Bhagavatam-daily 159 – 11.10.01 – Take shelter of Krishna according to your nature

Thank you so here new chapter beginning the chapter is entitled the nature of fruitive activity so in the previous chapter the lord has described instructions using the narrative of the brahmana the tatra and through that through his story and through the other incident based incident that he tells the lord has taught the two principles of detachment from matter and attachment to the transcendental reality now in this chapter he describes the process of sadhana the practical means by which the soul can redirect one’s desires how the principles that have been learned from the 24 gurus the vedic culture provides a social structure for implementing them although the implementation has to be done individually by each individual but the social structure if it is supportive then that implementation becomes easier and varanashram provide that supportive structure so now here in this that which is given by me the instruction carrying them out with carefully implementing them according to one’s dharma take shelter of me varanashram in the system of varanashram kula is in the society in the dynasty act accordingly giving up material desires should practice so this verse endorses varanashram dharma Vishwanath Chitrakoot has commented and mentioned that this is talking about not ordinary varanashram but devi varanashram where varanashram is a means to follow the principles of Vaishnavism ultimately so here the point is that when we want to redirect our heart towards Krishna so here it is said that a kamatma you need to be free from desires a kamatma so atma is such a person when this person understand that i am the soul then material desires no longer make that same level of sense as they used to earlier because we understand that matter is of a different nature from me and matter cannot satisfy me there has to be scripture offer not just philosophy but they also offer process and the purpose of philosophy is to practice the process if we study the philosophy but don’t practice the process then we cannot grow much in our spiritual life the philosophy is important no doubt because the philosophy shows us the map but after we get the map it is for us to move on that journey move on the track which is on the road which is which is understood from the map it is for us to move so study of scripture doesn’t in and of itself lead to spiritual advancement study of scripture shows us the process to spiritual advancement and takes us along that journey when we practice our practice bhakti now of course study of scripture can also be bhakti if it is done in a devotional mood but if it is done in a mood of egoistic aggrandizement where scripture is a tool for attracting praise and prestige from the world then we won’t grow spiritually when we carefully accept the words that have come from Krishna then we can actually move onwards and move onwards in our spiritual journey Varanasi Krishna talks about Varanasi in 4.13 in the Bhagavad Gita and Varanasi will be talked about more in detail in the later parts of this chapter also the whole principle in this is that we have to keep a spiritual purpose in mind while following different material processes in this world sometimes the material-spiritual separation becomes a little messy to understand there is a tendency to consider everything spiritual sometimes because I am a devotee all aspects of my life are spiritual sometimes there is a tendency to demonize the material thinking this has got nothing to do with my spiritual life rather than having that kind of attitude we can have a more integrated attitude of levels of spiritual connectedness there are devotional activities chanting,studying scripture,worshipping the deity these are directly devotional the connection with Krishna and the potential for connection with Krishna is much more in these activities our whole system of Varanashram is meant to create a social environment which enables people to practice spiritual life in a in a materially harmonious setting take care of the material needs after taking care of the material needs they can move onwards and practice their spiritual life to the extent the attending to the material needs becomes more and more complicated to that extent practicing spiritual life also becomes more and more complicated and thus one cannot achieve the much desired balance that is very much essential for for doing both doing one’s material obligations properly and also progressing in our spiritual aspirations so if there is a social structure which enables us to do our material duties in a harmonious way and that helps us not just in taking care of material needs but also in terms of giving us time and peace of mind by which we can practice our spiritual life so Varanashram doesn’t have to be necessarily a particular Varanashram in principle and in practice can have significant differences and the essence is that in a devotionally conducive setting the material needs are taken care of now the important thing to recognize in all this as Krishna is telling over here in this verse is Krishna has spoken the broad principles that follow my dharma according to your own dharma take shelter of me it’s interesting this combination of phrases follow your dharma but take shelter of me that means there is a there is acknowledgement of our individuality that we have particular natures and we cannot just wish away our natures and we have our particular inclinations our particular dispositions our particular talents our particular limitations also and just because when we philosophically understand that I am not the body and the soul we cannot wish it all away it is still there so Krishna is saying so according to your nature according to the dharma according to the duty that is ordained according to your nature Madashrayaha is take shelter of me and the process that was there at that time was Varanashram Ukulacharam that you practice Varanashram to do this Swadharmeshu Madashrayaha so sometimes people think that taking shelter of God means that we lose all our individuality no the whole process of taking shelter of God is is founded in an acknowledgement of our individuality and provides for customization according to that individuality that’s why what was there in the past in terms of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vajashudra was an acknowledgement and customization of human individuality and that principle we can adapt in our lives we find out what our talents are what abilities we have how best we can function in this world and how best we can serve Krishna and accordingly with the guidance of the spiritual master and Srinivasa we choose to serve Krishna accordingly and in this way we can march onwards in our spiritual life towards destination Krishna