Bhagavatam-daily 163 – 11.10.05 – The purpose of sadhana is the change of desires

11.10.5 Krishna is continuing his instructions to Uddhava and he says yaman abhikshanam sevet yaman are those which are rules which about proscriptions things which we should not do and yaman are rules about prescriptions things we should do so yaman abhikshanam sevet with by following the proscriptions and yaman madparahakvachet and by following the prescriptions madparaha one should become devoted to me one should make oneself my goal me the goal mad abhikyam gurum shantam mad abhikyam mad abhikyam is to know abhikyam is to know properly so mad abhikyam means one who knows me properly gurum shantam knowing such a guru upasit madatmakam upasit one should worship madatmakam so it is said that the guru should be peaceful and in worshiping and that guru madatmakam he becomes almost like non-different from me because that such a guru is actually so spiritually advanced that the desire of the spiritual master is non-different from me and in that sense madatmakam so in a sense Krishna is summarizing the process of bhakti over here and to understand this process we can compare it with going to a doctor when we go to a doctor there are there is a person the doctor who gives prescriptions and then the doctor tells us the prescriptions do this and don’t do this and by following the prescription and prescriptions we move onwards towards the getting cured now of course every metaphor has limitations and the limitation of the doctor metaphor is that the doctor basically cures our body whereas the spiritual master cures our desires and curing our desires means that we actually develop devotion our love changes from the world to Krishna and to those who love Krishna so in this way we are we get redirected from this world to Krishna so the whole process of bhakti is essentially a we could say a scientific process for curing our desires for redirecting our desires from matter to the supreme lord now yama and niyama these words are often understood in different ways sometimes they are talked of as rules of individual conduct and rules of social conduct and sometimes they are talked of as prescriptions and proscriptions but either way the important point is that becoming transformed becoming cured is not just a matter of becoming spiritually advanced is not a matter of just having some feelings yes we want to have feelings of affection for the lord but those feelings of affection don’t come automatically they come to the extent that we devote ourselves to the extent we follow a process that changes our desires the word matparaha comes many times in the Bhagavad Gita it comes first in 2.61 where Krishna says for the first time he introduces himself as the object of devotion matparaha fixing your consciousness on me Krishna says control the senses and fix your consciousness on me and then this word matparaha comes again in the 6th chapter where Krishna talks about how the yogis should fix their consciousness on him in fact not just matparaha yuktasita matparaha the same phrase that had come in 2.61 comes again in 6.14 here matparaha making me the supreme goal fixing the consciousness on me and further 11.55 also Krishna talks about this is the conclusion of the Vishvarupa chapter where Krishna says matkarmakran work for me matparamo make me the supreme goal of life and he goes on describing the process of bhakti matbhaktah sangavarjitah nirvairah sarvave bhuteshu be become my devotee be not envious towards any living being give up mundane association yaha samameti pandava such a person will come to me and Krishna talks about matparaha again in the 18th chapter also in 18.57 when he says so there also it is matparaha in all situations in all activities be conscious of me matparaha offer the fruits of your work to me and make me the goal of your life and then if you do this if you take shelter of buddhi yoga use your intelligence to practice yoga to connect with me if you take shelter of me like this you can always be conscious of me and the next verse says that if you are conscious of me you will cross over all obstacles including the mega obstacle of material existence itself so the essential point is matparaha that the whole process of bhakti is centered on this purpose of becoming devoted to Krishna whatever we do in life if we don’t ultimately become devoted to Krishna then whatever we have done it becomes ultimately not fruitful as a famous vedic statement says if you worship lord hari then there is no need to do any austerity and if one doesn’t worship lord hari what is the use of doing any austerity because all austerity is ultimately meant to culminate in devotion to hari in worship of hari so matparaha kvachet so matparaha be devoted to me be wholeheartedly devoted to me now if you look at the four usages of matparaha there are others also in the bhagavad gita but let’s look at these four to understand the progression in the gita’s thought and the relevance which we can apply from bhagavad gita to uddhava gita so first krishna is talking about controlling the senses and as a tool for the control senses fixing the mind on krishna if your consciousness is fixed on krishna then the sense control will become much easier because you are getting higher satisfaction that is the use of matparaha in 6.14 when krishna used matparaha the usage is primarily of yogis who use krishna as a object of meditation now these yogis they may be of the personalist and impersonalist schools but usually most yogis at least in initial stages have an object of meditation and by using by trying to focus their consciousness on this object of meditation they give up the material obsession of the mind they get purification and eventually depending on their personal or impersonal orientation they will attain either eternal devotion or impersonal liberation so the first is krishna as the tool krishna matparaha fixing the mind on krishna devoting oneself to krishna is a tool for mind control then it is a tool for first is a tool for sense control 2.67 in 6.14 it is a means for yogic advancement yogic progress is a focus point for yogic concentration and then after that if you look at 9th chapter krishna is talking about he is summarizing the process of bhakti and he very unambiguously concludes that with yaha samameti pandavas the person comes back to me attains me so this is the last verse and krishna reading the last verse so here is krishna talking about a personal conception leading to a personal attainment and prabhupada writes in that purport that this is the substance of the process of bhakti and in 18.57 if we see there also krishna is talking about bhakti but he is talking more about matparaha fixing the consciousness on him as a means to always be conscious to make making krishna the goal of one’s life so that one can be always conscious in this life of krishna and by being always conscious of him one can attain him so the whole process of bhakti is centered on fixing the consciousness on krishna and the guru’s instructions the rules and regulations the do’s and don’ts all that is meant to make us do matparaha and become matparaha fix the consciousness on krishna and become attached to