To evaluate devotion by its material benefits is like evaluating dancing by the distance covered Gita 02.44

Transcript

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Thank you. Dancing is meant for enjoying.
Not for traveling. Every activity’s utility. Has to be evaluated.
In the light of the purpose of that activity. And similarly. This purpose.
Centeredness is essential. In. Understanding.
The validity, utility. Value, glory. Of anything, even of God.
When. We. Dance.
Dancing requires. Skill. It requires grace.
It requires energy. At the same time. If somebody.
Is ultra practical. And they evaluate. Dancing from the perspective of.
Utility. And you spend so much time. And energy moving about.
But where did you get? You did not. Go anywhere. In that much energy.
That much energy that you expended in this. Moving around on the dance floor. You could have traveled so much.
But. Such a. Ultra practical. Ultra critical.
Analysis misses the point of dancing. Say a person. Who has a. Entirely a. Automobile engineer and his automobile engineering vision.
May not. May look only at the. Mechanical aspects of motion.
And not at the graceful. Joyful aspects of motion. When a person walks from one place to another.
Now hardly even. Anyone looks at it. If that person is walking in an odd way.
Or that person is an important person. Then. People may see.
Look at that person to see. So that person is able to see how that person looks. How that person walks.
But walking in itself. Is not an interesting activity. For others for watching.
We all walk throughout our day. Throughout our life. And what’s so great about it.
But dancing. When somebody dances properly. At that time.
They. People. People spend.
Their hard earned money. To. Watch a dancer’s performance.
So there is grace. In the performance of dancing. There is skill.
There is energy. And all that is also constructed, utilized. Gloriously utilized.
So much so that people come and watch a dancer. Pay to watch a dancer. But then that utility.
That glory. Cannot be understood by a person. Who thinks of.
Thinks that the only purpose of energy. And motion. Is to go from one place to another.
Our. Our. Our evaluation.
Is determined by our conceptions. See somebody has a conception that. Your purpose of energy.
And motion. Is traveling. Then dancing appears pointless.
Similarly. When we. Look through the.
Spectacles. Of our conceptions. Towards activities.
Which. Don’t fit into those conceptions. Then.
We start thinking. What is the use of these activities. That’s for example.
A person who is materialistic. Person thinks in terms of. Money.
And sense pleasure. Krishna says. But for one who is attached to.
Sense indulgence. And one who is attached to. To.
Attaining wealth. So that they can get sense indulgence. A life which is not directed.
Towards these two things. Makes no sense. Their consciousness is.
Their consciousness is caught. Consumed abducted. By these things.
And then. The. One pointed.
Intelligence that is there. That intelligence for. Seeking.
Samadhi for. Gaining spiritual insight. For striving to get.
Spiritual absorption and. Satisfaction. That.
Just doesn’t come. Because it doesn’t register in their consciousness. If the goal is to enjoy the senses.
If the goal is to earn money. So that one can enjoy the senses. Then what is the point of.
Spending so much time and energy. Sitting doing nothing. Maybe muttering some sounds.
That’s what they think. Or even reading spiritual books. Philosophical books.
Performing austerity. Such as fasting. Performing austerity.
Such as going to holy places. These two make no sense at all. Because that person’s.
World view is blinkered. So we all need. To move towards.
Krishna. And the way to move towards him. Is first of all by understanding.
Why we need to move towards Krishna. So with a materialistic world view. God.
Is. Seen either as non-existent. Or as irrelevant.
Or often as important. That means. If people are just fanatical materialists.
Then they think God doesn’t exist only. Or. If they are materialists.
And not very religious. Then they consider that God is irrelevant. Oh.
Maybe he exists. Maybe he doesn’t exist. How does it make any difference to me.
And if they have tried praying to God. For solving some problems. For getting some things done.
And if they have not got those things. Then. Then they.
Consider God to be important. And in all these conceptions. What is.
Oh. Incomprehensible for such people is. Why would anyone devote themselves to God.
