixed.

So, materially there may not be any fixed location for a devotee, but spiritually, there is a fixed location in the absorption in Krishna, in the spiritualization of consciousness, wherein one finds lasting shelter. We're all trying to have comfortable, safe, luxurious homes because we feel, oh, this is where I can be safe. This is where my heart also needs a home.

There are many people who are at home and then they feel bored at home. For example, women who are homemakers, they may sometimes feel, oh, all day being at home, I want to go out somewhere. I want to do so many things.

What do I do at home all day? So, actually speaking, yes, we do need a physical shelter, but the physical shelter alone will not shelter us. It can shelter our body, but it can't shelter our heart. Our heart is sheltered in engagement in Krishna's service, in absorption in Krishna.

So, sthiramati, the consciousness is fixed in Krishna. Aniketa sthiramati. So, that's why a devotee doesn't need necessarily a comfortable physical location because a devotee has got the supremely comfortable spiritual location at the lotus feet of Krishna and in that supremely comfortable spiritual location, a devotee finds life's supreme satisfaction.

And Krishna says, such a devotee, a devotee is extremely dear to me, Krishna says. The devotee who sees happiness and distress as comparable, that means, doesn't take, sorry, says, sees praise and criticism as comparable, doesn't take either of them too seriously, who sees, who maintains some silence, physical, verbal and mental, and who silences the chatterbox of the mind, the mind, and devotee who cultivates satisfaction at the material level so that there can be elevation to the spiritual level, who directs whatever dissatisfaction is there vertically rather than horizontally, and devotee who is, who doesn't worry too much about a physical shelter but focuses on ensuring that the consciousness is centered in Krishna, such a devotee, such a devotee is enriched with devotion, such a devotee is extremely dear to me,.