What a saint learned from a prostitute

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
What a saint learned from a prostitute The word prostitute often has a negative jarring connotation And because of the adulterous nature of the occupation of the prostitute Most traditional cultures frown on prostitutes And their depictions are usually negative Yet in religious literatures which often are concerned with preserving moral principles And so they also frown at prostitutes But still in some religious literature prostitutes are depicted positively As examples or demonstrations of the transformational potency of grace So for example in the Christian tradition in the Gospels There is the story of Jesus when he went to a prostitute And he caught her ex-flag ratio in the act And she was caught in the act actually And people were about to stone her But he stopped them and he said sin no more And he told her sin no more And before that he told other people Who among you has not sinned let that person lift the first stone And then all of them slung their heads and went away So the point is that she became transformed afterwards Now Christian scholars are divided about the identity of this prostitute Some say that she is Mary Magdalene Who later became one of the prominent associates of Jesus And others say that she is not Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene was always a good lady whichever way it is There is the story of a prostitute being delivered Similarly in the Vedic tradition if you look in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition In the Chaitanya Charitamrit there is the story of Haridas Thakur A saint who is the Namacharya Absorbed in chanting the holy names And when an envious person sent a prostitute To seduce him and to defame him thereafter when he fell So she came three nights And she sat near Haridas Thakur and exhibited her body in seductive ways But Haridas Thakur was so absorbed in chanting the holy names And he told her that I will satisfy you But after I have completed my quota of chanting And three nights he continued chanting And she heard the chanting for three nights And her heart became transformed And she fell at Haridas Thakur’s feet Begged forgiveness for having tried to make him fall And she also became a saint practically speaking In Benapur the place where this pastime happened There is a deity of Haridas Thakur And there is a deity of the prostitute also So she also is considered to be Because she gave up her sinful profession And she became a great devotee She is epiglorified Now these are examples where prostitutes are the receivers of mercy Receivers of instruction Such narratives are there Occasionally in the traditional literature But narratives where the prostitute is the giver of instruction Are extremely rare One such narrative occurs in the story of the mediaeval saint Shri Rabbalvamangal Thakur In his pre-saintly days He was attached to a prostitute Who was practically like his mistress Her name was Chintamani And practically every night he would go to her And one night when he was supposed to go there There was a heavy storm And the river was flooded But he braved the storm He braved the dark night He braved the flooding river And went to her And he was bruised and exhausted And bleeding By the time he reached her And when she saw him His plight She exclaimed in astonishment If you had worked so hard To attain God As you have worked to attain me Then you would have already become a saint These words Struck Belvamangal Thakur Harder than any thunderbolt could have They Jolted his Dormant spiritual intelligence Out of slumber He realised the profound truth That she had spoken in the simple devotional exhortation And he thanked her And immediately After settling his affairs He renounced the world And he went to Vrindavan And there he did prolonged austerity And by his austerity eventually He Became one of the greatest saints and poets In the Vaishnav tradition His poetry is so celebrated Where is it? That even Shri Jaitanya Mahaprabhu heard his songs So now in this case The Prostitute Chintamani She gave One devotional exhortation Not an elaborate Philosophical analysis or insights The narrative Where a saint Learned From a prostitute Who gave a series of philosophical insights Is extremely rare Such a narrative is found in the Shrimad Bhagavatam the eleventh canto In the section called Uddhava Gita Uddhava Gita is Instructions given by Krishna to Uddhava, his dear associate before he departed And in the Uddhava Gita There is a section called as Which is sometimes called the Bhikshu Gita There it is depicted that Maharaj Yadu Meets a King, Maharaj Yadu Is a renunciate, a sage, a saint Who From whom he seeks instruction And this sage This saint tells him That I have learned from 24 gurus And one of those Gurus is A prostitute named Pingala Now Firstly we might find the Idea of 24 gurus itself Intriguing, normally we say that we have One guru or Apart from the one Shiksha guru, diksha guru We may have many shiksha gurus But here The Brahmana Now who this Brahmana is Is not named in the Bhagavatam Some people say he is The Incarnation of the lord But the Bhagavatam simply refers to him as Or more commonly as simply Brahmana It comes like that So The narration of the 24 gurus