Bhajahu re mana song meditation

Song ppt

Thank you Hare Krishna before they say Hare Krishna so today we will discuss this beautiful song by Govind Das Kaviraj Bhajahure Mano Shri Nandananda it is one of the most well known and devotionally intense among the various Vaishnava songs because it starts by talking about the plight of all of us in material existence and then it goes on to the various forms of devotion as the means of ultimate relief from all these miseries so let’s begin Bhajahure Mano Shri Nandananda Abhaya Charanaravindare Bhajahure Mano the song is addressed to the mind it’s interesting that many times the Vaishnava Acharyas personify the mind and by treating the mind as another person they preach to the mind in the Mukunda Mala Stotra Kulshekhar Maharaj actually personifies the tongue and he says O tongue please chant the holy names similarly Billo Ambedkar and his Govinda Damodar Stotra personifies the tongue Govinda Damodar Madhava O tongue please drink the nectar of the names of Govinda Govinda Damodar Madhava so the idea is that although we know about the tongue and the mind are insentient but by treating them as sentient beings who can listen to good instruction the idea is that we ourselves will become less influenced by the mind’s default programmes towards sense gratification so the mind is basically in such songs the mind is a poetic device for instructing oneself of course there is a mind which is a ontological reality but by treating the mind as a separate person and speaking to the mind we speak to ourselves so therefore here Govinda Skalraj is addressing the mind instructing the mind, requesting the mind Bhajahure Mana O mind please worship, please adore please devote yourself to whom? Nanda Nandana the lord of the lord who is the son of Nanda Maharaj and what will happen by such bhajana Abhaya Charana Aravinda Re his lotus feet are the source of fearlessness Charana Aravinda, Aravinda is lotus just as a lotus limb remains untouched by all the dirt which may be there in the water around it similarly the mind that is fixed on Krishna will remain untouched by fear although the world around is filled with fear and filled with objects which cause fear so Krishna can free us from all anxiety if we just fix our mind on him, in 18.58 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna also says the same thing Machittaha Sarva Durgani Mat Prasada Tarshisi if you just become conscious of me, you will pass all obstacles by my grace now how does this happen is this just your sentimental religious belief that by thinking of Krishna our mind will become free from all anxiety actually it can be understood at various levels, first level is often when we think of a problem, the problem becomes bigger and bigger and bigger just because we tend to imagine more and more worst case scenarios that may come as we try to grapple with the problem and that’s how the problem becomes bigger than what it needs to be when we dwell on it unnecessarily so if we just can absorb ourselves in something positive then the problem doesn’t appear so much threatening and Krishna the supremely positive reality because he doesn’t just take our mind away from the problems but he also fills our mind with wisdom because he is the source of all wisdom and he is the source of all security because he is the supremely secure reality beyond all threats so by the security and the wisdom coming from Krishna when we fix the mind on him Krishna also says, I give the intelligence to those devotees who fix their mind on me in 10.10 in the Bhagavad Gita he says that so by that we find that we are able to better deal with the problem and the mind by connection with Krishna becomes free from fear there are many experiences devotees have had worldwide of how they were in very fearsome situations and some and if they could just chant Krishna’s name absorb themselves in Krishna then they feel themselves uplifted above the problems now if there is a skyscraper and we are standing next to it then the skyscraper appears huge and we appear tiny but if we are in an aeroplane high above the skyscraper then the skyscraper appears tiny so like that the remembrance of Krishna lifts us from the ground below the skyscraper to an aeroplane above the skyscraper the skyscraper is the problem so the problem which appears overwhelming without a connection with Krishna that problem becomes not so threatening even inconsequential when we become connected with Krishna so now to do this bhaja huraye mana to fix the mind on Krishna we need two things we need to recognise the danger of letting the mind wander in other directions primary among the other directions is the directions of worldly enjoyment and secondly what we need is we need to be convinced about the glory of Krishna and we need to have means by which we can fix the mind on Krishna so that in a sense is the rest of the song so first the focus is on the opportunity to that human life offers durlabha manav janam sath sange tarao e bhava sindhure so durlabha the human form of life is extremely rare now with population explosion today we may feel that oh there are so many people crowded in a local