Bhagavatam-daily 119 – 11.08.35 – Bhakti makes the body the means to the Lord

On the lord thank you the greatest well-wisher a very intimate well-wisher heart to heart friend words come heart comes over there is dear the most dear most loved one who is the master so here the word atma refers to a super soul he’s a super soul i am i will purchase him i will attain him by offering myself by surrendering myself to him and i will enjoy it refers to enjoy with the lord that person like rama that is the goddess of fortune so pingala after expressing the lamentation till the previous verse now she makes a plan for action um rectifier repentance should lead to rectification if repentance is just a case of self-flagellation where we are simply beating ourselves up mentally thinking you are a fool you are a fool you are an idiot you are this you are that then that can often become simply an exercise in self-pity it is just a negative way by which we stay self-centered sometimes we self stay self-centered by thinking how great i am and sometimes we stay self-centered by thinking how bad i am and sometimes we talk to others about how bad i am and that is also to attract attention so here pingala um is uh not going into that direction although she strongly expresses her her disappointment with herself she reproaches herself for the way she has behaved but you know mistakes are made they are made now we have to move on and correct so now in this from this verse onwards she’s starting to express her resolve of what she will do about what has happened how can she rectify whatever has happened that’s what she will state over here so this lord who is such an intimate well-wisher of mine krishna also uses the same word in the bhagavad-gita in 5.29 suratam sarva-bhutanam so surat and trishtha tamo is extremely dear he is actually he loves us very much and actually he in our natural spiritually intelligent spiritually healthy condition he is the one who is the most dear to us but he is krishna also you are extremely loved by me you are intensely loved by me so he says that that i speak this because of your well-wisher so this lord is suratam trishtha tamo natha and he is actually our master it is not that we have to develop a relationship with him by nature we are his servants and he is our master so as a master he’s also he cares for us atma chayam and the way he shows his care for us is by being with us normally if a servant stops serving the master the master just kicks the servant out and the servant has to be on his own so when we stop serving krishna or we neglect krishna krishna doesn’t neglect us or reject us he accompanies us he has the super soul waiting for us to turn towards him and guiding us prompting us to take healthy decisions to make choices by which we can turn towards him so that is krishna’s greatness that is krishna’s great mercy so he is speaking over here that atma chayam sharir naam he’s right here in my body he’s in the body of all living beings present at the super soul so bhringala had been standing outside her the door of her place brothel waiting for someone to come some man to come so she is looking outwards outside her standing outside her house moving making seductive motions to attract someone but people were coming and going no one was paying attention so she said she was she went out of her way doing everything to try to attract someone some man but actually the supreme man the supreme lord the natha is the best natha is present right in her own heart so she is saying that it is this lord i will choose now atma chayam sharir naam the super soul is present in this very body there is no need for me to parade my body to attract him because but he’s always because he’s already here but what do i have to do now if he’s already here he’s already my well-wisher he’s already my master he is he already loves me i it is i who have to develop my relationship with him so tam vikriya atma naivaham now tam vikriya i will purchase him i will attain him so now the years of habit that are there that cannot be given up immediately but they can be redirected they can be spiritualized so she was into the she was in a mercenary business she used to sell her body for money and by that people would purchase her so now she is using similar language but the concept which is talking about is entirely devotional tam vikriya i will purchase him how atma naivaham by offering myself now earlier also she has used the word raman or kantad for referring to people whom she wanted to some man whom she wanted she was hoping that i will get a lover so and for to get a lover she was ready to offer her body so she is saying that what i was doing earlier i will now for men ordinary people who always disappointed me now i will do the for the lord and just as by offering the price of my body i would get the man at least for some time so she says i will get the supreme man by that now tam vikriya atma naivaham by surrendering my body i will attain him i will purchase him so bhakta sanskrit akur says that the same body which we use for sense gratification we can use it in devotional service so the way of offering the body to a man and the way of offering the body to the lord is different you know the way of to offer the body to the lord means to engage in devotional service substantially different activity but still the principle remains the same that this that the body which is the resource which she had she said that now i will use it in devotional service in fact one of the big strengths or big advantages of bhakti yoga as a path of spiritual advancement is that bhakti yoga is a method of sensory spirituality bhakti yoga allows us to use our senses in the service of krishna it allows us to use our body our our eyes our hands our legs for serving krishna in fact in the ninth canto in the description the past time of ambarish maharaj and dhruva maharaj it is mentioned that how they reciprocated how ambarish maharaj sorry ambarish maharaj and dhruva samuni there it is described what was ambarish maharaj devotion so he was using all his so he was using his ears to hear the katha of the lord he was using his hands to clean the temple of the lord so then it’s a long series of verses which goes on three verses basically which describes how he was using his karmendriyas as well as his gyanendriyas in the service of the lord so she’s saying that similarly now i will offer my body to him and bhakti offers us abandoned opportunity to redirect our body energy in the service of the lord and by that what happens she says that the law i if i offer my body to him then i will attain him he will reveal himself to me he will give himself to me so in that way our loving reciprocation will become completed perfected and then she gives the example of the perfect relationship rama is the goddess of fortune just as she has an intimate loving relationship with her with the lord just like her i will also have a relationship i will also delight in a loving relationship with him now when she’s saying that i’ll enjoy like rama she is not it’s not presumptuous because she’s not thinking that i’ll replace rama she’s not saying instead of her i’ll be there she’s simply saying like her so we all need models in every path so if a student is studying the student thinks oh there was that student who came a topper in class so i will model my studies on that student and that student’s study habits so like that we all need models in every path and even the path of bhakti we need a model so she’s saying my model will be rama and mukta sanshraku says that she is aspiring to serve under the guidance of ramadevi so but just like her that means just says she has an intimate relationship with the lord i also aspire for a relationship and by devoting myself to him by offering my my whole being my body to him i will delight so she is now expressing a resolution to redirect her search for pleasure