Bhagavatam-daily 211 – 11.11.16 – The equal vision is principle-centered, not pleasure-centered

Thank you Krishna is continuing to describe the characteristics of a liberated soul and here he describes in terms of responses to the events of the world the sage who is of course in this context is the word used to refer to a self-realized person so samadran dran is a variant here of druk, drishti samadran is one who has equal vision so one who has equal vision can act with a principle centered focus in this world when we have a pleasure centered focus a pleasure centered vision then we cannot see equally we will essentially see how this thing gives me pleasure and that thing doesn’t give me pleasure in fact that thing gives me misery so this thing is welcome and that thing is horrible I want to get rid of that so in general the important thing for us to recognize is that this pleasure centered vision will never allow us to become steady because the world is a place of duality and in a place of duality we can never get pleasure steadily in fact at best we will get pleasure occasionally so for example if we are expecting honor in some circles we will be honored, in some circles we will be not cared for much in some circles we will be even dishonored so that’s just the way the world is and similarly if we just even we even if we somehow even if say somebody is a dictator who is the controller of the whole land and doesn’t have to go out of that land so everybody in that land is respecting that person but even for such a person even if temporarily that person has such power by which there doesn’t seem to be any duality but still there are people who are opponents elsewhere and they will still be threats and even within that period one may be able to temporarily remove one kind of duality and keep only the positive side but how long will that be ultimately we the weather for example how much can we control that sometimes it will be rainy season, sometimes it will be winter and even if we use air coolers or room heaters or whatever sometime or the other when we move out we will be exposed to the weather and the duality we cannot the effects of duality we cannot escape entirely so if we have a pleasure centered vision then we will always be unsteady and we are always prone to be jolted to be dismayed to be even devastated by the way events turn out but if we have a principle centered vision so principle centered vision means different things for different levels of people but for a transcendentalist especially a devotee transcendentalist the principle centered vision means that the devotee sees constantly everywhere everywhere with the intention of serving Krishna and a devotee is equi-poised in the sense that devotee sees in every situation I am a servant of Krishna and I want to serve Krishna now of course in certain circumstances there will be greater opportunity to serve Krishna and the devotee will welcome that situation and in certain situations there will be lesser opportunity to serve Krishna and the devotee will endure that so naturally if a devotee gets a greater opportunity to serve Krishna there will be some happiness naturally because the devotee feels that Krishna’s message will go to a greater number of people Krishna’s mission will spread further whatever it is specifically with respect to the specific service for which one is getting greater opportunity but the point is it’s not that in the name of bhakti in the name of equal vision one has to become emotionless it’s simply that one has to become not so one has to become purposeful once we become purposeful principle driven then it doesn’t matter what situation we experience and what emotion that situation induces we are our determination remains strong of course the way we express the determination will vary according to the specific situation we are in sometimes even devotees may choose a strategic retreat say for example Srila Prabhupada was sharing Krishna consciousness in India and he was not getting much response so it is not that Samadrun means that even if nobody comes still I will keep sharing Krishna consciousness in the same place no that’s not necessary actually speaking we can share Krishna consciousness the purpose to share Krishna consciousness and the purpose is yes that whichever way one can best share Krishna consciousness that’s what one should do so it’s not because of duality or because of being affected by duality that Srila Prabhupada decided that oh I will not I will not do outreach in India I will go to America no his purpose was to try to share Krishna in the best possible way and we shouldn’t think of the natural desire of a devotee to reciprocate with Krishna in terms of material duality if if there is a greater service available if a devotee has a greater opportunity to bigger service at one place and lesser service at another place then the devotee is not affected by material duality oh there are more people coming for my lecture there and less people coming here the number of people who are going to hear me is not the important thing for a devotee but the important thing is oh how many people can come closer to Krishna so if the small number of people are suppose very influential people in society and they can do a lot for Krishna’s mission then the devotee may well choose that small number even if that small number is not just small in quantity but also somewhat skeptical in quality because sometimes elite people they also have their own preconceptions and they may not be very submissive so it takes much it takes a substantial amount of time to persuade them still the point is that na sthuvit na nindet kurvatah sadhva sadhuva so here specifically it is said that a devotee does not observe good and bad in this world without getting affected now here specifically it is said that a devotee may observe people doing good and bad things and doesn’t criticize or praise them now isn’t a devotee meant to educate yes a devotee will educate for those who are seeking instruction, seeking guidance but there is no need for a devotee to invest consciousness in criticizing or praising things that are not relevant for a person so for example if we have a service of commenting on commenting on social events then reading the news and commenting on them makes sense but if that is not connected in any way with much of our service then investing our emotion investing our attention and when we speak about that either in a positive or negative way we were investing our audience emotions and audience actions or audience time also so that is not really necessary so the point here is that a devotee is not governed by material conceptions in responding to material situations the devotee responds according to time, place, circumstance but the time, place, circumstance response is there but internally the motive is how can I best serve Krishna and this way the devotee maintains samadran means an equal visual in all situations