or on the highways where is human form of life so rare but it’s because we are living in high population density areas but if we compare the human population with say how many blades of grass are there or how many mosquitoes are there or how many microbes are there then even from this earth actually the number of human beings are far far lesser than the number of other living beings and each of those living beings is a soul like us so as compared to the totality of all the other living beings human population is very small and the souls who have got the human form are very very fortunate durlabha for the soul wandering in the material existence the human form of life is very rarely got manavajanama and if you want to use this human form properly the most important requirement is satsanga satsanga, what does satsanga do? sata means truth, sata means eternity so Prabhupada explains ultimately that is the truth which is not vanquished by time, which is eternal so the world that we see around us and our positions in this world, our possessions in this world, they are asata not in the sense that they don’t exist or that they are illusion but that they will all be destroyed by time na sato vidyate bhavo na bhavo vidyate sata the Bhagavad Gita in 2.16 says that of the non-existent that is the temporary, the material there is no endurance na bhavo vidyate sata of the eternal there is no cessation, so of the soul and the soul’s eternal life with Krishna there is actually no cessation so satsanga refers to the association of those who are fixed in sata or who are aspiring to be fixed in sata satsanga now our desires are greatly shaped by our association so actually the word sanga means both association and attachment so our attachments are developed by our sanga if we associate with the drunkards we will ourselves become drunkards if we associate with cricket lovers we will become cricket lovers Indians will go to America if they go to university where there is a passion for baseball then they may themselves become baseball fans although they may have never heard of baseball while they were in India so even at a worldly level we see that our attachments are shaped by our association so attachment to Krishna is also shaped by association but the difference between worldly attachments and attachments to Krishna is that attachment to Krishna will lead us to eternal life because whatever we are attached to that’s where we will go that’s what the Bhagavad Gita 8.5 and 6 tell us now satsanga therefore if we want to use the human form of life satsanga association is extremely important without association without association we will find that we will be driven by our mind’s default momentum for sense gratification and the world’s default momentum for sense gratification both of them will drag us towards the animal species again instead of going back to godhead we will end up going back to doghead we get a dog’s body and a dog’s head if we use our head as if it is like a dog’s head that means we use it for dogish animalistic activities of eating sleeping mating defending so the human form is rare and it offers a rare opportunity to attain eternity and this rarity of this rarity of this opportunity is understood and remembered in the association of devotees and not just understood and remembered but it is also relished that’s why association is of paramount importance now the HAD had we need to have these three things to attain liberation Shankaracharya explains this in one of his songs H is human form of life which you already have A is the association of devotees which is referred to in this verse and then by this we get the desire not just the desire but a strong desire determination for what? determination for liberation if somebody is drowning in an ocean then it’s a very fearful state where there is just no hope because even if one has strength and one keeps swimming the ocean is so vast that one will never come to an end of the ocean by one’s own efforts especially if one is trapped deep in the middle of the ocean similarly we are trapped in material existence it’s a very dangerous situation but the human form is like the boat and the association of devotees is like the crew who knows how to manage the boat and the spiritual master like the captain of the boat by this we want to cross over this ocean so now further in the next verse why is this material world considered to be such a dangerous place that is ensured so first okay you have the opportunity to get out of this material existence in the form of the human body and in the form of the association but what is the need to get out of this material world can’t we just enjoy ourselves in this world that will be addressed in the next verse so that there is cold and there is heat that the dualities of material existence and they create misery they create misery because there is always something wrong in this world when it is hot if you know when will the rainy season come when it is rainy season if you know there is raining too much I can’t go out I slip and fall I become sick what should I do so so means that there is heat there is cold and there are so many