SB 5.11.2 Let the hope for material improvement not distract us from the chance for spiritual advancement

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. So here, Jadbharat is continuing his instructions and he is describing the nature of the mentality of a person who is attached to improving things materially.
Therefore, the person who is in materialistic life thinking that I can improve everything materially Subhita and Navidya such a person acquires knowledge and expands that knowledge for the sake of improving things materially. And those who are thus interested such people may even study the Vedas but they are Krishna also talks about such people in the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita in 2.42.43 and they do not become Tattvavadha. So, they study the Vedas but they do not understand the Tattva because they get caught up in the material improvement promises offered in the Vedas.
Tattvavadha. And therefore, Therefore, the purification from materialistic activities which occurs does not manifest in such people and they do not make spiritual advancement thereof. So, essentially, this verse talks about the contrast between the mentality for spiritual improvement, for spiritual advancement and the mentality for material improvement.
Those who are too infatuated with the hopes for material improvement cannot concentrate on spiritual advancement. Now, today, not many people are caught up with the Karmakandi promises in the Vedas. But essentially, we have the same promises or similar promises offered through the advertisements, through technology, through economic development and these can distract us from Krishna consciousness, especially during the time when we are to offer our consciousness and our heart to Krishna during the process of mantra meditation.
So, as devotees, we may have material ambitions and it is not that we have to give them all up. But at least during the time of chanting, we put them aside so that we focus on spiritual advancement. And here is a categorical statement.
No! But if we are infatuated, obsessed by the hope that material improvement will make us happy, then we will not be able to make spiritual advancement. Because wherever our hopes are, that is where our heart is. And if our hopes are material improvement, then our heart will also be there and then our heart will not be available for Krishna when he manifests the holy name.
Or, even if our heart is available for Krishna, it will be available only to the extent that we feel that Krishna will be a positive factor in our efforts for material improvement. We will see Krishna’s grace only if it manifests as facilitating and enhancing our material improvement. If material improvement doesn’t happen, then we will feel as if Krishna is not helping us and that worshipping Krishna is pointless.
And that’s why it’s vital for us to recognize that material improvement may have its utility and even necessity in the circumstances that we are in, in the society and the culture that we are in. But that should never become the center of our hopes and our heart. Ultimately, the only thing that will make us happy is Krishna and devotion to Krishna.
And the spiritual improvement that enables us to make that improvement in our devotion is what is the ultimate essential purpose of life. So, by keeping our hopes on Krishna and in increasing our remembrance and our service to Krishna, we will be able to put our heart in the process of mantra meditation and experience the immense enrichment and empowerment that is available by the contact with Krishna thereof.