Bhagavatam-daily 183 – 11.10.25 – Infatuation with gratification induces oblivion of impending tribulation

Thank you 25 here the nature of pleasure in the heavens is being described by Krishna to Uddhava sthree bhi kaam gyaane na sthree bhi with heavenly moon kaam gyaane na ga means to go kaam means desire so kaam gyaane refers to the vehicle that can move according to one’s desire taking one wherever one wants one wants kinkini jaale maalina and the airplanes are decorated with tinkling bells that evoke sweet soothing mesmerizing sounds kreedan and one delights in this way na vedatma patam na ved one does not know one does not realize one doesn’t contemplate on atma patam one’s own imminent fall down surah kreedeshu nirvritah surah is the devatas kreedeshu refers to the pleasure gardens nirvritah being engaged in being engaged in delighting in the heavenly gardens with celestial women in planes planes that move according to one’s desires and produce melodious sounds one gets so absorbed that one doesn’t realize that I’m going to fall soon when my accumulated pious credits are getting exhausted and when they get exhausted then I will fall so here a fundamental nature of the human mind to eternalize the present is being talked about in this world what people think of as pleasure is often a forgetfulness of the emptiness of life when people go and say watch a music program where bang bang noisy jolting music or you go and watch a movie where boom boom bang bang all sorts of jolting violences there then people after watching they say maza aagey enjoyed it their conception of enjoyment is something that makes them forget the boredom and the emptiness of their lives so if it doesn’t joy them adequately then even while hearing the music or watching the movie if their thoughts go back to their normal life then they still feel bored still feel agitated still feel unhappy so their conception of happiness is simply being able to forget the emptiness and the unhappiness of their daily lives and if some external stimuli can make them do that they forget they forget the external forget the emptiness and unhappiness of their lives and they think that that itself is pleasure however the problem is one is that some people in order to get such pleasure such pleasure to escape from the misery of this world they go about seeking such pleasure and the other is that when people are getting such pleasure at that time they forget other reality so in that sense just like if people are enjoying a lot the more we get a particular enjoyment the more we start thinking that we are entitled to that enjoyment and the more we expect that enjoyment to be there and the more we don’t think that there might come a time when this enjoyment may not be there for me this is often a problem of entitlement especially say children who are born to parents who are well to do they often have a disproportionate sense of entitlement wherein they feel my parents must give me this and this and this and this too and they throw tantrum whenever they don’t get they are not given such things so the point is again that when one gets absorbed in enjoying something then one forgets that time is ticking and that whatever I am enjoying right now I will not be able to enjoy for very long and in this way when the phase of enjoyment ends it comes as a big jolt a big shock and it becomes like from a dream suddenly one gets transported to nightmare so that’s what happens to the people who are in heaven that they are so caught in the dream like enjoyment this is the stuff of fantasy, stuff of dream to have beautiful women around oneself and then you will think that okay traveling around is enjoyable going to see new sights, new places but then often traveling involves labor there are inconveniences and the routine problems that come while we are traveling to some place the planes or the trains are late and sometimes facilities are not available but imagine if somebody has a flight that moves as one desires the flight moves then the scale of enjoyment that will be available will be so great and yet what is stated here is that the more captivating the enjoyment the more deluding is the forgetfulness that is caused by that enjoyment and then the great more devastating more agonizing more mortifying is the loss of that pleasure so one doesn’t think that oh this heavenly delight pleasure is going to end sometime and the soul who is enjoying a dream like existence in heaven suddenly finds the soul when the time swing gets over in heaven cast out of heaven fall back to the earth now someone may argue that isn’t it that even in bhakti we try to forget everything else by absorbing ourselves in Krishna so what is the difference and even in bhakti we may say that the more we forget the inanity of daily life by absorbing Krishna the more fully we consider that as an experience in devotion yes that may be a criteria but bhakti also provides this positive pleasure the pleasure of bhakti is not just the forgetfulness of material world that it brings about but also that it brings about a tuning of our consciousness to perceive spiritual reality and to channel into the unlimited happiness that is available at the spiritual level and most importantly the spiritual level is eternal and by the practice of bhakti we can eventually come to a level of eternal happiness so it’s not the happiness of bhakti is not the happiness of forgetting material life it is the happiness of activating our spiritual nature and thereby relishing everlasting happiness and when we practice bhakti in this world and sometimes even in bhakti we may also experience very fulfilling moments we participate in some kirtan we hear some really enriching class we delight in seeing extraordinary beautiful darshan and there also we may not be aware that this time is passing that okay I have so many things to do in life and although I would love to just continue to absorb myself in Krishna I will have to do other things also we may not realize it at that time but every moment that we absorb ourselves in Krishna it is not that that moment is gone after it is gone that moment goes not away forever it goes deep into our consciousness and becomes a part of our memory even without conscious it becomes etched into our subconscious and it keeps prompting us don’t look for these temporary in the future even if you are not consciously aware of it that the subconsciously etched impressions keep prompting us for looking for something more looking for something higher looking ultimately for Krishna and of course if you consciously cherish them so much the better so although at one level at the present material level of existence even our experience of spiritual happiness is temporary but that those temporary experiences they propel us towards towards following the process by which those experiences will become eternal for us we will attain eternal level of existence and there the ecstasy of devotion the ecstasy of absorption of Krishna will become eternal so rather than forgetting worldly pleasure forgetting ourselves in the illusion of worldly pleasures we can cherish we can strive to observe ourselves in the ecstatic spiritual happiness of Krishna consciousness thank you