Bhagavatam-daily 151 – 11.09.26 – Be grateful not to the body but to Krishna who gives the body and the intelligence to use it well

Thank you what we try to do usually is we try to expand the resources around us so as we can get more enjoyment and usually this wealth is a means wealth is something with which we enjoy but wealth is something to acquire which we have to struggle in fact with great labor one tries to increase one’s wealth by the time one’s death comes the death of the body comes along it has already been sown and the body falls and dies but the other seeds are already there vriksha dharma just like a tree before it falls and dies it has sown seed by which it will continue on another tree of the same genus will continue on so here the essential meaning is that we try to enjoy with various things in this world and we labor to acquire wealth but we lose everything at the time of death however before death in the pursuit of enjoying in the pursuit of accumulating and enjoying we engage in various vikarnic activities which sow the seeds for future births with similar suffering just as a tree creates and drops the seeds for future trees before it itself dies out so Vishwanath Chakrathakur in his commentary mentions here that the previous was stated that from the body we can learn virakti viveka hetu we can learn about virakti detachment and the question may come up that how can one learn about detachment when the body is so valuable the body is what enables us to do sadhana it is without the body we would not be able to pursue spiritual life it is through the body that we especially engage in bhakti so it is the body that enables us to practice bhakti and similarly it is a body which enables us to learn the lesson of detachment so should we be averse to the body if we are averse to the body will that not be ingratitude actually here some issue should not get confused first is the body is a teacher but it is not a benevolent teacher the teacher teaches by by sweet words by clear explanations by warm guidance now we could say that the police if a child becomes if a young person becomes very naughty and incomes not just naughty becomes delinquent becomes criminal then the police catch and the police may give a beating police may punish so that is also teaching but that kind of teaching is not at all benevolent so something is learned but it is learned through the means of suffering and when there is learning through the means of suffering if somebody causes us to suffer usually it is very difficult to feel grateful for that person so that so the body actually doesn’t teach us by through any love or through any affection or guidance the body teaches by inflicting a lot of misery on us and in that sense it is not that the body is like a warm benevolent teacher and the onus is not on the teacher to teach in a way that we can learn the onus is on us that we seek to learn without getting distracted by the pain and the suffering that the body causes so we shouldn’t get illusioned by thinking by becoming benevolent by starting to become too comfortable in our own body now at level certainly the whole principle of varnaashram is meant to help us become comfortable with the body that means whatever body we have whatever psychophysical nature we have according to our body Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur explains in his commentary that here deha refers not just to the body but also to the mind because both the deha and the mana are the parts of the material body for the soul so now working according to our body nature psychophysical nature is the defining principle of varnaashram so is that not becoming comfortable with our body not exactly it is becoming compatible it is about working in a way that is compatible with our nature so that we can with as little agitation as possible deal with our worldly responsibilities do justice to our worldly material talents and resources and in that way have time energy focus for pursuing spiritual life for pursuing disentanglement from the body for pursuing the attainment of Krishna so the body can be used to serve Krishna’s service and when we are in the material existence we do need the body we cannot serve Krishna without the body so in that sense the body is a valuable tool for us at the present level of consciousness in material existence the body is an indispensable tool for us at the same time so because the body is an indispensable tool we do need to take care of it at the same time the body is not in and of itself benevolent the body gives opportunities for practicing bhakti it is through the eyes we can see Krishna’s beautiful form it is the time that we can sing Krishna’s glories at the same time the same eyes are tempted much more much more frequently and much more forcefully to look at sensually attractive things rather than to look towards Krishna who is supremely attractive and the attractiveness is seen at a sensory level also but still the body is programmed to look more for worldly attractions than for Krishna and for Krishna’s all attractiveness and in that sense we suffer because the body tends to mislead us so we can because the body helps us to serve Krishna we can be grateful to the body but we need to also see beyond the body because it is not the body that inspires us to serve Krishna it is guru sadhu shastra it is Krishna manifesting through guru sadhu shastra and through the chaitya guru as a super soul inside who inspires us to serve Krishna and the inspiration the direction the motivation the determination to serve Krishna always come not from the body but from Krishna himself and so we need to be most grateful to Krishna and if our focus is on Krishna then even if sometimes even with that focus on Krishna we can look at the body with calmness with clarity use it in Krishna service and be grateful to Krishna who has given us the body for serving him and more importantly has given us the knowledge to serve him otherwise the body in and of itself will act with vriksha will act like a tree creating for us the inclinations to stay engaged to engage in sense gratification in the pursuit of worldly things and thereby create karmic seeds which will lead to the repetition of our existence in cycle of birth and death rather than being grateful to the body and staying in bodily consciousness we stay grateful to Krishna who has given us everything including the body and more importantly the inspiration to serve him using the body thank you