Gita 13.27 – Let sensory perception stimulate spiritual contemplation

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
to go beyond mortality. Thank you.
Shetra and Kshetra are of matter and spirit. The word Sanyoga is used also in the Bhagavad Gita in relationship with the contact of the senses with the sense objects. By the contact of the senses with the sense objects.
There also the word is Sanyoga. Now, of course, there Krishna is analyzing the nature of material nature. He says that it tastes like pleasure in the beginning, nectar in the beginning, but like poison in the end.
Now, in this case, Krishna is using the word Sanyoga, connection. Krishna uses actually similar words in different contexts and that similarity of usage conveys the underlying similarity of principles also. For example, in 5.22 Krishna says so here he uses the word Samsparshya.
This is a famous verse which talks about how intelligence and sense gratification leads to wisdom. Now, Krishna uses the same word Samsparshya later to talk about spiritual happiness. So, he says So, in 6.28 he states Sukhena Brahma Samsparshya.
The happiness that comes from Brahma Samsparshya. The contact with Brahma that happens and he says this it provides the greatest happiness. Sukhena Brahma Samsparshya.
Now, this Samparshya, of course, is of a different kind that when Samparshya in the material context refers to, in the context of sense gratification, refers to some level of material contact. We may touch a sense object, we may taste a sense object or even when we are seeing something with our eyes. It’s not that the eyes are physically in contact with the good looking form but still there is the principle of the contact through sight in the Bhagavad Gita.
It is said that the sensory and the properties within the sensitive faculties that enable perception, they travel outwards. So, when we see an object, for example, when we see a good looking sense object, although we may see that there is no physical contact in terms of touch but there is a visual contact and that visual contact can often have quite an impact on a person. When people talk about love at first sight, the whole idea is that they are not talking about love at first touch, they are talking about love at first sight.
Now, most often this is not love, infatuation, it is largely physical attraction first. But the point is that at first sight, so is that kind of sight also some sparshan? Yes, sparshan means contact and the contact between different sense objects and different senses happens in different ways. So, sparshan in the vernacular is often used to refer to touch.
So, in the U.S. MNAS for sparshan, I touch that. So, sparshan is used in that specific sense for the contact to touch. But in the Bhagavad Gita, sparshan is used in a more inclusive sense to refer to the contact of any kind.
So, the contact between, say, our view and the nose of a person, that does not happen through touch, that happens through the fragrance. So, the contact between the senses and the sense objects can be mediated in different ways, in different situations. And similarly, the contact between the soul and Krishna can also be mediated in different ways.
So, for example, when we chant the holy names, Krishna is manifesting as Shabda Brahma and when we manifest as Shabda Brahma, our contact with him is mediated through sound. So, of course, there are multiple levels of contact because if we are hearing the holy name, then it is through the ears. We are also speaking the holy name also.
Then there is contact at the level of touch or at the level of Krishna manifesting on our tongue as well as in our ears. And because we have the famous prayer of Rupa Goswami where he states that I want thousands of mouths and millions of ears I do not know how much nectar these two words, Krishna have produced. I do not know because normally when somebody gives us a pot of abomasum, we will drink it and it will be over.
But when he says that I want to relish this sweetness of the holy name with thousands of mouths and millions of ears, the underlying implication is that this is such a big nectar that even thousands of mouths and millions of ears are not enough. And that is why I want more. He will say some big billionaire trillionaire decides to give charity and then brings out all the coins and the gold and the jewels and everything.
He says take as much as you want. Normally we may have come with one small bag. He will say oh I wish I had one, I had five bags, I had ten bags, I had fifty bags, I had a hundred bags.
There is so much treasure here. How much can I carry with me? So like that the contact with Krishna through the holy name or Krishna and he manifests the holy name provides so much nectar. I do not know how much nectar there is in the holy name.
And the contact with Krishna that enables us to relish this nectar is primarily in terms of remembrance. The more we connect with Krishna, the more we remember Krishna, the more we are able to relish nectar. So for us as Adhakaam, the key to relishing the nectar of Bhakti is the inner contact of Krishna through remembrance.
Yes, certainly that remembrance is stimulated when we are in situations where there is external perception of spiritual health objects, an external perception of stimuli connected with Krishna. So for example, when we see the darshan of Krishna, when we see, when we hear the chanting of the holy names, we hear the kirtans, and if we see the whole song Shuddha Bhakta Charanarendu, Vachana Anupurula, the whole song’s mood is one of sensory perception of Krishna. He is describing how through various senses Krishna is perceived and he is relishing the remembrance of Krishna.
There are Charan Sindhu Dekhiya Ganga Sukhasaasee Mataaya So Charan Sindhu Dekhiya Ganga Sukhasaasee Mataaya Charan Sindhu Now water, somebody might say this is just water, but it’s not just the contact of the sight of, it’s not just the sight of water that is flittering like ecstasy. Sukhasaasee Mataaya What happiness? What is the limit for that happiness? It’s unlimited happiness. For what is happiness? External perception is stimulating inner recollection and that is the key for the experience of satisfaction for the experience of ecstasy.
In Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we would see the same Darbrahma while others would offer obeisances. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sometimes would go mad with ecstasy. Why? Because a different kind of inner recollection was happening within him.
So that is what will happen to us also as our devotion intensifies as we become purer and stronger in our bhakti from the same stimuli will trigger faster and sweeter recollections of Krishna and thus we will experience immense ecstasy. So for us as sadhakas this is vital that we strive as much as possible to let there be inner recollection to the extent so how can we move towards this stage where for us also the outer perceptions can stimulate ecstatic recollections for that we have to reshape our habitual contemplations if we consider our memory to be like a place then normally if we are in a place where we are familiar then the children are playing if they know the house they know the attic if they are playing there then they may run here and there swiftly and freely but if they are in a unfamiliar place then they will not run around so carefree because they don’t know where am I going what is this place similarly what is the contemplation that is home for us is very important so if Krishna is the home for our contemplation then our thoughts will just like in our home we move out freely because we know what is where but similarly if Krishna is our home that means if we habituate ourselves to thinking about Krishna to contemplating on Krishna then when difficult situations come we will still be able to then in other circumstances of course when difficult situation comes we will take shelter of Krishna but when there is a particular perception connected with Krishna our thoughts will immediately go deeper into Krishna but if there is no if we have not made Krishna contemplation our inner home then whenever there is some kind of whenever there is some perception of Krishna also our thoughts will not go deeper into Krishna because our thoughts will be caught here and there in various things to the extent we make Krishna our inner home territory that means we make it home territory for our thoughts habitually my thoughts will dwell on Krishna with that attitude when we work in our life then we will be able to see that yes actually the outer perceptions about Krishna will kindle such deep recollections deep inner recollections of him and we too will be able to experience great levels of fulfillment and satisfaction so what Krishna starts over here at the level of Jnana when he declares that so he says at the level of Jnana the perception of the things of this world triggers the recollection of spirit things are not just what they seem to be things seem to be material but they are a combined manifestation of matter and spirit so Bhakti takes this perception far far ahead where the external perceptions far from being seen as matter or just seen them as actions of spirit they become stimuli for triggering the spontaneous and ecstatic recollections of the supreme spiritual reality Krishna