That he gives is called as the Bhikshu Gita The song of the renunciate Now In the Bhikshu Gita the word 24 gurus is used in a Sense different from what It is used in Normal situations Normally The word Guru Guru refers to someone who Is a wise Instructing teacher And The Bhagavatam definitely upholds This understanding Of a guru, there are many Many discussions in the Bhagavatam Where there is a Saintly teacher who gives Instructions to others And such a Having such a Instructing teacher is vital For a disciples spiritual Advancement And at the same time When the onus For knowledge transfer For transfer of spiritual Knowledge is on the Teacher itself, the teacher Will speak and the student just has to hear Then that can Make the student sometimes passive And the student May think that It is the responsibility Of the teacher to present The knowledge in such a way that I can internalise it So the Bhikshu Gita The Bhagavatam through the Bhikshu Gita Shifts the onus of learning From the teacher To the student So the student Has to learn By observing Nature, observing the world Around carefully With the World view, with the Chakshu, with the eyes that have been Acquired from The knowledge heard from the Guru And then with the Shastra Chakshu The Seeker Looks at the world and then sees in the world The teachings given by The Guru demonstrated through the Happenings of the world So when this Happens Then the The Bhikshu Who speaks the Bhikshu Gita, the Bhavramana, he learns Like this from many phenomena In nature Many things in nature and in the world And so here what is happening The things Which teach Are Usually not things For example he learns from the clouds He learns from the ocean, he learns from the trees They are not really living things Or active things, they are definitely Some of them are not even living things But even if they are living, most of them are not Practically none of them Is an instructive teacher at whose feet The Avadhuta sits and hears No, these are lessons Which are drawn By him from them By observing those things So those things are called Guru In the sense not that they give instruction But by observing Them, the instructions from Scripture which are given by the Guru They are Reiterated and reinforced in the mind Of the observer, the mind of the seeker So this is a subtle and This is a nuanced and expanded sense Of the word Guru, not one who is Instructor but one who is Who demonstrates whatever has been Instructed, demonstrates the truths of life Now The one such Guru Is Pingala Now the Bhagavatam Does not describe Or even hint At any meeting between Pingala and the Brahmana Certainly in the cultural Context at that time A Brahmana would usually not Even meet a prostitute And if at all she met the prostitute The Brahmana would give some instruction to the prostitute The prostitute giving instruction to the Brahmana And that too not just a Brahmana This was an Avdhoot Brahmana Avdhoot Brahmana means one who has completely renounced the world So he is a renunciate, not a householder Brahmana So the renunciates are Considered extremely respectable In traditional culture So in Vedic culture, so there is no question Of the prostitute ever instructing a Brahmana like that So it was This Brahmana observed the prostitute And from that Observation he learned So it is in this sense That the Pingala is the Guru Of the Brahmana So then the Pingala story begins in the 8th chapter of the 11th Canto from the 21st verse So she lives In a city called Videha And while living there The story begins With a Typical prostitute’s Daily routine or we could say More precisely nightly routine At the End of the night When evening falls She dresses and decorates Herself beautifully She was beautiful and she decorated herself Also beautifully And then she went out of her house And out of the doorway And she stood looking at the Men who were passing by Expecting one of them to come as a customer Now It’s like Any woman Of her profession She was looking for a wealthy man Who would pay her charges So Shulkadan vidvatah Shulkavan vidvatah Who would have wealth and who would give shulk Whatever the price was for her services So now When she waited She was looking at one person, second person, third person And Now The Bhagavatam described that she was looking Not just for money She was hoping that if some really wealthy person comes Then he will give me More tips, more than my charges also He might give me Maybe bhoorida So maybe a donor, she was hoping like that And more than money she was also hoping For something else She was hoping for a lover The Bhagavatam repeatedly uses The word kantah She was looking for a lover And in the narrative the word kantah Is used 2-3 times and after that In her own speech also the word kantah Is used many times Her speech we will come to in new course So she was looking for someone who would give her Affection and pleasure And As she was waiting Evening became night, night became midnight And no one approached her She became agitated Disappointed, perplexed, exhausted And she just Went into her room And lay down and napped And suddenly she woke up with a jolt And came out with a start She woke up with a start and came out Oh maybe I will miss the customer if I go inside and sleep And she went out her door and she went