Bhagavatam-daily 55 – 11.07.45 – Light within the purifying flame of devotion

That goes far beyond the temporary worldly successes in this world thank you here the abdhut brahmana is telling maharaj yadu what he learned from fire agnivad just as a fire burns everything away fire in the vedic context is considered sacred and whatever is put in fire fire doesn’t become contaminated rather that particular object becomes incinerated burnt destroyed and that object is contaminating the contaminating object gets destroyed but the fire remains pure so just as fire can remain pure amidst contaminants also similarly here it is said that that actually the saintly person is a fulgent being illumined by the power of tapasa and because of regularly performing austerities the person is illumined by knowledge, illumined by detachment, illumined by purity, illumined by devotion so the when the person eats that just to say just to fulfill the belly which a person needs and when eating like this sarvabhaksho pi yuktaatma sarvabhaksha a person eats only for satisfying the belly and then if by the arrangement of destiny sometimes some contaminate food comes the way of such a person yuk api sarvabhaksho pi yuktaatma which a person still stays yukta well connected how because because there is no attachment the inappropriate food is eaten not because of any desire for enjoyment but because circumstantial that is all that is available and the saintly person is not concerned not worried too much to distract oneself from one austerity just to arrange for some food so therefore whatever is circumstantially available the saintly person takes accepts that and continues with the life of austerity and in this way remains unaffected just as fire is remains unaffected by putting contaminant in it now actually regulating our food intake is very important for spiritual advancement firstly if we commit violence to other living beings by killing them then definitely that is very undesirable that is not only karmic it is also spiritually degrading it it spiritually dumbs our consciousness so that we can’t perceive the higher truths of life and even if we don’t take non-vegetarian food even if we take vegetarian food still if we are not offering the food to krishna then that all that food will cause us karmic bondage so devotees take vegetarian food offered to krishna now the best food is that which is actually made by grains which have been cultivated by devotees which is transported by devotees which is cooked by devotees which is served by devotees and honored by devotees now we may not have this kind of ideal situation at all and all that we will be able to do is probably offer the food so sometimes even the offering may not be proper now can we also take circumstance as a justification for eating whatever is available even if it is inappropriate not exactly because we have to check honestly whether we are tejasvi tapasadi so whether we have led a life of austerity and are illumined by wisdom and devotion from within if we are illumined that way if we have the fire of devotion strong enough that it will burn away all impurities then we may eat some inappropriate food and it will not affect us so shila prabhupada when rikesh prabhu was he told at that time the soviet block the and preach so he said prabhupada there is no vegetarian food available over there so prabhupada cut through his reluctance and said eat meat but preach so now you’re shocked now the initiation vav is no meat eating and here is the spiritual master is telling eat meat but preach what does it mean the point is not that prabhupada wanted devotees to eat meat but the point was that one should not give excuses for not preaching so prabhupada expressed his desire intense desire for the sharing of krishna consciousness by giving the extreme example of if this is what it takes to share krishna consciousness do that you can even eat meat so it’s not meant as an instruction to eat meat nor is it meant as a concession which can be standardized but rather it’s an expression of the unrestricted unfettered enthusiasm for prabhupada for sharing krishna’s message and love with the world prabhupada himself wrote that when he went to america he was not sure whether he would get proper food in america he carried some stocks with him in jalduta he would cook for himself there also but when he went to america he did not know whether proper vegetarian food offered to krishna whether he could arrange for that in america but by krishna’s mercy and prabhupada’s sincerity they were able to arrange that so that was a proposal given a global community where we do have the opportunity to practice bhakti and to become elevated to become attracted to krishna again and to again decide accordingly what is the best thing to do so so when we were we have to take some inappropriate food we have to ask ourselves actually whether i am leading a life of austerity and whether this is simply for survival yes a devotee should not take non-vegetarian food devotee certainly should not take meat but if a person is dying in a desert and the only food available is meat then the human form of life being more capable of spiritual realization which is the ultimate purpose of life human form of life is more suited for that ultimate form of life than the animal form so in an emergency only when it is a matter of life or death for a human form an animal form for serving a human body animal body can be sacrificed that is an extreme situation and that also can be done if we are living the life of austerity but in general the more we practice a life of regulation the more we can have connection with krishna so in krishna consciousness we focus not just on abstaining from food bhakti culture involves prepare taking in a good amount of effort to prepare good food offer it to krishna and take that food so we are not deprived in that sense we can relish delicious food but we need to remember we have come to bhakti not just to relish delicious food but we have to come to relish the sweetness of krishna bhakti the sweetness of selfless service to krishna and that taste far supersedes the taste of good food so krishna is so kind that he fulfills he satisfies our taste buds also while we are trying to connect with him but if we make satisfaction the taste buds our primary goal within devotional life then we will get distracted from krishna while keeping krishna our goal and we can regulate our food according to how we can best serve krishna and in emergencies if we have to eat inappropriate food if our focus is on serving krishna then we will be purified we will not be affected will not become contaminated by that food just as fire has not become contaminated but more important than highlighting the exceptions we need to highlight the standard that there needs to be a strong blazing flame of devotion burning within our heart which can burn away not just the contaminants that have come because of eating inappropriate food but also the contaminations that are already present there because of our past misdeeds and it is that blazing flame of devotion in the heart that