Is our attraction to Krishna a conditional attraction generated by devotional conditions?

Transcript

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Is the attraction to Krishna also a conditional thing where, say just like somebody may, somebody from India may come to America and they start repeatedly watching baseball and they become attracted to baseball.
So, attraction to baseball is a conditioned attraction. So, is attraction to Krishna also a conditioned attraction? Yes, it could be in the sense that if somebody repeatedly hears about Krishna, they may develop attraction to Krishna. But at the same time, there is, so there is basically the view of the human person, which is that we are simply psychological beings.
That means there is no spiritual component to our being. So, whatever we impress on us, that is what we will do. That is a reductionistic view, not a physical, but simply psychological.
However, that is an incomplete view of the human person. Why is that incomplete? Because if we consider, say the mind is simply like a blotting paper. If I put blue ink, it becomes blue.
If I put red, it becomes red. That is fine. But the blotting paper itself is not conscious.
Similarly, the mind itself is not conscious. The mind’s capacity to be attracted to certain things or specifically where the mind gets attracted to, that may be shaped by what is impressed on the mind. But where does the very tendency to be attracted to something come from? That is not shaped, that is the specific direction is shaped by the mind.
But the very presence is not determined by the mind. It is like say, if I have this yellow light, and if I put red film on it, red light will come out. If I put green film on it, green light will come out.
But the light itself is the original object which is capable of giving out illumination. So, at one level, the application of something external may condition it. But just because it is in condition does not mean that it does not have any original characteristic.
So, let me complete this. So, the process of bhakti is actually, it works twofold. Say, suppose sometimes some people write graffiti on a wall.
Now, there are two ways in which the graffiti can be removed. One is to scratch it also. Scratch it and scratch it and remove the graffiti.
The other is overpainted. Overpainted, the graffiti goes away. But suppose that wall itself was painted in such a way that paint falls off it.
That paint falls off it. And as soon as, and not paint does not fall off automatically. Suppose it is made in such a way that there is a particular liquid which you put on it.
And then they are not scratching it out. But whatever was over there, it comes out. So, similarly, say this wall was yellow in color, and I put a lot of graffiti of red color.
Now, I can again put yellow on it. Or I can put some cleansing liquid on it, by which the red goes out and the natural yellow manifests. So, now in the case of bhakti, it may appear as if we are overpainting our mind.
And I am exposing myself to Krishna more and more and more. And that is how I am becoming Krishnized. But bhakti does not work only like that.
Yes, we want to expose ourselves to Krishna. But what bhakti does is, it is not like overpainting the mind. We apply a liquid on it, but that liquid removes whatever was applied on it.
So, then the original color becomes manifested. So, the original soul’s capacity to have consciousness, the presence of consciousness itself, requires the explanation which is beyond the conditioning of the mind. So, we say that the soul’s capacity of consciousness is there, because there is a supreme conscious being and the soul is a part of that conscious being.
And when the soul comes in contact with that supreme conscious being, then the conditionings get cleansed away. So, that is how the soul’s attraction to Krishna becomes manifest. Thank you.