further up and down the street Hoping to attract someone And yet no one came And Evam vittashaya Shushyat Evam vittashaya Evam vittashaya Vittashaya Her desire for wealth Shushyat, it dried up And then what happened Vaktrayadin chetasaha Her face Was fallen morose And at that time Wonder of wonders She had a Eureka moment Eureka moment means just like Archimedes When he understood How to detect gold The purity of gold in a Object He Reported to her and said Eureka A moment of great insight is called the Eureka moment She had a Eureka moment And He says Nirveda paramo jagge Chintahetu sukhavah Nirveda This is the word which is used in Scripture often to refer to detachment Paramo jagge Nirveda doesn’t necessarily mean Sanyas or renunciation, it simply means detachment It’s more of an internal State of Disinvolvement of emotions In a particular activity Or in the world at large Nirveda paramo Great renunciation, great detachment Came in her jagge And then what happened Chintahetu sukhavah Her chintah Chintahetu sukhavah What will happen to me Will I get money Will someone come She was all anxious But chintahetu sukhavah Chintah went away and sukhavah She became joyful Now Now in the next 28th verse Before the Brahmana goes into Describing her thoughts What were her realisations By which she became detached Like this, before he goes into that He describes in the 28th verse The lesson that is learned From this He says that That for a person Who is shackled By desires Nirveda, detachment is like a Assi, assi is a sword That cuts off the shackles So He has learned different things from different gurus So from this incident of Pingala, he learned how To become detached How detachment can cut off all desires Now from the 30th verse Pingala starts Speaking her prayer Actually it’s not exactly a prayer It’s a reflection, it’s called her song So the Brahmana says Here the song that she sung Now this song is one of the Celebrated songs of the Bhagavatam And it is often sung Though not as Sung with musical accompaniment Though not as frequently as the Gopi Gita But this is also sung Now so Oh Allah, just see How far my illusion has expanded Because I failed to conquer my mind And What had happened I acted like a child I am desiring for Lovers who are Useless Foolish Like a child I have desired these things Child means foolish Foolishly I have desired these things Now why is she calling her lovers Foolish Why is she calling her lovers Worthless That will be mentioned in the next verse But here she is saying Pashyata Just see how my illusion has expanded So this expression indicates that She has suddenly come to a Sudden self-awareness Sometimes we get carried away by the mind When the mind is uncontrolled Then we get carried away by the mind And we may be going to do one activity But under the spell of the mind We get into another activity And we go so far away that we don’t even realise For quite some time And suddenly Because of something we just come to our senses What am I doing Why am I doing such a thing So how far I have come From where I wanted to go So that sudden self-awareness Which comes Is what happened to Pingala and so in one sense She is observing herself from Outside perspective So just see what I have done Just see how I was Craving for these worthless lovers So to some extent For us to move towards Self-realisation Self-awareness Awareness of ourselves From outside perspective is helpful So that we can Check what we are doing Check means evaluate what we are doing And check what we are doing That means stop ourselves if we are doing something wrong Now in the next verse she starts speaking Why are her lovers Asataha So she says He is existing Very close to me This Ramana This beloved lord He gives pleasure So she was actually hoping for pleasure And money from people The lord who is there in my heart He can give both And he is eternal As compared to people in this world Who are all temporary She will emphasise that in another verse also later Unfortunately I gave up this lord And Those people who do not give pleasure Ultimately at the bodily level The pleasure is insignificant And they sometimes hurt me Physically, emotionally And I am fearful about my Job security Overall there is so much distress And now like today I am lamenting Because nobody has come So as compared to the lord who gives These people give And I have served these people Giving up that wonderful lord I have served these people And this is my foolishness How foolish I am So as compared to the lord Who has infinite wealth Who has infinite happiness All worldly lovers Pale into insignificance And then after that in 32nd verse She states further that Now when we When she was trying to So She said that I was Serving these people So how was I serving these people That she mentions in the next verse Aho mayātmā paritāpito vṛtāḥ Sāṅkhetya vṛtyāti vigharya vārtayā Strainān narādhyāti truṣoṇu śocāt Kṛtena vittam ratimātma necchati Aho mayātmā Oh again lament She is grieving Lamenting alas As came in the 30th verse 32nd verse again Aho mayātmā By me ātmātāpito vṛtāḥ ātmātāpito I have tormented myself In vain Sāṅkhetya vṛtyāti Vigharya vārtayā Vārtayā is profession Vigharya is abominable profession What is the abominable profession Sāṅkhetya vṛtyā That is refers to the profession of a