SB 11.23.53 – Let remembrance of Krishna power our rise from the material to the spiritual level

Transcript

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Krishna and thereby progress towards curing our spiritual amnesia and thus becoming free from misery.
Thank you. So here the Avanti Brahmana is continuing his explanation of how nothing material can be blamed for the suffering of the soul no material external cause except for the mind can be blamed for one suffering. So he is now analyzing another cause that is the planets.
So in astrology it is described that the planets are instruments by which our karmic reactions come to us. So ultimately our karmic reactions come to us because of our own past misdeeds but the planets are instruments. However the planets can influence us only at the material level and the soul is different from the material level.
So therefore the soul cannot actually be affected by what happens at the material level because the soul is transcendental. ग्रहा निमित्तम् सुख दुख कयोश्चत् So he is saying ग्रहा निमित्तम्, निमित्तम् means instrument or immediate cause. निमित्तमात्रम् भवसोगे साच्यत् It is famously said in the Bhagavad Gita that Arjuna be my instrument.
So ग्रहा निमित्तम्, Prabhupada would say don’t be angry with the instruments of your karma. किमात्मनो जस्य जनस्यतेवई किमात्मनो So for the Atma, जस्य जनस्यतेवई So जस्य, the Atma is अजस्य, it’s beyond the scope of time. जनस्यतेवई, जनस्य is the people who are here in this world, the things that have taken birth.
So how can the unborn be affected by that which affects those things which have been born? In fact, ग्रहर्ग्रहसेवबदन्तिपेडाम् Actually there is mutual competition among the planets. The planets sometimes vie for superiority and supremacy. They have their inter-design conflicts.
And they don’t get anything worthwhile by causing suffering to us. क्रुध्येत कस्मे पुरुश्यस्ततो अन्या So, क्रुध्येत कस्मे, so what is the use of blaming someone else? So, again and again, the Avanti Brahmana is bringing this point that the soul is transcendental, whereas all suffering is happening at the material level. And for us, to experience this transcendence, it is not enough to just be intellectual and analytical.
We have to become spiritual. And the holy name is like a ladder. The holy name offers us a pathway, a clear way by which we can climb up.
Of course, the holy name is transcendental and it’s not like a ladder that we give up. But the holy name is the ladder. Holy name is non-different from Krishna.
And in that sense, Krishna is the ladder as well as the elevated floor where the ladder takes us. So, to the extent we are able to connect with Krishna while chanting, to that extent we experience our transcendence. And to the extent we fail to connect with Krishna, to that extent, we stay trapped in our material confusions and illusions.
And we ultimately keep ourselves vulnerable to suffering. So, if we wish to go beyond suffering, the way is by cultivating a clear awareness of our transcendental nature. And the best opportunity for that comes when we are remembering Krishna.
Because that remembrance of Krishna not only creates a ladder, that ladder is like the facility for remembering Krishna. But our choosing to remember Krishna is what takes us up that ladder. And when we, by remembering Krishna, by concentrating in our meditation, move up that ladder, then we experience a non-material safety and satisfaction that makes transcendence real for us.
And from that perspective, we understand that the material sufferings are peripheral. And they don’t matter to me too much. They are happening, but they don’t matter.
And, ultimately they are coming to me because I have misidentified with the body. And I can become free from them by stopping misidentification with the body. And that is the opportunity to stop identifying with the body and to start identifying ourselves as the parts of Krishna.
It is that opportunity that is offered by Krishna through His holy name.