Bhagavatam-daily 120 – 11.08.36 – Confront the tempting mind with the question – How much?

Complete i have completed and therefore now i will be ending my past times thank you so here pingala is continuing her description of her realizations so she in the previous verse she said now i will commit myself to the lord i will offer my body to him so now in this is in this was he saying that okay what what do others have to offer to me as compared to the lord that she is analyzing what dear thing have others can others provide that is that is material enjoyment sense gratification kamada those who are givers of sense gratification you people men especially so whatever they offer their wives they may offer some pleasure but it’s it has a beginning and the end end and this is true even for deva even for the devatas but they are all under the control of time they are the pleasure that they give is temporary because they themselves are of temporary lifespan and they will be dragged away she has earlier said the lord is with them as contrasted with that so in general although devotion is a matter of the heart but dedication to devotion often has to be a decision of the head that means that if we just leave devotion to the heart that means oh i feel like practicing bhakti so i’ll practice bhakti then our emotions tend to be fickle you may feel attracted to krishna and after some time you may longer feel attracted to krishna and in that way we will stay entangled we will stay caught in dualities and we will not be able to move onwards in our life you want to move if you want to move onwards we need to stay focused stay focused on the ultimate purpose of life and on krishna who is the ultimate purpose of life but to stay focused like that it is important for us to remember that that things are things change rather that nothing uh the mind’s feelings change and we cannot let our devotion be dependent only on our feelings we need to have a more substantial foundation for our devotion and that more substantial foundation is the foundation of our relationship with krishna so rather it’s our philosophical understanding of our relationship with krishna so she is analyzing that as the glory of the lord and the reason for devoting oneself to him she has talked about in the previous verse now in this verse pingala is speaking that okay as compared to the glory of what the lord can offer if i devote myself to him what can others offer what others offer is actually insignificant and what that insignificant thing is she is speaking here so what dear thing can others offer so rhetorical questions are often a powerful way of conveying a point she’s conveying that point that what kama what desire can they fulfill those who are providers those are fulfillers of desire what can they provide um because they themselves they are all under the influence of time up to the devatas you know in the past when there was greater connection between the higher lokas and this loka sometimes sometimes some devatas would become attracted to a earthly woman and then they would marry her and that would be a great attainment in one sense for a human woman for earthly woman to have a god as her husband so uh that was a rare fortune but even if that for sort of fortune came he’s saying what is the use of that also because their lifespan is it all has a beginning and an end so that implies that actually there is nothing in the material world that is permanent it is all temporary it has a beginning and it has an end because of that getting attached to it seeking getting they are temporary the pleasure that will come by relationship with them is also temporary now krishna uses the word in bhagavad gita to refer to material pleasure in 5.22 he states is so the bhoga the pleasure that comes by by the contact of the senses of the sense objects what is the nature of that pleasure it has it gives and it is the womb of it has a beginning and it has an end and therefore the wise people do not delight in it the wise people do not delight in this pleasure because they know that it is temporary so here she is actually pingala is demonstrating that she is a buddhah she is deciding i will not delight in this pleasure because it is temporary so she’s also made that decision that actually there it may look very glamorous there may be wealthy people there may be kings there may be gods but they are all temporary as contrasted with the supreme lord what can they offer so we can also ask our mind this question when the mind starts craving for sensual pleasure and starts agitating us making us restless making us feel tempted do it do it do it do that then we can just turn the mind on turn to the face the mind head on and say okay even if i engage in this activity there is some pleasure but how much is it so how much and for how long actually if we face this question head on and think of it with a clear head how much now how much is actually the pleasure is very little we may in quantity it is not much if the just the body’s capacity is there and how long it just for a few moments so the body’s capacity to enjoy is limited inescapably unavoidably limited nothing can change it and even if you say that okay my body’s capacity is limited but i can keep enjoying again and again and again each time it may be limited but afterwards what but the problem is that even that capacity to repeatedly enjoy limitedly that also gets exhausted over a period of time as we grow old and get deceased and actually the craving far far gives much greater agitation and misery than whatever pleasure might come from the indulgence because the craving keeps tormenting us for hours days weeks months years and the pleasure lasts for a few moments a few minutes and then it’s all over and then again we are waiting next time when i’ll be able to enjoy but then if you look at it from an objective point of view the pleasure the pleasure and trouble balance is very much heavily tilted in the side of trouble so that’s why rather than pursuing sense gratification we can focus on pursuing krishna and when the minds are distracting us from the pursuit of krishna we can turn on the mind and say how much how long what can that offer it’s nothing much it’s nothing but it is so it has a beginning and the end and therefore i will end my infatuation with it i will not pursue