Lakshmi Narasimha Karuna Rasa Stotra 8 – Beware of the fruit that promises happiness but delivers misery

samsara-vriksha agha-bijam ananta-karma

shakha-yutam karana-patram ananga-pushpam

aruhya dukha-phalinam patitam dayalo

lakshmi-nrisimha mama dehi karavalambam

The tree of samsara, or material existence, is sprouted from the seed of sinful desire. The unlimited reactions to fruitive activities are its branches, the senses are its leaves and its flowers is Cupid’s attraction of sex desire. O merciful one, I climbed up this tree but I have only obtained the fruit of misery and am now fallen. O Lakshmi-Nrisimha, please bless me with the touch of Your lotus hands.

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Shri Krishna Bhagavan, Shri Krishna Prabhupada, Shri Krishna Sarovar, Shri Krishna Sarovar, Jai. So, Lakshmi Narasimha, Vandamana, this one is from the Lakshmi Narasimha Karunarasa Sutra, which is comparing this material existence with a tree, Vruksha.
This is a tree starts with a seed. This tree starts the seed of sin, agni, then ananta, karma, shakha. This is a huge tree.
Krishna also compares the Bhagavad Gita to material existence, to a tree. Of course, it’s upside down tree. But he also says that, So, he says that this is, it’s so hostile, Krishna says, that it’s not perceivable.
So, by our karmas, which we have been doing for so many karmas over so many lifetimes, they are almost unlimited. And our senses are the leaves, just as the branches, the branches of the karma. And the karma, which we do in one particular life, gives us a sense in the next life.
So, Krishna talks about this. In 15.9, he says that the soul gets a body, which is centered around the mind, and the mind is something that, the mind develops this conception from a previous life. So, now, From the leaves, ultimately, fruits develop.
Flowers and fruits. The flowers are the sense objects, especially those connected with sex. And these look very attractive.
But, But when one climbs up to try to get these fruits, then one finds that the fruits are miscegeable. Just like somebody climbs up a huge tree and finds that the fruit is not only tasteless, it is poisonous. How frustrated a person will feel.
Indigestion and frustration, one may even fall away from that height. So, like that, we pursue happiness in this world, but when we actually experience happiness, we find that it is misery, it is not happiness. How can we deal with the situation? The only way ahead is by not getting tempted by the promise of pleasure.
Agha, sin, is the root of this whole tree. The seed, not the root, the seed, from which the whole tree develops, by the practice of devotional service, especially by the chanting of Hare Krishna, this seed itself gets burnt and thereafter it becomes impotent, incapable of producing a tree. That means, when we practice devotional service diligently, by that practice, the heart starts finding happiness in higher things, in things related to Krishna.
And then it no longer needs to find pleasure in sinful things. So, of course, this may not happen overnight. It may take years of steady practice, but that is the only way to actually come out of the tree of material existence, as Krishna also says in the Bhagavad Gita, So, with the weapon of detachment, and the axe of detachment, Dhrudhen, with the trimming, should cut it down.
So, when we start practicing devotional service, centered on chanting Hare Krishna, we do three things, among many. First is that we stop further sinful activities, that means we are not sowing any further seed which will grow into further trees. That means there are no future lives of misery for us.
Then also, by taking shelter of Krishna and absorbing ourselves in remembering Him, we are able to tolerate and to some extent transcend the misery that we may experience as a reaction to our past deeds. That means we are not climbing up new trees, whatever trees we are climbing up, we don’t chase after the flowers, whatever trees we have already climbed up, we don’t chase after the fruits. And also, by the power of devotion, our very desires get purified, so that even the desire to sow further seeds is lost.
Not only do we not sow further seeds and make further trees, but also the desire goes away over a period of time. And all this will happen by the diligent chanting of the holy names. Because that is the potency of Krishna and His supreme potency, He makes it available through His holy name.
Now, what is important for us are two things. Firstly, to recognize that the fruit which promises happiness actually will deliver misery, and therefore to not get allured by that fruit, to not get caught up in trying to chase after that fruit, to climb up after that fruit rather. And secondly, to recognize that the holy name, although it may seem to be just like a simple sound that we vibrate with our tongue, the holy name has immense potency, and that potency can be tapped through attention and devotion, by contemplating on the miserable and torturous nature of mortal existence, and contemplating on the potency of the holy name to free us from this treachery.
We can absorb ourselves determinately in the chanting of the holy names, and eventually go beyond the reach of illusion and bondage.