How can we develop our relationship with the eternal using the temporary mind?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
When we are trying to develop our relationship with Krishna using our mind, if the mind is temporary, so how do we connect with Krishna through this? When this relationship is eternal. अनासक्तस्विशयानिधारमप्युञ्जताः निर्बन्ध किस्यसम्मद्युक्तवैराज्युचिते युक्तवैराज्य means that we are detached from worldly things for our own enjoyment but we use them for Krishna’s service. Baldevindayavishnanda Govinda Bhashya talks about two kinds of liberation.
He talks about विदेहमुक्ति and जीवन्मुक्ति विदेहमुक्ति means when the soul gives up the body and go to the spiritual world. Videha, the body is given up. Jeevanmukti means that the body is still there, but the soul is no longer attached to the body.
So, all resources at the level of the body are used for Krishna. That is Jeevanmukti. All the faculties are used for Krishna’s service.
So, basically, we can understand the mind and its spiritualization at two levels. One is that when we are in the material world, we have to use what we have in Krishna’s service. The soul, especially if it is a function in the material world, then its consciousness has to be channeled to the mind and the body.
A pure devotee like the Goswamis, Arsala Prabhupada also said that Vrindavan, they can be absorbed in Krishna and they don’t need their body and mind at all. Soul will be absorbed in Krishna. But if they want to do some service in this world, then they have to use their body and mind.
Because the body and the mind is the channel they have right now. And Prabhupada was in Mumbai, a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader told Prabhupada, Swamiji, you chant Sanskrit verses in a very Bengali way. So, Prabhupada said, what can I do? I am from Bengal.
So, what it means is that Prabhupada, his chanting is transcendental in the sense that it is for the pleasure of Krishna purity. But he is chanting in a body that was born in Bengal. So, it will be expressed at the physical and mental level using the physical and mental apparatus that a person has.
So, the spiritualization of the mind and the senses means that they are no longer used for any material purpose. They are used for spiritual purposes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that their material characteristics will no longer be there.
So, we could talk of material characteristics means say, like the pronunciation. Somebody is from India, they may be pure devotee, they will pronounce verses in the Indian way. They will speak English also in the Indian way.
Somebody may be pure devotee from America, they may speak Sanskrit not in the same way which some Pandit who has been, who trained in Sanskrit from beginning will be. So, the body-mind will affect the expression of the intention. The intention will be pure, but the expression of that intention will be according to the body-mind.
So, the spiritualization means that the intention is not determined by the body-mind complex. The expression may be. See, for us, we may decide, I am going to give this class for the pleasure of Krishna.
But then while giving the class, I start thinking, how many people are appreciating my class? My ego comes into the picture. And then the intention may be pure, but when it comes to the body-mind, because there are so many impurities over there, the expression becomes impure. I want to glorify Krishna, but I want my own glorification also.
I want to distribute books, but I also want to know, the world should know how many books I distribute. So, the intention is what the soul has by its free will. But that free will is affected by various factors.
And especially if we come in association with pure devotees, or exalted devotees, then our intention also becomes pure. So, the spiritualization of the mind means that the mind will not contaminate the pure intention. The expression will be shaped by the mind, but the intention itself will not get contaminated.