Shikshashtakam 2 – The life of knowledge, the ocean of happiness and the complete nectar and bath (Part 2)

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors. In the last session, Cheto, Shreya, Kairava, Chandrika, it comes essentially now for, they can do many things, constricted consciousness. Actually, even the plants, in access, in human form, this higher pleasure culminates in the pleasure of devotion. This is to be the level of devotion. Many people object. Swishtasya suktasya buddhidattayo avicchu. What has this got to do with chanting and the expansion of consciousness? We can perceive pleasure in greater number of things. In our conceptions or definitions of happiness, anybody can participate in kirtan, anybody can hear Krishna Katha. They don’t want to do it. Their consciousness is not developed. We also face this problem. There are so many devotional activities, but we don’t feel interested, we don’t feel attracted to the idea of development of consciousness. I’ll give an example to illustrate this. Suppose we take a work of art. Sometimes, some people pay millions of dollars to purchase one artistic masterpiece. For others, it may just be some pattern of paint on a canvas. Why is this person paying so much? Because this person, this connoisseur of art, has got the artistic sensibility developed. Then, we can appreciate the value of devotional activities. We can experience higher forms of happiness more. First time, we may come to a temple and look at the deities. Okay, they look beautiful. But maybe, if we’ve been practising bhakti for 10 years, 15 years, and then we come to the temple, taking darshan of the deities is an entirely different experience. We have developed a relationship. We have, in one sense, become devotional connoisseurs. If we are experiencing a lack of patience, there is vikasit chetana. That is, there is purna vikasit chetana. Vikasit is the fourth stage, where we start relishing. Sometimes, okay, I like them. But then, when there is purna vikasit, to blossom, it just has to stay in the presence of the holy name. So, like that, we just need to stay in the presence of the holy name. Then, our consciousness will blossom. Now, of course, staying in the presence of the holy name doesn’t mean just mechanical chanting. But by this, just devotional activities. It’s not just to get fame and position in society. It’s actually to develop. It is to share. It makes, not just our devotional life picture, vidya vadhu jeevanam. So, jeevanam is life. Vidya is knowledge. Vadhu is the bride. So, what is being referred to over here? It is the life of the bride of knowledge. So, actually, it’s described that vidya, often referred to Saraswati. So, now, it’s described that Krishna is the knowledge also automatically manifest. There with the husband. But the important point is knowledge. There is a difference between, there are these three margas. There is a karma marga, there is a jnana marga, and there is a bhakti marga. So, sometimes people simply think that karma marga is the marga of action, and jnana marga is the intellectual marga, and bhakti marga is the path of devotion. It’s not so simple. One tries to enjoy this world. Jnana marga is the mind going to the other extreme. So, jnana involves rejection of the world. In the philosophical, it is another kind of knowledge, but in this, if the jnana produces not vairagya, but raga, more attachment to the enjoyment of this world, then that jnana is just a subset of karma. It is not exactly jnana in the philosophical sense. The karmis romanticise the world. They think, enjoy, enjoy. Stay away from this world. The third is bhaktas. Bhaktas utilise the world. A place of joy. We don’t demonise the world. We don’t think this world is a place of misery. Our focus is on utilising. We are talking about vidya-vadhu-jivanam. So, vidya, normally, when knowledge manifests, that knowledge is often life-negating. Life-negating means, this world, why are you working? Everything is temporary. When a person acquires knowledge, so in that sense, that knowledge is life-negating. But, when vidya comes, their life actually becomes very life-negating or life-rejecting. Jnanis often become hard-hearted. Because their jnana actually makes them think that all emotions are illusion. And all emotions are illusion, therefore, there is no need for me to have any emotions. But, for devotees, vidya-vadhu-jivanam. So, ananda is happiness. Ocean of happiness. So, the kirtan is done nice. Normally, the ocean metaphor is used in the scripture to refer to the place of entanglement. The ocean of material existence. Wherein, we are entangled. And in this way, there are big stormy waves which toss us up and down and we struggle and struggle and struggle and ultimately we sink. Till we get another body, again we surface and again we keep struggling. So, bhava-sagar is a place of suffering. And now, people who come out of this bhava-sagar, there is the coast of immortality. That coast of immortality is the brahman realisation. But, this coast realisation, it is the transitional realisation. So, in 18.54, Krishna says that the ocean in which we are trapped and actually what causes agitation is not just being in the ocean but being attached to world limits. If I am not say, last time I had given the example of say, watching a movie. Now, if whatever is happening in the movie I am not attached to watching the movie, then the hero may get beaten up or whatever may happen I will not be affected. So, similarly, actually what causes our agitation in this bhava-sagar is attached to things, the more waves of happiness and distress come. So, these