prostitute And further Bhaktiśānta Śrīdhākura explains in his commentary That Sāṅkhetya vṛtyā Refers to specifically The skill by which The Prostitute Makes gestures And expressions Sāṅkhetya is expressions Gestures, expressions and actions By which to sexually arouse a man Sāṅkhetya vṛtyā Vigharya vārtayā Now this Promoting other people In order to earn, make money from them This is She is saying it is a Vigharya vārtayā Although she herself is engaged in it Now we see unfortunately Values have changed so much today That so much Pornography is a Multi-million dollar industry In fact Porn revenue in the world Is more than, in America itself Is more than actually the revenue Of the franchises of Baseball, football And basketball combined together in America So It’s such a huge amount And people demand that Pornography Where basically there is exposure of the body to sexually Arouse others, that is right So far from being Regrettable People now consider this as a Desirable thing unfortunately So strahinā, so she says What is, why was my Work of vṛtā Why was my service to them in vain So strahinā, nārādhyārtha truṣo, anuśocā strahinā, they were Crazy after women, they were lusty For women, artha truṣo And similarly they were lusty for money Generally a person who is lusty Who is Lusty is also greedy Because lust cannot be easily satisfied One wants to satisfy lust more and more, one wants money more and more So Anuśocā, so they are pitiable So if somebody is Not happy, how can that person give me happiness So she is saying strahinā, nārādhyārtha, truṣo Anuśocā, krutena vittam ratimātmanecchati These people who are Pitiable, I thought that by serving Them I will get happiness Those who are not happy, how can they make me happy That was my foolishness Now she was Pursuing Not just a livelihood but pleasure through her Vocation as a prostitution Now in her vocation as a prostitution There are two agents, there are men who are the lovers And then there is her own body Through which she was enjoying So first she says, in the 32nd verse She has talked about how the Lovers are useless Now she will talk about how her body is also worthless So she says vamsa, vamsya Astibhir, asti is bones, this body Is nirmita, is crafted out of Bones, vamsya Vamsya is the backbone Vamsya is the ribs Sthunam is The bones of the hands And the legs, but she says This body is like a house and just like in a house There are pillars, there are the Bones in the body, now this is quite an unflattering Comparison of the body And she says if the body, now nobody is Attracted to a house with pillars Certainly nobody falls madly in love with that usually So what makes the body so Attractive, because there is an expert cover Of job It’s covered by skin, by hair, by nails Now Women usually beautify Their skin by applying Creams or even at those times There were traditional versions Of lotions or whatever and certainly They decorate their hair and they Apply nail polish or other things to beautify The nails, so The unattractiveness Of the body is covered By expert cover of job But no cover of job Is perfect, what is Covered up soon comes up Sometime or the other So he says what happens here is But oozes out This body which is from its Nine holes Agara is house So she has combined the body to house from the nine gates of his house The nine sensory holes The two eyes, the two ears The two nostrils, the mouth and the two excretory Organs, so what happens she says So So From all the holes dirt comes out But The most Fouls, I mean dirt comes out from the Two excretory organs So Urine and stool So he says this body is Filled with dirty substances and Sometimes he says beauty is skin deep But even at the level of Skin the ugliness of the Body sometimes comes up So therefore Who apart from me would have been so foolish To think that this body Can be a source of pleasure So after doing This deconstruction of her lovers And of her body Now she says therefore actually I was so foolish to seek pleasure In this body instead of seeking pleasure In the lord So So In the city of The city I alone am a great fool I have desired somebody else One who is temporary But that person cannot offer me much I desire such worldly lovers Instead of desiring Instead of desiring The lord who is in unfailing Who always keeps his word And Means giver of the soul literally speaking But in the soul we are the soul So what does it mean to give the soul It means to give us our Swaroopa To give us a beautiful eternal spiritual form So as contrasted with This temporary body which is going to decay and go away He can give me an eternal form If I serve him but alas I did not serve him So now as she is reflecting on her I alone am such a great fool How foolish I was Now she resolves that now I will serve the lord I was foolish but enough of this foolishness Atma cha ayam shari rinam Tam vikriyatma naivaham Rame nena yatha rama So she now glorifies the lord Using four epithets Surat Prishtha tamo my lover Very close lover Natha he is my master Atma cha ayam shari rinam He is the super soul Who is present in my own body He is already close as she had said earlier In the 31st verse Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Kama Kama Kama Kama Kama Kama Kama Kama Bharyaya Bharyaya itute eternal eternal eternal 31st verse.
