Bhuliya tomare meaning (Meditations on Vaishnava songs)

So, we will discuss a bit about remembering Krishna using the words of Krishna’s exalted devotees.
All of us have a mind that is hyperactive. The mind is active even when we are sleeping and that’s how we get dreams. The body rests but the mind never rests.
At the same time, the mind doesn’t rest. The rest of the mind is not necessarily by becoming inactive. The mind’s nature is different from the body’s nature.
The body rests when it becomes inactive. However, the mind rests not by becoming inactive but by finding an object of thought that makes it peaceful and joyful. So the mind can never be made inactive.
But there are certain thoughts and certain objects, when we think of them, they make our mind inactive, restless, agitated. In contrast, there are some objects of thought which make the mind peaceful. Actually, the objects of thought that make the mind peaceful are very few.
Most of the worldly objects, they make the mind agitated. Now some people think of that agitation as excitement. They think it is good.
For example, now today itself, this cricket match is going on, the IPL final is going on, and there are so many people who are excited about it. So now, they may say that the mind is excited, but essentially, the mind is agitated. The people want some stimulation for their mind, and they get that, but that doesn’t make the mind peaceful.
That just makes the mind more restless. The mind is the cause of the greatest misery in the world. There are no doubt various causes of misery.
We can have diseases, we can have misunderstandings, there can be natural calamities, and all these cause misery. But the magnitude of that misery is largely determined by our mind. Somebody can insult me, but how long I dwell on that insult will determine how much I will suffer because of that insult.
So therefore, if we can find for the mind a positive object of thought, then the mind can become significantly peaceful. So the great songs of the various acharyas, when they have meditated on Krishna, are guidances for us for how to fix the mind on Krishna. So this is a pathway that they have charted, and that makes us easier.
If we have to make our own road to go from, say, here to the top of the Himalayas, and climbing up to the top of the Himalayas is difficult enough, but making our own road to climb it up will make it much more difficult. But if there is already a road made by someone, and then if we climb up that road, it’s easier. So similarly, the songs of the various acharyas, they are like roads which they have already made, and they have contemplated on Krishna using these songs.
And they give these songs to us as their legacy, as pathways by which we can similarly contemplate on Krishna. Of course, we can contemplate by our own pathways also. All of us are individuals, our circumstances are individual, and naturally we will connect with Krishna in an individual way also, depending on our circumstances and our consciousness.
But often, our circumstances and consciousness get so caught in the worldly things that we just don’t connect with Krishna. So, these acharyas’ songs enable us to have pathways by which we can connect with Krishna. And as we move along these pathways, and become habituated to connecting with Krishna, then when the need arises, we can think of Krishna with our own prayers, with our own contemplations also.
So first we make it a habit of thinking of Krishna, and once we have made that habit of thinking of Krishna, then that habit becomes easier to apply when we have to think according to our situations and pray according to our specific set of requirements and concerns. So, this is a song which is one of the most fundamental and one of the most important songs. So, do we have another mic? Would someone like to sing it? Would you like to sing it? Do you also have… Do you also have Bhajahure Manu? We’d like to go a little shorter.
How many samples would you like? Would you like to come out? Eight, no? So, how will we sing it? You can sing once, then we will recite it. Say, one, two lines. And then I’ll talk something based on it, and then we can recite the same line again.
Then we can go to the next line after that. Should I give you the mic? Sing, sing, of course, sing. One stanza is there, no? Both of them.
Yeah, yeah, you can complete it. Complete it. So, now, when we approach the Lord, it can be for various reasons.
Some people approach the Lord because they are in trouble and they want some relief from it. That is the most common reason. And here, Bhaktunath Thakur, who has composed the song, is saying, My dear Lord, I am suffering here.
But he is identifying that the root cause of my suffering is that I have forgotten you. So, actually, many people just find it very difficult to understand what does it matter whether I remember or forget God. My life is going to go on the same.
And what is the use of remembering God, and what is the problem with forgetting God? However, all of us are suffering from amnesia. We are all the children of God, but we have forgotten our true identity. And because of that, we are living a life that is different from our original life.
There is a millionaire’s, billionaire’s child. It is meant to live in comfort and happiness. But, if that person loses his memory, and then, say, has an accident, in which he falls from a hilltop while driving a car into a valley, and is living among tribals.
