Bhagavatam-daily 169 – 11.10.11 – Spiritual curiosity changes the default object of our consiousness

Thank you therefore one should do jijnasa about atmanam about the supreme lord atmastham kevalamparam who is situated within ourselves atmastham kevalamparam who is pure who is transcendental sangamya nirasedet and sangamya we go close to him by realization and nirasedet nirased means we go away from or give up vastbudhyam yathakramam vastbudhyam thinking that material objects are the reality that they are the buddhi that considers material objects to be vastu yathakramam progressively so the verse means that in this therefore by inquiry we should approach the supreme lord who is situated within ourselves who is transcendental who is and by approaching whom we can distance ourselves from the mentality that accepts the material world material reality to the ultimate reality and we can do this change progressively yathakramam tasmaj this text starts with therefore so what does this therefore refer to actually in the previous text it has been mentioned that the soul is different from the body this says the fire is different from the wood in which it burns and we should focus on the fire we should focus on the spiritual essence not the material appearance and then it is said in the last verse that by illusion the soul becomes bound by knowledge the soul becomes liberated and both come from the supreme lord so now here it is said therefore one should inquire about the supreme lord this is similar to which comes in the first aphorism or is also similar to inquire about the truth now in the spiritual path the progress comes by progressive interest in Krishna and progressive disinterest in the material world and this progression of interest in reality and disinterest in the world this happens by the process of redirection of our of our consciousness so by understanding that there is a spiritual substance beyond material appearance we can become more inquisitive what is that spiritual substance atmastham kevalamparam so Krishna is present in our heart as atmastham as the indwelling super soul kevalamparam he is transcendental and he is pure we as souls are also pure at our core and we are also transcendental and of course we are also there within our body atmastham we could say the difference is that we are anu where as supreme lord is vidhu and he is the source of enlightenment for us so tam eva vidvanati vityumeti nanya pantha vidyate ayanaya vishwati state that tam eva atim vityumeti that when we know him we know that absolute truth then tam eva vidvanatim vityumeti one can go beyond vityu nanya pantha vidyate ayanaya there is no other pantha there is no other path for scaling across material existence nanya pantha now what is essentially being stated here is that we do not simply avoid having an object for our consciousness you know we are a subject and we all need an object without we are the subject we are the person who is conscious we simply need an object for our consciousness and in this material world the sense objects become the immediate objects for our consciousness because they look attractive they seem pleasurable and they also seem available we are the material level of consciousness and objects are also the material level of consciousness just feel that if i make some arrangements maybe earn more money develop a few contacts develop some communication skills whatever i do certain things and then these sense objects will be available to me and then i will enjoy them irrespective of whether we get the sense objects or not they remain the objects of our consciousness and that means we keep thinking about them we keep obsessing over them we keep fantasizing about them when will we get to enjoy them and we keep lamenting about when we don’t get them and in this way we stay trapped so the way out begins by objecting to having the sense objects as the objects of our consciousness or as the primary objects of our consciousness why do we need to object because we understand that these cannot provide lasting satisfaction they are external to us their appeal is material and the material the pleasure that they can provide is temporary therefore if we want to fulfill our longing for lasting happiness we need to redirect our consciousness from the material level to the spiritual level so the whole process of purification means that we redirect our consciousness we change the objects of our consciousness so who is the sense objects if they are the objects of our consciousness then we become attached to an intangible existence the sense objects exist at the material level and attachment to them causes our consciousness to stay stuck at the material level and consequently we also stay stuck at the material level of reality if you want to rise to a higher level then we need to raise our consciousness from the material level to the spiritual level and the best object of consciousness at the spiritual level is Krishna he is situated within our hearts as a super soul and yet he is completely pure we are overpowered by the moors but he is not and he is always transcendental and meditating on him gradually elevates us also to the transcendental level and that’s how we move from the material level to the spiritual level now the statement that is made over here is yatha kramam yatha kramam krama is step yatha kramam is step by step gradually the bhagavad gita also uses a similar theme and it says gradually step by step in 6.25 stages when we want to redirect our mind or fix the mind on the spiritual truth atma that time we have to do it gradually so gradually step by step with intelligence sustained by conviction atma samstham manah krutva atma samstham fix the consciousness ornery soul and do not contemplate in the anything else so similarly here it is said that tasma jijnasaya atmanam so the redirection of our consciousness the changing the object of our consciousness focuses begins with jijnasaya begins with enquiry think ok we have to ask ourselves this question what is the object of consciousness that will provide me lasting satisfaction i am so attracted to say sense objects may be attracted to food somebody may be attracted to tv somebody may be attracted to novels somebody may be attracted to sex objects whatever it is is that is getting those objects going to give me lasting satisfaction if not and the answer is not because these objects can give us temporary pleasure and that too after we get those objects we may not always get them even if we get them they may not live up to our expectations even in the short run what to speak of the long run so therefore is there an object of consciousness that will give us lasting satisfaction if there is an object like that what is that object and how can we attain that that inquisitiveness is the womb of our spiritual birth and growth by which gradually we will be able to give up material existence and we will attain transcendental existence