SB 01.05.03 – The materially magnificent can’t compensate for the spiritually deficient

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
krita van bharatam yastum sarvartha pari brahmitam Narad Bhoomi is continuing his instruction to Vyasadev and he is appreciating what Vyasadev has done till now. Your inquiries have been well-versed, richly endowed and not only have they been good they have been extraordinary, extraordinary and wonderful and krita van bharatam yastum and you have compiled the bharata that is the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is the world’s biggest poem, 110,000 verses, seven times bigger than the Germanic sagas which you consider the poems in the world.
Iliya and Odissi combined together. So Mahadadbhutam’s janetary composition is magnificent, wondrous, stupendous and sarvartha pari brahmitam and sarvartha things have been elaborately explained in this. So now the question arises if everything has been elaborately explained then why is a that Vyasadev is still dissatisfied? That’s because Vyasadev has, as will be answered in the subsequent verses, that he has not exclusively and clearly glorified the principle of pure devotion which alone can satisfy the heart.
So at a material level Vyasadev’s accomplishments are stupendous and Narottamuni does not deride or dismiss the magnificence of those accomplishments. At the same time in the future verses he will point out that though magnificent they are still deficient and that is what a lesson which we all can learn. Generally the materialistic culture around us glamorizes magnificent achievements.
Somebody builds a big skyscraper, somebody scores more centuries in cricket than any other batsman, somebody else breaks the world record for the 100 meter sprint. So all these records, all these accomplishments require tremendous human effort and in their own way they are magnificent and their magnificence doesn’t have to be denied. But at the same time what may be materially magnificent may still be spiritually deficient because just material magnificence doesn’t satisfy the heart.
It may to some extent give us a sense of identity, give us a sense of self-worth but all this is at the level of the body, at the level at the most of the ego which causes us to misidentify with the body. But beyond all this is the heart’s longing for love eternal and that longing can be satisfied only when we turn towards Krishna and develop our relationship with him. Without that relationship whatever we achieve materially will give us some fame but what are the medals today will become baubles tomorrow.
What gives us great exhilaration today will no longer give much exhilaration after some time but if we develop love for Krishna then the exhilaration that comes from that doesn’t only stay forever but it keeps increasing constantly. As Sri Yukendra Mahaprabhu says in the Shastra, there is an ocean of happiness and even that ocean is expanding. So that is what Vyasadeva is being reminded of in this progression of verses and that is what we can remember when we are praying to Krishna.
That often during our prayer meditation we feel that oh I’m not doing anything much productive. I can do this, I can do that and I will be able to achieve so many things. Yes, we may be able to achieve and even if we do which is not always likely to happen even if we achieve something magnificent still that will keep our heart in a state of feeling deficient.
That feeling of deficiency will go away only when we fill our heart with love for Krishna and that love for Krishna can be developed most expeditiously by focused devotional practices. So there’s no need to let the hopes and dreams for material magnificence keep us in a state of spiritual deficiency. By recognizing that ultimately only devotion can satisfy our heart, we can wholeheartedly offer ourselves through our devotional activities to Krishna and thereby progress towards attaining the love that will satisfy our heart completely and eternally.
Thank you.