Bhagavatam-daily 172 – 11.10.14 – Don’t let variety become the mother of illusion

Thank you Srimad Bhagavatam 11th 11th canto discussing Uddhava Gita chapter 10 Uddhava is instructing Krishna Krishna is instructing Uddhava after having on the topic on the topic of the nature of fruitive activities after having earlier given the instructions of repeated the instructions of Brahmana who Sridhar Swami says is the Tatra so 11 10 14 athaisyam karmakartrunam bhoktrunam sukhadukhayo naanatvam athanityatvam lokakalagam atmanam athaisyam karmakartrunam sudhas bhaujhulu karma bhoktrunam sukhadukhayo naanatvam those who seek to enjoy pleasures and space naanatvam athanityatvam so naanatvam they look at the varieties of material the varieties that are present in material existence nityatvam lokakalagam atmanam that lokakalagam atmanam means that there are these people who think that nature of the living entity is to live within material existence and thus stay trapped over here and thus they stay trapped over here lokakalagam so Krishna is basically describing the path of karmakantra he is talking about vishwanath ji says that Krishna is referring here to the teachings of karmanamamsa given by the sage Jaimini and his followers so after establishing the siddhanta of bhakti after talking about the transcendence of the living entity now Krishna is expressing how this transcendence is to be this understanding of transcendence is to be protected from various misconceptions so one of them is the idea that performing rituals is itself what one needs to do so athyesham karmakartrunam bhoktrunam sukhadukhayo thus those who are doing karma they get caught they are having the desire to enjoy bhoktrunam and they get sukhadukhayo different kinds of misery this is actually similar to bhagavad gita 13.22 that krishna says purusha prakriti sthohi bhunte prakriti jaan gunan karanam gunasangosya sada sadyoni janmasu he says that bhunte here is bhoktunam same point enjoying desiring to enjoy and then sada sadyoni janmasu which is there soul means good and evil and here it is sukhadukhayo happiness and misery this is another so what happens to such a soul nanatam nityatam lokakalagam atmanam now anatam in this world there is so much variety and that variety promises pleasure now there are saying that such a variety is the mother of enjoyment however while this is at one level true because when we are doing one thing and we all feel the need for a change ya i need a break i am just fed up now i have done this for a long time now i am fed up so we are not robots who can just keep doing the same activity continuously all the time we need breaks so in that sense variety is a natural human need and after doing one activity we feel ok i want to do some other activity now of course while there is variety variety is a natural human need and at the level of the soul it is fulfilled because the soul serves Krishna in various ways there are various kinds of activities various kinds of reciprocations in the spiritual world also and there are even in our sadhana stage there are various ways in which we can engage ourselves so now variety is natural variety is a natural human need and it is actually fulfilled at its fullest level at the spiritual at the devotional level in the variegatedness unlimited variegatedness that is there in Krishna’s many manifestations and the many ways in which we can serve him at the same time the variegatedness at the material level while it is a reflection of the variegatedness at the spiritual level it is also this variegatedness is also a source of temptation and illusion while we need change to get a break to get relief to get rejuvenate ourselves which is fine but change the need for change if it is if it is endlessly pursued without due diligence in any one particular thing then we become merely chasers of external new things who never get any real lasting pleasure because we do one thing and then we feel this is nothing special so let me look at something else something else interesting and then we go to that and then that its interest also goes away after some time so like that we just keep hopping from hopping like a monkey like monkey does from one branch to another so like that we go from one activity to another attracted by this variety and there is no end to it and especially in today’s times when there is so much temptation available all around us so many tempting objects are made visible right in front of us through the media so much variety is there practically in every single activity there is so much variety it just complicates the mind if you want to purchase a some cell phone even if it is a we want to publish it or purchase it for functional purposes not just show or prestige purposes but still there are so many varieties and it sucks the mind and similarly if you want to purchase a toothpaste or a shirt or a piece of cloth or a gadget or whatever there are so many varieties available which actually complicate the not only complicate life but it also agitate us inordinately making us feel that we will get pleasure if we just make the right choice but actually yes there may definitely may be better choices and worse choices at the material level but we need to remember that we shouldn’t have over expectations from our material choices thinking that because I chose that my life is ruined and if only I had chosen that my life would have been perfect no certainly some material choices some wrong choices can make our life worse and some material choices can make our life better but nothing can ruin no material choice can ruin our life and no material choice can make our life perfect because both illumination and perfection are impossible utter illumination and utter perfection are impossible at the material level the soul is eternal and the soul’s capacity for consciousness the soul’s capacity for activity the soul’s capacity for experiencing loving reciprocation with Krishna that can never be ruined and similarly nothing can give lasting satisfaction so nothing is perfect knowing this we can avoid becoming unduly agitated by material variety and focus on spiritual truth and not let our consciousness get caught in the material