SB 11.07.15 – Don’t make spiritual life unnecessarily difficult by obsessing with saying no

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Krishnamadbhagavatam 11.7.15 tyago ayam duskaro bhuman kamanam vishayatmabhi sutaram tvayi sarvadman abhaktairiti mehmatihi so here uddhava while asking about the tattva the ultimate truth to lord Krishna is expressing his own understanding of the nature of the method for connecting with spiritual reality he says tyago ayam duskaro bhuman oh my lord, oh great one, bhuman tyago ayam duskaro that tyaga pronunciation is duskara it’s extremely difficult so Krishna has Arjuna has also used in the Bhagavad Gita the word duskara to refer to controlling the mind vayor eva sudhushkaram he says that controlling the mind in 6.34 is as difficult as controlling the mind so the same point although the mind specifically may not be used here but tyaga is giving up sense gratification and that is very difficult for whom for kamana vishayatmabhi atmabhi for those whose people those people whose self is devoted is absorbed, immersed in vishaya, in sense objects because of kama so the transcendentalist may also sometimes interact with the sense objects but that is not because of kama that will be because of seva for the sake of seva they may use material things in Krishna’s service but for those whose consciousness is absorbed in sense objects for the sake of sense gratification giving renunciation is extremely difficult and all the more so sutaram tvayi saramatman abhaktair if somebody does not have devotion to the supreme lord, abhaktair then it becomes all the more difficult, that devotion should be towards whom people can say I have devotion to my country, I have devotion to my parents, I have devotion to my kula guru no, the devotion, that kind of devotion will not get adequate, give higher taste it is necessary to break free from the lower taste completely tvayi saramatman you, oh lord, saramatman you are the supreme soul saramatman the soul who is present within everyone you are the soul of everyone so Krishna’s position is unique when we fix our mind on Krishna then we are fixing our mind on that which is the substance the substratum the source of all of reality and that connection with Krishna through devotion gives us a profound inner enrichment and this inner enrichment enables us to deal with the promises of pleasure that the world offers us with intelligence and detachment so we can intelligently and with detachment reject the promises and offers of pleasure provided by the world and thus embrace the renunciation that is necessary for sustaining devotion so uddhava is telling that without higher taste lower taste is extremely difficult to give up and though we know this as a basic axiom of bhakti quite often we let our mind dwell on all that we have to give up and not on what we are going to gain if we think about the regulative principles and oh I should not do that I am not allowed to do that I can’t do that and we keep thinking of all the things that we are losing then naturally we feel deprived we feel we feel empty, we feel lacking in pleasure and those thoughts over a period of time push aside our conscience and intelligence and drag us into sense enjoyment and eventually sin and suffering but if we instead of letting the mind go and dwell on that which we have to give up if we focus on what we are going to gain ultimately we are going to gain Krishna and love for Krishna and glimpses of that we can get even now so the more we focus our energy and our time on saying yes to Krishna instead of no to maya to that extent that which is dushkara becomes sukara it becomes easy saying no to sense objects becomes easy when we are saying yes to Krishna and the most important opportunity to say yes to Krishna comes when we are chanting the holy names because this is the time when Krishna is manifesting himself and is ready and eager to reveal his presence through his nondifferent manifestation as the holy name and attract our hearts so by remembering the essence of bhakti is not saying no to maya but saying yes to Krishna we can put our heart in connecting with Krishna whenever the opportunity for concentrated and exclusive meditation presents itself thank you