Among the tribals, he is living a life of hardship, breaking trees, carrying the logs, living in great difficulty. He doesn’t have to live like that, but he is living like that because he has forgotten. So, we have our original eternal life at the spiritual level, in loving relationship with Krishna, where we are beyond all miseries, but we have forgotten that.
And because of that, we are suffering from various miseries. So, what are these various miseries? There is Adhyatmik, Adhibhautik and Adhidaivik. Now, we hear these three terms, but these three terms are specific.
See, if the soul falls in this world, the soul falls in various casings. So, the first casing, casing means like a case. So, enclosure for the soul is that of the body and the mind.
And that body and the mind, that enclosure gives us suffering, which is called as the Adhyatmik relation. And the soul is also due to another enclosure. That is a set of social relationships, family, friends, relatives.
And through that also, a number of suffering come. That is the Adhibhautik relation. And then there is another third enclosure, that is the environment in which we live.
And from that, we get the Adhidaivik relation. So, these are Nanavidhavyatha. So, many times, in many religious ceremonies, people chant, Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
So, normally Shanti is chanted three times. You know why is that? Because there are these three glaciers. So, Adhibhautik klesh Shanti, Adhyatmik klesh Shanti, Adhidaivik klesh Shanti.
That is the idea. However, just by saying Shanti, the glaciers are not going to go away. It is a step forward, but at least we are recognising that we have to invoke some higher power.
It is not just in our hands to get rid of the glaciers. So, in this material world, when we forget, we get enclosed in these various situations where we suffer. And then he says, Now, my dear lord, I have recognised that I have forgotten you.
And then, I have come to your lotus feet. He is telling that, now I am going to tell you, my dear lord, my sad story. Now, what is the idea? Much of praying is like begging.
Praying is, in many ways, similar to begging. So, when we want to beg, praying is not like doing a business deal. In a business deal, I have this much money, that product costs this much, give me that.
That is business deal. Whereas, praying is like begging. Begging is not based on our qualification in terms of how much we have.
It is based, if there is any qualification for a beggar, that is the qualification of how much he does not have. Isn’t it? It is exactly opposite. So, actual prayer is not a business, it is begging.
So, if a beggar wants some charity, if he says, Today, I have eaten three times, give me some money. For whom do you need this money? Why do you need it? So, actually, begging is based on what we don’t have. Similarly, when we go to the lord, we confess our lackings, our failings, our sufferings.
And that way, we invoke the compassion of the lord. So, that’s why this is not an idea of, we are all having problems and because of problems we run towards god and we want to dump our problems on god. It’s not like that.
The idea is that we want to invoke the grace of god. Our problems never get dumped on god because god is infinite. Nothing burdens him.
But when Krishna sees, we may say, an ordinary person is not very charitable. So, the beggar has to actually speak about how terrible his suffering is. Then the ordinary person may give some charity.
Krishna is not like that. But Krishna has to see that we want his blessings. So, when he sees that we want it, and we show that to him by our actions, then he gives it to us.
So, maybe we can recite this same line two times. Then we can go to the next line and we can recite it two times also. So, now when we recite the second time, we can contemplate on the verse a little bit also.
And then we can recite it that way. Please sit here. जतरे चिलाम जखोन विशमबन्दन पाशे So, when we are in the mother’s womb, जननी जथरे, जलाम जखोन, actually there is a lot of suffering.
Now, there is a material perspective and a spiritual perspective. The mother loves the child. And the mother wants the best for the child, generally speaking, whether the child is inside the womb or outside the womb.
And the mother, especially, if she is cautious, she cares for the child, then she doesn’t want any harm for the child. At the same time, from the biological perspective, you know, I saw an advertisement of a housing complex. It says, this housing complex is as comfortable as your mother’s womb.
So, this really is an example of complete misinformation. Now, from the biological point of view, they have the idea that there is the womb, and then there is the amniotic fluid which acts as a shock absorber, and there is the embryo inside it, and the embryo is comfortable. That’s their idea.
Now, if the embryo were just a lump of flesh, then we can say it’s comfortable. Because, yes, the amniotic fluid just absorbs, and the basic container that is the womb, that absorbs many of the shocks. But the point is, the embryo is not just a lump of matter, it’s a conscious being.
