Daily-Bhagavatam 64 – 11.07.54 – Focus on Krishna to harmonize other relationships

Thank you Sneha gunita the he and she pigeon Sneha by affection gunita they are tied together as if by ropes Hrudayau grahadharminao their hearts were tied hearts were attached grahadharminao to the dharma of household life Drishyam drishyam angamangena they would glance at each other they would touch their bodies to each other buddhim buddhya pabandhato and in that way they became bound to each other buddhim buddhya buddhi can mean intelligence, it can mean mind so they became attached to each other subtle bodies became bound to each other not just the physical bodies but the subtle bodies also became bound so here Maharaj too is being instructed by the Avadhoot Brahmana with the nature of material attachment he describes that actually in this world there are many ways in which we can forget Krishna we can forget the reality of who we are and we can become bound in material existence so one of the ways is one of the most primary ways is the attachment to the opposite sex now the Vedic culture and in general all human culture sanctifies and dotes or utilizes generalizes, regulates this attachment through the institution of marriage the purpose of marriage is to enable both partners to together move onwards in their spiritual evolution towards God now when they become attracted to each other and become so infatuated with each other then that infatuation blinds them to their relationship with God and at one level if this infatuation continues then that itself is blinding but often the infatuation doesn't continue for very long also although there is attachment and there is infatuation over a period of time we find that the other person the partner is not able to live up to our expectations and thus we become frustrated essentially in worldly relationships we are trying to find a substitute for Krishna and because Krishna is supreme and supreme by definition is one so there cannot be any substitute for him and yes in specific relationships specific people may have some problems but beyond those specific problems there is a generic principle that we are trying to find a substitute for Krishna and that is an attempt which is impossible because there is no substitute for Krishna so if one gets just caught in worldly activities at one level the household life the igrahast ashram brings stability to society brings stability to the practice of spiritual life because one is situated in a steady ashram but another level if one just settles down and becomes consumed in it alone then there is no end to worldly engagements and one gets sucked up in that and the more we get sucked up in worldly temptations no matter in what garb they come the less we have either the inclination or the time or the intelligence to turn towards Krishna to devote ourselves to Krishna now physical proximity angamange in the case of attachment there is physical proximity and there is also emotional proximity that means the subtle bodies also get attached to each other and it is interesting that this is not talking about frustrated family life where the husband and wife are quarrelling with each other it is described that they are quite happy with each other they are both attached to each other and described that they continue to live like this for a substantial amount of time so there can be various reasons or various contexts through which people turn towards God or people stay away from God so many times when people are frustrated with worldly relationships then they may seek some spiritual solace and unfortunately they may think that to get spiritual solace they have to go beyond all relationships and merge in the impersonal one but that sort of merging means that we no longer exist to realize that we are liberated that is a very unsatisfactory state of liberation the higher understanding is that we connect with Krishna and we realize that the flawed world relationships were meant to serve as pointers, as reminders as spurs to our eternal relationship with Krishna so when we recognize the futility of relationships which do not have God as the center then we can ensure not that we reject all worldly relationships but that if we don't let these worldly relationships dominate our consciousness but rather we harmonize our worldly relationships with our spiritual relationship with Krishna and that is the way by which we can all move onwards in our journey to Krishna so that means there can be three levels where our worldly relationships take us away from Krishna our relations are indifferent towards our relationship with Krishna and our worldly relationships contribute to our relationship with Krishna and the more we keep our Krishna relationship in focus the more we learn how to adjust our various relationships by which we can stay focused on Krishna and keep moving towards Krishna and as much as possible help others to move towards Krishna Thank you.