SB 11.07.27 – Seek the goal beyond the normal goals

Transcript

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thereof धर्मार्थ कामेशु most people prior they aspire for धर्मार्थ and काम दिवित्सायां चमानवः even if they acquire they seek some spiritual knowledge हेतू नई वसमीहन्त what is the हेतू because of which they do this they endeavor this आयूशो एशिशहशुयः they want long life, they want fame and they want material opulence so here Maharaj Yadu is asking the Avadhut Brahmana that how is it that you are living unattached without any home without any activity without any profession, vocation and your way of living is radically in contrast with the way in which most people live so most people they follow they pursue the three Purusharthas Dharma, Artha and Kama they practice religion so that they can get wealth economic prosperity and through that economic prosperity they want to enjoy प्रामेशु so when they want to do this what is the goal they want to just get the various enjoyable things in life long life prestige and fame in society and material opulence so how can people have desires that are radically different from the mainstream desires of most of humanity and in fact we as devotees when we become serious spiritualists then our desires do differ from the desires of the mainstream materialist society quite radically actually we can envision three levels that is the level of irreligiosity or Adharma and there is a level of Aparadharma that is material religion and then there is Paradharma that is transcendental religion so here Bhagavatam in this section is talking about the contrast between Aparadharma and Paradharma that most people practice Aparadharma then how is it that you are practicing Paradharma or how is it that you are doing something entirely different now in Kali Yuga things are so degraded that most people don’t even practice Aparadharma most people simply focus on Adharma Adharma means that they simply do whatever is required for the sense gratification without considering whether it is religious or not religious so in such a situation how can you act in a way that is radically different from everyone else this is a question that can come to us also we have to remember that yes we are unusual as compared to the general mass of people but our unusualness is a speciality it’s not abnormality speciality means it’s in a positive sense abnormality means it’s in a negative sense actually most people live just materialistically and pursue the same aims that animals pursue that is eating, sleeping, mating, defending isn’t there something higher to life and that whatever is higher to life has to be understood and has to be pursued so very few people do that and as we will see in the later replies of the Brahmana that it is he who is pursuing the higher goals and these higher goals have to be kept in the forefront of our mind when we are doing aparadharma when we are doing paradharma rather because otherwise our standard of reference for deciding our actions is not scripture but if it is the course of mainstream society then we will always feel insecure, we will feel like odd people out and we will feel that we are wasting our time especially when people are busily going around doing this and that and earning money, trying to gain fame and we are spending that time just uttering some mantra now a devilish mind may start saying that why are you wasting your time like this do something constructive don’t waste time like this but no constructive what is constructive will depend on what we think is worth constructing if we think that it is material success and material prosperity that is alone worth constructing then our constructiveness will be defined as those things which promote that but when we understand that the ultimate thing worth constructing is our relationship with Krishna and love for Krishna that is the bedrock of that relationship then meditation becomes the more fundamental activity for us because that is the time when we exclusively focus on Krishna putting aside all other distractions and try to connect with him at a deep intimate and personal level so in this way by keeping our purpose in mind we can motivate ourselves to steadily continue in our distinct to spiritual