environmental problems that come up and the environmental problems are only one of the problems you know these are Atmik Kleshu and there is Adi Bhautik and Adi Daivik Kleshu day and night we just stay awake now these are three fold misery the soul is covered by three coverings the soul is covered by the body soul is covered by society and the soul is covered by the environment these three coverings are there and these three coverings actually entrap and entangle and cause misery to the soul the misery that comes from the body is called as Adi Bhautik the misery that comes from the society is called as Adi Bhautik and the misery that comes from nature is called as Adi Daivik and if you think practically every moment of the next one of these miseries is coming upon us somebody speaks harsh words to us or the weather is too uncomfortable or our body becomes sickly and in that way we all suffer, suffer, suffer it’s restless we don’t get peaceful sleep now somebody may say I get sleep peacefully at night yes but that is just one demonstration the point is that we all have spent sleepless nights because of anxiety or pain at some time or the other and misery is just round the corner even if you feel things are comfortable right now in one moment things can be transformed devastatingly and to avoid this kind of transformation we need to be able to recognise that this world is a place of misery and we need to direct our consciousness and heart away from this world Bifala say we know Bifala is without any fruit say we know serving Krupanna Durjana Krupanna is short sighted people people who do not understand the ultimate spiritual purpose of life literally the word Krupanna means misers philosophically the word refers to materialists the logic for equalising materialists with misers is that misers have wealth but they don’t use it for any good even for their own good this keeps talking more and more money by which they themselves also don’t get any happiness so materialists they keep their consciousness locked in the prison of matter just as misers keep their wealth locked in some treasury and because materialists keep their consciousness keep their ambitions, keep their aspirations, their activities their everything locked within matter and matter matter cannot offer any lasting happiness, it offers only flickering titillation so Krupanna and then what happens? Chapal Sukha, this gives flickering happiness, so all materialists are Krupanna and then Durjana Durjana means bad people, jana is people so many materialists because matter doesn’t provide satisfaction and they desperately want pleasure so often they give up morality they give up ethics, they give up even basic humanity and do all sorts of beastly things in the craved pursuit for pleasure, so Durjana Durjana so I have served misers and miscreants Krupanna, Durjana and it has all been before love so who is this referring to? at one level it refers to other materialistic people when we want to serve our sense we want to get material pleasures then naturally we have to get the resources for getting those material pleasures, get material things and for that we have to associate with and serve materialistic people we serve our bosses in our offices we serve other people at other levels in the power structures in whatever organisation we are and although we think that we may be at the top or we may one day get at the top still even those who are at the top are subject to so many pressures from various pressure groups and they find it quite difficult to say no to those pressure groups so they have to often do things even if we assume that somebody in the material world is partially principled they cannot stay principled because they are servants after all and they cannot do the right thing now we are not talking about missing the right thing spiritually but even materially one cannot maintain one’s ethics and principles and so all that I get by serving such people is flickering happiness material pleasure is utterly temporary the hype is so much but dreams and fantasies that are cultivated for years especially with respect to sexual happiness those fantasies actually disappear within moments the much hyped pleasure of the senses ends within just a few moments it is heartbreakingly brief it is pathetically meagre it is like a drop of water in a vast ocean in a vast desert a drop of water far from satisfying one’s thirst for water actually leaves one even with an even greater thirst cha-pa-la-sukha the sukha is, it just comes and it goes so quickly it just doesn’t last and this is something that just cannot be changed even if people try somehow to extend sensual pleasures by trying to increase the capacity of the senses ultimately the capacity cannot be expanded much the senses promise to be roads to pleasure but they soon become roadblocks to pleasure why? because those same senses which promise pleasure after a short while the capacity to enjoy gets exhausted if somebody wants to eat and enjoy, how much can a person eat? the capacity gets over any other pleasure the same sense which promise pleasure afterwards blocks pleasure because people stop sense gratification not