Daily-Bhagavatam 62 – 11.07.52 – Don’t let worldly relationships consume all our emotions

11 732 113 There should not be excess affection 113 attachment 113 one should not manifest 113 for anyone why? if we do this then there will be santapa great misery 113 just as happened with a kapota a bird, a pigeon because it was cripple minded 113 now paradox tragedy of the world is that love is our greatest necessity it promises to be the source of the greatest pleasure and yet it becomes the cause of the greatest misery so the movies the novels media often depict love especially romantic love and the glamorized incisive and the theme of happily ever after predominate most romanticized depictions and yet real life involves very few occasions where there are such deep intimate relationships and even when there are such relationships, those relationships end in frustration and misery inevitably at least when there is separation due to death and sometimes even before when the partner is not able to live up to one's expectations or turns out to be quite a different person from what one had dreamt to be now the idea that one should not be attached to one's relatives may seem to be quite world rejecting that it is these relationships that bring happiness and yet if you reject those relationships then what is left for happiness what is the purpose of living the point here is very significant excessive attachment excessive affection it is not that one should not be affectionate in the name of in the name of being spiritual one has to be completely dry and cold towards one's relatives and family members excessive attachment means where our relationship with others consumes our consciousness so much that there is no room left for our connection with Krishna and so we have a horizontal relationship with others and we have a vertical relationship with Krishna and then our relationship with others becomes so emotionally consuming that we can't think of Krishna at all we may think but it is largely in utilitarian terms we can't really devote ourselves to Krishna then that sets us up eventually for great misery because firstly we deprive ourselves of solace and shelter and strength that comes from a satisfying relationship with Krishna from a deep emotionally fulfilling relationship with Krishna when that is not there there is a spiritual void at our core that is a weakness that makes us vulnerable to being tossed by material ups and downs and when such a material tragedy befalls us say when a loved one passes away or in some other way material relationships get terminated or distorted then we are left shelterless we gave up the shelter of Krishna for worldly relationships and then we find worldly relationships no longer give us shelter so we are left as Nagarka Nagarka neither with spiritual shelter nor with any worldly shelter so the solution to this is to deepen our understanding of the nature of life and the purpose of life the nature of life is we will recognize that things are temporary everything is temporary all our relationships will also be temporary then we don't let ourselves get too obsessed by those relationships and when we understand that Krishna is eternal then we focus on Krishna we focus on loving and serving him with sincerity and alacrity and that deep devotional connection strengthens us so that we can actually deepen our relationships with others too so when there is not excessive attachment then when there is not excessive affection then there can be real affection because we are rooted firmly in Krishna and then we can actually do good to others in our relationships with them otherwise we just stay buffeted by our moods, their moods our whims, their whims and we cannot we can neither deepen that relationship nor deepen our relationship with Krishna but instead by putting Krishna first we prepare for ourselves a shelter that will protect us even when better relationships are devastated and not only that, that shelter strengthens us so that we can improve our worldly relationships and become deeper connected with Krishna and better connected with others also so the tragedy of excessive attachment will be revealed will be depicted in the story of the Kapota, the pigeon that will be narrated in future but in general the path of bhakti is not a path of dry renunciation but of devotional connection, devotional connection with Krishna and devotional connection with our loved ones also.