Gita 6.28 – Let the consciousness rise towards Krishna by the staircase of divine sound

Bhagavad Gita 6.28 yunjan evam sadatmanam yogi vighat kalmashah sukhena brahma samsparsham atyantam sukham asnute yunjan evam sadatmanam being engaged in this way constantly sadatmanam yogi vighat kalmashah the yogi becomes freed from all impurities vighat, they go away kalmashah, the impurities and then sukhena brahma samsparsham yogi comes in contact with brahma, the spiritual reality samsparsha, contact what happens by that contact? atyantam sukham asnute one experiences sukha, what kind of sukha? atyant, supreme happiness so this verse describes beautifully the trajectory of the spiritual voyager when we are chanting Hare Krishna we are essentially embarking on a spiritual voyage we are letting our consciousness being led along the pathway of the holy name to the supreme spiritual destination of Krishna just as a staircase offers a path for us to rise up similarly, the sound of the holy name offers our consciousness a path to rise up from the material level of reality to the spiritual level of reality now when we have to climb up a staircase we have to give up the security of having our foot our feet resting on the solid ground at the ground floor and rise up one step at a time and the climbing up the staircase is just ultimately a matter of taking one step ahead of another lifting one step, lifting another step and like that if we just keep doing we can rise up to whatever height is required first floor, second floor, third floor, whatever so similarly every time that we let the holy name come in contact with our consciousness it is not that just by chanting every mahamantra the holy name is coming in contact with our consciousness at some level that may be happening but our consciousness can be entirely elsewhere and the chanting can be just going on as movement of the lips and the production of some sound vibration but when we truly try to concentrate then every mahamantra that we hear is actually like climbing one step above or upwards on our spiritual voyage and the bottom thing is that we have to give up the security the comfort of our current position to rise upwards so constantly steadily the person who climbs up one floor enthusiastically and then gets exhausted in the midst there and while waiting there is tempted by someone for quick relief and then indulges and loses and finds not at the top, at the first floor or the second floor but finds oneself at the first floor or even at the ground floor being knocked down having lost the way having lost the foot hold and slipped all the way down so like that although Krishna gives us wonderful opportunities to raise our consciousness upwards but unfortunately we don't take those opportunities because we let our consciousness wander here and there with the mind therefore there has to be constant contact by that repeated contact that we make a resolve that everyday for this much time for this many rounds I am going to come in contact with Krishna that contact becomes our determination it becomes our resolution and knowing that this much time anyway I am going to spend at the holy name so let me spend it properly let me spend it determinedly and gradually the commitment to quantity leads to a commitment to quality leads to the commitment to quality and brings quality to our chanting so when we keep chanting with a desire for purity with a desire for devotion then then gradually the mind starts seeing that this person is not going to get distracted I keep distracting this person but again it comes back, I distract again it comes back not going to listen to me so rather than we getting tired of the mind we have to make the mind tired of us that means we getting tired of the mind means saying that oh this mind is never going to listen so whenever the mind goes we go with it rather than that we the mind should see no matter how many times I take this person away this person is going to come back so better let me just become silent and in that way the mind's impurities will go away and the impurities go away the desire to seek pleasure in things other than the Krishna goes away then that is contact with Brahma, with the spiritual reality the highest spiritual reality, Parambrahma is Krishna and that Parambrahma manifests as the holy name Abhinakam Nama Namino and when we are actually able to contact Krishna as his holy name through the peaceful mind through the non disturbed mind then there is Atyantam Sukham because Krishna is a reservoir of happiness and when you contact with him there is supreme happiness for us Atyantam Sukham Ashnate we relish that the highest level of this relish is what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu described in the Shikshashtakam as Anandam Bodhi Vardhanam Pratipadam Purnamritaswadhanam an ocean of happiness that is constantly expanding and giving joy, ananda ecstasy at every moment so by steadily going on using the staircase of the holy name of the divine sound to take one step up with every Atyantam Mantra towards Krishna gradually as we rise upwards we realize that not only are we going towards Krishna but also that we are with Krishna we realize more and more that the holy name is Krishna himself, the holy name doesn't just take us towards Krishna but the holy name is Krishna though initially we will not realize that at least initially we can chant thinking that by being attentive to the holy name I will go closer to Krishna and then we will realize that I am with Krishna always and therein lies the supreme security therein lies the supreme satisfaction.