Bhagavatam-daily 104 – 11.08.20 – Fasting is incomplete without focusing on Krishna

Niraharamanishinah varjaitvaturasanam tannirannasyavardhate Dawood brahmana is continuing description of what he learned from his various gurus now he is describing the previous verse how what he learned from the tongue from the fish how the tongue can trap a person and in this verse is giving some additional detail about additional information about how difficult it is to tackle the tongue so indriyani jayanti ashu indriyani jayanti one can conquer the senses niraharamanishinah ashu is quickly if one controls the senses then nirahara how does one control the senses nirahara when one decides to fast manishinah the wise people control the senses by fasting now you see that actually if we don’t eat food then the body’s energy goes down and when the body’s energy goes down then the senses also become weak the senses can’t demand they don’t have the energy to engage in sense gratification so person will say fasted for a whole day from even water even if a even if a person a very alluring sense object let’s say is brought in front of that person the person will choose water rather than that sense object in general by controlling this by regulating food the the agitating energy of the various senses gets subdued but fasting does not remove that agitating energy entirely rather that agitating energy which is there in the senses gets concentrated in the tongue so that’s why it is said except for the tongue for one who does not have now the point is restraint is not in the same as purification so when we may say no to the senses but internally that craving for the sense object is not going to go away from it gets concentrated in the center in the sense object the sense of tongue and that’s why when we are fasting even if we don’t crave for other sense objects we strongly desperately crave for food and the same applies in a narrower sense that if we decide not to take a particular food item sometimes the desire for that food item becomes feverishly strong it will become wildly agitated by the desire for that particular food item and in that way we become entangled now this is not meant to discourage or disapprove fasting the fasting is integral limb of almost all serious spiritual paths across the world’s traditions and nowadays people may adopt fasting for health purposes or for other purposes but whatever the point is that fasting does help so this is not meant to give a bad press to fasting but to point out that fasting though helpful is not complete so the problem or the limitation of fasting is mentioned highlighted here so except for the tongue which blazes for the which becomes actually stronger so what is the solution the solution is purification that when the tongue has a craving rasa it has a desire to taste sweet foods rasa now one level we can purify that that desire for food is by getting spiritual getting the taste of prasad so we taste Krishna’s prasad and we find that the desire for so many of the foodstuffs which addicted us earlier the desire for say fish, eggs, tea, coffee and such things it greatly subsides it goes away practically speaking and that is at one level a higher taste which we get by practicing by taking to Krishna consciousness prasad gives the higher taste literally in the sense that we don’t crave for the undesirable forbidden foods but sometimes within prasad also there might be a gluttony that may happen so we have to go deeper when we say we have to spiritualize the craving for rasa that means the word rasa means taste the word rasa also is used to refer to our our particular mellow or particular flavor in our relationship with Krishna it’s an emotional flavor the kind of relationship that we have with Krishna that is also called rasa we have shanta rasa, dasa rasa, sakhi rasa, vatsal rasa and madhuri rasa now beyond that there are also secondary rasas which ornament these five primary rasas which are like the five defining relationships now bhakta sanskrit akur says that these 12 rasas we can relish by wandering in the 12 forests of rindavan and by thus placing ourselves in an atmosphere that is permeated with spiritual sound with spiritual potency with the Krishna’s mercy now that can be rindavan that can be a temple that can be sanctified altar like room in altar like place in our own house but when we thus sanctify our surroundings and basically get the higher taste of remembrance of Krishna get the higher taste of attraction to Krishna then that higher taste enables us to resist and reject and conquer the lower taste so vital for us ultimately in conquering the senses is the redirection of our desire from matter to Krishna and it is that redirection which brings satisfaction we cannot live without satisfaction we may seek repression so fasting for us should not be just an exercise in repression where we say no to the urge to eat that is good but that saying no to the urge to eat should not just be to conquer the senses it should be for saying a yes to Krishna so the time and the energy and the thought that time and the mental energy energy and thought that we save by the practice of by fasting that we direct and concentrate on Krishna and when when we are fasting if we feel the urge of the tongue becoming stronger and irresistible we can see that as an impetus for taking greater shelter of Krishna the physical discomfort and pain that we experience because of fasting we can see that as an impetus for raising our consciousness to the spiritual level by sound vibration by chanting the holy names by kirtans by immersing ourselves in hearing or studying scripture by immersing ourselves in Krishna and raising our consciousness to the spiritual level we will gain realization of the reality of the spiritual level which is beyond the body level and that way we can that realization can not only enable us to transcend tolerate and transcend the urge of the tongue at that time of fasting but that realization can also boost our conviction that the spiritual level of reality is real and I can go beyond material consciousness and that conviction can steady and strengthen our march on the path back to Krishna and in that way we can sustainably