SB 11.23.16 – Greed makes our thinking uni-dimensional

Transcript

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Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.16 Yashod Yashasvinam Shuddham Shlaghye guni naam gunah Lobhasval ho pitan hanti Shudro roopam irepsitam The Avanti Brahmana is praying over here Yashod Yashasvinam Shuddham that the pure fame of the famous Shlaghye guni naam gunah the praiseworthy qualities of those endowed with qualities all these become nullified Lobhasval ho pitan hanti and if there is a little bit of greed then because of that greed Svalpa even if there’s a little bit pitan hanti that greed can destroy all those qualities because that greed can make a person act in such terrible abominable ways that the person just can’t use whatever good qualities are there whatever fame is there for one’s own constructive purposes and the example is given Shudro roopam irepsitam just as if a person has got this beautiful face but if there’s leprosy then that beauty is countered by that leprosy and because of the presence of the mark of leprosy the person is not considered beautiful of course when there is love even that person might be considered beautiful irrespective of whether there’s leprosy or not but here from a general perspective the white mark of leprosy is considered to be a beauty spoiler and similarly here it is understood that actually these qualities our virtues are spoiled by even one anartha so greed is a serious problem because greed enables us to or rather impels us not enables us it impels us to do wrong things greed impels us to cast aside sensitivity towards others cast aside our own morality cast aside our own sense of balance and because of this we act in a unidimensional sort of way where we start thinking only about what will satisfy our greed what will fulfill our craving for more and more we don’t think about the consequences on others or even the consequences in ourselves from a long-term perspective so because of this one has to be very very careful when one succumbs one exposes oneself to an environment that is filled with greed because generally the anarthas they make our thinking unidimensional unidimensional means we can think only from one perspective we can’t think about anything else so when a person becomes lusty as is the case with ajamil when he became lusty he just couldn’t think about anything else except getting that prostitute so the avanti brahmana is telling that because of his obsession with artha he also became unidimensional he did not think about dharma he did not think about even kama and of course he didn’t think about moksha so actually all of us have to see what are the specific anarthas that make our thinking unidimensional and then we have to deal with that thinking and counter that thinking by firstly minimizing the exposure to that anartha so that the anartha doesn’t take control of our thinking and even when sometimes the anarthas take control of our thinking then we have to have adequate philosophical education and adequate cultural cultural we could say acculturation or cultural customization so that we understand that certain things are just unacceptable so if children are brought up with proper culture and the parents tell them certain things you just can’t do you should not smoke you should not drink and then those don’t come within the ambit of consideration itself so either way the important point is that we have to protect ourselves and that sort of inculturation is what we are trying to do through our mantra meditation we are trying to bring about devotional impressions so that we can counter and destroy our non-devotional sensual impressions which have been the cause of our past tribulations and when we are trying to bring in those devotional impressions we have to be vigorous and vigilant so that we don’t leave the anarthas even in traces because from those traces they can expand and they can ruin us and to the extent we practice we are vigilant and vigorous in the practice of our devotional service to that extent we will be able to break free from this cancerous sort of effect of the anarthas