SB 01.15.08 – Our calls to Krishna may not break the wall that separates us but they show him we want the wall broken

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Srimad Bhagavatam, 158 So here Arjuna is remembering the first war that Krishna and Arjuna fought together. Krishna served as Arjuna’s chariot here, not just in the Kurukshetra battlefield, but also earlier, when Arjuna was hosting Krishna in Khandava Prastha, Krishna had come to visit the Pandavas, and at that time, both of them had gone out to the forest, and there a tall Brahmin came, and he said that, I am Agni, and I have indigestion, so please, I need to eat the medicinal herbs which are there in this forest.
But Indra has some friends, Takshaka and other snakes like him, who are living, and he is not allowing me to burn the forest. Please help me. So now that forest was filled with many sinful living beings, and Krishna and Arjuna both were united in their desire to serve the one who had approached them in the form of a Brahmin.
To serve Brahmins is the duty of Kshatriyas, and to serve the Gods is also a duty of every human being. So at that time, Arjuna built an umbrella of arrows above the whole forest by his archery expertise, and it prevented the rains from coming down, and Indra started showering rains when Agni was burning and devouring the forest. So Indra, along with all the Gods, attacked Arjuna, and by Krishna’s grace, Arjuna countered all the Gods, and at that time, Arjuna’s Maidana came and took shelter of Krishna, and so Arjuna spared them, and Maya said that, actually, I would like to do something for you, and he constructed the Maya Sabha at the request of Krishna, who wanted to do something for Nigashti.
So, by his presence, by his proximity, I was able to give Khandava Agni a dam, I was able to give Khandava Agni a dam, and Indra along with all the Amarganas, all the various Gods, by my expertise, I conquered over them. Then through that pastime, Mayakruta is made by Maya, the Adbhuta Shilpa Maya, it was filled with extraordinary art, workmanship, and illusions. And then he’s also talking about how the Rajasuya Yajna was performed in which all the emperors from all over the world offered tribute to Yudhishthira.
So Arjuna is speaking to Yudhishthira, and he’s saying over here, that, my dear Lord, all this I was able to do because of Yath Sannidhav, because he was present. So actually, whenever we are able to do anything wonderful, even if we don’t see Krishna around, Yath Sannidhav is right there in our hearts. The same word Sannidhav is used by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita in a slightly different form, sarvasya chauham hrdi sannivishtho.
So Nidhav, the word Nid is related to Nibas, Nidhi, storehouse. Nibas is home or residence, Sannidhav, it’s close by. So Krishna is close to us, closer and the closest to us, and he wants to empower us to do wonderful things in his service for the good of the world.
And we just have to become willing instruments, and a powerful way in which we can become willing instruments is by removing the anarthas that block the flow of Krishna’s potency through us. So when we are chanting, we are praying to Krishna, please engage me in your service, and whatever is distracting us from thinking about Krishna and calling out to Krishna, they are the walls, they are like the obstacles. The same obstacle of the anarthas which prevents Krishna’s energy from flowing through us, it also prevents our call from focusing on Krishna.
But when we call sincerely and repeatedly, we show Krishna that we want him to break the wall. And although we can’t break it ourselves, although we may feel that I have been chanting for so many days, so many months and years, still my mind keeps wandering, still it appears as if I am hitting my head against the wall and simply breaking my head instead of, and not breaking the wall at all. But actually it’s not futile.
When we are calling out to Krishna, Krishna is observing us. And although we may not be able to break down the wall of the anarthas, when we keep calling out to Krishna sincerely, he will at the right time just burst through breaking down the wall, and then our connection with him will become sweet and perennial, constantly giving us ecstasy and enabling us to become channels of Krishna’s energy for doing good to the world.