Mukunda Mala Stotra 21 – 1: When scriptural study becomes like crying in the wilderness

amnayabhyasanany aranya-ruditam “[Without remembrance of Krishna’s lotus feet,] recitation of scripture is merely crying in the wilderness”

Transcript

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Thank you verse 21 this is a verse which talks about how all activities even activities that are considered religious become futile if they are not accompanied with the remembrance of Lord Krishna so we will discuss this in the next four meditations as chanting is essentially centered on the remembrance of Lord Krishna so these same activities if they are done without chanting of the holy names without the remembrance of Krishna then they become futile so the last line which points to this that without the remembrance of the lotus feet of Lord Narayana by which one can conquer samsmati so first he starts with Kulshikar Maharaj aamnaya bhesananya aranyaruddham aamnaya means refers to scriptures abhesanani is to study aranyaruddham is like crying in the wilderness so Kulshikar Maharaj is giving the most graphic metaphor over here to illustrate how normally scriptural study is said to be very nourishing but if somebody doesn’t know what is the ultimate purpose of scriptural study and one does it without remembrance of Krishna then scriptures are so vast lakhs and lakhs and lakhs of verses and every verse is so complex actually many verses are so complex they have many many meanings depending on how we see the context how we see the meaning of the scriptures bahuveditauvyam that there are so many meanings to each word so unless one has a compass about where one is supposed to go within study of scripture even the study of scripture can bewilder and confuse and bring despair within a person because one studies one kind of scripture and one finds one thing how does one reconcile it and one gets just totally confused and disheartened so just as when a child is crying in the wilderness actually the very fact that it is a wilderness indicates that there is nobody who is going to come to rescue that child and the only way the child can be saved is somebody specifically is passing by that way and hears the crying and the wilderness means that actually crying for no profitable purpose one is lost one is helpless but actually the crying in the wilderness often may attract dangerous predators rather than any helpful travelers over there so one can get lost in scriptural study if one doesn’t have awareness in the compass which leads to the goal that is remembrance of Krishna so when we remember Krishna and understand that Krishna is the goal as he has told all the way to I am to be known and with this remembrance and devotion and faith in Krishna when we study scripture then gradually by Krishna’s mercy the apparent contradictions in the scripture start falling in place where we see a master plan of Krishna where the apparently contradictory statements are actually statements given for people at different levels of spiritual consciousness and to gradually get them to rise to the highest level so even when we do our scriptural study of Srila Prabhupada’s books we need to keep this in mind that if we get caught into the grammar the historical analysis the textual analysis the inter-textuality all these academic concepts we may end up studying scripture and letting our hearts stay alone separated from Krishna crying alone in the wilderness but if we remember Krishna and then study scripture then we can get scriptural study can be a rich nourishing and fulfilling experience and that remembrance of Krishna is most easily fully cultivated through the chanting of the holy names so here it is indicated that chanting is so critical that it will bring remembrance of Krishna and that alone will lead all other religious activities to their fruit that’s why attentive chanting which brings remembrance of Krishna is indispensable for our spiritual health also what to speak of spiritual growth