Gita 18.39 Pleasure in ignorance begins in ignorance and ends in increased ignorance

Transcript

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Hare Krishna that in the beginning and in the end or rather from the beginning to the end 18.39 Sukham Mohanam Atmanah the happiness which simply puts the soul in illusion it involves sleep, laziness, pramana intoxication that is happiness in the mode of ignorance from beginning to end it is said so this is contrasted with the earlier two kinds of pleasures which the happiness in goodness seems like poison in the beginning but it turns out to be like nectar in the end happiness in passion seems to be like it seems to be like nectar in the beginning but it turns out to be poison in the end what Krishna is telling happiness in ignorance it is simply illusion from beginning to end it simply is the happiness which the soul in illusion experiences or it is the happiness which deludes the soul now interestingly we could say that all material happiness is happiness that deludes the soul the soul is by nature spiritual and can delight in spiritual joys alone so couldn’t we say that all material joys are problematic here we could say that at one level no doubt but at another level you have to understand that there are different levels of specifics the material world itself is considered to be a place of ignorance when it says it refers to go from mortality to immortality from darkness to light so the material world is sometimes considered to be a place of darkness or ignorance but then within this material world which is a place of ignorance there is also the mode of ignorance so why not put if the whole material world is a place of ignorance then why not say that the only mode in the material world is the mode of ignorance no, because we could say there are degrees of ignorance in the mode of goodness comparatively speaking there is some more illumination in the mode of passion there is relatively lesser illumination there is lesser perception and in the mode of ignorance there is totally incorrect perception suppose say we are driving on a road we are driving towards the destination but we are off track now somebody can be 45 degrees off track somebody can be 90 degrees off track and somebody can be 180 degrees off track now all are off track but each of these cases how far away a person will go from their destination that will vary significantly hugely vary and we can’t deny or minimize that because it’s important for everyone of us to recognize that degrees of wrongness also matter now if we think we are right then all paths are wrong but if we understand that we are wrong then the degree of wrongness also matters if we think we are on the right path then we will never get to the destination and in that sense 45 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees wrong are all wrong but if we understand we are right then if we have been on a 180 degree wrong path for a very long time then getting to the destination will take much much longer than getting to the destination if we were 45 degrees wrong off track so similarly we could say that the mode of goodness means we are 45 degrees off track we pursue spiritual reality but partially and we want to look for the good things in material life not the grossly sensual or grossly sinful things then in mode of passion we are we could say 90 degrees off track because reality has two levels material and spiritual we can perceive only the material and we hardly pursue anything of the spiritual just look at people and look at their looks and get carried away by that we don’t even perceive that they have a spiritual substance to them and then 180 degrees off means that’s mode of ignorance there we don’t even perceive material reality properly what to speak of? perceiving spiritual reality so there is no perception at all that happens that is the mode of ignorance and in such a situation we are in deep deep trouble we cannot get out of this trouble simply by wishing it away so what kind of pleasures will put us 180 degrees off that is nidra alasya pramadottam let’s consider alasya when we are lazy we get pleasure in prolonging and avoiding things the more we can put off or escape doing anything difficult we think oh I am so happy now this is so good this is so good and what can we do about it further we can’t do much about it therefore it’s vital for us to recognize that in the mode of ignorance we can neither do anything material properly nor anything spiritual properly and that is total delusion people who work very hard materially if they somehow become convinced about spiritual life then they can use their energy and industry even for their spiritual growth but people who are materially apathetic, irresponsible uncommitted even if they come to spiritual life they can’t do much there because they are simply caught in their own illusions they are simply caught in not being able to do anything at all so nidra is something which we all need and sleep provides us freshness, sleep provides us energy but sleep has to end after sometime if we start delighting in sleep if we start delighting in sleep then we don’t get anywhere in life then we just waste our time and waste our life doing nothing constructive so if we don’t want to waste our time in our life like that it is vital for us to learn how best we can progress how best we come out of the mode of ignorance and similarly pramad pramad is intoxication in which we have initially one actually does not get any pleasure in drinking sometimes alcohol tastes bad also when we take first but then we develop taste for it some people who become alcoholics they develop taste for it after sometime however there is so much craving when will I get it and when they get it it is not so much pleasure it is just temporary removal of the craving initially alcoholics take alcohol to go high but after sometime they take it not to go high but just to feel normal just to feel at a basic level good about themselves that’s what is needed and thus we get caught and trapped in illusion when we can’t take things forward constructively so it is vital for us whatever situation we are in to keep moving forward steadily in our life and the mode of ignorance keeps us furthest away from progress both material progress and spiritual progress and the faster we can come out of it the better it is for us so essentially in the mode of ignorance we are not facing life, we are escaping from life in the mode of goodness we try to control life this is what I want to do, this is what I am going to make it happen somehow or the other in transcendence we try to transcend life not transcend we raise our consciousness so that we can go beyond material existence but in spiritual but in mode of goodness we try to tolerate in transcendence we try to transcend life but in the mode of ignorance we are focused on simply escaping life and that escape way actually doesn’t lead to any escape it only leads to aggravation of the problems and thus happiness in the mode of ignorance is something which begins with ignorance and ends in aggravated ignorance we don’t know what will lead to real happiness we get misled towards the things which will make us miserable and then we become more and more attached to those very things and thus overall action in the mode of ignorance pleasure sought in the mode of ignorance begins with ignorance, continues in ignorance and ends up in even more aggravated ignorance