Bhagavatam-daily 198 – 11.11.03 – Be not self-conscious or Maya-conscious – be Krishna conscious

Thank you Vidya Vidya Mamathanu Vidya and Vidya both of these are my creations Mamathanu Vidya Uddhava Shariranam Uddhava know that Vidya these are what connect with and affect the Shariranam the embodied living entities Moksha Bandhakari Yajna and Moksha Bandhakari so the Vidya Shakti causes bondage and the Vidya Shakti grants liberation Mayyame Vimirmite these are both thus done by my Maya Mayyame this verse shifts the focus of the sadhaka away from both the Jeeva and the Maya that means sometimes sadhakas may focus too much on themselves and think that oh I have to make efforts only if I make proper efforts will I be able to overcome illusion and if I overcome illusion then I will attain liberation but if I am not able to overcome illusion then I cannot attain liberation and in this way I will stay bound so this is the eye centered focus on spirituality where one thinks that it is my endeavors that are important oh I have fallen to illusion how foolish I am I have come out of illusion how intelligent I am so it’s eye centric vision and the other is the Maya centric vision oh Maya is so powerful oh it is so deadly it is so dangerous, so precious where will I possibly come out of Maya when we focus too much on how powerful and how dreadful Maya is then we become our consciousness becomes Maya centered and that also is undesirable so we need Krishna centered consciousness and Krishna centered consciousness comes by the practice of Bhakti so here although the topic is going to be an analysis of the modes right from the beginning Krishna is repeatedly stressing that this is his energy it is his energy and recognizing that it is his energy enables us to not get either to eye centered or Maya centered we need to be self aware in the sense of being aware that we are souls, spiritual beings we are temporary bodies which have their own rise and we also need know that this world is a place of Maya where things are not the way they appear to be but beyond that the primary focus of our awareness needs to be Krishna because it is Krishna who is the master the lord who is our lord and he is also Maya’s lord and it is this Krishna who by whose sanction we go into illusion and by whose grace we come out of illusion so that that that both Vidya and Avidya the illumination that comes through knowledge that illumination is a benediction of Krishna and that enables us to move onwards towards liberation to make choices towards liberation and conversely bondage is caused by our coming under Avidya, ignorance ignorance can refer either to ignorance of our own identity ignorance of our relationship with Krishna ignorance of the true nature of the world and its sense objects and all these forms of ignorance can and they will entangle us and the way out for us is by focusing on Krishna so what does focusing on Krishna mean in the sadhana stage sometimes sometimes we become too self-conscious and we become negatively self-conscious and we mistake it to be humility that means I am so fallen, I have so many deficiencies, I have so many faults I have so many problems and because of such thoughts we stay trapped in self-consciousness although we may think that this is humility essentially it is self-consciousness and further it is negative self-consciousness and such negative self-consciousness keeps us entangled in material existence in contrast when we focus on Krishna and we try to serve Krishna then we think in a situation how can I remember Krishna, how can I serve Krishna, how can I move closer to Krishna then that helps us to make healthy choices to make choices that are focused on Krishna that are based on the strength derived by remembrance of Krishna, strength derived by the inspiration to serve Krishna that comes when we strive to remember him and thus it raises us up so although Krishna will give in this chapter a substantial analysis of how the modes function, how the modes delude and how one can go beyond the modes right at the start Krishna is stressing that this is ultimately his energy and Vishwanath Chakrathakurna’s commentary mentions that there is Vidya, Avidya and Pradhan are three energies Pradhan is of the Lord there are different different frames of reference by which different energies of the Lord are analysed in different ways so the Pradhan is what ensures the creation of the material manifestation the Avidya manifests the Avidya causes the living entity to become entangled in material existence and the Vidya leads to the liberation of the living entity from material existence and in this way all these three when we understand are connected with the Lord and that inspires us also to maximise our connection with the Lord and by such maximising our connection we can move towards transcendence steadily so in the Bhagavad Gita’s first 14th chapter also where there is analysis of three modes similarly Krishna begins by focusing on him that he says mamayo nirmahad brahma that it is I am the Suryan father the Brahma the Mahadhyoni that is my my material nature and I am the father so like the Bhagavad Gita here in the Uddhavita also Krishna gives us a a devotional focus for the analysis of Sankhya for the analysis of the Gunas by which we go through which we cut through the illusion not just by determination by determination of analysis but by the devotion of the heart and that will indeed be the conclusion of the Uddhavita also as we will see in due course Thank you