Bhagavatam-daily 227 – 11.11.33 – The glorification of devotion is not a denigration of reason

Thank you 11 11, 33 Gyaatva Gyaatva Thayevayi Maam Yaavan Yashchasmi Adrushaham, Bhajantya Nanya Bhavena, Teme Bhakta Tamama Tahaam Gyaatva Gyaatva Knowing me, knowing or not knowing Yevayi Maam they know me Yaavan Yashchasmi Adrushaham as I actually am Bhajantya Nanya Bhavena but if they worship me with undistracted devotion, with pure devotion Teme Bhakta Tamama Tahaam that they are the topmost devotees Bhakta, Bhakta Tara, Bhakta Tama, so Bhakta Tama is the superlative, is the highest superlative like good, better, best, best is the highest superlative, Bhakta Tama they are the highest devotees, who? so the criteria for devotion is not knowledge but purity of love Krishna says that Gyaatva, Gyaatva they may know about me, they may not know about me so this does not mean that the devotees are ignorant about the object of their devotion certainly those who love Krishna know about Krishna, there is no doubt about it but what they know about him varies from person to person what varies from person to person the different devotees may be of different intellectual levels and depending on individual intellectual level a devotee may have a different level of knowledge about Krishna and with that level of knowledge when they try to practice Bhakti, it is the critical thing is not how much knowledge they have but how pure their devotion is in fact the most important thing is to recognize that Krishna as it is said, even in worldly relationships, Krishna doesn’t care how much we know, Krishna knows how much we care, so it applies in relationships also especially between some kind of teacher-student, people don’t care how much you know, people know how much you care, so especially if a teacher-student relationship is to be transformational in terms of the teacher inspiring a transformation in a student, then the student should, the teacher should have a heart that cares and with that heart that cares when the teacher speaks a message then the student feels inspired to change not just because the message intellectually prompts one to make such a change but also because the concerned, compassionate committed heart of the teacher that expresses itself through the teacher’s speech that heart triggers our heart into action that inspires us to want to reciprocate so Krishna, Prabhupada loved Krishna and Prabhupada loved all those who were interested in Krishna and he wanted all of them sincerely to rise to the level of loving Krishna and so he inspired them to practice bhakti and he empowered them creating permeations similarly share Krishna’s message with others so now the problem is that we often, especially if we have intellectual nature then we get an intellectualized conception of bhakti wherein we believe that unless a person is a that person cannot give us deep insights about Krishna and we thereby see devotees through an intellectual filter and those who are devotees whose intellectual capacities do not seem impressive they do not pass through that filter and then we consider them as not so important devotees and of course the human mind can also go to the other extreme where one may become an anti-intellectual and one may start thinking that just because somebody does a lot of intellectual analysis that means such a person is a gyani and by hearing from such a person I too will become a gyani so therefore better to not hear from that person let me hear from someone now this sort of attitude may well be because not because we have a spontaneous attraction for devotion but because we have a natural laziness for exercising our intellect often in material life when we have to learn a new gadget when say our company decides to shift to a new software we are there are so many situations where we don’t need to exercise our intellect and we don’t become lazy at that time we do whatever it takes and yet when it comes to exercising our intelligence for Krishna’s service we often become lazy that is because the mind has a tendency to want to rationalize its shortcuts with a higher cause with a more selfless noble and good cause basically the mind wants to be bad while putting on a good mask for the world’s sake therefore we should avoid jumping to instinctive conclusions based on statements like this one instinctive conclusion is to if we are intellectual to reject devalue or minimize devotees who do not seem to be very intellectually impressive and the other extreme is to reject as gyani type those devotees who are very intellectual the key thing is not whether a person is intellectually impressive or intellectually apathetic the key thing is whether one is devoted to Krishna one is oneself absorbed in the message of Krishna and wants to share that message with others if a person is doing that eager to share Krishna’s message with others that person whether intellectual or not is a serious devotee and is well on the path to becoming a very advanced pure devotee in due course so in this context when Krishna speaks to Arjuna his emphasis is to that we focus on the essence of devotion it’s a glorification of devotion is not to be taken as a denigration of reason but rather the reiteration of the centrality of devotion to everything including reason that means that a devotee if one has the intellectual faculty use it to serve Krishna if one doesn’t have the intellectual faculty then you serve Krishna with whatever one has and so just as Krishna may say elsewhere that just offer me a leaf flower fruit or some water this does not mean that Krishna is condemning the wealthy if one has wealth wonderful one can offer wealth but one doesn’t have to postpone one’s bhakti till one adds wealth or one should not think that because I don’t have wealth to offer so I cannot practice bhakti now we all can practice bhakti whatever be our situation and understanding this is central to be able to persevere on the devotional path in all situations so that is the message of Krishna that whatever we whatever a person has material doesn’t have materially don’t bother including something which may seem to be spiritually positive like intelligence like knowledge just focus on the essence of devotion and for the pursuit of devotion use whatever one has