SB 11.07.19 – We need to become intellectually responsible to benefit from Krishna’s mercy

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
So Lord Krishna is speaking for the second time here in the Uddhava Gita. First he spoke at the start of the chapter. Then Uddhava has replied and has asked for further instructions about how to apply the instructions that the Lord has given.
And now the Lord is responding here. So Krishna says, In general, most people, not all people, but people who are those who are expert in understanding the truth about material nature, about the situation of the material world. Samudharanti Aatmanam So they deliver themselves.
Aatmanam Aatmanaiva Shubhashayat So Aatmanaiva Shubhashayat From the inauspicious attitude of desiring self-gratification. Ashubhashayat So here Lord Krishna, very interestingly, places the responsibility of delivering oneself on oneself. He says that if a person is If a person has a good sense of discrimination to understand the nature of the material world, then that person will Samudharanti will deliver oneself.
And interestingly, what is the deliverance from? It is from Ashubhashayat Ashubhashayat is the inauspicious desire for sense gratification. Aashayat So we all have certain aashayat, certain desires which determine, which are our governing desires, we are defining desires and they determine our conception of life. And those desires, if they are centered in material things and sense gratification, then they perpetuate our material existence.
So Samudharanti when we use our intelligence, we understand and properly how these desires will lead to suffering. Now, Krishnaji Pratapada explains that actually this vichakshanah, loka-tattva-vichakshanah, this expertise in understanding the true nature of the material world doesn’t come automatically. It comes by instruction, by complementing our intelligence with instruction from either the Supreme Lord or His pure representatives.
So our intelligence is largely directed and guided towards sense gratification. But when we empower our intelligence with scriptural wisdom coming from Krishna, then that combination of intelligence and scripture enables us to see the true nature of the material world. So Krishna, rather than, at least in the beginning of the Uddhavita, rather than emphasizing mercy, emphasizes responsibility.
And he talks about responsibility in terms of intellectual responsibility. That it is our intellectual responsibility to understand the nature of the material world and then make wise choices. And making wise choices means rejecting the ashubhashayat, rejecting the inauspicious desire for sense gratification.
In fact, Krishna doesn’t use the word rejecting, he uses delivering, samudharanti. So actually this desire for sense gratification is drowning us, is the sole cause of our suffering. And it is drowning and strangling and dragging us down.
And we have to deliver ourselves. We deliver ourselves by rejecting this desire. So to the extent we become intellectually responsible in terms of seriously thinking, evaluating, and then accepting or rejecting the kind of desires that come in our mind and the kind of actions that those desires prod, we will be able to say no to the inauspicious things and say yes to the auspicious things.
This intellectual responsibility is extremely important when we are focusing our thoughts in prayer, meditation, chanting. Because at that time, Krishna is manifesting in front of us. We have the opportunity to connect with Krishna, but unless we use our intelligence to reject other thoughts and desires and focus on Krishna, unless we do this, we will not be able to benefit ourselves from the association with Krishna.
That’s why to the extent we become intellectually responsible in terms of studying shastra and understanding its message and becoming determined to orient our behavior accordingly, to that extent we will be able to relish the mercy of Krishna manifesting as the Holy Name and thereby we will make spiritual advancement and progress back to Krishna and then there will be complete Samudharanti, complete liberation from material existence. Thank you.