So now, after expressing her resolve like this, now she starts thinking, okay, this remarkable redirection of my heart, how has this happened? For so long, I was craving for worldly lovers and now I’ve suddenly got this determination, this realisation, this renunciation to offer myself to the Lord. How has this happened? In the 37th verse, she says, नूनम्मे भगवान् प्रीतो विष्णो के नापि कर्मणा निर्वेदो यंदु राशाया यन्मे जात सुखावः नूनम्मे भगवान् प्रीतो Oh, certainly, it is that, Bhagawan Preeto, the Lord is pleased with me. विष्णो के नापि कर्मणा Because of some work I have done.
I don’t know what good work I could have done, but because of something He is pleased with me. निर्वेदो यंदु राशाया निर्वेदो यंदु Because of that, because He is pleased with me, so I have got this detachment. यंदु राशाया यन्मे जात सुखावः This desire, which is very difficult to give up, I have become detached from that desire.
यन्मे जात सुखावः And because of the detachment, I am feeling peaceful. In fact, I am feeling joyful. यन्मे जात सुखावः So, it’s interesting.
Normally, people think that the Lord’s mercy comes when there is fulfilment of desire. In her case, she had desired some lover and she did not get any lover. So, her desire was frustrated.
Now, how could frustration of desire be considered the mercy of the Lord? She states that, that is also mercy because the frustration of desire has led to led me to the renunciation of desire. Detachment from desire. So, therefore, it has made me happy.
सुखावः Now, you may say, if desire goes away, okay, I may become peaceful. How will I become happy by that? Actually, to understand this, we can just visualise. Suppose, somebody has an addiction to alcohol and this person is trying to give up the alcoholic addiction.
But still, again and again and again, the desire keeps coming, coming, coming and tormenting. And it’s a constant inner pain which is there. And suddenly, if Nirveda comes, निर्वेदोयं दुराशय suddenly detachment comes.
Then what will happen? Somebody becomes so happy. Oh, I have become detached now. So, there is freedom over there from the desire.
And that the desire has gone, that makes him peaceful. But the knowledge that the desire is gone, now it’s no longer going to trouble me, that makes us joyful. Because it’s a relief from pain.
It’s the end of a battle. It calls for celebration. Just like if somebody had a nagging back pain and suddenly one day the person wakes up and the back pain is gone.
He’ll be delighted. So, the painlessness is peace. But the fact that the pain has gone brings joy.
सुखावः It brings joy. And then, Now, normally, a person would say that if your desire is not fulfilled, that is misfortune. But he said, it’s not misfortune.
That’s his next verse, 38th verse. So, Certainly not. This is definitely not misfortune.
I got klesha. Normally, when klesha comes, people think it’s misfortune. But I don’t think so.
The misery became a source of detachment. From the misery came renunciation. That’s why it’s not a misfortune.
Because from that detachment, I have become free from bondage. And that freedom from bondage, By that, the person becomes peaceful. And that’s what has happened to me.
So, how do we become peaceful? By detachment. Suppose, there’s an alcoholic. He’s trying to recover from alcohol.
But still, one night he’s sleeping. And suddenly, in the middle of the night, the desire for alcohol is discovered. He jolts and drags him out of sleep, drags him out of bed.
