Bhagavatam-daily 21 – 11.07.11 – When there’s no impurity, right action comes spontaneously, not intellectually

Thank you with the intelligence understanding that something is faulty ubhaya atito ubhaya means to atito, one who has gone beyond there are two things that something is good and something is bad one who has gone beyond such considerations of good and bad nishedhan nivartate so it is not because of that that such a person avoids nishedhan nishedhan means that which is forbidden in the scriptures nivartate means to desist, to not do so it is not because of the scriptures forbidding that a person does not do such things rather gunaguddha and similarly gunaguddha chavihitan and guna that which is good so it is not because vihitan means without it it is without using the intelligence to understand that something is good that the transcendent soul does it nakaroti so it is not that he doesn’t do the good thing the purpose for doing the good thing is not because of thinking that it is good but yatharbhaka arbhaka means a young innocent child so just as a child especially if a child is born virtuous then the child spontaneously does the right thing and avoids the wrong thing similarly here it is said that the soul who has transcended material dualities does not do bad or avoid good the transcendental soul still does good and avoids bad but the reason is what spontaneous natural innate like a child’s choice a child does not have to reason to decide what to be many times a child is considered to be a symbol or personification of innocence and sometimes great saintly people are also said to be childlike childlike refers to the innocence childish refers to frivolousness foolishness immaturity so the two are quite different so saintly people are not childish but they are childlike they are innocent so here Krishna is addressing the query in the mind of Uddhava that if somebody is to see everything equally good and bad equally then what would cost a person to avoid good and do bad to avoid bad and do good naturally it’s not that Krishna wants to give instruction that will make people do bad and avoid good then what does it mean so there is the reasoning faculty which is very important for us to transcend the mind’s instinctive impulsive and often harmful likes and dislikes so Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita in 3.43 that situate yourself on the spiritual platform with your intelligence so use your intelligence and then in this way you can conquer lust so similarly comes over here so intelligence is important in the spiritual path but actually intelligence which we use to reason what is right and what is wrong is required because there is some wrong reasoning going on within us which either makes us do wrong or at least confuses us about what is right and wrong and that wrong reasoning is done by the mind but once we have transcended actually transcend essentially means that the mind is no longer contaminated by the modes because the modes they are present in the external world and they will be present in the external world even for a pure devotee but from the outer world the modes don’t enter into the mind and contaminate the mind of a pure devotee and because of that the pure devotee does not have any wrong inclinations induced by the modes and that’s why the mind does not have any misleading nature and that’s why reasoning is not required reasoning intellectual processing conscientious careful deliberation before making one’s decision is not required because the soul’s natural goodness spiritual transcendental virtuous nature manifests through the purified mind so we need at our stage intellectual conviction to stop and silence the mind stop means not make it do something silence means to make it quiet also so now in general purification means that the mind accepts that something is impure and is undesirable and then after that we don’t feel the desire for it also say for example some of us may have eaten meat in our pre-devotional days now if we are travelling in a train or a plane and a neighbour starts eating meat most devotees will not feel tempted by that because prasadam has given such a wonderful higher taste that now one no longer feels tempted by the meat so here there is no reasoning required there is no guna dosha mudhaya there is no conscientious deliberation of the intelligence to require to know meat will cause bad karma,meat involves violence to others,meat is this,forbidden by scripture or whatever,scriptural reasons non-scriptural logical reasons or a combination of scriptural logic,none of this is required because the mind has already accepted that it is wrong and therefore there is no desire itself and actually at this level when one is that level is a joyful level of bhakti so when the effects of the lower modes vanish then proceed one becomes joyful because there is no resistance to the right decisions to the decisions of devoting oneself to Krishna,there is no inner resistance and at our sadhaka stage so much resistance is there for doing our devotional activities and for abstaining from worldly activities and so much of our energy goes in fighting against that resistance and breaking through that inner resistance so if in spite of having this resistance we still get some taste in bhakti we can just imagine when that resistance is no longer there how much more taste will come so we can also from this meditation get hope that there is much more higher taste available in bhakti ahead for us and right now let me not succumb to the mind’s likes and dislikes let me use my intelligence conscientiously to choose what to do and what not to do and especially the more I expose my mind to Krishna the more it will become purified and then it will no longer be allured by the wrong choices and when it is no longer allured by the wrong choices then without even conscientiously intellectually contemplating I should not do this because scripture says don’t do it I should do this because scripture says I do it we will do the right thing simply because it is the nature of the soul to do the right thing and because the soul naturally expresses this love for Krishna through doing the right thing and the soul naturally relishes Krishna’s love that manifests when we lovingly do the right thing and in this way the spontaneous devotion life of spontaneous devotion manifests and enriches our life and preparing and elevating us for a continued similarly spontaneous and ecstatic life of eternity with Krishna in his supreme abode