Gita 07.13 – Let spiritual desire take us from the surface to the substance

Thank you bhagavad gita 7.13 bhagavad gita 7.13 krishna is telling here about how he is unperceivable to us prior to this krishna has told how he is the essence of everything he is the taste of water he is the ability in man he is the strength of the strong all states in goodness, passion and ignorance are manifested through him yet he now says that although he is the essence of everything he is not perceivable because of the covering of the three modes so three modes of material nature with the whole world whole universe because of being deluded they do not know they do not know me who I am above these modes so here krishna explains that the covering is not on him the covering is on us and this covering prevents us from knowing him now is it that krishna doesn't want us to know him that's why he has covered all of us actually it is not he who has covered us because he wants to cover us it is the covering is there because we want to be covered you know when attention has to go to one thing it has to go away from another thing you know when we want to watch a movie in a movie theater to be absorbed in that movie to experience that movie we switch off the other light so that when attention goes to one thing it goes away from another thing so when we are captivated by the desires to enjoy this world because we are attracted to all the colorful forms in this world then the attention goes to this world goes not just to this world but goes to the material forms and appearances basically the sensory appearances of worldly objects and when our attention goes to appearances of things, the sensory perceptions of things then our attention goes away from their underlying essential substance and the most underlying, unifying, sustaining substance of everything is Krishna so as long as we desire to explore, experience and enjoy the surface of things we cannot relish the substance of things and Krishna in order to facilitate our desire to enjoy the surface of things covers us so that we can't see him who is the substance of everything so it is in reciprocation to our desire that we are covered and that he is obscured from us now when we take shelter of Krishna by practicing devotional service at that time also we have a choice whether to explore the surface or to excavate the substance now when we explore the surface in our devotional activities then we constantly want newer and newer devotional activities we want to hear new tunes of the holy name we want to find something new in reading scripture and and the new thing we want to find that is not wrong but we want to find something new at the surface because we are still enamored by matter so purification essentially means we direct our search for newness not on the surface but under the surface to the substance and that penetration from surface to substance happens by our desire to know Krishna our desire to love Krishna Rupa Goswami says in the Patra Samrath Sindhu that the prize for knowing Krishna is lauliyam is intense greed so when we have this greed to know Krishna and we infuse our devotional activities with that greed then our heart becomes sensitized to perceive Krishna we can go deep to the substance and perceive and relish Krishna so when we are praying when we are meditating, when we are chanting when we are doing devotional service at that time if we focus not on exploring the surface but on excavating the substance and the excavator for us, the substance which we excavate is not just the mechanical performance of the devotional ritual it is the devotion, it is actually the transcendental desire, it is the intense desire to know and love Krishna and serve Him so when we infuse our heart and our activities with the desire to know, love and serve Krishna now we have that to some extent to some tiny extent we may have that but as we keep just as our muscles increase by using whatever muscles we have, similarly with whatever desire to know, love and serve Krishna that we have right now, we infuse that into our devotional activities, into our chanting of the holy names and call out to Krishna then that becomes that spiritual desire infused devotional activity becomes like the excavator that takes us beyond, penetrates the surface and takes us towards the substance deeper and deeper and then we can relish the remembrance of Krishna more and more and then we can relish how Kula Shikhar Maharaj says there is no happiness that I know apart from the nectar of the lotus feet of Lord Hari and that happiness can be ours as we penetrate deep below the substance, below the surface into the substance the supreme substantive principle of Krishna and as we know him, love him and serve him more and more our relish becomes more and more for all time to come.