Bhagavatam-daily 23 – 11.07.13 – Philosophy deepens our intellectual absorption in Krishna

Krishna Bhagavatam 11.7.13 but in this way he was instructed Bhagavata by the supreme lord Mahabhagavata that great devotee he was a Mahabhagavata Uddhava okay Shukadeva Swami is speaking to Parchit Maharaj and Uddhava so Uddhava offered his obeisances Tattvam Jikhyansa Achyutam Tattvam Jikhyansa he was indeed inquired he was inquisitive about Achyutam from the infallible lord so now Tattvam Jikhyansa is defined in the Bhagavatam as the purpose of human existence in the section on divinity and divine service in the second chapter of the first canto it is said so 1.2.10 the purpose of Jiva’s existence is Tattvam Jikhyansa the inquiry about the truth now we need to inquire about the truth because what appears at first glance to us as truth is not actually the truth no the body seems to be our natural identity at first people refer to us by our body name we feel hurt when the body gets damaged so at first appearance it will seem as if I am the body but when there is deeper reflection then I understand that actually this body is dead unconscious and I have consciousness there is no part of the body that can produce consciousness because all the body is made of unconscious matter therefore I must be different from the body so this sort of Jikhyansa is required to understand the Tattvam that which is the truth so otherwise what we learn is not the truth but just appearance of truth and though we may learn a lot about the appearance and we may even acquire some good working knowledge yes if there is a ditch over here I need to know and the appearance is there true I cannot deny what appears to be true there are some cases also gives reliable knowledge but even in the field of science atheists often try to use science to justify their atheism to justify their belief in the non-existence of God by saying seeing is believing so show me God otherwise why should I believe in but that science which atheists misappropriate to propagate their ideology of atheism that science also advances by looking beyond appearance for some underlying substance now Newton saw the fruit falling and Newton did not see the law of gravity per se he looked at the visible fruit and from there he inferred at one level at the material level of reality what makes this fruit fall and that’s how he came to understand the law of gravity so in any field of inquiry even material fields of inquiry if one wants to understand deeper truths one has to do tattva jignasa which means one looks beyond appearance to what underlies the appearance what makes things appear the way they are what makes things work the way they are so this tattva jignasa when directed in the spiritual realm takes us ultimately to the param tattva that is Krishna so that tattva in the Bhagavatam when it uses the word tattva jignasa the next verse after that says what is the tattva that brahman, paramatma and bhagawan are the manifestations of that tattva and these three manifestations are non-different so the highest understanding of course is the bhagawan understanding so in this way we get this understanding by practicing by actually doing serious tattva jignasa and tattva jignasa is not just a one way process where we inquire and try to go beyond appearances actually we also need guidance of those who have seen the tattva vatattva darshina as the Bhagavad Gita 4.34 those who are tattva darshina those who have seen the truth those who have seen the truth even now and Krishna uses the plural for them so that means there is not just one guru from whom we should hear we will have many seers many spiritual guides and we can hear from them and gradually enrich our understanding because we may understand different features of the same truth by hearing from different seers who illuminates different perspectives so of course here Krishna is achyuta, he is infallible he has the complete perspective of everything and by inquiring from him uddhava will get his tattva ji ki aasa fulfilled so in one sense for every scripture there is a circumstance circumstantial setting and there is a existential seeking so the circumstantial setting of uddhava gita is that Krishna is going to depart and Kali is going to take control of the earth and what to do for that for dealing with that circumstance Krishna has already told and in one sense there would have been no uddhava gita if uddhava had been satisfied with just that circumstantial guidance of course even that circumstantial guidance Krishna gave profound philosophy but still the uddhava gita would have ended by this point 10 verses from the previous chapter and 12 verses from this chapter the whole uddhava gita could have ended in 22 verses but it goes on for over 1000 verses because uddhava knows that the lord has given concentrated instruction and he wants further elaboration tattva ji ki aasa now uddhava himself as it is said there seems to be a paradox over here he is mahabhagavata so now why does a mahabhagavata need to do tattva ji ki aasa you might think that tattva ji ki aasa is something which a sadhaka needs to do one who is just a beginner on the bhagavata marga no actually even one who is a seer even one who is a bhagavata at that time that person sees tattva ji ki aasa not just as a means to know the path but it is a means to know the glories of the one who resides at the end of the path and the glory of that one actually enriches the heart with supreme joy so he is inquiring ultimately about the glories of the supreme lord and this is just to increase his conviction his remembrance, his devotion and his absorption the bhagavata also describes that actually the advanced devotees they also discuss about krishna machitta madgata prana bodhayanta parasvaram kathiyamitashyamamityam tushyantichramanticham so now the pure devotees exchange talks about krishna and we can understand their relation tushyanti, they get great satisfaction ramaniti, they delight in it, but then one word significantly is bodhayanta so they say they enlighten each other now krishna those who are absorbed in krishna, in the previous two lines machitta madgata prana their consciousness is fixed in krishna they have devoted their life to krishna, so krishna is talking about very exalted souls over here then what need do they have for enlightenment aren’t they enlightened already so how can they be enlightened by others the point is that even enlightened souls find krishna’s infinite glories enlightening because krishna is infinitely sweet and though they have relished krishna’s sweetness much much more than all of us but still krishna’s sweetness is far far greater than what they have relished also and that’s why when other devotees describe how they have relished krishna’s glories, then these devotees also feel enlightened and in that way the devotees increase, enrich enhance their appreciation for krishna, their devotion for krishna, their attraction for krishna, their absorption in krishna so here uddhava is going to make this profoundly philosophical enquiry so uddhava gita as we move forward we will see that it is a devotional book but there is also lot of philosophy in this book, the purpose of the philosophical discussion is to increase the devotional absorption and we should not dismiss philosophy as something non-devotional or pre-devotional actually philosophy for a devotee is through and through devotional because the philosophy is the way a devotee increases one’s appreciation of the glories of krishna and thereby increases one’s devotion to krishna and this is what uddhava is enquiring from krishna and this is what when we study philosophy we should also see the philosophical study as an opportunity to increase our devotional conviction and our devotional absorption in krishna thank you