Bhagavatam-daily 284 – 11.13.17 – Beware of the sense objects to which you are attracted and those which are attracted to you

Thank you Canto, the consciousness, the mind is attracted to the sense objects and the sense objects are attracted to the mind, the consciousness so how is one to give up these attachments one who desires to give this up how is that person to do that? often the caliber of the question indicates the caliber of the questioner so here we see the Kumaras on their behalf Seneca is asking and he asks here what is the way to go beyond the influence of the modes we see there are certain questions which are timeless so Arjuna has asked this question to Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, Uddhava has asked this question to Krishna in the Uddhava Gita and now Seneca is asking the same question to Krishna to his father Brahma in the Srimad Bhagavatam again and while the question has a common denominator that how does one go beyond the modes here Seneca adds a very significant detail he says that the mind is attracted to the sense objects and the sense objects are attracted to the mind now one thing is that it is easy to understand that the mind is attracted to the sense objects if we know say we have sweet tongue and we know that in the kitchen some gulab jamun is being kept yesterday there was a feast and some gulab jamun was being kept the first thought when we wake up the next morning is I want to eat those remaining gulab jamuns so although we are physically in our bedroom or somewhere else, our mind is already being dragged to the gulab jamuns of course such an attraction may not be very harmful an alcoholic mind getting attracted, dragged to a bar can be much more harmful but the underlying principle remains the same that the senses and the mind, now the senses and the mind they are all one unit they are attracted to the sense objects now here it is referred to as the mind rather than the senses because there is attraction to the sense objects even when there is no perception even when there is no perception at all still there is an attraction that results because of the presence of latent attachments, so the mind contains the images and the memories of the sense objects even when they are not being perceived directly there is a saying out of sight is out of mind well at one level it is true if we don’t see something we may forget it it may go out of our mind but that happens only when the mind is out of it that means to the extent the mind is free from attachment to that extent it is possible for the mind to move onwards towards Krishna and to the extent the mind is not free from attachment to that extent the mind will stay caught in material things so at one level we understand that the senses are attracted, the mind is attracted to the sense objects the mind and the senses so there may be perception which can kindle the attraction further but even without perception the attraction can be kindled based on just imagination now certainly this is one side of the story that the mind and senses are attracted to the sense objects but there is another side of the story the sense objects are attracted to the mind now you may say how does this happen? the sense objects are instantiate it’s not that the alcohol bottle comes into the mousse itself and comes into the mouth of the alcoholic, it’s not that the gulab jamun walks out of the kitchen and comes to the home so what exactly does this point about the sense objects being attracted to the mind and senses mean? now this is special among all the sense objects the sense objects connected with sex, a woman for a man a man for a woman, they are they are conscious, the other sense objects are not conscious, they themselves don’t have free will, they don’t get attracted to the person to the mind but the sense objects get attracted to the senses for example a man is attracted to a woman and the woman is also attracted to a man now sometimes this mutual attraction leads to romance and people think that we are in love till they come close to each other and then quite often they find that it’s an anticlimax their loved one was not all that they had imagined that person to be but still the point is that the sense objects are living when the consideration is of sexual attraction and thus the sense objects are attracted to the person, now in male-female interaction there is a significant dynamic, a man desires the body of a woman, a woman desires the desire of the man, a man feels that oh this form is so beautiful and enjoying it will give me so much pleasure, now the woman she is living with her body 24 hours a day she knows what that body is but still she knows that men become attracted to the body so woman is psychologically and socially trained and geared to use that attraction of men for the female physical form to attract them and bring them under control so a woman’s desire is for the desire of the man, that means when a woman sees that a man desires me she gets a sense of control, she gets a sense of power, oh this virile man is so strong but now my beauty is stronger still that he has come under he has become attracted to me and he has come under my control so a woman’s desire is for the desire of the man in fact many women they want to play around and just tantalize and attract men by the way they dress, they walk and then they leave the men hanging, they have no intention of pursuing a relationship with, a serious relationship with that man, they just want what they may call a double quotes friendship, in fact they don’t even want that they just want the desire of the man, that gives them a sense of power now of course you should never paint everyone in one category and there are cultured, sober women also who who want to live chaste lives and they don’t want to string men onwards or anything like that but this is general psychological principle, it’s not only women are to blame, men also they obviously are attracted to women, so when men are friends or objects for women, it is not only the women’s eyes are attracted to men, but even the men are attracted to the women so the principle is that it’s a very complex attachment where the senses and the sense objects are attracted to each other and this attraction is triggered by the moods, fueled by the moods, powered by the moods and how can one go beyond it, that is the question that is being raised over here and it’s a vital question whose answer we will all find empowering and illuminating and we will discuss that in our talks on future verses

