Bhagavatam 11.08.37 – The holy name offers a pathway to find good fortune within misfortune

And we can unresentfully, undistractedly focus on him during our times of prayer and meditation. Thank you. The extraordinary vision of misfortune as good fortune is revealed.
So today I think the lord is pleased with me. Vishnu kenapi karmana, because of some karma that I have done. The word karma doesn’t necessarily refer to karma in terms of material good karma, it is just some action.
Maybe some bhakti in the past or whatever. Vishnu kenapi karmana, somehow or the other the lord is pleased with me. Why? What does that mean? nirvedayam durasaya, enam yatah sukhavah, nirvedayam.
Nirveda, that means detachment. Somehow or the other detachment has awakened in my heart towards those things, durasaya. Those desires which are actually very difficult to give up, somehow or the other I have developed detachment towards them.
Enam yatah, actually this has awakened in my heart and sukhavah, bringing great happiness to me. So we can understand this verse through a simple example. Suppose somebody is an addict, say addict to alcohol or something like that.
Now that desire is durasaya, very difficult to give up. But somehow or the other if that person is able to get rid and become detached from that addiction, then sukhavah, a great sense of relief and release comes. One feels almost like liberated at one level from bondage.
And that sort of detachment is a great blessing of Krishna. So normally Krishna is a person, Krishna is always a person. But normally when we live in this world, we often think of blessings, we often hope to receive blessings from the Lord.
And Krishna is a person when he is pleased, he gives us blessings. So when we become somehow detached from something, then detachment itself is a blessing. And that detachment, being a blessing of Krishna, is an indication that Krishna is actually pleased with us.
So detachment is a blessing, indicative of the pleasure of Krishna. And actually the chanting of the holy names is something which is all three. Chanting, the very opportunity to chant, is a blessing of Krishna.
And Krishna has blessed us because somehow or the other he is pleased with us. Through the fact that some devotee gave us the holy name. And chanting is a means by which we can actually develop detachment from material things.
So even if at present we don’t have detachment from material things, from those distracting material things which impede our devotional growth, still we can remember that Krishna is our salvation lord and master. And that he is eagerly waiting for us to turn towards him. And the only thing that keeps us from turning towards him is our attachment to worldly things.
We know the Upanishadic metaphor of two birds. One bird is simply, you can see, is eating fruits and rejoicing or lamenting depending on whether the fruits are sweet or sour. Somehow or the other if this bird turns towards the other bird, the observing bird, which is the supreme lord, Chanting, by turning the chewing bird will become free from misery.
So the holy name is itself an opportunity to turn towards Krishna. Right now we may not even know that somebody called Krishna is present in our heart. We may know intellectually or informationally from scripture, but we may have very little of any realization of that.
And the world’s fruits may appear extremely attractive. But somehow with faith in Krishna, if we just try to turn towards him, then we will discover that we get immense release and release. So, the opportunity to get detachment from material things is there within the holy name.
And thus the holy name itself is a blessing and is indicating Krishna’s pleasure. So, rather than wondering, oh why am I getting distracted? Why am I not getting absorption in Krishna? Why am I still attached to material things? Why am I not getting detachment? If rather than getting carried away by all such thoughts, we just meditate on the holy name to the best of our capacity, then everything will manifest. The detachment from worldly things will manifest.
How the holy name is a blessing will also manifest. And ultimately how the Lord is getting pleased and through that we are getting supremely fulfilled. Yasmin Trishtam, Jagat Trishtam, that will also manifest.
So by just meditating on how every situation, even if the situation is distracting, generally we think of misfortune in terms of some terrible accident or disease or something like that. But even as the Padma Purana basically says that even one moment of forgetfulness of Krishna is a great misfortune. So, within that misfortune, during chanting, if somehow we can remember that this is an opportunity to become detached, to fix the mind on Krishna, then the holy name can convert that detachment, that misfortune into the supreme fortune of a pathway to increased attraction to Krishna.