And as a conscious being, even when the mother takes the maximum care, still, the embryo may sometimes be upside down, the embryo may move around, and that’s why, even in labour, the mother has a lot of pains. The mother who is carrying the child has pains quite often, not just during the delivery, but even before that, sometimes. And also, the child is in pain.
The Bhagavatam, third canto, chapter 29 especially, describes the sufferings of the child in the womb. So, when we conceive of the point that the embryo is a living person, and the living person is cramped, actually, the embryo is large enough, the womb is large enough when the embryo is small, but as the embryo starts growing, then the space becomes very tight and cramped. And that’s why, eventually, when there is delivery, there is a lot of difficulty, because the child has practically outgrown the womb, and therefore, even getting the child out is difficult.
So, when we understand that there is a living person who is conscious, and that person is cramped, that there is a lot of suffering, and beyond that, one doesn’t know what is going to happen. It’s a dark place, and then, utterly dependent on the mother, and there is a lot of harmful effect of how the mother behaves. So, the mother eats something improperly, smokes, or something like that, that causes further suffering.
But even with the most loving care of the mother, still there is suffering. So, actually, life is, in many ways, symbolic of its reality. So, actually, we say happy birthday to others on their birthdays, and that’s a good wish to offer.
At the same time, when we were born, on our birthday, we were not happy, we were crying. And certainly, there is joy when a new life appears, but still that joy should not blind us to the reality of the process by which life takes place. So, right from the beginning, there is misery.
And then, Ek baar prabhu dekha diya more So, the Bhagavatam describes that some souls are fortunate, in the sense that, in the midst of that great suffering, they call out to the Lord, and that is described in the Bhagavatam. They call out fervently, I’m suffering so much, please help. Now, how can that soul, who has such a tender body, even know the concept of God? Actually, the soul has a relationship with God at the spiritual level.
And that memory is expressed at a physical level when the child grows up adequately. The baby may not understand after the birth what is God. It may take several years.
After that, the baby starts understanding the concept of God. Because God is, to some extent, at least at our level, an abstract conception. You know, this mic is tangible, so the baby can play with the toy.
But for the baby to understand, not a concrete thing, but an abstract conception like God, it takes significant evolution of thought. And it happens after several years. So, the parents can even give God-conscious stimuli to the child, but still for the child to understand the concept of God is difficult.
Then how can, as the Bhagavatam describes, the child pray to God? That is, in the womb, the soul, because of extreme duress, extreme suffering that is there, the soul’s latent spiritual faculties are weakened. So, the soul has been in previous lives in this world. And in the previous lives, the soul has contemplated God.
And of course, the soul knows God from its eternal spiritual connection with God also. So, that memory is invoked. And the soul fervently prays, My dear Lord, please relieve me from this suffering.
And as it is praying, then the Bhagavatam describes how the nature of the prayers changes. I am suffering in this world and you come again and again in this world in various incarnations to relieve me from this suffering, but I keep forgetting you. And then the soul realises how I have forgotten you again and again.
And the soul prays, My dear Lord, better let me stay in suffering in this womb, but let me remember you. So, given misery and enlightenment on one side, and comfort and forgetfulness on the other side, what would we choose? If I have misery and enlightenment, I am aware that there is God. On the other hand, when we come outside the womb, there is comfort, but there is forgetfulness.
So, at that particular point, the soul chooses God. However, he is saying over here, My dear Lord, you abandoned me. So, now Krishna, he never abandons us.
But this is the feeling of the seeker that, My dear Lord, I saw you, I remembered you, I thought so intensely of you, I connected you, but then I lost that connection. So, it’s a feeling that, My dear Lord, I lost that connection. So, actually Krishna does come to us and the soul can also pray, My dear Lord, please let me stay here.
Let me not forget you. Let the suffering continue, but let my remembrance continue. My remembrance of you continue.
But then when the soul is ejected from the womb and comes out, then the soul forgets. So, why is that? Is God causing that forgetfulness? Not exactly. Actually, there is surrender that is mature and there is surrender that is immature.
When the surrender is forced by circumstances, that is also good because we are surrendering to God. But that is not mature surrender. So, when circumstances force us to remember God, it’s good at least in that time we are remembering God.