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

So in Bhagavatam 11, 13, 17 Cheto, the consciousness, the mind is attracted to the sense objects and the sense objects are attracted to the mind, the consciousness So how is one to give up these attachments? One who desires to give this up, how is that person to do that? Often the caliber of the question indicates the caliber of the questioner So here we see the Kumaras, on their behalf Seneca is asking and he asks here, what is the way to go beyond the influence of the modes? We see there are certain questions which are timeless So Arjuna has asked this question to Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita Uddhava has asked this question to Krishna in the Uddhava Gita and now Seneca is asking the same question to Krishna to his father Brahma in the Sivan Bhagavatam again and while the question has a common denominator, that how does one go beyond the modes here, Sanak Kumar adds a very significant detail he says that the mind is attracted to the sense objects and the sense objects are attracted to the mind Now one thing is that it is easy to understand that the mind is attracted to the sense objects If we know, say we have a sweet tongue and we know that in the kitchen some gulab jamun is being kept yesterday there was a feast and some gulab jamun was being kept then maybe the first thought when we wake up the next morning is I want to eat those remaining gulab jamuns so although we are physically in our bedroom or somewhere else our mind is already being dragged to the gulab jamuns of course such an attraction may not be very harmful an alcoholic's mind getting attracted, dragged to a bar can be much more harmful but the underlying principle remains the same that the senses and the mind, now the senses and the mind they are all one unit they are attracted to the sense objects now here it is referred to as the mind rather than the senses because there is attraction to the sense objects even when there is no perception even when there is no perception at all still there is an attraction that results because of the presence of latent attachments so the mind contains the images and the memories of the sense objects even when they are not being perceived directly then saying out of sight is out of mind well at one level it is true if we don't see something we may forget it it may go out of our mind but that happens only when the mind is out of it that means to the extent the mind is free from attachment to that extent it is possible for the mind to move onwards towards Krishna and to the extent the mind is not free from attachment to that extent the mind will stay caught in material things so at one level we understand that the senses are attracted the mind is attracted to the sense objects, the mind and the senses so there may be perception which can kindle the attraction further but even without perception the attraction can be kindled based on just imagination now certainly this is one side of the story that the mind and senses are attracted to the sense objects but there is another side of the story the sense objects are attracted to the mind now when I say how does this happen the sense objects are instantiated it's not that the alcohol bottle moves itself and comes into the mouth of the alcoholic it's not that the gulab jamun walks out of the kitchen and comes to the home so what exactly does this point about the sense objects being attracted to the mind and senses mean now this is special among all the sense objects the sense objects connected with sex a woman for a man, a man for a woman they are conscious the other sense objects are not conscious they themselves don't have free will, they don't get attracted to it attracted to the person, to the mind but the sense objects get attracted to the senses so for example a man is attracted to a woman and the woman is also attracted to a man now sometimes this mutual attraction leads to romance and people think that we are in love till they come to know each other and then quite often they find that it's an anticlimax the loved one was not all that they had imagined that person to be but still the point is that the sense objects are living when the consideration is of sexual attraction and thus the sense objects are attracted to the person now in male-female interaction there is a significant dynamic a man desires the body of a woman a woman desires the desire of the man a man feels that this form is so beautiful and enjoying it will give me so much pleasure now the woman she is living with her body 24 hours a day she knows what that body is but still she knows that men become attracted to the body so woman is psychologically and socially trained and geared to use that attraction of men for the female physical form to attract them and bring them under control so a woman's desire is for the desire of the man that means when a woman sees that a man desires me she gets a sense of control she gets a sense of power this virile man is so strong but now my beauty is stronger still he has become attracted to me and he has come under my control so a woman's desire is for the desire of the man in fact many women they want to play around and tantalize and attract men by the way they dress, they walk and then they leave the men hanging they have no intention of pursuing a relationship with a serious relationship with that man they just want what they may call a double-course friendship except that they don't even want that they just want the desire of the man that gives them a sense of power now of course you should never paint everyone in one category and there are cultured, sober women also who who want to live chaste lives and they don't want to string men onwards or anything like that but this is general psychological principle it's not only women are to blame men also they obviously are attracted to women so when men are friends of objects for women it is not only the women's eyes are attracted to men but even the men are attracted to the women so the principle is that it's a very complex attachment where the senses and the sense of objects are attracted to each other and this attraction is triggered by the moods fueled by the moods powered by the moods and how can one go beyond it that is the question that is being raised over here and it's a vital question whose answer we will all find empowering and illuminating and we will discuss that in our talks on future verses thank you.