because their desire is satisfied but because their capacity is exhausted actually the desire is aggravated and people give up sense gratification stop indulging in sense gratification not because they don’t have the desire for it anymore but because they don’t have the capacity to continue anymore and cha-pa-la-sukha so it’s just flickering pleasure no matter how much people desire they cannot last, no sensual pleasure can last for long and somebody may say okay but the capacity will come back after sometime and again I can enjoy but still how much can one enjoy? few moments in a day a few times at the most and that also is not possible, the capacity becomes exhausted as one grows old and one loses the capacity so bhi phala sevi bhi phala so the phala which we want was happiness and one doesn’t get any happiness and as one grows old then the pleasure is completely lost entirely and one is left with only with frustration sense enjoyment actually ends in all pain no gain bhi phala sevi no krpa-na-durjan cha-pa-la-sukha lab-la-gire what did I get? I just got flickering happiness which actually made all my endeavours in vain so the krpa-na-durjan at one level are materialistic people that we associate with and materialistic people are governed by their senses so krpa-na-durjan also refers to the senses on that we serve and we end up with no pleasure at all it all becomes in vain now someone may argue that actually I have so many resources for enjoyment why do you say that it’s bhi phala it’s cha-pa-la so what are the resources? e-dhana-yavana putra-pari-jana but it’s like what else is there for enjoyment? actually e-dhana so I may have a big bank balance yavana full life in front of me, I’m young putra-pari-jana I have my children, I have my relatives, they all praise me, they all hold me in high esteem and surrounded by them I’m happy adhyo abhijanvan asmi konyasti sadrisho maya ishvaroham ham bhogi siddho ham balavan sukhe in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita when Krishna talks about the mentality of the ungodly, the demoniac this is what is described they are proud of their possessions idhamadhyamaya labdham imam prapse manoratham this much wealth I have, I have so many schemes by which my wealth will increase more and more so e-dhana I have youth, I have ishvaroham, ham bhogi I am the controller, I am the enjoyer and I am surrounded by aristocratic relatives who all praise me putra-pari-jana and in this way who is there like me, one thing like this but then ithe kiya chhe parthi dheere although all this appears to be there but all of it can be lost in one moment what assurance of real happiness is there in these things ithe kiya chhe I wonder why these are tangible things actually these seem to be real assets but how long are they really there with us they are like a dream and suddenly although I may be enjoying in a dream suddenly I just wake up and I find there is nothing there at all so like that this life itself which is the foundation for other things like youth and wealth and friends and children that life itself can become extinguished in one moment and that is what the next verse talks about kamal dal jala jeevan tal mal bhajahu haripad jeevan tal mal kamal dal jala kamal dal jala so the lotus has a characteristic that the water does not stay on it now the Bhagavad Gita uses this metaphor positively where it says padmapatramivambhasa that actually for materialistic people for spiritualists for yogis and ultimately for bhakti yogis the karmic reactions and the resulting attachments from one’s karma they do not stay upon them just like water does not stay on a lotus leaf so the example is that two things which do not get attached to each other which do not stay together for very long so there it is used to convey the point of liberation but here that same metaphor is used to convey the point of bondage of the futility of taking pride in material possessions so kamal dal jala when there is a drop of water on a lotus leaf because water and lotus do not adhere to each other so the water drop can slip and fall away at any moment jeevan tal mal jeevan tal mal it can just go away at any moment the twin towers were actually the symbols of the security and prosperity of America practically no one would have conceived that some aeroplanes could ram into them and just bring them crumbling down but that is what happened and the bubble of security and prosperity that just burst in one moment it created a huge scar on not just the American psyche but in the world psyche now there may be specific geopolitical causes for that attack but beyond that that is the principle that actually life can just be squashed out in one moment and those things which you think are citadels of our security they can be smashed so when the tsunami came charging in people were enjoying on the beach and in the tsunami we said there is no geopolitics involved a natural calamity thousands of people destroyed actually just one bug or one bang can end our life one small germ goes inside our body and it can break havoc there are so many diseases that are coming new old that are coming back with vengeance anthrax ebola