SB 4.9.17 – When we relish the goodness of God, even the good of this world loses its appeal

Transcript

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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.9.17 सत्याशिषोहि भगवं स्तवपाद पद्मं आशिष्ट थानुभजितः पुरुशार्थमूर्ते अप्पेव मर्यभगवान परिपाति दिना वाश्रेववद्सकमनुग्रहकातरोस्माल So, सत्याशिषोहि भगवं स्तवपाद पद्मं My dear Lord, the ultimate blessing, the truest blessing, सत्याशिष आशिष is what we aspire for, what we get from the Lord. सत्याशिष भगवं स्तवपाद पद्मं O Bhagwan, O Supreme Lord, Your lotus feet is the truest of all blessings.
So, I am getting your darshan right now. There is actually no blessing that is greater than this. This is the truest of all blessings.
सत्याशिषोहि आशिष्ठानुभजितः पुरुशार्थमूर्थे So, पुरुशार्थमूर्थे There are Purusharthas, Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha, but you are the personified form of the Purusharthas. That means there are different Purusharthas, which can satisfy us to different degrees, but you yourself manifest everything. As I have mentioned in one of my Gita Delhi articles, Krishna is Krishna’s greatest blessing.
When Krishna reveals Himself to us, and enables us to fall in love with Him completely, that is a supreme blessing. Similarly, पुरुशार्थमूर्थे You are the personified form of all the worldly benedictions that one can ask for. I had come to you, O Lord, to ask for a kingdom, but now that I have seen you, I am just one small kind of one of the Purusharthas, but you are the Purusharthamurthy.
अप्पे में वर्य भग्वान परिपाति दिनान But still, my dear Lord, even for those who are Dinaan, like this petty-minded, those who are fallen, when we say fallen, what does it actually mean? It is our desires that are fallen. We can have such exalted, elevated desires, which can give us exalted results, but I am Dinaan. My desires are so insignificant, fallen.
When we see the purity, the beauty, the glory of the Lord, even pious desires, Dhruv Maharaj’s desire for a kingdom was not exactly a fallen desire in terms of Dharma. It was a noble desire because he was trying to fulfill it by dharmic means, by performing devotional service. Many of our desires are impious desires, ignoble desires, and we try to fulfill them illicitly.
So, and still we don’t think that we are fallen, we still think that we are good devotees. But actually, that simply means, as long as we think we are good, that simply means that we have not experienced what is true goodness. What is the goodness of the Lord when we experience, then what we think of as good, even that appears fallen, that appears lowly.
So, Dinaan, that my dear Lord, although I am fallen, you still maintain me. Why are you so merciful to even a person like me? Because your love is selfless. Like the love of a cow for her baby cow, Vashreya Vatsakam, Kartar Osma, you are very eager to give your mercy.
So actually, the more we feel that we are good devotees, the more we can understand that we are far away from having relished the goodness of the holy. This doesn’t mean that we have to constantly feel bad about ourselves. This is to be so self-centered.
To be focused more on not trying to establish or enjoy our glories, but on trying to establish and enjoy Krishna’s glories. And for that, we have to do that authentically. We have to try to experience Krishna.
And we can experience Krishna through the chanting of the holy names, most intimately, most intensely. So, when we give ourselves to the process of meditation, then we also experience by our attention, by our devotion, by our absorption, that satyashishohi bhagwan sthapad my dear Lord, the opportunity to take shelter of you through the holy name, this gives me such strength, such empowerment, such enrichment, that you are purusha artha murta, you are the ultimate benediction. I do not want anything else.
Thank you.