But that remembrance is not really out of love. That remembrance is out of the force of circumstances. And Krishna accepts whatever surrender we offer to him and he blesses us for that.
But then Krishna allows us to go on ahead in the world and when there is no suffering, will we continue our surrender? That is the test. So, even in our life we will see sometimes when there is a very painful disease or a terrible misunderstanding, Krishna says, I just don’t want anything to do with this world. I just want to remember you and serve you.
It’s good, but after that, what will happen? Then, you know, it is said that bad times test our faith. Bad times, when there is suffering, they test our faith. Bad times test our faith and so do good times.
Even good times test our faith. Because in good times, we are feeling good. Why do I need God? So, that is also a temptation.
In fact, sometimes it can be a great temptation. So, when Krishna wants us to surrender to him through bad times and through good times. So, it’s not that Krishna abandons the child in the womb, but Krishna allows the child to have good times, so that the child can choose voluntarily to surrender.
That’s why we need to hold on to Krishna at all times. Neither bad times nor good times should distract us. So, now, in the next verse, the Bhaktanottar will describe what happens.
You can recite this once or twice again, and then we can move on. The child in the womb prays. The child in the womb prays.
I’ll surely worship you. So, actually, in times of duress, our prayers fluctuate. The child in the womb sometimes prays.
Let the suffering continue. At other times, he feels, suffering is so much. I know that all this suffering is caused by forgetfulness of you.
Please relieve me of this suffering. And once the suffering goes away, then I will surely worship you, my dear Lord. Sometimes we feel that suffering can act as an impetus for the worship of the Lord.
But our mind is always unpredictable. And the mind can sometimes, in suffering, go towards God. It can go away from God.
Just as in normal times, every day, we may decide I will chant. But which way the mind will go during our chanting? Sometimes we feel absorbed. Sometimes we feel entirely apathetic.
Why do I have to chant? So, just as our mind fluctuates, similarly, the child in the womb also. The emotions fluctuate. So, sometimes the child says, dear Lord, just free me from this suffering.
I promise you that I will worship you, my dear Lord. When he prays in this way, then the child comes out of the womb. Then, So, this world is a world of illusion.
And in this illusion, he has no knowledge left with him. So, actually speaking, the soul is transcendental. And the soul is sat-chitananda.
The soul has chit. It has original spiritual knowledge. But when the soul is put in a particular body situation, then the soul’s knowledge gets conditioned according to that body situation.
Just like if somebody is watching a movie, and in the movie there is a hero. So, when people get very absorbed in watching that movie, then their emotions start getting identified with that hero. And although they have their own separate life, they forget that and they identify with that.
So, the soul is separate from the child’s body, the infant’s body. But the soul gets connected with the body, identifies with the body and then forgets. That’s why, No knowledge is there.
The maya, he says that I fall into maya. So, this maya jaal, the trap of maya has two powers. It is called as avaranatmika shakti and prakshipatmika shakti.
Now, these are technical terms, but understanding them is very simple. When people go to watch a movie, avaranatmika means covering. And prakshipatmika means pushing, attracting, pulling.
So, to understand this is simple. When people go to a movie, two things happen before they are absorbed in the movie. First is, the lights go off.
That is the avaranatmika shakti. So, the reality is closed off, shut off. And then, the illusion on the screen starts.
That is prakshipatmika shakti. So, it is two phases. First is, we get cut off from reality.
And second is, we get dragged into illusion. Pushed into illusion. So, that is how we forget our spiritual identity.
That is the avaranatmika shakti. And we misidentify with the body. That is the prakshipatmika shakti.
And in this way, na hoye logyaan hai lava. There is not even a little, lava means very small. There is not even a little knowledge left.
That same soul, who is an intelligent, ecstatic part of Krishna, becomes utterly helpless, because of its body situation. So, it is not just the soul that is born as a baby, it is not just helpless spiritually, it is helpless also materially. And when we are thinking of the soul being helpless spiritually or materially, it is not some abstract soul.
It is what we all have been. We have been in that situation, and we may well be in that situation again in the future, unless we purify ourselves and make Krishna our foremost attachment. So, in this way, the soul gets covered.