Especially if they see that. This person was devoted to God. And despite being devoted to God.
This person got so much. This isn’t so much trouble. This person is not solving their problems.
So. What can they do. What can be done during that time.
Is actually. Nothing for practical purposes. They end up.
Losing the opportunity to serve. And. Losing.
Losing the opportunity to grow, to learn. Because. Spiritual activities.
Which help them to. Learn and grow. In their.
Spiritual relationship with Krishna. Those activities seem. Utterly pointless.
If. Our only conception of success. Is in terms of.
How. We are going to. Grow in our life.
In terms of. How we are going to grow. Only in terms of material.
Gratification. Material possessions. Then.
Life in its wholeness. Especially in terms of. Its spiritual side.
And especially. Devotion to spiritual side. Without.
Being concerned with material gains. That just makes no sense. These people are.
They are like having a mechanical vision. Where they are on a journey from. Place A to.
Place B. And. Dancing doesn’t make any sense to them. So like that.
For people who are on a journey. For getting better material pleasures. For them.
The activity of. Meditation. Prayer.
Devotion. If it doesn’t lead to any. Material tangible result.
It seems pointless to them. So we as spiritual beings. Need to recognize that.
Actually. No matter how much we travel. From one material situation.
To another material situation. That in and of itself. Is not going to lead us to satisfaction.
That. Alone. Is not going to lead us.
To any enduring satisfaction. Some titillation may be there. But after that titillation gets over.
Then there will be exasperation. There will be frustration. Because.
Our hopes. For pleasure are raised. And then they are dashed.
Say a person is traveling very fast. Using all their energy. To get to their destination.
But there is nothing at their destination. So they are using all their energy. To go to water.
But there is no water. There is only a mirage. That traveling is pointless.
So like that. In the ultimate analysis. Material pleasures.
Turn out. To be pointless. They don’t give us any.
Lasting gratification. On the other hand. They end up.
Making us. More. Frustrated.
Because of not having fulfilled our. Longing for happiness. And because of our.
Feeling. Our desires aggravated. And our pleasures.
Deprived. So a person. Spends a lot of money and energy.
To go to a 5 star hotel. And eat some delicacy there. But soon.
Their stomach gets filled. And then they can’t eat anything more. The desire to eat has not gone.
The capacity to eat has gone. And thus they feel frustrated. So.
To understand. The value. Of devotional activities.
Of spiritual activities in general. And devotional activities in particular. We need to go beyond.
The materialistic conception. Where we see everything. In terms of.
The here and the now. In terms of. What we are doing and why.
In terms of. A materialistic conception. And the Bhagavad Gita.
With its spiritual wisdom. Its philosophical wisdom. Helps us understand.
That how the spiritual. Is the foundation. And the culmination.
Of our material existence. Our material existence itself. Will have no meaning.
There is no existence. There is no consciousness to exist. To be existent.
If there is no spiritual foundation. And. Just as a table exists.
But it doesn’t aspire for anything. So similarly. We won’t aspire for anything.
Because. Aspiration ultimately comes from. Consciousness.
So the culmination. Of our existence is to rise. To a level.
Of reality where. We will be. Free from distress.
Free from misery. And the way. To get to that.
To get to that level. Is by the. Steady performance of.
Emotional activities. To the extent we focus. On.
Internalizing the spiritual worldview. Thereby changing our conceptions. Then our evaluations.
Will change. Then we’ll appreciate. Spiritual.
For its own. Value. Utility and glory.
Without. Subjecting it. To the evaluation from the material perspective.
And thus we can avoid. Dismissing. Dancing.
Spiritual growth. And spiritual growth. Is actually like dancing.
The soul learns to dance in harmony with the supreme soul. So. Rather than.
Evaluating dancing from a traveling. Traveling perspective. And dismissing it pointless.
We see it. Appreciate its beauty and grace. Like that.
We appreciate the beauty, the sweetness, the grace, the glory. Of bhakti. When we internalize.
A spiritual worldview. Thank you.