things will not affect us so much. But then, that is only negation of the negative. Yes, material desires are negative because if you imagine a y-axis, so, there is a negative part of the y-axis that is material things. So, the brahman is the zero level. But beyond that there is a positive axis. That positive axis is spiritual desires. It’s devotional activities. So, beyond the coast of immortality is the ocean of devotion. And the purpose of life is not just to stay safe on the coast of immortality. The purpose of life, the ultimate perfection of life is to dive into the ocean of devotion and delight in that eternally. Technically, if we Prabhupada translated Bhaktira Samara Sindhu as the nectar of devotion. It’s an apt translation. In the sense, it’s short, it’s brief, it’s catchy. But then, if you look at the Sanskrit, it’s Bhakti Rasa Amrita Sindhu. So, actually there are four words in it. No exact translation in English. But, the nectarian ocean of the mellows of devotion. So, it’s there within devotion. So, now, what exactly is this ocean of devotion? Actually, this is the glories of the Supreme Lord. They are oceanic. And, He says, So, in this ocean, there are, in fact, Prahlad Bharat says that He says, my dear Lord, why? Because this is what happens when we start relishing Krishna’s glories. The ocean of happiness expands. Now, what does it mean? Now, what is the ocean? The ocean is the ocean of Krishna’s glories. It’s the ocean of devotion. But what is specifically in devotion? The ocean of Krishna’s glories. And then, to the extent we have devotion, if I don’t have devotion, I hear, So, what happens by the whole? We realise Krishna’s glories everywhere. We realise Krishna’s glories are not finite. It’s not just limited to beautiful scenes in nature. We think that we humans have made this technology. Yes, we humans have done. We may have a cell phone. We can communicate with anybody in any part of the world. Because it naturally has an ionosphere. And that’s how, because the sound naturally has electromagnetic sound. So, because silicon can transmit electromagnetic waves. Because ionosphere can broadcast electromagnetic waves. Because there exists the mechanism to convert, say, audio energy into electromagnetic energy. Mechanisms are not created by man. If there is a farmer, if there is a tribal who comes to a farmer. And this farmer has got an orchard of mango trees. And then he observes how there is so many mangoes for you to eat right next to your house. Create the mechanism by which. So, the farmer can be given credit. Pratipadam poornamrita When relish is complete nectar. So, there are two words over here which are significant. Pratipadam and poornamrita. So, what is the significance of poornamrita? Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, from 18.37 to 39, the three different kinds of happiness. Happiness in goodness, happiness in passion and happiness in ignorance. He says, what is the nature of happiness in goodness? Yathadagre Vishamiva Pariname Amritopamam Bhakti Prasadajam So, he says, it tastes initially like poison. Yathadagre Vishamiva Pariname Amritopamam Bhakti Prasadajam And this will increase one’s spiritual intelligence. So, now the happiness of bhakti is transcendental. There are three modes. There is ignorance, there is passion, there is goodness and above that there is transcendence. Bhakti is transcendental. But we cannot experience transcendental happiness fully. So, our experience of transcendental happiness often reflects the nature of happiness in goodness. That means, when I chant the holy name, that activity is transcendental. But for me, often my experience will be as if poison in the beginning and nectar in the end. We find it in chanting. Somehow, if we absorb ourselves, consciousness is caught in the lower modes, passion or ignorance. We are eating our consciousness towards goodness. Or sometimes, now we have Damodarashtra. But then you look at some devotees, their closed eyes complete. But then, I also close my eyes and I also try to absorb. Initially, I will resist. No, think of this. Look at this. If we keep applying ourselves, then this is saying, that means at every step. So, there is complete nectar and there is constant meaning. It’s not that today I experience something and I go nice in devotion tomorrow. That’s because our consciousness is not steadily attached to Krishna. So, it’s like a sine wave. And they feel, but then 2-3 days later, they come and in bhakti, what will happen is, the magnitude of the crest centres generically to Deha Atma Buddhi. Deha Atma Buddhi means, I think the Deha to be Atma. I think that I am the body. Or Krishna also uses in the Tukta Veda Vada Ratha Partha. So, it is as Krishna is talking about materialistic. He uses the word Kaamaatmana. That means he says, it is for them, Kaama is their Atma. They think the essence of my being, what I think is my essence. Actually, my essence is I am a soul. But different people may have different conceptions of what their essence is. Some people may think, oh, my bank balance. Some people may think that, sometimes when a cricket team loses some very important match, then some cricket fans commit suicides. They say, it happens. So, actually, that’s why there is this word plural. Now, Atma, there is only one. So, why should there be Sarva Atmas Napanam? All souls purifying. What it means is, the shields of the self become purified. We don’t reject our lower conceptions. They become purified. As we say, I cannot wish away my bodily existence. It’s not that today I understand I am not the body, I am the soul. And tomorrow, I don’t have