So, there, what has happened is, there, there was misery and enlightenment. When the soul has come out, the misery is less. There is comfort, there is a mother’s womb, that will be described later.
But then there is forgetfulness. We continue? Sanjana ki Jodhpalo Sanjana ki Jodhpalo As this song will progress, we will see when Bhaktanath Thakur is talking about somebody or the sufferings of material existence, he is not talking about a person who has a failed material life. Sometimes, especially as the culture is becoming more and more individualistic, and the parents sometimes don’t care for the children, sometimes there are parents, there are so many cases of child abuse which happen sometimes.
It is very heart-breaking. But he is not talking about that kind of life. See, in all ways, we will see that the life he is talking about is a very successful life.
So, the child, when he is born, is born to loving and sheltered parents. So, when the child is born, when all the relatives come, then the child becomes the apple guy for them. And everybody wants to take care of the child, fondle the child, caress the child, and pinch the child a little bit.
So, the child loves being the centre of attention. And that is, at one level, a natural expression of love. That is definitely, from the parent’s point of view, they should naturally offer love.
But, what happens by this is, आसिया काता नुकाला, the child feels very happy. And it’s not that we always have to be miserable in material life. But the point is, we shouldn’t forget the reality of material life because of just some temporary comforts.
So, what happens is, the parents naturally should love the child. And that love, when it is an expression of Krishna’s love, when that love enables the child to connect with Krishna’s love, then that love is auspicious. See, we have vertical relationship with Krishna, and we have horizontal relationship with the people in the world, our family members, our relatives, everyone.
So, the ideal society is where the horizontal relationships connect us with the vertical relationship. That means, the parents’ love enables us to get glimpses of Krishna’s love. Yes, whatever other parents have for us, that is, in one sense, a glimpse of Krishna’s love only.
But, if the parents don’t tell us that, if the parents don’t connect us with that, then, from their point of view, that love is real. From our point of view, our experience of that love is also real. But, it is temporary.
It doesn’t take us towards the eternal reality. And that’s why I say, what happens is, janak janani snehite bhuliya So, that love causes forgetfulness. And, samsara laghi lobhana I start thinking this world is a very wonderful place.
Everyone loves me over here. Life is so nice. See, there are different kinds of love in this world.
Now, one kind of love is the love that hides in order to protect. The other kind of love is the love that guides to help a person to protect oneself. So, there is love that hides and love that guides.
So, what is the difference between that love? The love that hides thinks that, okay, there are sufferings in this world, but I don’t want my loved ones to suffer. So, I will not tell anything about the sufferings in this world. When it is the parent’s feet, you know.
I had to suffer so much. Jo mujhe guzarna pada, mere bachchon pe kabhi nahi aana sundi. That sentiment is good, but that’s not going to work.
Because, you know, everybody has to grow old. Everybody has to go to a place. Everybody has to die.
So, the love that hides is also love. But, it is a love that prevents us from growing. It is a love that prevents us from realising the reality of material life.
So, there is a love that hides, which, samsara laghi lo bhala. Starting life is very nice over here. And, the problem with thinking like this is that we don’t feel the need to rise to a higher level of life.
As contrast to the love that hides is the love that guides. So, the love that guides enables us to know the reality and to face the reality. So, another way to understand this is there is a doctor.
The doctor may say, I don’t want the patient to suffer. So, out of my love for my patient, I will not tell what is the disease. That is only going to cause the disease to worsen.
Eventually, the person will have to face the suffering. Because the disease is there. So, the love that hides, it’s love, but quite often it may end up doing disservice.
It may end up doing harm to the person whom we are loving. And, the love that guides is like a doctor who sensitively, but uncompromisingly tells the patient, this is the problem. And, this is what you need to do to cure.
So, sometimes people feel that this whole description, this world is such a place of suffering. It’s so pessimistic. Why do you have to harp on it? No, that is also out of love.
It is the love that guides that when we are aware that this world is a place of suffering, then we can learn not to become too attached to the world, not to become too infatuated with the world, but to keep our eyes beyond this world to Krishna and use this world in Krishna’s service. So, here he is talking about parents who are loving, but their love is limited to the material level. And, because of that, the illusion comes up that I can be happy in this world.
Sansaara laagila bhaala And, that can be a great disservice. How that happens, we will discuss in the next verses. Thank you.
