Gita 18.34 – Determination in devotion with material expectation makes devotion unsteady

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you Krishna is talking here about determination in the mode of passion that which is done for the sake of dharma-kama-artha Krishna is talking about the three dharma, the first three purusharthas dharma-artha-kama so for that sake that determination which becomes very steady which becomes very strong for achieving these things prasangena phalakamshi prasanga is prasanga is strong attachment so prasangena phalakamshi phalakamshi with the akamsha, with the expectation the anticipation the longing for phala, for the fruit prasangena phalakamshi rtisa partha rajasi that rti, that determination is upartha rajasi it is in the mode of passion here the word dharma dharma refers to mundane religiosity wherein one is focusing primarily on religion not as a means for harmonizing with our innermost nature but as a tool for fulfilling outer desire so that means that dharma is a tool to artha and kama now in such a case also determination is required because the karmakandi rituals which provide material benefits they are not so easy to achieve they also require following of certain rules and regulations and following rules and regulations of any kind requires determination so for example there are people who make this form during shravan maas we will avoid meat we will avoid tea and coffee we will avoid watching TV we will avoid watching movies people may decide different things like that and when they decide such things their focus is usually on regulation now for gratification later so that sort of formula actually perpetuates illusion because it is just the method for seeking pleasure that is higher than religious materialism the nature of the pleasure that people are seeking is not higher so for example somebody may follow the rules and regulations of karmakanda to go to heaven and motivation somebody may follow strict rules of sense control so that one can enjoy with the apsaras in heaven now such a determination krishna says here is in the mode of passion and that it is in the mode of passion means that it does not raise one’s consciousness above passion of course dhruv maharaj also had the reserve for artha artharthi he was but the difference in his case was that because he worshipped lord vishnu and he worshipped lord vishnu with the intention of he worshipped lord vishnu with the intention to please under the instruction of narada muni and because of worshipping him worshipping the supreme lord under the instruction of his pure devotee and more importantly it was not that purification was just an automatic result purification was also a conscious choice when he got the darshan of the lord at that time that was no doubt extraordinarily fulfilled but even after tasting that fulfillment he could have he could have asked the lord please give me a kingdom but he realized he realized that oh lord your darshan,your remembrance you are the supreme jewel as compared to whom everything of this world is just like broken pieces of glass i do not want anything of this world oh lord so this attitude was what was what inspired him was what this attitude this choice which he made on getting the higher taste was vital now for us also when we are practicing devotional love when we are chanting Hare Krishna at that time we also have to make some choices we also have to take some decisions we all have had some small or big spiritual experiences where we relished extraordinary serenity or ecstasy we may have experienced great strength and stability when we have absorbed ourselves in chanting so now after these experiences we have to make a choice will i want more of these experiences or will i want am i going to keep pursuing sensory pleasures when we practice bhakti with determination and the level of passion then we have material expectations from the practice of our bhakti and when those material expectations are not fulfilled then we start thinking what is the point of practicing bhakti what is the point of struggling so much to try to concentrate on Krishna what is the point of trying to love Krishna once we understand this that Krishna is our eternal lord and he is our greatest well-wisher and he is here for us to elevate us he wants to give us the highest happiness by elevating us to a higher spiritual level of consciousness but if we instead dharmakama if we practice the dharma of chanting the yuga dharma of chanting the holy names for the sake of artha and kama then those uninformed expectations will create unsteadiness in our devotional practice certainly it is not that Krishna wants us to be materially miserable it’s not that artha and kama has to be all disrupted and frustrated but certainly we don’t want to make the pursuit of artha and kama the goal of our life when we raise ourselves to that determination which is without material expectation that means all that we want through our chanting is to serve Krishna and we simply want to devote ourselves to him then the material ups and downs will no longer have that much of a disrupting effect on us and then we will find that our chanting once our own reception capacity our own reception vessel that is our consciousness when it is not distracted by the ups and downs of material life then it will be able to receive and relish the holy name much more fully and richly Thank you