any body anymore. I cannot wish away our material existence. Working our way means, we will see this now in the Bhagavad Gita, in 2.13, Krishna says that you are not the body. Dehino Smrita. Body is changing. Inside, there is something that is unchanging. Immediately, in the next verse, Krishna refers to Arjuna by his Just now, Krishna has told Arjuna, you are not the body. Then why? He may say, oh, Kunti is a pure devotee and that’s why he is referring. Okay, but then Bharata, it’s not that everybody in the Bharata dynasty was a pure devotee. So, Krishna is clearly referring to Arjuna by his bodily designations. And in fact, there are After rejecting the bodily identification, again reinforcing it by referring to names connected with the body, there is a sense Kunti. So, Arjuna thinks, Kunti is such a great lady. I should behave in a worthy way. We That’s what Prabhupada would also do. What is the use of you being a functional identity that we have? We can’t reject it. But then, we should utilise it in Krishna. Yes, I am American. I have some pride of being American. Let me do wonderful things for Krishna. Similarly, Prabhupada would do that for Indians also. People all over the world are studying the Bhagavad Gita and just see, instead of Indians teaching Bhagavad Gita to the world, people from the rest of the world are coming to India to teach Bhagavad Gita to Indians. So, now Bhagavad Gita is not a book of India. There is no reference to India in the Bhagavad Gita. It’s a transcendental book. But what is Prabhupada doing? He is inciting people to take up the study of the Bhagavad Gita and teach you Bhagavad Gita. Whatever conceptions of the self that we have, they will all become purified. So, if I think I am a doctor, yes, I can’t just say that I am not a doctor. I cannot say that I am not a woman. If I am a doctor, I don’t reject our various identities. And ultimately, bhakti also purifies. I think I am spirit. The complete understanding of the full spiritual realisation. And then, param vijayate. It is supreme. Kirtana is chanting. Sankirtana is samyaka roopena. It means that which is done, san can mean two things. If it is taken to mean sang, then it becomes kirtan that is done in association. But if that san is referred to as samyaka, complete, then sankirtan means complete kirtan. Complete absorption of one’s being. And then what happens by this? Param vijayate. The supreme victory is the victory over material existence. The victory over the cycle of birth and death. In this world, we may achieve stunning victories. But they are awful. Whatever we may achieve, that achievement is not going to stay forever. Not to speak of forever. It is not going to stay for a very long time also. It stays for a few months, a few years. Say, India won the World Cup 3-4 years ago. But then, now, again another World Cup is going to come. At that time, it was in one sense a great achievement. But then, it is not permanent. Nothing is permanent. So the victory which we achieve, we may struggle, we may put our energy, and we may achieve victory. But it is a small victory. So, Srila Prabhupada writes in the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita that man has endeavoured to rise himself to the moon. But man has not endeavoured to raise his consciousness. If we just put in a fraction of the effort that we are putting there, here, we will gain so much more happiness. That’s the essence of what Prabhupada is saying. So, the point is that we don’t reject or condemn material efforts. We live in the material world. We have our endeavours and we will have our challenges and we will have our successes. And we can celebrate those successes also. But we should not get so caught up in the material victories that we forget that ultimately material existence is going to end in defeat. If one does not enquire parabhavastav, if we cultivate attraction to Krishna, it’s not that the baby instead of crying will be chanting Hare Krishna. Action will manifest so quickly. Recently, I was in Calcutta. There, one Bengali lady, not a devotee, she had come and she had almost like a three-year-old child. And she was telling that, she says, I want to see Jagannath. And she actually has, that three-year-old child has never gone out of home also. But she said, Oh, there is an ISKCON temple over here. I want to go there. And she recognised, oh, this is Gaura, this is Nitai, this is Jagannath, this is Baldev, this is Subhadra. So, our devotees were amazed. Because she said that, she remembers her past life. And she said, I was a devotee in the past life and I want to see the Lord. And she was so happy, so spontaneously attracted. As soon as she came in the temple, she offered obeisance. Completely get out of material existence and return back to Krishna. It frees us from material existence. That means, expands our conceptions of Shreya, Kairava, Chandrika, Avidhara, then Vidya, Vadhu, Jeevanam. Knowledge of devotion is life-affirming. The ocean of the glories of Krishna. And the devotee relishes that more and more by, in natural things and even in technological things, the devotee can see ultimately Krishna’s glory. So, in that way, and then, Ananda, Mudhivarman. So, we discussed constant and complete nectar. So, initially, our experience of devotion may be like poison in the beginning, nectar at the end. Constant and complete nectar in our experience of devotion. And then, Sarvatmasnapanam. We discussed all our conceptions of self get purified. So, we don’t reject our bodily identity as Krishna calls Arjuna also by to do honourable when he is saying that, is he blessing the holy name? No.