Bhagavatam-daily 88 – 11.08.04 – Use bodily energy to unlock consciousness from the body

Thank you 1184 1184 the brahmana is continuing to instruct Maharaja Yadu and he says pojaha is sensual power saha is mental power bala is physical power so physical power refers generally to the capacity to do activities of the body sensual power refers especially to the capacity for sense gratification and saha also refers to the capacity of mental energy sometimes we get mentally tired that’s why we don’t want to do anything so now when these energies are there normally people act so here the brahmana is telling that the person is equipped with all these three energies sensual bodily and mental and yet what happens vibhrath means one maintains one’s body without doing any activity shayano with a nidrash and lies down peacefully shayano with a nidrash so normally when we lie down we immediately go to sleep but here the contrast brings out the point emphatically shayano one is lying down but with a nidrash one is given up sleep one is free from sleep and nahi het means to endeavor one does not endeavor although indriyavanapi like we have bhagavan one who possesses opulence indriyavan means one who has senses that means one who has sensory capacity so normally in our material life when we have energy we are active we don’t have energy we lie down and go to sleep so here the renunciate’s action is described exactly the opposite he has energy but he doesn’t act and he lies down but he doesn’t sleep so using the energy to run around is indicative of the mode of passion and just lying down and going off to sleep is indicative of the mode of ignorance so this renunciate is free from both these modes so now when we say that a person is with a nidrash is free from sleep now does that mean that the person never sleeps no sleep is a biological necessity and to the extent that is essential that one does that but with a nidrash means one is not controlled by the mode of ignorance one is not controlled by sleep so normally for most of us if we lie down the first thought that will come in our mind is oh not the first thought but the first but it will be natural reflex action that we will start feeling sleepy it’s difficult to lie down and not sleep with a nidrash so yana with a nidrash indicates that the body’s urges don’t control or the body’s reflex actions don’t control the consciousness of the person we observe that when we lie down comfortably that it is an easy chair or it is on a bed then the the position of the body influences the disposition of the mind just by lying down in that position in that relaxed position we start feeling sleepy that is because the consciousness is at least at our level very strongly connected with the body and because of that the bodily position immediately affects our not just our mental disposition but also along with the mental disposition our consciousness itself because presently our consciousness is rooted primarily through the mind to the gross physical level so that’s why bodily postures are so important for us in our activities they are not all important but having an attentive bodily posture helps us to be attentive if somebody lies back on an easy chair and then crosses the leg and puts the leg on the desk in front and then puts the hand behind the head and then says I am very humble, I am feeling very humble but that bodily position will make the attitude of humility very difficult not just is the pose not humble for appearance for others but also the pose is very such that it is very difficult to feel humility within also so that is because at our level the body and the mind and the consciousness are so strongly connected but here the body and the consciousness are distinctly separated and that’s why the body is consciousness does not affect the body’s disposition does not affect the inner disposition within one does not sleep one is not under the control of sleep so sleep does not control a person as soon as one lies down and overall the point of the enunciate not eating not seeking for food and here also the point of the enunciate not acting not using the sense energies is that one has transcended the body so normally when somebody announces the world often people ask did you suffer some heartbreak in some relationship or maybe this person was a failure in life or maybe this person was an escapist so that’s why person couldn’t face the challenges of life and that’s why person chickened out and now became a renunciate but this is the at the start of this narrative also this point was emphasized by Maharaj Indra’s observation that this particular brahmana had bodily energy but still did not act and now what was observed and practiced about him by Maharaj Yadu is now being spoken as a principle by the Auspicious Brahmana and he says that he has bodily mental and physical energy and still that person remains akarmakam, he is indriyavan he has senses but he does not engage the senses so this is especially a challenge for a person who is poor to say that okay I would enjoy wealth he never had any wealth to enjoy but somebody who has wealth and another person says I won’t enjoy the wealth that is renunciation similarly if somebody grows old and then cannot enjoy sense gratification that time say that now I will renounce sense gratification and there was nothing left really to renounce at that time but now say when we are young or when this person has the renunciate has sensory power and still renounces that is not just the evidence that one has transited the body but it is also evidence that one has a higher engagement sometimes some people renounce and then they make a show of renunciation because they still need gratification at the material level so they are giving a physical gratification to gain egoistic gratification see how renounced I am but in this case the the renunciate was adopted not even going around here and there exhibiting one’s renunciation just staying at one place people may not even come to know about such a person but that person doesn’t care so the principle that we can apply in our lives is that firstly we shouldn’t think that one takes a spirtual life when it is not good for anything in material life like for nothing in material life rather one takes the spiritual life not because one is good for nothing in material life but because one realizes that material life is good for nothing that means material life is ultimately frustrating so rather than wasting one’s energy on something which is going to be ultimately fruitless, the enunciate focuses on directing all of one’s energy towards the fruitful endeavor of developing oneself spiritually and relishing within spiritually. So, by this higher engagement, by this higher taste, one’s energies become channelized in a higher way and that’s why they are not engaged in a lower way. Similarly, we too can at our level not wait for the body to break down till we break with our efforts for bodily enjoyment.
So rather even now when we have energy, we turn that energy towards Krishna and we focus on loving and serving Krishna right now and that way because our bodily energy, our consciousness right now is very much attached to the body, linked with the body. So if we have bodily energy, then we can do a lot of service for Krishna also and by that our consciousness will also get connected with Krishna. When we don’t have much bodily energy in old age and if our consciousness is not being purified of bodily attachment, then at that time directing our consciousness to Krishna will also be very difficult because the consciousness will be locked with the body and the body is locked into inactivity.
So our consciousness will also get locked into inactivity. But if right now we use our bodily energy to serve Krishna and develop attachment to Krishna, then we unlock our consciousness from the body and latch it on to Krishna and that way as the body loses its energy, loses its capacity to function, the consciousness which has been unlocked from the body and latched on to Krishna will with the fall of the body, with the decline of the body, will be able to latch on to Krishna all the more and in that way we will be able to transcend the body’s downfall. So by using our energy to latch on to Krishna, we can unlock our consciousness from the body and that’s the perfection of such a stage of the consciousness being latched on to transcendence and unlocked from the body is demonstrated in this renunciate who has bodily energy but does not act materially, who lies down but does not succumb to the body’s urge for sleeping.
In this way, the person has transcended the body’s urges.