Bhagavatam-daily 308 – 11.13.41 – Enlightenment is not just accepting the reality of the spiritual but also accepting its primacy

Thank you Krishna is speaking to Uddhava and he is describing the conclusion of the narrative about the Kumaras so in this way when I spoke to the Kumaras Sanaka and others they became free from all doubts their doubts were destroyed and they started worshipping with devotion so the conclusion of enlightenment is shown to be devotion the Kumaras had a personal conception that after they received instruction from the lord their conception changed from impersonal to personal and with that change in conception they started worshipping the supreme worshipping Krishna wholeheartedly and that is what we all should aspire for in our lives so we may or may not have had the kind of impersonal conceptions that the Kumaras had but we all start with certain conceptions and those conceptions may have certain components that are unfavorable for getting a understanding of Krishna and they may have certain components that are unfavorable for getting an understanding of Krishna so we have to adopt the policy of so for example if we come from a scientific background then the idea of doing an experiment of trying it out that is there very much in science although of course particle physics the experiments become very difficult and very expensive and very complex like we have the Large Hadron Collider which tries to detect subatomic particles by causing them to accelerate to phenomenal speeds at prodigious costs but either way the point is that sciences have an experimental component quite prominently to it and Bhakti Yoga is also experimental or more precisely experiential it offers us experience of higher reality by enabling us to connect with Krishna and we can use that experience to move onwards in our spiritual life because we can with a mood of open minded adventure try out the process of Bhakti to see what results it gives at the same time science often has a great reliance on empiricism and that also needs to be dealt with so that is not favourable because if you want to see everything empirically yes we can see transformation in people but beyond that we can’t see the soul per se at least not at our sensory level at our level of consciousness so an over reliance on the empirical is sure to be counterproductive moving onwards we can consider what exactly it is that is in our specific case of beliefs our specific set of conceptions what it is that attracts us to those conceptions and then we can see how that direction, that particular attraction can be redirected towards the Bhakti wisdom in that way we can move onwards in our life so the principle which we are discussing here is that we have to raise our conceptions from wherever they are presently to Krishna and for that we can use the policy of anukulyase sankalgo pratikulyase varjanam so the kumaras didn’t have to be told oh don’t get caught with material things you know material enjoyment is not the goal of life they were not laboring under conception as Krishna talks about in the Bhagavad Gita in 16.12 when he talks about godless materialists, the demoniac so they were not they did not have that particular problem so they already accepted the existence of spiritual reality and not just the existence of spirituality but the primacy of the spiritual realm as the defining reality as the fundamental reality that enables one to move forward in one’s life as the ultimate goal of one’s life but their misconception was about the nature of that reality and Krishna addressed that through a series of questions and meditations or reasonings so here they came after this discussion to the conclusion that Krishna is the absolute truth and worshipping him devoting oneself to him is the highest reality so if we can move onwards in our life with the understanding that this Krishna whom we aspire to love it is Krishna who is after many lifetimes those who perfect their knowledge come to an understanding of Krishna as the be all and end all of everything so in our present set of conceptions so now for example in India somebody may come from a background of demigod worship so now within that what is favourable is the culture of puja the culture of maybe doing some pratha the culture of worshipping a higher reality and also doing it in a way that is more or less similar within the broad Vedic tradition and in a way that is similar to the worship of Krishna that particular cultural component is favourable now the notion of worshipping a particular deity instead of Krishna that may be unfavourable so we decide the unfavourable and accept the favourable similarly with respect to other things that is with respect to if somebody is coming from a Christian background then the antipathy against deity worship because of the idea of not worshipping a graven image that is unfavourable and that antipathy should be given up but the idea of monotheism of faith in one god that is usually favourable and that can be accepted so in this way we can not that we have to reject our whole previous worldview but we use the principle of pushing forward the favourable and pushing away the unfavourable to propel our understanding towards the understanding given by Krishna in scripture