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Copyright © 2021 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. This is basically a life story, which is a success story.
As the person grows up, he plays, then he studies, then he has a good job, he travels around, and then it’s a success story. But, within the success story, are the seeds of a failure story. Because success is at a material level, but it’s a self-inflicted fear at a spiritual level.
So, as you grow up, then what happens? So, from the infancy, the child grows and becomes a? Becomes a child. So, he starts playing with other children. But this is natural activity.
Children will play. And there’s nothing wrong with children playing. But, what Bhaktivinoda Thakur is talking about is, how the various phases of our life keep us within the realms of illusion.
So, children naturally play, but if there is no God-conscious upbringing, then play completely absorbs the child. And they feel there’s nothing more to life. And then, okay, when they grow up, then you have to go to school.
Then what happens? He goes to school. ? So, continuously, day after day, he starts studying. ? So, he goes to school and starts studying.
So, Shankaracharya, in one of his prayers, talks about how every phase of life brings its own distractions. So, he says, ? ? ? ? ? ? He says, ? In childhood, the person is caught up in play. And as the child grows up, then there is, comes to youth, then there’s the attraction of the opposite sex, the hormones start getting activated in the body, and the passions start getting activated in the mind.
? The person gets caught up completely in infatuation with the opposite sex. And as the person starts growing further, then, then actually, there is so much a person wants to do, but when the body has grown old, when it’s not able to work, then the only thing that is left is, ? ? So, each phase of life brings its own distractions. And if we go along with that, we will stay lifelong distracted.
So, there is going to be, children, they naturally need to play. And the male-female attraction is also natural. But if one lets that obsess one’s mind, consume one’s mind, and you think, okay, this is the phase for this, okay, spiritual life later, then that later will never come.
So, yes, play has to be regulated, and the children have to be given samskaras also about how they should also devote themselves to Krishna in some small way according to their level. Now, Kalyuga has progressed, or regressed, whichever way you want to look at it. And, you know, it is not that, these, Shankaracharya talked about these three phases of distraction, these three kinds of distraction, being in three distant phases of life.
But in today’s society, we have bala avastha chinta magna. Even children, you know, I was with my devotee family, at the child, fourth, fifth standard, you know. And he said, Prabhuji, today in our school, there was a very good seminar.
I said, what was the seminar? Stress management. So, fifth standard student. Oh my God! I was thinking, for a fifth standard student, to even spell the word stress will give stress.
But they are having stress management seminars. And, you know, why are they having it? Because they feel that it is so much academic burden, so much competition, so much pressure. So, it’s so much distraction that is created by that.
That there is even children filled with so much anxiety, so much stress. And, you know, it’s not only that. Actually, today’s advertising is in many ways so insidious.
There is a whole genre of advertising that is called the tween advertising. Tween, see, it is like there are teens. Teens generally start from 12, 13, around that.
So, it’s basically after 10. So, that is the time when people come to sexual puberty. And that is the time when they start becoming conscious of the opposite sex in a sexual way.
The small children, they are not really biologically conscious that way of the difference. But, they say that there are children and there are teens. And at what age is the difference coming up? So, they say that actually, the advertisements, now, you know, when people come to teens and they want to attract the opposite sex, both boys and girls, they become targets for a whole huge genre of marketing.
You know, the kind of dress that they wear, the kind of cosmetic products that they use. And so many products they can sell. So, these industries, they thought, you know, why should we sell, wait for these children to, people to come to teenage? Even before we can do it.
And so, sometimes, now, you see, there are dolls. Dolls are meant for, say, 6-7 year old girls. But those dolls are also dressed as if they are like some Hollywood stars.
Now, practically, half their body is unclothed. So, this kind of advertising is called the tween advertising. Tween means there is children, there are teenagers, and between is called as tween.
And, Hare Krishna, what does that mean? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Anyway, I am audible behind? So, you know, children who are, they see advertisements, and they are 8, 9, 10 years old, they are neither physically nor psychologically equipped to, to be basically sexual people. And still, the whole programming is such that, boys start acting as if they are meant to attract girls, and girls start acting as if they are meant to attract boys.
So, what happens? Bala Vasta Taruni Raktam. So, even in childhood, there is attraction to the opposite sex. That is artificially created.
