Bhagavatam-daily 196 – 11.11.01 – Our subjective perception is not the objective reality

Enlightened to understand Krishna as the Supreme Lord. Thank you. So here Krishna begins answering Arjuna’s, Uddhava’s questions which were raised in the conclusion of the previous chapter and those questions primarily centered on the three modes, understanding how one is bound, understanding how one can be liberated, understanding who is bound and who is liberated.
So here Krishna starts by focusing on universal philosophical perception not subjective individual perception and the objective philosophical perception is that none of us are actually bound. So Bhaddamuktaiti Vyakhya, Vyakhya can sometimes refer to definition and sometimes refer to designation. So here it refers to designation.
So these are bound and conditioned are designations. Gunatome Navastutaha, Gunatome. These are actually coming from the Gunas which are me, which are from my nature.
Krishna will specify that in the third line. Gunatome Navastutaha. Navastutaha means there is no factuality to them.
So Krishna says that these are that the conceptions of being bound and liberated are external designations that are acquired by the soul under illusion. But in actuality the soul is neither bound nor liberated. Gunasya Maya Moolatvaan.
Gunasya Maya. So in fact what to speak of the designations coming from the modes, the modes themselves they are coming from Maya. Moolatvaan.
So the origin, the cause is Maya. And Name Moksho Nabandhanam and there is neither bondage actually nor liberation as is my position. Name Moksho Nabandhanam.
Name Moksho. Just as I don’t get bound or I don’t get liberated. Similarly the living entity being transcendental like me is also not bound or liberated.
This is quite a significant statement and if you look at the Bhagavad Gita itself we will find that in one of its sections in 13th chapter, 13th point is 28 to 35 especially there in verses like 29, 30, 31, 32 where or even before that from 13.13 to 18, 19 the description which is given whether it applies to the soul or the super soul that is usually not decidable in the sense that the different Acharyas give different opinions about it. They take different positions and both positions are defensible because whatever characteristics are described by Krishna over there they can apply to the soul and they can also apply to the super soul. What this essentially implies is that actually we as souls are not bound in actuality.
It’s a matter of conception. Now our perception. Now that brings us to the question that if we are not actually bound then do we not have to strive for a process of liberation? Then can we just wish away our bondage? Not exactly because the objective reality is not our subjective conception or subjective experience of reality.
So we need to follow a process so that our subjective experience of reality harmonizes with objective reality. What this means is that the subjective experience of reality is not something which we can deny at least not at our stage of perception. We may intellectually deny it but conceptually or practically or emotionally or practically it is very much going to be there and we can’t wish it away.
So we will all have to deal with each issue individually just as a person who sees a mirage in a desert cannot wish away the mirage merely by desiring to do so. I don’t want to see the mirage. Intellectually one may understand that ok.
We may understand that ok the mirage is a falsity. If we are educated about the nature of perception in desert we will know that the mirage is an illusion. But still that does not mean that we will not see the mirage.
And that does not mean that if we keep seeing the mirage we will not get deluded. Certainly the delusion is going to happen if we persevere in trying for the perception. If we persevere in seeking to find out what exactly happened or what it actually is we should need to see not with our subjective perception based on our current level of consciousness but we should need to strive for objective perception based on philosophical education and that perception often centers on not indulging too much in sensory perception.
So if a man looks at a beautiful woman and thinks that oh this is actually just skin deep and below this there is just flesh and intestine and blood and other stuff which is not attractive. This sort of analysis is not going to work because the counterfactual intellectual when the sensory and the intellectual perceptions are opposed to each other if we expose ourselves to sensory perception repeatedly then the sensory perception will in general conquer the intellectual perception. Krishna says, he talks about from Dhyayato Vishayan Pumsa 2.62 to 63 he says from Dhyayato one will fall down to Buddhi Nashad Pranashyati.
Smriti Brahmashyad Buddhi Nashad Buddhi Nashad Pranashyati. So the memory will be destroyed, the intelligence will be destroyed and one will fall back. So essentially the point is that actually there is no solution to this confusion to this overall messy situation in our condition states.
So just as even if one philosophically understands that there is no water in the mirage that the pleasure of good looking sense objects is illusory still if one keeps exposing oneself to those perceptions then they will deteriorate and destroy the intelligence. So similarly in our condition stage although it is objectively true that the pleasures of this world are illusory that the conditioning by the modes is illusory and that we remain transcendental but still we live in this world and we can’t move around with our eyes closed and because we move around with our eyes open so we are prone to fall into illusion and that’s why we need to always be alert and to reinforce our perception to rectify our perception using scriptural education but sometimes if the illusion seems to be too strong and we seem to be succumbing repeatedly to the illusion then at that time if we become discouraged thinking it will never be possible for me to go beyond the illusion of the modes then we can remember actually I am inherently beyond I am inherently transcendental and therefore it’s definitely possible for me to go beyond the modes if I just come out of this illusion by following the process of bhakti yoga diligently and thereby becoming purified of the conditioning of the modes.