Bhagavatam-daily 147 – 11.09.22 – Our destination is shaped by the intersection of psychology and reincarnation

Yatra yatra mano dehi dhara yajsa kalam dhiya sneha dvesha dbhaya dwapi yati tatta svarupa tam yatra yatra mano dehi yatra yatra is wherever mano dehi the soul fix the mind dhara yajsa kalam dhiya dhara yajsa kalam dhiya dhara yajsa kalam dhiya dhara yajsa kalam dhiya kalam dhiya kalam dhiya yajsa kalam dhiya dhara yajsa kalam dhiya dhara yajsa kalam dhiya dhara yajsa yajsa kalam dhiya kalam dhiya yajsa yajsa kalam dhiya yajsa kalam dhiya yajsa kalam dhiya kalam kalam kalam dhiya yajsa That intersection happens in the arena The arena of the soul’s journey from this body to the next body At a smaller level we could say that Actually the intersection happens between two levels. The soul who is eternal and the soul who is transcendental can attain eternal existence by cultivating thoughts about the eternal.
That is the ultimate application of this. But let’s look at the short term, medium term and long term application of this principle. At the short term level, if people get attracted to a particular movie star, a particular sports star, then they may want to develop, want to have the hairstyle like that person, dress like that person, move their hands like that person.
And in this way, they tat tat swaroopatam, to some extent, their bodily features become like their stars. So whatever they meditate on, whoever they think about regularly, tat tat swaroopatam, they attain like that. But that is just a visual illustration to illustrate, to exemplify a much deeper principle.
And the, of course, this example is simplistic, but it visually illustrates that point. Now, what is the principle which is very profound here that, the principle is, the subtle body is a template of the gross body. Just like things are developed around a particular template, and the template is developed on a moment to moment basis.
The template of our consciousness, which is manifested through our subtle body, is developed by our moment to moment choices. Whatever we think of at a particular time, that is what we attain. Eventually, yam yam vaapismaran bhavam, tajityantekalevaram, tam tam evaiti kaunteya, sadatadbhavabhavitah, yam yam vaapismaran bhavam, so whatever we remember, tajityantekalevaram, whatever you remember at the time of death, tam tam evaiti kaunteya, sadatadbhavabhavitah, that particular bhava, bhavitah, will become manifest, that particular nature will become manifest.
Bhava can mean emotion and bhava can mean existence. So, our particular emotion manifests our particular existence. In this way, the soul manifests in material nature.
Now, the crucial thing to recognize here is that Krishna, this particular verse is stating that, the Bhagavad Gita verse says that, yam yam vaapismaran bhavam, tajitya, whatever is the consciousness at the time of death, that will manifest in our next life, that we will attain. Tattat swaroopatam, we will attain that. But, what we will be the thought, what will be the thought at the time of our death will be determined by what is our thought, what is the pattern of our thoughts, what is the level of our thoughts during the lifetime we have it.
So, that brings us to the next level over here, that we live at a particular level of existence. Now, our level of existence is not in terms of, you can say mean sea level, the altitude of our mean sea level, we are not talking about the level of existence in that sense. The level of existence is the level of our consciousness.
So, the level of existence is, what is the level of our normal habitual thought pattern. So, if habitually we are thinking about sense gratification, then that means, we are living at the sensory level of reality where we are conscious of our senses and we are conscious of the sense objects that appear attracted to those senses. So, that is sensory level of consciousness.
So, like that our level of existence is determined not by the level by our physical location, but by our emotional disposition. Now, once we understand this point, the next question comes up, what is it that determines where we live in material existence. So, that or where we will go or yes, so now what we will explain is that, where we will go after death will be determined by what we think about at the time of death.
What we think about at the time of death will be determined by what we think about at present and what we think about at present is determined not just by what are our externals presently, but what are the kind of thoughts we choose and cultivate presently. So, when we understand that what I am thinking right now is going to affect my fate, then that helps us to recognize that our cultivating of the consciousness needs to be done vigorously. If we neglect the practice of the cultivation of our consciousness in the right direction of purifying our consciousness of elevating our consciousness towards Krishna, if we neglect that, then the result of it is that we often end up getting unconsciously pulled into a particular direction to a particular destination, which we never realize.
So, we may be externally living as devotees, but if internally we are cultivating, we are entertaining and enjoying worldly desires and we are fantasizing the gratification of those worldly desires and if our worldly desires are stronger than our devotional desires, then those desires will catapult us towards a worldly decision. We will get a form that is appropriate for that worldly decision. So, the point is that we need to be careful about not getting ourselves deluded by the Lord’s material energy, because ultimately whatever illusion a person is playing, the capacity to delude others also is coming from the Lord.
So, let’s wait and watch to see how the Lord inspires devotees to serve accordingly in our extreme rejuvenation. So, one more. Thank you.