What is the benefit in hearing about Krishna?
From Pancha Pandava P
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question what is the benefit in hearing about Krishna? Answer it is at multiple levels firstly it helps us get a pious virtuous form of entertainment Krishna’s past and themselves are very relishable and the way Krishna performed has reciprocations love Krishna performs miraculous activities different activities they are all actually entertaining at one level but Krishna’s pastimes are much more than entertaining they are purifying and they are liberating so in general whatever we hear about that becomes one source material for our contemplation and whatever we contemplate about gradually it becomes a source of attraction for us so for example let’s say an Indian goes to America now Indians are infatuated with cricket but they don’t have much knowledge also about baseball what to speak of infatuation for baseball but some Indians may go to a university where all other students are infatuated with baseball and these Indians also become infatuated yeah I have to play baseball or at least I had watched the baseball match and they will start going to the baseball match they start furiously screaming as if the result of the baseball match it is a matter of life or death so what has happened they heard about it they entered into that cultural view and they became attracted to it so now we may say that they also watch the matches yes watching is fine but along generally what we see we need some interpretive framework interpretative framework to understand it and that usually we get by hearing so especially something is new and not so familiar to understand it we need some interpretive framework otherwise we may see it but we get from our own conceptions about it so when we see and hear then we get a clearer understanding so when we hear about Krishna we may see Krishna’s pastimes also on the TV or wherever else but when we hear about Krishna especially when we hear about Krishna from those who are devoted to Krishna then our bhakti for Krishna also becomes stimulated so in general what is important is to recognize that Krishna is the supreme reality so yes we may say that okay some people become attracted to baseball some others become attracted to some Hollywood star Bollywood star and some others become attracted to Krishna so what is the difference that everybody become attracted according to whatever they want so there’s nothing special in hearing about Krishna it’s similar to in everything no the principle of attraction is similar whatever we hear about we will become attracted to that but the result of that attraction is dramatically different in all the other things that we may get attracted to they are basically things of this world and because they are things of this world by becoming attracted to them we stay in this world but when we become attracted to Krishna we go beyond this world and our heart becomes purified we’ll see this happening in our own lives if you start hearing about Krishna regularly then our heart will find that the lower passions decrease the lower agitations go down and we start feeling more and more purely attracted to Krishna and impure desires go away from our heart so that way we will see a dramatic difference between hearing about Krishna and hearing about worldly things so hearing about worldly things will only increase our worldly infatuations but hearing about Krishna will decrease our worldly infatuation that will decrease the purity of our heart and Krishna is not just some temporary or imaginary star he is eternal supreme star we can say nakshanad he is a supreme star nayakanam shiromani the crestual of all stars the greatest of wise people and the greatest of saints have become devoted to him so the things that we are often attracted to they are either temporary create temporary temporarily popular it’s a movie star some sports stars even some sports just temporarily popular and there are also at the other extreme there are some ways product of imagination like say harry potter is there or sherlock holmes is there these are his products of imagination and people are attracted into that so one doesn’t get any result by this and there is no actually world view which brings meaning by getting into this sort of attractions but rather when we hear about Krishna then not just the past times of Krishna in the past times are there they are themselves as I said they are entertaining at one level and at another level they are illuminating they are purifying they free us from our lower attractions and they take us towards Krishna but along with entertaining and purifying when we hear about Krishna at not just the past times of Krishna there is also the whole philosophy that is there around it and that is what makes it illuminating now it brings meaning to our life we understand who am I what is this world what is the purpose of this world what is the purpose of my life how am I meant to live generally when we hear about other things that is usually to escape from the confusion the mess the meaninglessness of the life around us you want to forget everything and just watch some tv let’s watch some sports but when we hear about Krishna yes we are able to free ourselves from the anxiety of all other things but along with that we also get a meaningful framework of looking at the world and then we are rejuvenated we become equipped to face the world so it brings meaning to our life it brings meaning amidst the seeming meaninglessness of life and in this way Krishna hearing about Krishna it relaxes our anxiety and stress because it’s entertaining it frees us from our lower desires as it is purifying and it brings meaning and purpose into our life because we understand that beyond the apparent meaninglessness chaos of this world there is another world 8.20 in the Bhagavad Gita says that beyond this world is another world which is indestructible and that lord who is the lord of that world has manifested in this world so we understand that this what is the meaning and purpose we understand of the world it’s a big subject but suffice it to say we understand that this world is like a hospital and Krishna is like the doctor and the disease that we are having is that instead of being attracted to Krishna we are attracted to things of this world so by hearing about Krishna and we understand at one level how attractive Krishna is and naturally our attraction moves from Krishna the world to him because the world things are temporary so attraction to those things causes agitation and bondage but when you’re attracted to Krishna attraction to Krishna brings about satisfaction and liberation but along with that when we overall understand that there is a doctor who’s in charge in this world like a hospital then even when there are there is pain yes in hospital we can expect pain but if you know there’s expert doctors who in charge and who’s in charge and who will cure who is looking after us and wanting to cure us then we can tolerate that pain knowing that eventually it will go away and so similarly the hearing about the philosophy of Krishna enables us to bring meaning to our life and face life’s adversities with courage with confidence with the dignity knowing that we can move forward and ultimately Krishna will cure us and Krishna will liberate us so in this way these are just a few there are many other benefits about Krishna also but this is just in brief hearing about Krishna is entertaining it relaxes our mind and heart it is purifying it frees us from lower degrading bad habits it is illuminating that means it brings it gives us a framework in which meaning and purpose comes to our various activities in life and especially it gives us courage and confidence to face life’s challenges with faith in God so all these benefits come only when we hear about Krishna we need to hear regularly and hear not from those who want only the entertainment benefit about Krishna then we will get only the entertainment and then after some time we’ll get bored by the entertainment I want some other kind of entertainment but yes we can get entertainment in Krishna’s pastime but when we are also focusing along with the entertainment on purification and illumination then we will understand that no other hearing can equal hearing about Krishna and in that way we can fully tap the benefit of hearing about Krishna when we hear from those who are devoted to Krishna. Thank you.
Hare Krishna. So what is the best thing that we can