Daily-Bhagavatam 69 – 11.07.59 – As the infant needs parent, the soul needs Krishna
Thank you. प्रजः पुपुशितुः प्रीतौ प्रजः पुपुशितुः प्रीतौ So, प्रजः, जा is to be born, प्रजः is those who are born from them, they are progeny.
In today's vernacular language usage, Hindi or Marathi, प्रजः is often used to refer to population, the citizens, citizens of a kingdom. From the Sanskrit conventional usage point of view, प्रजः refers to the children. So, प्रजः पुपुशितुः प्रीतौ So, they nourish their children, they were affectionate.
So, they nourish their children with affection. दंपति पुत्रवत्सलव दंपति is the couple. पुत्रवत्सलव They had affection for their children.
The word पुत्र is often used in the Vedic context, in inclusive sense, gender inclusive sense. So, पुत्र refers not only to the male child, can also refer to the female child. Although, often पुत्र and पुत्री are used to refer to male and female, but in some context, it is used in inclusive sense.
शुन्वन्तव कुजितं तासाम And they would hear शुन्वन्तव कुजितं their chirping, तासाम, of those birds, of the children, that is, निर्वतव कलभाशितै And they would feel great happiness, कलभाशितै by hearing their playful, awkward, stammering sounds. So, here again, the story of the happy couple is being continued. And the parents, whichever species they may be in, it is arranged by nature that the parents feel strong affection for their progeny.
And by that sense of affection, they are able to move onwards, towards Krishna. If they can spiritualize those relationships in the human form. But normally, that affection, which the parents have for their children, enables the progeny to take birth and come into life.
Actually, our need for love is a very deep-rooted, fundamental need. And that need can never be denied or rejected. But, what can and should be done is that it has to be dovetailed in a way that it doesn't lead to frustration.
So, now parents love their children, children love their parents. This is natural, this is necessary, this is wonderful. The parent-child love is in the most beautiful form of love, especially when a mother takes care of her infant.
It is so close to selfless love, that a mother is ready to sacrifice all her comforts, even her necessities, for the sake of her child. When we see such love in the world, actually, it makes the human heart long for a meaningful context in which this love can be placed and understood. If one becomes ultra-cynical, then one starts thinking that this is all ultimately meant to be frustrated, so better not let me get involved in the relationships at all.
But the point is, frustration is no qualification for devotion or liberation. Actually, it is purification and devotion that is the qualification. Frustration with one or two or even three aspects of material existence doesn't necessarily make us frustrated with all of material existence because still we think that something else will make me happy.
I just need to explore and discover what is it that will make me happy. In fact, the mind is so insidious that the same thing that made us frustrated yesterday, the mind will make us think today that, this is so good, let me do this and it will give me happiness this time. Although we know from past experience, it won't give us happiness.
Now, of course, this is much more true for gross sense gratification than it is for the relatively purer reciprocations of love, such as the parent-child or mother-infant love to be more specific. So, when we see this innate human longing for love and when we see how even a temporary and a fragmental reciprocation of love brings so much excitement and fulfilment to our heart. When a mother sees her child growing nicely, playing happily, mother feels so much joy.
Now, bhakti tells us that rather than rejecting all such love, we recognize that such love, no matter how wonderful it is, as long as it is restricted to the material level, it is ultimately placed in a framework that is ultimately frustrating and even meaningless. No, we lose our loved ones, we have to go away or they go away. And then the same love which gives so much joy to our heart causes so much distress, even heartbreak.
So, what is the point of it all? The point is that we need to redirect our love and let the excitement and fulfilment, whatever little it may be, that comes from the love in this world, let that redirect our loving propensity towards the all-attractive Supreme Lord who is the reservoir of unlimited and unending love. To the extent we can do such redirection, to that extent our life and our love will become truly meaningful and will become lastingly fulfilling. And the whole purpose of the Bhagavatam is to direct us towards that love.
Rather than merely rejecting worldly love and rather than just trying to take pride in renunciation, the Bhagavatam urges us to acknowledge the truth, the beauty, the sweetness of love even in this world but to not get consumed by that love alone. To recognise that this love, no matter how fulfilling it is, is not going to fulfil our heart forever or even for a long time because it is temporary. And we see this love as real in the sense that it does stimulate our heart, it does bring joy to our heart but it's temporary, it's like a drop.
So we let the drop remind us of the ocean, point us towards the ocean, pray in the Sagar, that is Krishna. And then when our loving relationships in this world stimulate us to intensify our loving relationship with Krishna, then our love gets placed in a framework that is ultimately supremely meaningful and fulfilling for we will be able to love Krishna in this world and eternally after we leave this world in the spiritual world. Thus making our life a supreme success and thus ensuring that our longing for love is supremely, completely, eternally fulfilling.