plague so many things like that one bug can destroy one bang somebody might just be walking or driving a car and some bigger vehicle comes along and hits and accident a person can die within just a moment so what is the solution to this this is how the material existence is so perilous filled with danger now is this pessimism to think that oh this world is filled with so much danger that death can come upon us at any moment no the point is not to be pessimistic pessimism if at all philosophy that is there it is only initial it is not final what is final is actually optimism optimism based on understanding that though this world is temporary we are eternal and by striving to attain the eternal we can go beyond all the misery of the temporary so just like a patient who is suffering from a serious but curable disease the doctor will drive home the seriousness of the disease by painting a gloomy prognosis scary outline of what all complications and pains and miseries that can come as the disease worsens the purpose of the doctor is not to be pessimistic the doctor talks about the seriousness of the problem to inspire the patient to take the cure seriously similarly when the scriptures talk about the misery of material existence that is primarily not to make us miserable it is to inspire us to go beyond the misery of material existence by seeking to elevate our consciousness to the spiritual level the level that is not affected by the destruction that is inevitable at the material level the well known words from the Bhagavad Gita describe this world to be is 8.15 mamupet kaunte mamupet punarjanma dukkhalema shashvatam naapnuvanti mahatmana samsiddhim paramam gatha now we often use this verse to talk about how this world is temporarily a place of misery but if you look at the overall verse the emphasis, the essential message of the verse is not that this world is a place of misery the essential message is that actually if you worship me mamupet mamupet punarjanma those who worship me, those who attain me dukkhalema shashvatam this world which is dukkhalema shashvatam and doesn’t take rebirth in that again naapnuvanti mahatmana naapnuvanti they do not come back those who are Mahatmas and why? samsiddhim paramam gatha they have attained the supreme destination, the paramam gatha that same chapter later in 8.20 Krishna describes how that paramam gathi is never destroyed, even in all in this world is destroyed parastasmatubhavonyo vyakto vyaktat sanatanah yahasya sarveshu bhuteshu nasyatsu navinasyati so yahasya sarveshu everything in this world will be destroyed but navinasyati, that abode will not be destroyed, so the emphasis of 8.14 is not on the misery of this world, the emphasis is on how devotees go beyond misery, so similarly the sobering analysis of the miserable nature of material existence is not to make us miserable, it is to inspire us to go beyond the miserable material existence that’s why the same verse is bhajahu haripada niti re niti re with method, with discipline with diligence bhajahu haripada that worship Lord Hari with discipline actually when we fix the mind on Krishna, when we worship Krishna then our consciousness gets attached to Krishna to the extent our consciousness gets attached to Krishna to that extent we are not affected by the miseries that afflict us in the material world how is that? because our misery is primarily caused by misidentification suppose somebody is a say mad after basketball in India basketball is not very big but NBA is huge in say America so now a basketball match is going on in television and say the person who is watching the match, the favourite team of that viewer, loses that person may get swang, may bang one’s head against the wall or may be smash the TV screen now if you look objectively nothing has happened to that person and there might be a pet dog sitting in that room and that dog is completely unaffected because actually nothing has happened in the room or there might be some relative or some acquaintance who knows nothing about basketball, that person may also not be affected at all by what has happened, so at actual level nothing has happened to cause distress but because that person is attached to the basketball match and to a particular team winning in that basketball match so that person feels outraged, devastated goes wild this is how misery is caused by attachment and misidentification so some team which may be playing hundreds or thousands of kilometres away that person identifies with that and suffers because of that now if the person instead turns the attention to in the same room say assume there is some other person who is just absorbed in reading a book or this same person instead of watching the basketball match gets absorbed in reading some book then they will not be affected at all by what is happening somewhere far away in the basketball ground so if the attachment is transferred from something which causes agitation to something else which brings satisfaction then actually one is saved from the misery similarly when we identify with the body Purushah prakriti stho hi bhunkte prakriti jangunat karanam gunasangotsya sadasadyoni janmasu