So, this is an alarming phenomenon psychologically. It’s called the sexualisation of the childhood. It’s a very alarming phenomenon.
But, what has happened is, all these distractions become multiplied. And, so what happens is, one just doesn’t remember yet. So, he says, he’s talking, first, this play, and then there is absorption and study.
That brings its own anxiety. And that also causes distraction. So, life is essentially a set of endless distractions.
And, we need to come back from the distractions again and again. Sometimes, when we come to the temple and we, or we read Prabhupada’s book, there is the same philosophy again and again. I want to hear something new.
Yes, there are many new, deeper points also, but the same philosophy is required as a reminder. Now, when, say, a plane is flying, a plane starts from Mumbai and says it’s going to Calcutta. So, tomorrow I’m going to Mayapur.
So, I’m going to Calcutta. They say that the plane is 90% of the time off track. 90% of the time on the flight, the plane is off track because of the weather conditions, because of the wind, because of the cloud and everything.
If 90% of the time the plane is off course, then how does the plane reach the destination? Because the pilot keeps bringing the plane back on course. It goes off course because of the environmental conditions. So, bring it back on course.
Bring it back on course. Bring it back on course. Now, a more familiar example is, suppose a person is driving a vehicle.
In the car, the steering wheel, if you look at the driver, the driver in a sense doesn’t have too much. He’s just moving a little bit this way, a little bit that way, a little bit that way. But that little bit this way and that way is essential.
If he doesn’t do that, then the car will veer off course. So, the car by its default will just go off course. The driver has to bring it back.
So, our mind is yantra, rudhani, mayaya, the body and the mind are like machines. And this bodily and mental machine along with the external environment, they will repeatedly take us off course. And we repeatedly have to bring ourselves back on course.
Off course, on course. Off course, on course. That’s how it goes.
So, the mind internally and the world externally will take us off course. It’s only the association of devotees, it’s only our sadhana that will bring us on course. That’s why what we are doing when we are repeatedly hearing the same philosophy is, oh, that is the destination.
When we remember the destination, then we come back on course. When we remember the destination, then we come back on course. So, this kind of contemplation helps us.
Oh, there are so many distractions in this world. Let me come back on course. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakur is talking here about the distractions that take us away from Krishna.
The success story continues. So, one attains Vidya and the Gaurav, the pride of the Vidya, gets a US chance. It goes abroad.
It goes abroad. Proud of the knowledge. Sadhguru chants Sadhguru chants Getting honour and getting money also.
It’s a material success. One-pointed person is taking care of one’s family members. But then in the whole process, Sadhguru chants Sadhguru chants My dear lord, I forgot you.
I forgot you. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakur is talking here about there is mundane morality and there is spiritual morality. Mundane morality is be good, do good, take care of others.
All that is fine. But all that doesn’t necessarily elevate us spiritually. Because spiritual elevation is based on developing our devotion to God.
When that is not there, then all the other things that we do, they are not really very valuable. Some people think that our worldly duties, that means our duties towards family members, they in themselves are spiritual. Just like yesterday we discussed, some people feel work itself is worship.
Or some people feel, yes, taking care of our family members, for the parents to take care of the children, for the children to take care of the parents, that itself is spiritual. That is conducive to dharma, but that itself is not spiritual. That is one level of dharma.
Now, however, we see, taking care of the family members or taking care of one’s relatives is done even in the lower species. In the plants, even the birds, they take care of the children, offsprings. The animals take care of their offsprings.
So, Srila Prabhupada explains that this affection within the family is natural and necessary, but it is not spiritual. It is natural and necessary. Natural means, whichever species a person is in, it is made by nature to appear.
And it is necessary. We are not minimising family values or family love, but we shouldn’t mistake family values to be spiritual values. There is a difference.
Spiritual values are dependent on our connection with Krishna. So, as the distractions come, if you get completely caught on the distractions, then, I got caught so much in these things, my dear Lord, that I forgot you completely. So, we may get a lot of things in this world, but all the things of this world are ultimately temporal.
If we consider an example to understand what we mean by temporal, as I said, it is naturally necessary to take care of our family members, but that is not spiritual. Suppose, a student, all the students in India practically aspire to go into IIT. Now, when the students go into IIT, they are still like other people, other students, other people in the country.