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

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.13.41 Iti me chinn sandeha munaya sanakadaya sabha jeetva paraya bhaktya grunat samsthavai In this way, iti me chinn sandeha Krishna is speaking to Uddhava and he is describing the conclusion of the narrative about the Kumaras So, in this way, when I spoke to the Kumaras sanakadaya, sanaka and others chann chinn sandeha they became free from all doubts their doubts were destroyed and they started worshipping with devotion So, the conclusion of enlightenment is shown to be devotion The Kumaras had an impersonal conception but after they received instruction from the Lord their conception changed from impersonal to personal and with that changed conception they started worshipping the Supreme worshipping Krishna wholeheartedly and that is what we all should aspire for in our lives So, we may or may not have had the kind of impersonal conceptions that the Kumaras had but we all start with certain conceptions and those conceptions may have certain components that are favorable for getting an understanding of Krishna and they may have certain components that are unfavorable for getting an understanding of Krishna So, we have to adopt the policy of anapulya se sankalpa prati kullya se varjanam So, for example, if we come from a scientific background then the idea of doing an experiment, of trying it out that is there very much in science although, of course, particle physics the experiments become very difficult and very expensive and very complex like we have the Large Hadron Collider which tries to detect subatomic particles by causing them to accelerate to phenomenal speeds at prodigious costs but either way, the point is that sciences have an experimental component quite prominently to it and bhakti yoga is also experimental or more precisely, experiential it offers us experience of higher reality by enabling us to connect with Krishna and we can use that experience to move onwards in our spiritual life because we can, with a mood of open-minded adventure try out the process of bhakti to see what results it gives at the same time, science often has a great reliance on empiricism and that also needs to be dealt with so, that is not favorable because if you want to see everything empirically yes, we can see transformation in people but beyond that, we can't see the soul per se at least not at our sensory level of consciousness so an over-reliance on the empirical is sure to be counterproductive moving onwards we can consider what exactly it is that in our specific case of beliefs our specific set of conceptions what it is that attracts us to those conceptions and then we can see how that direction, that particular attraction can be redirected towards the bhakti wisdom and in that way we can move onwards in our life so, the principle which we are discussing here is that we have to raise our conceptions from wherever they are presently to Krishna and for that we can use the policy of anukulyase sankalgo, prithikulyase varjanam so, the Kumaras didn't have to be told oh, don't get caught with material things you know, material enjoyment is not the goal of life they were not laboring under conception as Krishna talks about in the Bhagavad Gita in 16.12 when he talks about godless materialists, the demoniac so, they were not they did not have that particular problem they already accepted the existence of spiritual reality and not just the existence of spirituality but the primacy of the spiritual realm as the defining reality as the fundamental reality that enables one to move forward in one's life as the ultimate goal of one's life but their misconception was about the nature of that reality and Krishna addressed that through a series of questions and meditations or reasonings so here, they have come to the they came after this discussion to the conclusion that Krishna is the absolute truth and worshipping him devoting oneself to him is the highest reality so if we can move onwards in our life with the understanding that this Krishna whom we aspire to love it is Krishna who is Vasudev Sarvamiti Om Namah Shivaya after many lifetimes those who perfect their knowledge come to an understanding of Krishna as the be all and end all of everything so in our present set of conceptions so now for example in India somebody may come from a background of demigod worship so now within that what is favorable is the culture of puja the culture of maybe doing some vrata the culture of worshipping a higher reality and also doing it in a way that is more or less similar within the broad Vedic tradition and the way that is similar to the worship of Krishna that particular cultural component is favorable now the notion of worshipping a particular deity instead of Krishna that may be unfavorable so we decide the unfavorable and accept the favorable similarly with respect to other things that is with respect to somebody coming from a Christian background then the antipathy against deity worship because of the idea of not worshipping a graven image that is unfavorable and that antipathy should be given up but the idea of monotheism of faith in one god that is usually favorable and that can be accepted so in this way we can not that we have to reject our whole previous worldview but we can use the principle of pushing forward the favorable and pushing away the unfavorable to propel our understanding towards the understanding given by Krishna in scripture thank you.