Purushah prakriti stho hi the soul becomes situated in prakriti material nature bhunkte and desires to enjoy and because of the desire to enjoy then sadasadyoni janmasu one goes through the miseries, the dualities of material existence this is a person who projects and locks one’s consciousness through the television screen into the basketball match and then suffers similarly the soul projects and traps its consciousness in the body and things related to the body and suffers and if we practise bhakti diligently then our consciousness will get disentangled from these things and then material ups and downs will not cause suffering to us so now after describing the seriousness of the problem and pointing towards the solution after this Govindas Prakashnath gives the outline of how actually one can practise the solution how does one do bhajahuharipada so shravana kirtana smarana vandana pada sevana dasya re so shravana kirtana now these are the ninefold activities of devotional service which are talked about by Prahlad Maharaj in the second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and these nine activities actually bring tangibility to something that is often thought of as intangible ok there is a normally the idea of god and the idea of becoming devoted to god its all considered vague and intangible maybe there is a god somewhere and maybe god is like this or maybe god is like that so all this often spirituality is thought of as something like a hazy smog of uncertainty ok this people believe something those people believe something else and who knows what is right now of course it is god Krishna who has given revelation which shows us the right way but it is not that we have to put blind faith in the revelation now a revelation provides with it the facility for realisation revelation means that which comes from top to down the scriptural knowledge and realisation means that which is the reality we understand it to be the reality so how does that happen by applying the teaching of scripture so if does Krishna really exist, is Krishna really all attractive does loving Krishna actually satisfy our hearts longing for love that all these things are true is what revelation tells us but how do we know for sure, yes initially we put faith based on understanding how the scriptures have so much that makes sense and how so many intelligent people so many greatly learned seers and sages and saints have put faith in scripture but it is not that we just have to begin with faith and end with faith and there is no elevation of consciousness there is no transformation of heart there is nothing tangible to realise no it is not like that through these nine fold activities of devotional service we get tangible clear pathways to move towards Krishna so shravana kirtana we describe shravana or hearing Rupa Goswami and the Bhakta Samaj Sindhu gives examples for each of these limbs of bhakti and how different individuals attain perfection by practising bhakti according to these limbs, it is not that they did only these limbs of bhakti they also did other limbs also but this was the limb that they did primarily and they are famed for their extraordinary execution of this particular limb of bhakti so shravana shravana is for shravana it is Parikshit Maharaj, he heard for seven days kirtana is Shukadeva Goswami, he spoke for seven days in the Srimad Bhagavatam on a kirtana smarana vand padasevana dasyare so we know smarana is Prahlad Maharaj, vandana is Akrura as he came to Vrindavan, he offered prayers padasevana is worshipping the deity Lakshmi Devi does that directly, serves the lotus feet of the lord and others can also Archanam is also doing deity worship, padasevana is actually serving the lotus feet of the lord and Das Hanumanji did that so now like that there are various limbs of devotional service and by these we can tangibly practically offer ourselves to Krishna, connect ourselves with Krishna so the concept of bhakti doesn’t remain just a concept, it gets practical forms for becoming a becoming a realisable, repeatable and relishable emotion realisable means we may hear in scripture that oh there are advanced devotees who who get so much spiritual happiness in the practise of bhakti, we hear Rupa Goswami saying that there is so much nectar in the holy name that I feel that I do not know how much pleasure is there in these two words Krishna now we may wonder is this something which is just reserved for exalted saints no, it is something which is realisable for us also it may not happen immediately but if you just keep practising the process of bhakti steadily then we will also experience those emotions, realisable repeatable the same emotion may not come everyday when we chant the holy names why it doesn’t come everyday because we are not yet pure enough so just as on different days if the clouds are there in the sky although the sun is above them our perception of the sun gets obscured so like that sometimes the cloud of the anarthas becomes thicker and darker because of the influence of the modes and then that blocks the perception of the sun like presence of Krishna in our heart or sun like presence of Krishna that