Bhagavatam-daily 90 – 11.08.06 – When we experience oceanic Krishna within, river-like material ups and downs can’t disturb

Bhagavatam 1186 Samruddha Kaamohinova Narayana Paro Munihi Notsarpetna Shusheta Saridbhir Ivasagaraha so the Brahmana is continuing his instructions to Maharaja Yadu he is saying how the Muni is like a ocean Samruddha Kaamohinova so here the word Kaama doesn’t just mean lust it means material prosperity the objects that we desire so Kaama can refer to desire also and it can also refer to the objects that we desire now we desire material things when we live in the material world in the first canto Sarva Kaama Dugha Mahi so the earth provided all the desired objects so there also the word Kaama is used to refer to the desired objects so here also the word Kaama refers to the desired objects Samruddha Kaamohinova Samruddha Kaamo that means one is satisfied with the sometimes one has endowed with lot of prosperous objects Samruddha and other times he no one doesn’t have any of those objects in both situations Narayana Paramuni the Muni is devoted to Narayana always Na Utsarpet Na Shushet Na Utsarpet Utsarpet means that one doesn’t swell up Na Shushet nor does it dry up just like a small puddle may get overflown when lot of water comes into it say from a river but and it will get dried up if no water comes into it but ocean is so large so full of water that even if a lot of water comes into it from our oceans from a river Saridbhir is a river refers to water coming from a river into an ocean so Na Utsarpet Na Shushet so the ocean does not swell up nor does the ocean dry up similarly the Narayana Paramuni the sage who is devoted to Narayana doesn’t get excited when doesn’t get excited when he gets prosperity nor does he get dejected when he loses material things when a person is in the dark then even the small the lighting of a small candle is a great source of illumination and the extinguishing of the candle can be can seem like a tragedy a disaster because now that makes everything completely dark but the same thing if the sun has risen and the sun is giving light everywhere then the lighting of the candle or the extinguishing of the candle doesn’t matter so the lighting and extinguishing of the candle are the coming and going of material pleasures and the sun like illumination is the spiritual happiness so when there is spiritual happiness at that time the coming and going of material objects doesn’t matter but when there is no spiritual happiness then material happiness seems to be the very purpose of life and the loss of material happiness seems to be like the ultimate disaster in life and the way to deal with this situation is that if we if our vision is locked to matter and we think of success and happiness only in material terms then we will never be able to be satisfied to be peaceful to be unagitated and what locks our vision into matter and makes it impossible for us to pursue spirit is an obsessive compulsive desire to enjoy matter as long as we have such a desire we stay caught in material things and we can’t perceive of anything higher just like a person watching a movie gets caught into the emotions that are depicted in the movie and can’t perceive anything higher samruddha kamo heeno va but a person who is not caught in watching the movie for that person whatever happens on the movie theater it doesn’t matter so much it’s inconsequential so when we get connected with Krishna it’s not that we become irresponsible about material things we do them to the best of our capacity and we do care to do our services well to do our responsibilities well because we want to offer them to Krishna but for us the of more important than the offering that we do is the person to whom we offer and we know that the most important thing that we offer to him is our devotional intention so even if we are not able to offer him something very high quality it doesn’t matter to Krishna Krishna is satisfied with whatever we can offer him and he enables us to move on in our life so what we need to do is to ensure that we don’t get caught in anything untoward in anything self destructive in anything undesirable in terms of losing the ocean for the trick for a little bit for the small quantity little small quantity of water in a river so water is important but the water in the ocean is far greater than the water in a river similarly the material pleasure that is there and the material misery that is there both of them are substantial when material consciousness is all that we have and material experience is all that we are experiencing but when we have spiritual experiences when our consciousness is connected with Krishna and rooted in Krishna then the happiness that we get by connection with Krishna is so oceanic that as compared to that everything material seems not all that consequential and that’s how we can stay unagitated we can stay focused in Krishna and stay as is described over here about the sage that so it’s not that we don’t care for material things but it’s just that we don’t allow them to monopolize our care our primary care is for Krishna and in relationship with Krishna we care for other things also but because we keep Krishna the first priority that’s how we are able to stay focused stay poised and stay devoted, stay fixed a similar verse comes in Chittagetu section also that the devotee is Narayana that whether my person goes to swarga or naraka is able to see everything equally because Narayana at that time that connection with Narayana which comes from one’s devotion to Narayana is so fulfilling that nothing else matters that everything else becomes insignificant now we may see insignificant as we see a very lofty stage for us the material things are very important so now the point is that it’s a matter of gradual realization and although we may not feel our material things to be insignificant and spiritual things to be all important but over a period of time when we face adversities and when amidst material crisis we turn towards Krishna and we experience that oh things around me falling apart but Krishna is there still to hold me together and hold me up then this Krishna shelter is a real substantial thing which shelters me even when all other shelters let me down and similarly sometimes we experience great material success and happiness and then also realizing this is not all that fulfilling and then we turn towards Krishna we chant his holy names we absorb ourselves in prayer to him and we realize oh this is so much more fulfilling this is what I want this is what is far better and when we look at things from that perspective then we will be able to realize that actually serving Krishna is like transforming our heart into an ocean and then we will gradually come to the realization that nothing is more important than our relationship with Krishna and then other things Samruddha Ka Mohinova then they will not be so consequential for us because we will be experiencing the oceanic satisfaction of connection with Krishna internally. Thank you.