Bhagavatam-daily 131 – 11.09.03 – Seek krida and rati in devotion, not possession

Shrimad bhagavatam 1193 so well so the brahmana is now giving his own example of how lack of possessiveness brings relief brings happiness so he says i have no considerations of mana and apman of honor and dishonor nor do have any chinta uh any anxiety about my wife and about about family of those who have family about our family and children about my house atmakrita atmaratir atmakrita i sport at the spiritual level atmaratir i delight at the spiritual level and vicharam vicharami vicharami means move about you have balavat here even in this world balavat like a child so balavat is used here in a positive sense that in english also there are two words that is childlike and there is childish so being childlike is considered positive being childish is considered negative childish means foolish irresponsible unintelligent so don’t talk childishly don’t act childishly but childlike refers to innocence childlike refers to not having the manipulative uh double dealing or double talking mentality that often characterizes adults so further it also means that in this context it means that basically a cheerful carefree attitude balavat vicharami balavat vicharami i play around i move around in this world like a child balavat so in this way he is doing that and my life is is free from anxiety so why is it free from anxiety he says that for me i have not tried to build a prestigious position for myself in society and so i am not concerned about who respects me and who doesn’t respect me when one has a prestigious position then one is always concerned am i getting respected am i not getting respected and then further so he is talking about absence of possessiveness at a gross level and a subtle level at a subtle level one is very attached to one’s ego and wants to ensure that the ego is protected but at a gross level we have possession you know a person has a home and there are family members and a responsible family man has to take care of the family members so that also causes anxiety so basically the attachment to worldly possessions whether they be subtle or gross they keep the consciousness entangled at the material level and when the consciousness is entangled at the material level then it is not available at the spiritual level and when the consciousness is not available at the spiritual level then the person can’t relish spiritually so the result of not being able to relish spiritually is that one stays on in material existence pursuing material pleasures and undoing material miseries on the other hand one who does not have possession that person can actually live more peacefully live more joyfully live more meaningfully because the person has the time and the mental freedom the mental space to think clearly think issues through and through arrive at proper decisions to arrive at proper principle-centered living otherwise when one is pushing oh one object second object third object this i have to get that i have to get that and i have to get that also then that person has little time to think about what the ultimate priorities of life are and in that way the person stays miserable so on the other hand somebody who does not have to worry about all these things that person who’s at a spiritual level what happens is Atma this Atma Kriya Atma Hathir can delight at the level of the soul at the level of the self at the level of the spirit spiritual level wherein we can chant the names of Krishna we can study scriptures we can dance and through a variety of activities we can do the Atma Kriya Atma Hathir so of course studying serious philosophy may not seem either way like Kriya or Hathir but even the study of serious philosophy if it convinces us to so through philosophy we can gain the conviction that i need to rise to the spiritual level and real Kriya real Rati real pray and real joy are at the spiritual level just as a child because of not having any base desires because of innocence can delight playfully similarly the pure soul can delight in the spiritual level because of not having any base desires now we know that in the spiritual level so it is said in the Brahma Samhita that that all talk is a song all all dance all walk is a dance all talk is a song and there is constant ecstasy over there so even when we have not yet been transferred to the spiritual world but if we are at least attracted to the spiritual level and have become detached from the material level of reality then we can relish higher happiness in our relationship with Krishna because we can perceive that actually it is in remembrance of Krishna that there is real happiness in all other things there is only a temporary sense of happiness followed by a complex set of problems which come as consequences for that intelligence indulgence as I get entangled in bodily consciousness now that the happiness is Oceaniac and Roshan is also expanding a Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says in the first verse of Shikshashtakam so the word Leela which is used to describe Krishna’s pastimes is translated in different ways Sri Prabhupada used the word pastime another word that is often used for translating this is play so Krishna’s pastimes are a play because Krishna doesn’t have to do anything as a duty whatever he does in the spiritual world is simply out of his desire to reciprocate love with his devotees it is a play and he delights in the play and those who participate in his pastimes also reside in the play and when we start serving Krishna in this world we start we start reviewing or reviewing means our vision of this world becomes revised so that we see the world not as a place for our enjoyment which makes us entangled but rather we see the world also as a place for serving Krishna and if our consciousness is securely sheltered in Krishna and not insecurely battered in material entanglements in material objects then here also we can actually relight in how Krishna is acting in this world how Krishna is using us how Krishna is teaching us and how Krishna is doing wonderful things through us and to us and thus for a devotee whose heart is devoted to Krishna life in this world also becomes a a krida that fills the heart with rati thank you