Bhagavatam-daily 265 – 11.12.22 – The Bhagavatam’s sophisticated analogies provide intellectual absorption in Krishna

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Variety 11-12-22 here Krishna and the Buddha is continuing to describe the 24 elements of material nature sorry the tree of material existence and he is developing the metaphor of the tree further so here is said every tree comes from a seed so this tree has two seeds these seeds are the pious desires and the impious desires sometimes in some other metaphors this metaphor comes repeatedly of the samsara the material existence as a tree so other places it is said simply that desire itself is the tree for is the seed of this material existence in the Bhagavad Gita the Acharya has explained that 13.22 the soul situated in material nature desires to enjoy the products of material nature and thus needs a good and evil in this world so there the Acharya has explained that this verse points to the bija of the samsara the samsara that is described in the 15th chapter that bija is the desire to enjoy so just as a seed gives rise to a tree eventually similarly the desire to enjoy a tree of material existence so that same point this metaphor is being substantially developed over here so rather than talking about just one seed here two seeds are being talked about because we see in the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita that is the Jnana section and the Jnana section focuses on how desire is a source of bondage and so desire should be given up now Bhakti develops this understanding further and says that yes yes the desires do cause bondage and they need to be given up but it is not that all desires cause bondage, it is material desires or selfish desires that cause bondage and selfless desires actually promote liberation so now when we consider our actions in this world this Bhagavatam metaphor of the tree develops this point that we can even act in this world by which we can get good fruits and ultimately transcendental fruits so therefore there are instead of talking about one Bija two Bija are talked about over here and now a seed develops two ways upwards and downwards you could literally say like that the seed downwards its roots grow and upwards its trunk and the remaining tree grows so here it is said that from that mentality of piety or impiety innumerable desires develop, so those desires are like the roots and then the tree is classified into its lower into the section of the trunk on the lower side and the section of the trunk on the upper side so the section of the trunk on the lower side are considered to be the three modes and the upper trunk which divides into branches that is called a shakha the shakha, pancha shakha is compared with the principal material elements the gross material elements and then further it is pancha skanda then pancha rasa prasuti now if you skanda is like more the trunk so not exactly the branches skanda is the trunk so that is the material elements from the material elements the sense objects are connected with them, they are manifested with them so pancha rasa prasuti so it is said that the five sense objects emerge from the tree it produces five flavors and then it has 11 branches these are the 11 senses, the five senses, the five knowledge acquiring senses and the mind Krishna also uses this figure 11 where it says indriya, dasha, kamcha pancha chendriya, gocha, raha in 13.6 in 13.56 when Krishna talks about, or rather 6-7 when he talks about the analysis of material existence, where he says in 13.6 he talks about indriya, dasha, kamcha there is 11 11 elements, 11 senses, so these are compared here to the branches of the tree and now in a tree bird, often birds are seated, so here there are two birds so now this two birds metaphor harkens back to the Upanishadic metaphor of two birds sitting on a tree, so we see a very sophisticated development of the metaphor over here where the tree metaphor and the bird metaphor are both developed and integrated and now it is said the tree is covered by three types of barks and those barks are the kapha, kapha kapita which comprise the body and then on this tree two fruits come again those fruits are happiness and distress and this dvipalok, dvipalok, dvipalok arkam pravishtha, this tree is not a small tree, it extends far far into the sky right up to the sun arkam pravishtha so here we see the sophistication of the bhagavatam in terms of how a particular metaphor is developed elaborately and the purpose of such metaphorical analogical presentation is to convey in a concrete way concepts that are abstract concepts that are not easily perceivable we can perceive through such developed metaphors and as we contemplate and appreciate these metaphors our intelligence also gets used in at one level understanding our medical existence and thereby getting the intellectual impetus to disentangle ourselves from it and secondly to also engage the intelligence in devotional service because this is a message coming from Krishna so we are not just getting some intellectual gratification by using the intelligence to understand the sophisticated metaphor but we are also by studying Krishna’s words we are worshipping him we are serving him as Krishna has said in the Bhagavad Gita that in 18.70 he states Krishna says they are worshipping me with their intelligence so that is the same thing which applies everywhere to other things also and Krishna is speaking here sophisticated metaphor and by contemplating this metaphor we can understand our predicament and gradually by purifying ourselves by hearing Krishna’s message and by enhancing our intellectual conviction by contemplating on the message we can gradually distance ourselves detach ourselves disentangle ourselves from the medical existence so the intellectual engagement is two fold the connection with Krishna because it is Krishna’s message and the contemplation on the content of the message which helps us understand and disentangle ourselves and in this way we can become purified and know who is Krishna