For example, everybody needs food. Students in IIT also need food. But if a student in IIT thinks that the goal of my life is to get good food, and this IIT mess, this food is so third class.
So, the mission of my stay in IIT is to find out where I can get the best food and enjoy the best food. That could have been done anywhere else. One didn’t have to go to IIT to do that.
So, IIT can offer a person something much better. IIT can offer a lifelong bright career. So, from the spiritual perspective, the human body is like an IIT chance.
The bodily necessities and the bodily relatives, relationships, they are there in all bodies. But in the human body, there is something much more that is available. And when we just get caught up in the bodily things, then we miss out on the higher gifts that are available from spiritual life.
Satsang with Mooji Life in the material world is a progressive realisation of regress. It’s a progressive realisation of regress. Regress means going backwards.
And progressive realisation means gradually we realise that actually I have not moved forward. I have only got more entangled. I am only suffering more.
So, as long as we are young and we are healthy, we are in possession of our faculties, we think I am moving forward, moving forward, moving forward. But then, as we grow old, then our body starts betraying us. It starts disappointing us.
So, we are progressing in our life. But then, progressive realisation of regress. Actually, I did not move forward.
I actually got myself more entangled, more attached and more lost. So, my life got wasted. Actually, what does that mean? Old age itself is miserable.
But nowadays, just as we have these very painful diseases like cancer, which is widely spreading, and cancer, heart attack, they cause terribly, even premature deaths. Heart attack is, of course, very abrupt. Cancer can be very painful and long-lasting also.
But there are other very, in a sense, humiliating diseases, like there is Alzheimer’s. Many old people suffer from diseases like this. Alzheimer’s is a disease where the person loses connection with reality.
So, the person is here, but the person is not there at all. The body in a shell is there, but the mind is… These are called brain degenerative diseases. And what exactly triggers them is not known.
Various factors are talked about. Largely, it is due to our unnatural living. But then the person is there physically, but he is not there at all.
Psychologically he is not there, emotionally he is not there. And caring for such people also becomes extremely difficult. Because the person is there and he is reciprocating love.
Even when the person is old, it is possible to care. But when the person is not even emotionally reciprocating, it becomes extremely difficult. So, you know, many… We see all these VIPs.
They are very wealthy and very powerful and very glamorous looking. But we don’t see them after they go off the screen. Many of them, the way they live, they live terrible lives.
For example… A very powerful lady, Margaret Thatcher. She was called the Iron Lady of England. People would tremble when she was in charge.
But now she has got terrible diseases. She has completely lost control of her faculties. Same person, the same life, has lost… …practical, not even the power of a head of state, but the power that even a normal human being has.
So what happens is, old age is extremely humiliating for us. So, you know, we have a choice. Either humility or humiliation.
Even that’s our choice. You know, humility or humiliation. Humility means, we admit, Krishna, I need you.
And I take shelter of you right now. Otherwise, as long as we are young, we may feel that, oh, I can go on in my life. But as life goes forward, then life actually humiliates us.
Therefore… My dear Lord, I am lamenting terribly. And I am saying that, I don’t know what is going to happen to me. Of course, when Bhaktivinoda Thakur is singing this song, it’s not that he has led a life like this.
He has led a life of devotion to God. But he is taking the life of a conditioned soul. And not an ordinary conditioned soul.
Actually, this is an extraordinary conditioned soul. In the sense that, this is a life that is normally thought to be a successful life. But he is saying, even such a life is… It is actually a wasted life.
So, as devotees, when we contemplate a song like this, then we can make sure that we don’t get allured too much by the hopes of material success in this world. We need to contribute in the material world also. Whatever talents we have, we should use them.
But the idea that, by becoming successful in this world, I will become happy, that is an illusion. We want to be successful in this world, so that we can serve Krishna, so that we can glorify Krishna. But those successes alone will not make us happy.
What will make us happy is our connection with Krishna. And Bhaktivedanta Thakur is giving us the guidance, the foresight to see what direction the typical life’s trajectory will go. And then, when we see the direction, we see the ultimate destination, then we will see, this is actually a dead end.
This is not the way I want to go. And then we can actually worship Krishna with a determined and consistent focus.