Bhagavatam-daily 6 – 11.06.45 – How devotion rises from unsteady to spontaneous

Thank you Krishna Bhagavatam 11.645 Uddhava is continuing to express the intense devotion of his heart to Krishna to substantiate his fervent call my dear lord please don’t leave me please take me with you so he is saying that what is the condition of a devotee he has said that actually I cannot live without you even for half a moment my dear lord so when one is lying down when one is sitting when one is standing so basically our body has these three positions it lies down sits or stands of course there is walking in between but that is also done while you are standing and I am taking bath when we are doing various activities taking Krida especially means recreation so it is not that a devotee doesn’t do recreation but even while doing recreation the devotee is remembering Krishna asana, eating, tissue and other such activities how can at such a time you who are extremely dear to the devotees how can he be how can the devotees give you up how can the devotees live without you so now for us often the question is how can we think of Krishna constantly and Uddhava being an exalted devotee is thinking how can we live without thinking about you so this is our sad predicament right now because for us often the attempt to remember Krishna is something which is a instruction which we are trying to follow it is not a spontaneous movement of our heart towards it but we can understand that’s what Uddhava is saying to some extent by looking at how people are mad for so many things in this world sometimes there are people who are cricket fans and then you know for them you could say sayasana, atanasthana kridhasanasthana adishu sasnana, kridhasana, adishu actually with all these activities they are thinking oh you know if only this batsman had hit the shot like this then we could have won the match oh if that bowler had only bowled like this it would have been so good oh just see how he hit that sixer constantly thinking about that and it’s almost like whenever we are attached to something then there is a automatic or a mental auto-replay button that is there which just keeps going on, rewinding the same tape again and again and of course we can also get a glimpse of this by a glimpse of the principle of attachment by considering how our mind goes to sense gratification even when we are in holy places, even when we are in a temple sometimes we think more of sense gratification than about Krishna who is present as the deity in the temple so of course this indicates, at one level it indicates that we are so fallen but at another level it just indicates the power of the principle of attachment that when there is attachment one can think of things which are completely opposite to what one’s surroundings are, radically opposed to so if we just focus on the principle not the specific we can understand then how a devotee can be doing various activities and because there is attachment to Krishna the devotee can always be thinking of Krishna and the wonder of the process of bhakti is that it actually transforms our heart and redirects our love from this world towards Krishna so Bhaktivinoda Thakura prays in a Vaishna song that my dear lord with whatever intensity my mind is attracted to sense objects let it become attracted to the same intensity towards you now this is a beautiful prayer and it actually shows how we can spiritualize, krishnaize, devotionalize even the very discouraging fact of the intensity the ferocity of our attachment that means rather than becoming disheartened I am thinking of Krishna my mind goes so forcefully towards sense objects what can I do, how can I ever become advanced devotee instead of thinking like that you should think what force attachments have if only I can develop such attachment to Krishna how wonderful it will be so whatever be the event that happens either externally or internally as devotees we need to be expert at interpreting it in such a way as to make it as to make it as a source of increasing our inspiration for bhakti so even the thoughts that go away from Krishna even those thoughts they can stimulate our thoughts to go towards Krishna the thoughts that go away from Krishna means that we observe in our mind our consciousness, our thoughts almost spontaneously going towards sense objects but rather than getting carried away by that, getting discouraged by that getting carried away means we get infatuated and think that oh I have to indulge in some radical getting discouraged means we start thinking this is the way I am, I am never going to change how can I ever become a devotee so instead of either of these responses we can actually have a detached response where we see this is bad, this is the principle the power of the principle of attachment and if only I can have that kind of attachment for Krishna and then we can see how at present also we may be having some activity in which we may have a strong attachment for Krishna we may take darshan of the deities or hear some kirtan or recite some verses or hear some devotees classes and read some shastra and just get absorbed in that find out how Krishna may be providing a facility for us to become spontaneously attracted to him even at our present level of devotion and if we can dovetail that facility we can capitalize in that facility, capitalize not in a materialistic sense but in a spiritual sense Prabhupada said devotees are spiritual opportunists that means if we find that there is some way I can become strongly attracted to Krishna then we develop that nourish that, see there is a gift for Krishna and that way whenever we have some free time we immediately start doing that activity so if we like to recite verses then we memorize verses or keep recording of verses or keep cards of verses with us and whenever say there is a moment’s pause or there is some little moment where we are free then immediately we give the mind facility and the push to go towards Krishna and by this we show Krishna our desire to think of him constantly and over a period of time when Krishna sees our sincerity and our diligence if we really want to do it and we are ready to keep doing it no matter even if it is difficult then by that he will give us mercy and by that he will be able to actually also come one day to the stage of being constantly attracted to Krishna and of wondering how can I live without Krishna not how can I always think of Krishna we think how can I live without thinking of Krishna one day the process of bhakti if we apply systematically to it it will take us to that level thank you