SB 01.05.20 – Take heart from Krishna’s closeness when the heart seems cold

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Srimad Bhagavatam 1520 Narguna is here explaining to Vyasadev in a nutshell the inconceivable oneness and difference of the Lord from this material cosmos this world, this universe Bhagavan, Iva is almost like Bhagavan but then Itara, Iva Itaro so Iva Itaro is one of the clearest and closest resemblances in the Bhagavatam to the explicit phrase Achintya Bheda Bhed Iva Itaro it is like and it is also different Iva Itaro and Yato Jagatsthan Nirodh Sambhava that it is from that Lord that the world’s creation has begun, it is by Him that the world is maintained and it is in Him the world will return after it is destroyed Taddhi Svayam Ved Bhavam Sathapite so O Vyasadev you know all this, Bhavam Sathapite means Veda you know all this and therefore Pradesha Matram Bhavatha Pradarshitam I have just stated this Pradesha Matram in summary in a nutshell for an indication what does this inconceivable oneness and difference of the Lord with the world imply for us as sadhakas first and foremost it implies that we are never far away from Krishna no matter how fallen we are we are still surrounded by Krishna we are still living in Krishna and our sinfulness our waywardness doesn’t create an ontological distance between us and Krishna although it may create emotional or psychological distance ontological means with respect to existence so it is not that Krishna is somewhere far away in the spiritual world and we have no access to him Krishna is all around us Krishna says I am sound in ether so whenever we hear any sound that is a manifestation of Krishna we may be sitting on a chair or standing or on the floor now that is Krishna’s material energy which in one sense is him so Krishna in that sense is eminently accessible to us and remembering this can be very heartening for us when we want to approach Krishna now emotionally yes we are far away from him because our emotions are caught in other things our emotions are caught in worldly things and they are caught in those worldly things in such a way that we see those worldly things separate from Krishna disconnected from Krishna for example I may have anxiety about money how will I make ends meet how can I get a better paying job or how can I get an increment in my present job or where can I get a loan in all this we are thinking of money now we may as devotees use the word Lakshmi to refer to money but still often we don’t think of money in connection with Krishna very easily we just think of money as money and thoughts of money take us away from Krishna but it doesn’t necessarily have to be like that to the extent we offer our heart to Krishna to that extent the emotional distance between us and Krishna decreases and to that extent we feel his closeness but apart from the feeling of closeness there is the being in closeness and Krishna is always close to us so especially when we are trying to chant the holy names and we feel no emotion at all our chanting is just like a mechanical utterance of some sound vibration at that time we may feel is this chanting really doing any good to me or is it at all pleasing to Krishna we can quash such doubts by remembering that Krishna is not far away, Krishna is right next to us in our heart and he knows how our heart feels dry and he appreciates that despite the dry feeling of the heart we are still endeavouring to chant and are trying to invest our concentration and our emotion in the chanting and seeing this endeavour he will be pleased and he will reveal a little bit more of his all attractiveness in the holy name and that will induce a little bit more emotion in our heart and that will induce him to reveal his attractiveness a little bit more and that will induce a little bit more emotion in our heart and in that way over a period of time by studying unflinching practice of sadhana bhakti we will become enriched with spiritual emotions so knowing that Krishna is not far away from us even when he seems far away can be a great motivator and encourager in persevering in our bhakti Thank you