is manifested by our practise of bhakti but still if we keep practising bhakti if we keep invoking the presence of Krishna then by invoking his presence we will definitely be able to experience the richness of bhakti more and more till ultimately that will become that sweet relish will become constant just like if the sun keeps coming again and again and gradually the clouds will get evaporated, condensed, dissipated basically they will be removed and the observers below the clouds will be able to behold the brightness and the majesty of the sun and bask in the illumination of the sunlight similarly we will also be able to delight in the sweetness of Krishna once the cloud of the anarthas gets removed so the nine limbs of bhakti make the richness of bhakti realisable yes, I don’t have to just imagine just keep chanting, keep hearing keep practising the bhakti, by each of these it’s like we are letting the sun fall in the clouds and the clouds will get dissipated, anarthas will get dissipated and we will realise this more and more and then it will become repeatable and it will become relishable, initially they may not be relishable but as we keep practising bhakti these will become relishable because we will become purified what locks the sweetness of Krishna will be removed by the practise of bhakti itself and then poojana sakhijana atmanivedana govindadasa abhilashya re so poojana, actually arjuna, what is the Sanskrit word for word for the same activity used by Prahlad Maharaj sakhijana, arjuna served Krishna in sakhi also atmanivedana Bali Maharaj offered himself completely so now the important point is govindadasa abhilashya re it’s the aspiration of govindadasa that let me engage in all these activities of devotional service when we see Pruthu Maharaj he did poojana there are multiple examples for this Pruthu Maharaj is also an example Sakhim as we said arjuna Bali Maharaj who offered himself utterly, his kingdom his head, his whole self, his own kingdom and all the other worlds and his own head means he offered everything, atmanivedana by offering everything that he had he showed that he was offering himself too now govindadasa abhilashya re so here govindadasa is taking the position of a sadhaka he is not saying that oh i have perfected myself i have got love for krishna no, actually i aspire to engage in all these activities similarly we too can aspire krishna, when will i be able to hear about you more and more when will i be able to chant your names more and more, when will i pray wholeheartedly we cannot live without desires our desires are not to be eradicated they are to be elevated elevated from matter to spirit, from the world to krishna so and the way we can connect with krishna is by the ninefold forms of bhakti so actually to desire krishna to aspire for krishna means to aspire for the activities that connect us with krishna, otherwise i may say oh i want to love krishna but it will just stay ethereal the ethereal means something hazy, something abstract, something up there like a pie in the sky the ethereal becomes real by the practise disciplined practise of bhakti and to desire to practise bhakti diligently to desire to engage in the lens of devotional service, that is the perfection of the sadhaka the perfection of the siddha is to delight in love for krishna now for the sadhaka sadhaka cannot at this stage delight in love for krishna so for the sadhaka the perfection is to desire to absorb oneself in the activities of bhakti if one just does that then automatically spiritual ecstasy will come the patient desires that let me just take the treatment diligently, naturally the patient wants health but just craving for health will not bring the health patient also has to take the medicine properly and then the health will automatically come similarly just just longing for the advanced stages of devotion, just longing for spiritual happiness will not bring the spiritual happiness, we have to take the medicine that will cure us of our material conditioning and thereby bring us to the state of spiritual health where we will be able to relish spiritual happiness and that medicine is essentially bhakti yoga bhakti rasayana as it is there so here govinda says aspiring let me engage in these devotional activities so the song, this is a very beautiful circle it is bhajahu haripadani sorry the song started with bhajahuremana shinandanandana and ends with govindadasa abhilashare so I mentioned how the vishnu acharyas personify the mind to instruct actually themselves so we know that we were engaged in bhakti but by speaking to the mind we speak to ourselves and we overcome whatever objections the mind has and by that we come to come to the level of convincing ourselves to do the right thing so the song starts with a request to the mind but it concludes with aspiration of the heart so by contemplating thus, by speaking to the mind by persuading the mind and by longing by longing for Krishna through the longing for bhakti we can actually transform our mind so that it becomes attached to Krishna and by that we can progress steady undistracted on the path back to Krishna thank you very much Hare Krishna