SB 11.07.08 – Disconnection with the supremely meaningful makes us seek meaning in the meaningless

Transcript

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Bhagavatam 1178 पुम्सो युप्तस्य नाना अर्थों ब्रह्मायस गुणदोष्य भाग कर्मा कर्मदि कर्मेति गुणदोष्य दियो भिदा so here Krishna is telling Uddhava पुम्सो युप्तस्य that once a person becomes a युप्तस्य disconnected from the absolute truth then that disconnection becomes the basis becomes the reason for many illusory connections so नाना अर्थों नाना अर्थों नाना is different अर्था is meaning or value so such a person who is disconnected from the absolute truth ascribes many ascribes value and meaning to many different things in the hope of trying to find some substance in hope of trying to find something substantial and real and ब्रह्मा कर्मदि गुणदोष्य भाख and in illusion one tries to do that illusion, भाख this is गुण, this is दोष्य this is good, this is bad but actually once we are disconnected from the absolute truth, whatever happens to us is ultimately bad so गुणदोष्य भाख गुणदोष्य भाख कर्मा कर्म विकर्मेति and based on this we think about कर्मा, oh this is what I should do or maybe this is what I should not do विकर्मेति or maybe these are forbidden activities I am not meant to do but I want to do it गुणदोष्य ध्यो भिदा and in this way ध्यो भिदा is भिद again difference गुणदोष्य, we start differentiating between good and bad things so at a material level definitely the difference between good and bad is important but ultimately from the point of view of the soul and the soul’s real life at the spiritual level in eternal love for Krishna everything material is false everything material is actually unreal because it is not really connected with the soul’s real life and that’s why just like if a person goes to watch a movie sometimes the movie may be a thriller and sometimes the movie may be a horror so sometimes it may give very exciting positive emotions and sometimes it may give horrifying terrible emotions but either way neither have we got any relationship with the real life of that person so same way actually the material life doesn’t have any ultimate relationship with the real life of the soul, of course the material life can be or rather our life in the material world can be structured and rearranged in such a way that it can become a pathway for our ultimate return to the spiritual world but that is possible only when we first connect with Krishna so as long as we are as long as we are disconnected with Krishna what happens is we start ascribing value to various different things, now some people collect butterflies, some people collect stamps some people collect snakes some people collect all sorts of different things and they ascribe value to those things now these we may call as idiosyncrasies and hobbies but actually when we somehow these may be for a few people but others may have those passions they may ascribe artha to things which are much more widespread and mainstream we can say for example attraction to the opposite sex attraction to wealth so these we may not raise our eyebrows at as we may raise our eyebrows at say somebody trying to collect caterpillars or grasshoppers or snakes or whatever like that but from the point of view of the soul whether the person is trying to collect money or collect grasshoppers it’s actually both are unconnected with the real life of the soul so depending on our circumstances and conditionings different people may ascribe meaning to different objects but from the point of view of the soul they are all meaningless unless they can be connected and utilized in the pursuit of the ultimate meaning that is devotional service to Krishna so rather than battling over the meanings and values of specific material things a serious spiritualist focuses primarily on kumso yuktasya instead of being ayuktasya becoming yuktasya becoming connected with Krishna only when we become connected with Krishna then we can find out what are the things with which we can use, serve Krishna and strengthen our connection with Krishna and then we can understand truly what is of value and what is not of value and we see this kumso ayuktasya especially in chanting the moment we let our mind wander away from Krishna we start thinking about such trivial things which have nothing to do with our spiritual life or even with our material life, maybe 20 years ago somebody had pinched us in the back and suddenly we remember that and the mind starts wandering and we start thinking about it as it is a very important matter so why do we give importance to such things now thoughts may come but we don’t have to give importance to the thoughts just as if we are just glancing cursorily at the newspaper we don’t give much importance just glance through it, similarly thoughts may come and we don’t have to give attention to them and that will be possible when we are giving attention to something else so kumso ayuktasya naanartho when we start feeling that our material attachments are too difficult to give up and the mind is too caught up in other things that’s not that material things are so important, rather we are not able to sustain our connection with Krishna and if we seriously strive to establish our connection with Krishna then that connection will be the basis for understanding the true artha of different things in relationship with the supreme artha that is Krishna and bhakti to Krishna and then we will be able to harmonize and integrate the various aspects of our life in relationship with the ultimate centerpiece of our life that is Krishna, thank you