Bhagavatam-daily 164 – 11.10.06 – Let speech elevate, not downgrade, consciousness

Krishna thank you 11.10.6 amanyamatsaram daksho nirmamo dhrudasa urudaha asatvaro artha jijnasur anasurya amoghavak amanyamatsaro daksho so here krishna is pretending to describe the qualities that a candidate of bhakti that a practitioner of bhakti should try to inculcate and he describes amanya the word amanya is famous in the shikshashtakam chittanimahapuram amanyam so amanyam now it does not mean that one doesn’t have a sense of honor it means that one doesn’t have a sense of arrogance one does not have false ego amanyamatsarah so false ego means one does not think that i am such a great person and the whole world should bow down to me that everyone that people should know my greatness and they should delight in my greatness they should praise me the person is not basically self-centered a sense of honor means that if the devotee uses one’s word the devotee sticks to that word that is definitely there but that is different ego means one is basically obsessed with one’s own greatness whether real or imagined but one thing that i am very great and everybody should recognize my greatness and appreciate my greatness amanyamatsarah daksho amatsarah amatsarah means one who is non-envious so now amatsarah the word amatsarah has many different can have different meanings in different contexts so nirmatsarah when it is usually it means non-envious amatsarah that it means one should be avoiding and we should not think that i am the doer that i am the doer of daksha so then we have to do things without considering that we are the doers that requires expertise so that requires expertise because it is a matter of consciousness and one understands that actually i am not the body i am the soul and the body will function according to certain mechanical patterns because the body and mind are ultimately machines and a brahmana’s body mind complex will work in a particular way a kshatriya’s body mind complex will work in a particular way so we let the body mind complex work in that way and channelize it towards dharmic purposes but we don’t get carried away by that daksha that is daksha expert so whatever is the body mind complex inclination to work the devotee not only does it but attains expertise in that so the expertise that a devotee needs to have is double dual one is that a devotee does whatever services to be done sadharmesh a couple of verses that a devotee does is swadharma and use the swadharma to gain shelter of krishna so that daksha is one aspect is competence in doing whatever is one’s vocation but along with that daksha also means not getting entangled by knowing that one is not the one that although I am the doer actually I am the non-doer because I am the soul nirmamo nirmamo nirmamo that means one does not have a sense of proprietorship the word nirmamo comes quite frequently nirmamo nirahankara nirmamo nirahankara that nirmamo that one does not think that aham ahankara is I and mama is mine so ahama and mama are two primary modes of illusion so here what happens those two are not here ahama nirmamo nirmamo that means what happens is that the person does not think that this is mine that is mine the devotee lives in the world and the devotee has possessions also but the devotee knows the nature of the possessions is that they are actually under my care in a sense like a matter of stickship they are not mine dhrudasaurudaha dhrudasaurudaha the devotee has a sense of friendship deep determined friendship with one spiritual master actually the spiritual master is meant to be our our primary link with Krishna dhrudasaurudaha and the way we can have this primary link with Krishna is by the sincerity of our devotional practice and the reciprocation that we get from the spiritual master dhrudasaurudaha so we understand that it is Krishna who has sent the spiritual master in our life to guide us onwards in our journey back to him asatvaro artha jijnasur asatvaro so asatvaro means one does not get deluded one does not get overwhelmed one does not get carried away by the modes of passion artha jijnasur so now artha does not here refer to wealth artha jijnasur does not mean one who is always eager to know about money that is how materialistic people are what are the costs what are the share prices where can i invest how can i transfer my investment artha jijnasur so that is quite often the default tendency of materialistic people but here the person is not artha jijnasur that is not what is referred to for a devotee artha refers to meaning so what is spiritually meaningful so for that the devotee is always inquisitive so trying to understand the ultimate meaning of things what is the purpose of life how is that purpose to be achieved what is it that is truly meaningful generally many people think of life as something just to be done ok i have to do this job i have to earn this money i have to get this house but actually the purpose of life is not just a growth in acquisitions and positions the purpose of life is growth in wisdom and devotion that we learn more and more about the nature of life in this world and we learn to love Krishna while living in this world so how does everything that i experience that i see that matters to me how can that be connected with Krishna that is the inquisitiveness of a devotee that how can this be connected with Krishna what is Krishna trying to teach me through this how can i serve Krishna in this situation what scriptural truth is being demonstrated through what is happening in my life how can i deepen my wisdom and my devotion through whatever i am going through in my life so when we have this learning disposition then we can actually steadily keep advancing in our spiritual life anasayoor anasayoor means that person is not envious envious and amogh vaak mogh means means useless amogh means not useless vaak is speech so amogh vaak means that one does not talk uselessly so what does useless talk refer to there is so much talk about about mundane mischief about mundane gossip oh this person did that this person has an affair with that person and this person is going to do that and that person has done that gossip is a huge business for materialistic people so a devotee does not get involved in gossip gramya vartana suni be gramya vartana kahi be essentially when you give instructions this is the first thing he says don’t talk about mundane topics don’t hear mundane topics so that is definitely true and the same point is reiterated over here what we talk about what we hear our consciousness gets entangled in that and once our consciousness gets entangled in that we get entangled in it and if we don’t want to get entangled like this we need to avoid talking about it because talking does get trigger our consciousness in that direction quite often we talk something we think about it before we are talking we think about it while we are talking and we think about it after we are talking of course if our talk has been careless then all the more so we need to talk to maybe make up for the mistakes that we might have committed in the talk or we need to talk to rectify the damage that have been done so in general a devotee keeps speech reserved reserved moderate not that a devotee doesn’t talk but we moderate our speech that means we observe just like a moderator who ensures that things don’t go wrong oversees things we have to become the moderators of our own speech so moderate means that it doesn’t go to we oversee and moderate also means balanced it doesn’t go towards extremes so it’s not that a devotee has to be oblivious of everything material no we have to be aware of material things if we are living in the material world but we don’t have to become obsessed by those things our thoughts and our descriptions don’t have to become consumed by worldly things and that balance is sought and achieved by understanding how to live according to scripture by seeing living examples so we are aware of the world but we are not consumed by the world and in this way this is how a devotee should live in a balanced way while pursuing spiritual advancement