If everything attractive comes from Krishna how do we see a young attractive girl?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Or was it something else? How do we see a young beautiful girl? First thing is that, there is a, there is a path of karma, there is a path of jnana, there is a path of bhakti.
So, I put it this way. Karma, romanticizes the world. Jnana, demonizes the world.
Bhakti, utilizes the world. So, romanticize, demonize, and utilize. So, romanticize means, oh, this beauty, is so attractive, this is the purpose of my life.
So, when people make some romantic declarations, you know that, my day and night, ends with you. And, they all make all kinds of, superlative declarations. So, what has happened? They are thinking that, this beauty is everything.
Yes, it is there, but, it is temporary. Now, the, karma doesn’t recognize that. Karma sort of romanticizes, and makes this into everything.
Jnana, demonizes it. So, demonizing would be, that, that actually, this is all temporary, this is all illusory, this is just skin deep. When I was at a, I was at a, in America, at a, interfaith conference, and there, there were monks from different traditions.
So, there was a, now Buddhism today in America, has become very, commercialized, not commercialized, it has become quite, mainstream. And, some of the Buddhists are, not really, very seriously spiritual, but some are. So, there is this Buddhist monk, so, he told me that, we do kind of meditation.
And, that meditation is, so, he had actually made a, photoshop video of that. The attractive woman, and then you press a program, and, you, so, he said, people want to, if there is attractive woman, want to imagine, how they look without clothes. So, he is saying that, we go one step further, and see how they look without skin.
And, so, they had this program, you press the button, and then the skin comes off. And, he said, it’s so ghastly. So, actually speaking, so, they said, this is the way, if we get agitated, we see this video.
Now, I would say that, in Buddhism, there is no positive, spiritual description. There is no description of, they don’t have, the conception of Krishna as all attractive. So, there is the voidistic conception.
So, that’s why, okay, if you don’t want to get attracted, demonize this. Well, that may sometimes be useful. But, in Bhakti, what we do is, utilize.
Utilize means what? That, we understand that, I have a service to Krishna. That I am a soul, I am meant to serve Krishna. And, whatever, is favorable for my service to Krishna, I do that.
Whatever is unfavorable, I keep a distance from it. So, if somebody is beautiful, we don’t have to, consciously think that, they are not beautiful. Or, imagine that, they are not beautiful.
Yes, they are beautiful. But, Krishna has given them this beauty, for some time. It will be there for maybe, 10, 20, 30 years, whatever.
Not 30 years, generally. 10 to 15 years. If you see, in Bollywood, the male stars, their longevity is almost 30, 35 years.
But, the female stars, just 10 years, or 12 years, or sometimes 5, 7 years only, 15 years at the most. Unless, they afterwards, take on a maternal role. Otherwise, they can’t continue.
we understand, we acknowledge, this is beautiful. But, this is, this is not favorable for my devotion. So, we won’t contemplate on it.
We won’t. You see, what happens, the more we dwell on something, the more we get agitated by it. If we don’t dwell on it, yes, it is attractive, and whatever attractiveness is there, that is, that is there, but it is temporary.
It’s like a drop. In enjoying this attractiveness, I might get a drop of pleasure. But, if I can devote myself to Krishna, and if I can become attracted to Krishna, then, I can get an ocean of happiness.
So, this is philosophically, if at all, we have to look at someone, we don’t dwell on it. But rather, if anyway, certain stimuli come in our minds, and we get agitated by them, then, we need to have, what is called, what the Ujjwal Neelamani calls, the Uddhipan. Uddhipan is a spiritual stimulus.
That means, that something, which stimulates our thoughts, to go towards Krishna. So, for example, for each one of us, it may be different. For some of us, we may just keep a beautiful picture of the deities.
When the mind gets agitated, because we see something beautiful, something beautiful, we look at the beautiful picture of Krishna. And not just any picture of Krishna. We might find that a particular picture of Krishna, a particular picture of the deities, in a particular dress, that is what captivates us.
And keep that with us. If we like Kirtans, not just Kirtans, any Kirtan, but a particular devotee, particular tune, particular bhajan, that’s what we like. And keep that accessible.
If we like philosophy, if we like some striking quotes, or striking verses, we keep that accessible. So, whatever is our particular Uddhipan, keep it readily accessible. And at that time, if we can, I’m not going to think of this.
It doesn’t work. Because thought is a subtle energy. If I touch this and I get an electric shock, I’ll not touch this.
It’s possible. But when I say, I will not think of this. Thought is a subtle energy, and in deciding not to think of something, my thought energy has already touched that.
So, not thinking of something can be an intention. But not thinking of something is not a sustainable course of action. To not think of something, I have to start thinking of something else.
And at that time, when this particular sight which I have seen, which looks so attractive, to not think of this, how is it possible? So, I need something else, which is also attractive. And when I have that readily available, okay, I’m giving this up, but I’m thinking of this. I’m directing my thought energy towards this.
So, if we can find out some uddhipan, which works for us, and keep that readily accessible, then it will be relatively easier to not get agitated by attractive sights in this world. Yes, sir.