And now, he has not kept any alcohol at his home. So, he comes out of his home, puts on his dress, and then goes out at night to a bar. And then he finds at the bar also, the alcohol supply is over.
So, he’s frustrated. And he’s miserable at that time. But suppose, at that time of misery, he looks around and he sees, you know, in all the houses, the lights are closed, everybody is peacefully sleeping.
And suddenly, it may strike him, my misery is not because of frustration of desire, my misery is because of domination by desire. Not because… not frustration of desire means not because I did not get the alcohol, so I’m miserable. No, rather, in my life, I’m dominated by desire.
The desire has dragged me out of sleep at night and brought me here, and is making me run around here and there like this. And when he understands how he’s enslaved by desire, he just decides, no more will I succumb to this desire. And suppose, with that realisation, the conviction, I’ll give up the desire.
And what happens? ये नानु बन्दम निर्वित्या The बन्द is cut off and उरुष्यः शमं रिच्चति The person becomes peaceful. शम means, it’s not just शान्ति. शान्ति is generally considered physical situation.
शम is internal peacefulness, peace of mind. That comes, not just by being in a physically peaceful situation, it comes by being in an internally desireless situation. In an internal situation, where there are no agitating desire, that’s where peace comes.
Now then, what happens after that? So, she’s saying that this is actually, so misery is not misfortune, if it brings detachment, because from the detachment comes peace. And that peace is a desirable thing. So, this is actually good fortune.
So, she says, this is the mercy of the Lord. It is not misfortune, it is good fortune. And now, when good fortune comes to us, we need to accept it and act on it.
So, that’s what she says in the next verse. In 39th verse, she says, तेनो पकृतमादायः शिरसाग्राम्यसंगतः त्यक्त्वादुराशाशरणम् प्रजामितमधीश्वरम् तेन उपकृतम् बहे उपकार A great favour has been done to me. आदाय, I accept that.
शिरसा, on the head I accept that. ग्राम्यसंगतः त्यक्त्वा I accept the mercy that he has given. And then, how do I express my acceptance in two ways? He says, शिरसाग्राम्यसंगतः त्यक्त्वा I’ll give up materialistic association.
Now, it’s significant. Some people may think that, Oh, if you are detached, then you will not be influenced by materialistic association. So, just be in materialistic association.
What is the problem? No, actually if you are detached, that means the desire has gone away. But there is no guarantee the desire will not come back. And it’s not that we have to play with temptation.
If you play with temptation, there can very easily be relapse. If an alcoholic is recovering from alcohol addiction, one of the vital principles that the alcoholic has to follow is never go to a bar. Because if one goes to a provocative environment, one will fall.
And the recovering alcoholic always knows that I am always just one drink away from a relapse. So close to a relapse. I have to be careful.
She expresses her renunciation here by stating that she expresses her desire to express her gratitude to the Lord by protecting her renunciation, by staying away from things which will drag her down again. And then she says, that is the negative side. This is what I will not do.
What will I do? He says, I will take shelter of that Lord. I will go in His shelter. Who is the controller? So, that is the two things.
We give up the materialistic association and we go in the shelter of the Lord. Detachment is not meant for us to parade. See, I become so detached.
Even in tempting situations, I will not get agitated. The purpose of detachment is not to parade our purity, but it is to increase our devotion, to increase our service to the Lord. So, that’s what she does.
So, we see her humility overall. Now, even when she gets this amazing epiphany, this amazing realisation, she is speaking in her Gita, she doesn’t take credit. She says, this is all because of the mercy of the Lord.
Prito, as she said in the 37th verse, so, her humility is seen again over here. And then, now, how does one take shelter of the Lord? That she will describe in the next verse, 40th verse. I will stay satisfied.
I live simply and stay satisfied. Now, a woman who is a prostitute, she can earn much more money quite often if she is good looking. Then, what can a woman be able to earn by honest means? By more honourable means.
But she says, whatever I have been able to do righteously and earn by that, I’ll have faith that if I decide to devote my life to the Lord, He will provide for me. And if He does not provide for me, as much as I am getting now, as much as I get, I’ll be satisfied with that. So, surrender to the Lord has two aspects.
