Bhagavatam-daily 263 – 11.12.20 – Let perception of variety enhance appreciation of its one source

Shrimad bhavatam 11, 12, 20 ayam hi jeeva tri-vidabdhya yonir avyakta eko vayasa saagyaha ishvishyu shaktir bahudeva bhaati jaan yonin pratipadyaya dvaad here Krishna is explaining the non-difference of himself with his with the manifestation in material nature so he is stating here the example is vijam yonin pratipadyaya dvaad the earth is the source in which when different seeds are sown different manifestations come out similarly ayam hi jeeva is tri-vidabdhya yonir so there are three modes of material nature and then there are various living beings innumerable living beings in fact in this material nature avyakta eko vayasa saagyaha so they manifest in this world and their ultimate source is one that is the supreme lord so the basic metaphor is that just as in this world different seeds when sown in the same soil, same earth give rise to different grains and various manifestations various kinds of trees, shrubs, herbs grasses like that from the one supreme lord the variety of material manifestations takes place so here the oneness underlying diversity is emphasized it is conveyed it is stated that we normally see the variety in things so somebody has a new dress somebody has a new car, somebody has a new mobile that catches our attention and that is to some extent natural because as it is said variety is the mother of enjoyment so we naturally look for variety variety attracts us both ways we have a tendency to be attracted to variety and things which are new things which are various which vary from other things so they have a tendency to attract they have a capacity to attract us also Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita that the attractive potency of attractive things comes from him in 10.41 he states yad yad vibhutti mat sattvam shreemadur jitame bhava tat tadevabhavacchatvam mamate jyomsya sambhava he says that all, know that all of them beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of my splendor so that is that verse talks about how within the immanent manifestation how we can see the immanence of Krishna within the manifested things of this world immanence means God present in nature, transcendence means God present beyond nature so at one level if we have a philosophically informed vision then with the bhakti eyes we can see Krishna’s manifestation, Krishna as manifested even in the attractive things of this world so the variety itself rather than distracting us from Krishna by captivating us we can see the variety as manifestation of Krishna’s all attractiveness and thus even the variegatedness can take our consciousness towards transcendence but beyond that the variety in this world is material and we to be able to see the one all attractive source beyond the attractive variety of this world we need to also understand that this variety is not the ultimate reality this means the material variety is not the ultimate reality the material reality is temporary material reality is eternal because matter itself is also, material forms are indestructible matter itself is manifest and unmanifest so here that visual that capacity to see beyond the variety of this world to see their one source that is being stressed by giving us the philosophical background for this for developing this penetrating visual it’s like we may see an artist and that artist may write may draw various kinds of paintings or if we have author that author may write in various genres so author is versatile author may write there are two broad categories of writing, fiction and non-fiction but then within each of these within fiction there is historical fiction there is romance fiction, there is adventure fiction there is suspense fiction there is philosophical fiction religious fiction so a versatile author can write in various genres within fiction category within non-fiction also there is travelogues there is there are articles, there are essays essay type writing, then there is creative non-fiction and there is manuals which is basically more of how to writings so there are so many different kinds of writing both fiction and non-fiction and a person might get caught up in the diversity of the subjects this book has that book is about that subject but if we can see beyond the diversity of those subjects which are covered in the various books to the commonality of their source to their understanding then we can say oh! same author has written so many books in so many subjects awesome how phenomenally learned and expert this author must be so at one level appreciating the various books on various subjects is good but appreciating the author by connecting the variety of the subjects with the phenomenal intellectual and literary capacity of the author that will increase the appreciation of the author much more similarly when we see the varied manifestations in this world if we understand that ultimately they are all manifesting by Krishna’s arrangement yes there may be some specific mechanisms by which certain things manifest but ultimately those mechanisms are arranged by Krishna and in that sense we see the amazing variety in the various attractive things in this world and we understand oh! all these are coming from that one supreme person how astonishing let me devote myself to that that supreme person how magnificent how stupendously talented and capable and attractive this supreme person is so by seeing the source of all the diversity by connecting the variety to its source by seeing that the variety is not existing by chance but has come by the arrangement of the source and thus appreciating the wisdom and the brilliance of that source we can ensure that our perception of material variety does not in and of itself captivate us but it becomes an impetus that appreciation of material variety becomes an impetus for our enhanced appreciation of Krishna as the source of all this astonishing