What is the effect of hearing rasa-lila pastimes with mundane intentions?

Transcript

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Hare Krishna question from Shweta Shakti Mataji it is said that when advanced devotees when sanyasis hear the Rastila pastimes they see it transcendentally so they don’t get contaminated but they become purified and eventually liberated but what happens when we neophyte devotees hear or read about the Rastila pastimes and with mundane intentions like as in movies, then do we become purified or not answer the effect is something which will vary depending on the individual level of advancement and the individual level of appreciation of Krishna’s pastimes to the devotees so at one level we could say that in one perspective we could say that any contact with Krishna is purifying, so even Krishna’s Rastila pastimes are also purifying and yes that is true at the same time the nature of our conditioning is such that the conditioning can use anything for its own purposes just like for example it is good to be humble to act humbly to bow down to behave in a proper cultured way where we offer respects to others all this is very good but the ego is so subtle and sinister that the ego can make us proud of our humility, see how humble I am humbler than that devotee and therefore I am better than that devotee and basically just as humility which is normally very good thing, very desirable for our spiritual progress that can also become misappropriated by the ego by the forces of illusion, similarly even Krishna’s pastimes can become misappropriated by the forces of illusion for dragging us deeper into illusion how does this happen? if the hearing those pastimes triggers worldly desires within us then that indicates that actually we are trapped, that we are getting affected, we are getting undesirably affected by those pastimes and it’s best that we not hear them, so Srila Prabhupada at one level told devotees that we should not hear Krishna’s intimate pastimes and yet Srila Prabhupada he has given us Krishna book in which the 10th canto is there and he said that Krishna book should be distributed not just to devotees but even to new people and in that also the last panchadhyaya Prabhupada is given and although he has given philosophy but still there are some level of romantic erotic descriptions there so when the book is distributed to new people they are obviously not going to have any transcendental or spiritual perception of it, they are going to have mundane perception so how can they be, how can they be purified or how can such a distribution be justified because it’s understanding that otherwise there is so much other things which are purifying Krishna book and because Srila Prabhupada gives us philosophy also so we can hear those pastimes if we are not going to be affected negatively by them so Srila Prabhupada when he was asked about this specifically he said that use your intelligence we want to increase our attraction to Krishna and we want to decrease our infatuation with worldly forms and with worldly forms of gratification so if on hearing Krishna’s pastimes in this intimate pastimes with the gopis, in the sadhaka stage if our worldly desires are being kindled, are being triggered then it’s best that we don’t hear them that means we are not yet ready, rather we focus on hearing the siddhanta we focus on deepening our understanding of Krishna’s transcendental position and then more and more as we become purified what makes advanced devotees not stimulated materially on hearing Krishna’s pastimes is that they don’t see Krishna and the gopis as simply male and female, they say Krishna is the lord and the gopi is the devotee and they see the pastimes of Krishna and the gopis as basically pastimes of loving reciprocation between the lord and the devotee so to the extent we can develop this transcendental perception of seeing Krishna as the lord and Krishna and gopis as devotees not just as females, then to that extent we can hear those pastimes and become purified by those pastimes so to summarize, anyway hearing pastimes of Krishna is purifying, but in specific cases if the forces of illusion are misappropriating even that which is meant to be purificatory and they are bringing about contamination within us, then it’s best that we avoid hearing such things and the important thing is we individually take stock and because we live in a culture and in a conditioning wherein we have hardly any conception of transcendental loving relationships, all our impressions are about mundane loving relationships so that’s why it’s safe, it’s safer to stay careful to be careful about not prematurely rushing into these pastimes, it’s not that we should consider the rest of the pastimes as untouchable, no actually those pastimes are very very purifying and especially the Gopi Gita itself is a very uplifting series of prayers and they’re very sweet, very purifying, very uplifting and this is the heart of the Bhagavatam the essence of the Bhagavatam and we do want to come closer to this and relish it but we have we have to see whether in the process of relishing it whether it is triggering our sensual imagination or it is it is strengthening our spiritual devotion and act accordingly, thank you