Bhagavatam-daily 160 – 11.10.02 – Understand the deceptiveness of material appearance of things

So so Krishna is speaking with his toddhava as a part of the Uddhava Gita Anviksheta Vishuddhatma Iksha is to see Anviksheta is to see systematically Vishuddhatma the soul who is pure or the soul who is aspiring to be pure Dehinam Vishayatmanam Dehinam the embodied souls Vishayatmanam so those who think Vishaya to be their Atma that means they think the essence of their life the essence of their existence is in getting Vishaya Atma means the self Atma also means the conception of our conception of the self Vishayatmanam means those who consider the senses the sense objects to be their self such people what do they do they are absorbed in sense objects and their fate is now the sense objects appear attractive because of the effect of the three modes just as when we watch a movie there is nothing but the screen but because of the colours being projected onto the screen the combination of the colour creates the image of a beautiful man or a beautiful woman or other beautiful objects which captivate us similarly the Gunas the three modes of material create the illusion of attractive objects in this world Tattva Dhyanena Tattva Dhyanena so Dhyana normally is used for deep absorption here it refers to the conditioned soul who is attracted to sense gratification thinks because of the effect of the mode that these are the Tattva that these are the truth that the sense objects are themselves the ultimate truth and Sarvaarambha Viparyayam Sarvaarambha all endeavours Viparyayam Viparyayam means they get the result the opposite of what is expected Viparyayam conditioned soul engages in sense gratification hoping to get pleasure but but what he gets instead is misery immense misery so essentially what happens is that we engage in sense gratification with a great anticipation with a great hope that this is what will make us happy but then we find that actually the pleasure doesn’t last for long the pleasure lasts for some time and as soon after that the pleasure gets over and after that all that we are left with is the desire for more and more pleasure while the body’s capacity for pleasure keeps getting exhausted and in that way we end up with disappointment we end up with frustration we end up with irritation now we get into the activity of sense gratification hoping for pleasure but what we get instead is misery so how do we deal with this situation now the only way to deal with it in a lasting way is by recognizing the reality of our nature and the reality of the nature of material nature the reality of our nature is that we are conscious and consciousness is not a product of matter consciousness comes from spirit and spirit can be satisfied only by spirit so we need to look for spiritual object for loving only then we will be happy and otherwise no matter what we do we will not get any happiness we may get a little happiness which only serves to entangle us more in material existence so if we understand our nature firstly we understand that actually I am seeking pleasure I need pleasure I seek pleasure I dream about pleasure but who is it that is dreaming about pleasure that is not the body because the body is itself unconscious so if the body is unconscious that means I am something else different from the body and if I am something else different from the body then I will need pleasure in something different from the body so then we look at when we understand our nature like this essentially what happens is we recognize that I will need to look for pleasure elsewhere and now even after understanding that we are spiritual beings and that we should seek spiritual pleasure still the desire for material pleasure remains and the way to get rid of that desire is not by just rejecting it we need to reject it of course but we reject it by by firstly convincing ourselves about the illusoriness of worldly pleasure so those who are those who are absorbed in sense gratification what happens to them all their endeavors end in misery whatever they endeavor it all ends in misery now in this world there is a deception around us which may not be intentional but still it has it is insidious now in the world generally we see the attractive people the successful people the active people that’s what is shown in sport that’s what is shown in movies that’s what is shown that’s what we see generally in the world especially as it is depicted in the media and nowadays more and more people are living lives which are which are guided in which their perceptions are guided more through the are shaped far more by the media than by their direct interaction with the world so quite often the the way things are in this world is that everybody has to suffer consequences for their enjoyment in the Ramayana Lord Ram is assured by there is a passage says that Sita can no longer no more enjoy rather Ravana can no more enjoy Sita then a person can digest poisoned food so in the world the advertisements in the media show people eating the poisoned food and the food looks delicious and the people look to be enjoying that food but the media never shows us the consequences of eating that poisoned food that is people suffer they get pain and they die so we see that every gratification especially those which are highly bandied around highly glamorized gratifications all of them end in misery the more we see gratification the more there is frustration even devastation illicit sex leads to a variety of diseases smoking leads to lung diseases then drinking leads to liver diseases and even eating unregulatedly leads to obesity and a whole variety of diseases the point is that every indulgence in this world ends in misery and we may say we can enjoy in a regulated way by which we will not suffer misery but the problem is that the passion in the world around us is so great that regulated enjoyment does not seem to be at all enjoyment we feel that we need enjoyment and to get enjoyment we need to do things in an unregulated way because regulated means we get a little enjoyment we have to stop so now when we are in goodness we may be able to feel the joy of regulation but when we are not in goodness when we are in passion we feel not the joy of regulation we feel the agony of restriction in regulation we feel I am being deprived and that’s why most people feel why should I be deprived and they start they get into unregulated gratification and that leads often to enormous frustration so when we look take a hard look at the world and see how many people are deceased how many people are afflicted and what are the consequences of sense gratification then we can get a sense of detachment a healthy sense of detachment by which we will be able to get rid of the desire for sense gratification and become steady in our practice of devotional service that is what Krishna is recommending over here when he says Anvikshet Vishuddhatma the pure soul the purified soul now the pure souls are able to see this and the purified the souls who want to be purified the souls who are aspiring for purification also need to see like this they may not be able to see it themselves but by hearing from pure souls and by keeping their words in mind we sadhakas can also see like this Videhinam Vishayatmanam the embodied souls who who make the sense objects their Atma pursue the sense objects as their life’s goal they are absorbed obsessed in the product of the modes Gunesh Tattva Dhyanena but because that pleasure is illusory Sarvaram Viparyaya from all their endeavors end in frustration