One is material satisfaction. To be satisfied with whatever we get materially. And, along with that, there is spiritual dynamism.
एथाल विहराम्यमु नईवाहम् आत्मनारमने नवै विहराम्य विहराम्य means, I will sport, I will delight, आत्मनैवाहम् At the spiritual level, आत्मरमने नवै आत्मरमने That Lord, who gives spiritual happiness, with Him, I will delight at the spiritual level. So, all of us, when we start practising spiritual life, we can find what are the things that we get a taste in. It’s kirtan, it’s satisfaction of verses, it’s doing outreach or whatever.
We do those activities more and more. And that way, विहराम्य, we delight in devotion. We cannot live without joy.
So, if we get joy and devotion, then we can move onwards happily. So, she says, this is how spiritual dynamism and material satisfaction. And after speaking this, and she started that, actually, I desperately need the Lord.
It is not just a matter of enjoyment that I will get with Him, but it’s a matter of survival. So, in the next 41st verse, she says, संसार कूपे पतितं विषयेर्मुषितेक्षणं कस्तं कालाहिनात्मानं कोन्यस्त्रात्तुमधिष्वरह So, she says that, संसार कूपे पतितं I have fallen in the deep dark well of material existence. संसार कूपे पतितं विषयेर्मुषितेक्षण I have stolen away विषय, by the sense of object, इक्षण, my eyes.
विषयेर्मुषितेक्षण And then, कस्तं कालाहिनात्मानं कस्तं, I am caught, कालाहिना, अहिना is a serpent. By the serpent of time, I am caught. And then, कोन्यस्त्रातुमधिष्वरह Who apart from the Lord can deliver me? So, here, she is speaking that Three things.
In the normal metaphor is to fall in a deep dark well. That is material existence. That itself is bad enough.
But suppose when falls in the fall, knocks out one’s vision, you know, becomes blind. It’s even more difficult to come out. So, and if further in the well one is caught by a snake, then there is no chance of coming out.
One needs a rescuer. Somebody is outside the well and throws a rope and pulls us out. That’s our only hope.
So, like that. Now, what does this refer to? The well refers to materialistic consciousness because the soul is spiritual. The soul is meant to deliver spiritual consciousness.
But when one falls into material existence, the consciousness becomes very materialistic. And then, at least people who are trapped in the well, they can look up and see, oh, there is a way outside. But if the person is blind, the person cannot see that there is anything outside also.
So, like that, when we go into materialistic consciousness and get captured by sense objects, the sense objects steal away our vision. That means because of the sense objects, we say, sense objects steal away our vision and we can’t even see anything. We can’t see the spiritual level of reality at all.
And as we stay trapped in the material level and the serpent of time is actually devouring us moment after moment. With every passing moment, we are moving closer and closer to that. So, our only hope is the Lord.
The Lord is like the person who stands outside and throws in the rope, the rope of devotional service or bhakti yoga. By holding on to that rope, we can raise our consciousness and come out of material existence. Therefore, he says, Who apart from the Lord can save me? It is a rhetorical question which is meant to emphasise that only the Lord can save me.
And then, she concludes her prayer by saying that आत्मैवयात्मनोगोऽप्ता निर्विद्देद्यदाखिलात् अप्रमत्तैवंपशेद् क्रस्तंकालाहिनाजगात् So, आत्मैवयात्मनोगोऽप्ता The Atma becomes the protector of the Atma. When? निर्विद्देद्यदाखिलात् निर्विद्देद् At a time, when one becomes detached. निर्विद्देदाखिलात् And detached from what? अखिलात् From the whole of material existence.
अप्रमत्तैवंपशेद् अप्रमत्त While being un-intoxicated, not inebriated, sober. इदंपशेद् One sees पशेद् What does one see? क्रस्तंकालाहिनाजगात् ग्रस्तं This being devoured by कालाहिना By the circumstance of time, जगत् The whole universe is being devoured. So not only is my body temporary, the whole world is temporary.
There is no shelter available for me in this world. She says that When do we become our own protectors? When we don’t have a treacherous vision. That the temporary can offer us shelter, that the temporary can make us happy.
