SB 01.15.04 – Rich divine emotions await us if we just invest in Krishna whatever emotions we presently have for him

Transcript

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Thank you Bhagavatam 115-4 sakhyam maitrim sarvatam ja saratya dishu samsmaram nirvamakrajam ityaha pashupagad vidhaya vira So this chapter describes Arjuna’s lamentation on coming to know about Krishna’s departure from this world and not just on coming to know this chapter focuses on Arjuna expressing that lamentation when he has to report Krishna’s departure from the world to Yudhishthira So here Krishna, Arjuna has come back after trying to assuage the grief strucken widows of Krishna after trying to rescue the survivors of Dwarka from the wreckage and after in one sense grievously failing in completing his mission so he is heartbroken by that but more than that he is heartbroken by separation from his beloved friend and lord and as he is about to speak about Krishna to Yudhishthira his heart becomes flooded all the more so with the memories of Krishna and for many of us because our love for Krishna is in a very neophyte stage and because we don’t have much direct experience of reciprocations with Krishna right now our heart really gets flooded with memories of Krishna of course that can be rectified as we advance in spiritual life but Arjuna has an intimate relationship with Krishna and in various modes and modes so he is talking about that he is remembering in what all ways Krishna had reciprocated to him as a friend so Sakhya Maitri seems to be similar but there is a difference Sakhya is more of good wishes and Prabhupada translates Maitri as benedictions, good actions Krishna always desired the good of Arjuna and Krishna did good for Arjuna and somebody might do good for us just because of some some desire to seem gentlemanly desire to look good in the eyes of others but a person who is truly deeply a well-wisher of us is very rare so Krishna is like that Bhagavata 5.29 says and Arjuna knew that there is no greater well-wisher for me in the whole world than Krishna so there is his good wishes his good actions and ultimately his intimate connection with me his capacity to know my heart just as if he is a bosom friend, a heart to heart friend and an extraordinary expression of Krishna’s affection was his becoming a charioteer so the supreme lord to whom towards whom everyone is meant to be a servant that lord became a servant of his devotee so as that devotee Arjuna is remembering that and so his older brother who was the king, he started speaking but what happened tears started flowing from his eyes actually tears were flowing from his eyes he was breathing heavily and he was overwhelmed and he just couldn’t speak he had to struggle to speak because he was choked by emotions so in one sense it may seem like a great misery that Arjuna is going through and yes, Arjuna is in agony, in misery but because there is remembrance of Krishna actually it is ecstasy there can be sweet nectar and there can be bitter nectar now nectar means not just that which tastes good that which revives life that prolongs life that which grants life so some nectar is sweet but some nectar may not be so sweet like that when a devotee is separated from Krishna and the devotee becomes absorbed in remembrance of Krishna that is bitter nectar but it is nectar, Arjuna is completely absorbed in Krishna and he is filled with Krishna thoughts which in one sense is the perfection of life so here to some extent in this chapter in the Bhagavatam we get a glimpse of what will be given later in the 10th canto in chapters 46 and 47 where it describes Gopi’s feelings of separation from Krishna as expressed in their talks with Uddhava so this 15th chapter gives us a glimpse of what is going to come as the most exalted emotion of the most exalted devotees in the 10th canto and here by meditating on how the life of a devotee is so rich with divine emotions we can get the inspiration to concentrate whatever little emotion we have and apply it in our devotional service, direct it towards Krishna, invest it in our relationship with Krishna and thereby watch it expand more and more till one day if we offer whatever emotion we have to Krishna, Krishna will give us more emotion and then we can invest more emotion and he will give us more emotion further and in that way we will be able to also one day experience the supreme richness of love and that opportunity to offer our emotion to Krishna Krishna is present before us every time we pray or chant or try to connect with Krishna through devotional service