Bhagavatam-daily 150 – 11.09.25 – The body is doomed – don’t doom yourself with it

As our gurus thank you deho gurur so the brahmana has studied maharaja yadu that the deha the body has also been my guru deho gurur and what has it taught me mama virakti vivek hetur so it has been the cause of awakening virakti vivek hetur awakening detachment within my conscience within my discrimination capacity so vivek buddhi refers to our capacity for discernment our capacity to discriminate between the temporary and the eternal between the material and the spiritual between the short term and the long term and this capacity this capacity to discriminate discrimination leads to detachment because when we are able to discern that discernment that discernment enables us to take the decision to distance ourselves to detach ourselves from that which is unfavorable for our for our growth so that’s how if we use our discernment from the body we can learn detachment that’s what is being said now how does that happen vibhratma sattva nidhanam sattva tarati udharkam vibhrat vibhratma I have certainly I maintain this body but at the same time while maintaining it sattva nidhanam we try to maintain its existence but nidhanam it is also being destroyed because at every moment there are thousands of cells in the body are dying and thousands new are replacing it but over a period of time the number of new cells that replace become lesser and lesser and then the body’s growth becomes no longer growth with the new replacing the old but it becomes deterioration because there is not adequate new replacing the old so nidhanam the body is headed towards destruction at every moment sattva tarati udharkam sattva tarati so always it will lead arati arati refers to distress krishna talks about artha as one of the four categories of people who come to him and start worshipping him udharkam in the future misery is going to come from the body one of the characteristics of intelligence is to prepare for the future that’s why wise people say that if you are earning money save for the future don’t just spend all the money and certainly don’t spend more than what you are earning so saving money is a sign of intelligence similarly because we prepare for future misery so similarly here he is saying that prepare for the future misery of the body is deterioration and destruction generally our society shuts away elderly people we don’t see them on movies and television in the public media usually even if we see elderly people the elderly people also try to put up a facade of health and happiness by which the misery of becoming old is covered and that does not mean that those who are old have to constantly talk about how miserable they are that sort of self pity and wallowing in one’s own complaints that of course does not do anyone any good but the point is it’s an objective reality that this world is a place of misery and although in youth and health we feel that we have the capacity to enjoy in this world youth and health are soon going to go and we are going to move towards disease and death so by being aware of this eminent reality we can get the necessary impetus to raise our consciousness to the spiritual level to practice sadhana for raising our consciousness to the spiritual level Vimrishyami means by contemplation by deep immersion in thought such truths I learned from this body specifically from the body the brahmana said I have learned I have learned attachment but along with that the various truths that he has learned they are actually learned using the body because he used the eyes to see things the ears to hear things and the legs to move around in the world so as to observe and learn so in that sense the body is used for learning so in this way I have learned and still means belonging to others it doesn’t belong to me by contemplating by becoming convinced thus which around me I move about asangha without being attached when we are able to do something worthwhile with anything we become attached to that thing the batsman who say hits a winning sixer with a particular bat we become attached to that bat and want to keep it as a memento so sometimes sports take out even the stumps and take it out as a memento for themselves so the point is that if something we use for doing something good something memorable something special we tend to become attached to that so now with the body when we use it for something constructive the body we use it for enlightenment and we may become attached to that body but he says that by remembering that it is par gyan it does not belong to me it is actually this time for someone else it is temporarily in my position it’s like say we are living in a house in which we are tenants and there is no chance for us to become owners of that house and once the period of the lease expires then we will be evicted from the house then there is no point in becoming attached to that house although certainly while we are there we are happy to receive the shelter that house offers and be accommodated in that but there is no point in becoming attached because we have to leave it so like that if we understand this body is par gyan it belongs to someone else just like a rented house belongs to someone else so then we will not become attached to it we will move around in this world using the body without becoming attached now how is the body par gyan because not only do we although we identify with the body not just thinking that the body is mine but we think I am the body but still the body has an end which is quite different from our end and it’s quite a our end is that there is no end in the sense that we go to another body based on our karma but the present body with which we identify this body will be destroyed and there are different ways in which the body is dealt with at the time of death normally people may cremate the body so then the body belongs to the fire which consumes it all and the fire wets its own hunger at the expense of the body and then the body is reduced to ashes the same body which we decorated and anointed and adorned and paraded around during our life that body is reduced to insignificant ashes that are just swept away or if a person dies in a forest in a secluded place then nobody may come to do even the final rites for the body so then in that case the body will be consumed by jackals and vultures so then they may fight if two jackals come to the same body this body belongs to me, this body belongs to me so parakya the body ultimately does not belong to us it will be consumed by those jackals and vultures or in some cases there is not cremation but there is burial so when the body is buried even if there is a luxurious coffin in which the body is buried still actually the body cannot be preserved normally the content is more important than the container that’s why we say we are a jewel we have a jewel case and then the content is more important than the container but when a luxurious coffin is made the coffin outlives the corpse if people try to have, people they call it death style, like we have lifestyle people call it death style I want to die in style, my coffin should be designed in this particular way with this pattern with this engraving with this epitaph, all these things but then the coffin, the body will soon get decomposed with bacteria and germs breaking it down and nothing will be left, maybe the skeleton will stay for a longer time but the body itself will soon be destroyed and the coffin will stay longer but ultimately the body will be consumed and reduced to dust from dust to dust from ashes to ashes as it’s said in the bible so by remembering this inevitable destruction of the body we can avoid becoming infatuated by it and stay focused on loving and serving Krishna by which we can raise our consciousness to spiritual level and attain an eternal destination