As long as we have that vision, we cannot be safe. It is only when we become free from this attachment to the temporary, then we can actually rise upwards in our consciousness. So therefore, the important thing is that we shouldn’t think that we can be our own protectors.
Just like for a person who is going to come out of the well, that person is going to need a rope to come out. But even after having a rope, that person will not come out if the person thinks the well is a nice place. So like that, for us to become our protectors means that we become our protectors by holding on to the Lord’s protection.
The Lord has offered us protection in the form of the practise of devotional service. And when we have the vision that the pleasures of this world are illusion, then we hold on to devotional service. And when we hold on to devotional service, that’s how we become our protectors.
And then, so now what happens after this? So at this point, Pingala’s thoughts end. And after this, the Avadhut Brahmana speaks. So Sri Brahmana Uvaca in the 43rd verse, he says that in this way, Pingala thought and then in this way, when she gave up the desire for a Kanta and whatever, Sukham Sushwapa Pingala, she happily sat down on her bed.
This might seem a very anti-climatic thing. You might expect, oh, she’ll just raise her hand and surrender to the Lord or she’ll go to Vrindavan or something like that. She sits down peacefully on her bed.
Now, this might seem anti-climatic, but actually, this is also significant. Now, if a shopkeeper doesn’t get a single customer during the whole day, shopkeeper will be very agitated. Oh, I have to get some customer.
I have to get some customer. So like now for a prostitute, she opens her shop at night. So when she doesn’t get a customer throughout the whole night, then what happens? She’ll be very agitated.
But the fact that she was unagitated and she peacefully sat down indicates that her detachment was for real. That she had actually become renounced. In a subtle way, the success of the reality, the veracity of her realisations is being conveyed in the Avadhut Gita.
Now, the Avadhut Brahmana is not a biographer giving a full life sketch. He doesn’t follow around all the people from whom he learns something. He doesn’t follow around your life sketch.
You know, he just observes people and by observing, he learns from them. So this incident is what he observed and this is what he learned and that’s where the story ends. So we don’t get a postscript of what happened next morning when Pingala woke up.
But we understand that with her heart transformed and heart devoted to the Lord, she would have taken up some other profession and she would have lived. Lived a pious life, a devoted life. So in the last verse, for the Avadhut Brahmana, the purpose is not to give a life story.
His purpose is to give his life lessons and from this incident, he gives a life lesson. What is the life lesson he gives? That Desire is the source of great misery and detachment is the source of great happiness. So anyone who has had an addiction can testify to the truth of this.
If a person is addicted to alcohol or drugs, constant torment, desire is the cause of misery and relief from desire, freedom from desire is the cause of joy. So now, we may not be addicted to alcohol or things like that but we live in a hyper-sexual culture where there is so much glamorisation of sex that addiction to sex is practically ubiquitous and this addiction to sex often leads to dangerous consequences. Not only people themselves suffer from sometimes very painful and embarrassing diseases, sexually transmitted diseases but along with that, because of infatuation with sex, there is a whole Pingala of the prostitutes, there is a whole multi-million dollar industry of human trafficking in which women and children are trapped and of course there is abuse of women happens because of excessive libido, because of unrestrained sexual desire, sexual addiction and beyond that also there is tremendous misery even if you consider oh this human trafficking and abuse of females, this is extreme, these are serious things but even if you consider this extreme, even the mainstream is also very very dangerous, very destructive.
In mainstream society also there are so many premarital affairs, gendered abortions, and killing of millions of babies or there are extramarital affairs in which hundreds, thousands of families sometimes get disrupted, the children’s lives get devastated and there is so much misery which comes because people are addicted to sex. People are not able to control the sexual desires and unfortunately in the society indulging in sexual desires is grammarized quite often but a story like Pingala, wherein a person, we all have our conditionings but we can imagine how much must be the conditioning of a prostitute but that a prostitute could become renounced, could become detached, it’s an inspiring story, it’s a counter narrative of hope, of victory in the battle against our lower desires and in a culture where there is so much misery because of undisturbed sexual desire, this narrative is a narrative of hope, of faith, of wisdom, of victory, of joy. Thank you.
Hare Krishna.