Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble pranams! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev!
The following is in continuation of the transcription of the wonderful class by our beloved God brother HG Devakinandan prabhuji on 28-04-2011 in Abudhabi on Aila Gita. In the last offering we saw that King Pururava sat down to contemplate on his condition and Devaki prabhuji went on to explain the way we should also contemplate on our condition seriously.
In Bhagavad Gita Krishna says in 2.62 and 2.63
dhyaayato vishayaan pumsah / sangas teshupajaayate
sangaat sanjaayate kaamah / kaamaat krodho 'bhijaayate
krodhaad bhavati sammohah /sammohaat smrti-vibhramah
smrti-bhramshaad buddhi-naasho /buddhi-naashaat pranashyati
"While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool."
This verse must be translated into positive. How does the verse start? "While contemplating the object of the senses…." Maharaj said, "While contemplating on the words of Bhagavatam, the devotee develops attachment for Bhagavatam." This is the practical application of the verse. The secret is actually in the verse. Bhagavad Gita tells that when we contemplate on the object of senses, we develop attachment for them. So Maharaj said, "If you want to develop attachment for Bhagavatam and Krishna, you please contemplate on Bhagavatam and Krishna as the object of the senses. That is the five minutes difference between the advancing devotee and struggling devotee. What is the object of our senses? Is it Urvashi or is it Krishna? Is it Pururava or is it Bhagavatam? So the same two verses, you just change them. When you develop attachment for Bhagavatam, lust will fly out of the window and true love is settled in the heart." See the difference and in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells us that when there is lust, there will be anger. This is because lust means, we cannot satisfy our desires, so we get angry. When anger comes from lust, we become frustrated. When there is frustration, there is delusion. When there is delusion, there is bewilderment of memory. We forget what we are, we forget where we are and we just counteract. When someone insults us, we counteract.
Today I was just remembering one story Maharaj told about Buddha. Buddha was walking on the road and suddenly what happened was one man came up to Buddha and he said, "Whatever you are talking is nonsense. Whatever you are preaching is nonsense. Whatever you say, you do not practice." He insulted him like anything. He then inquired, "What do you have to say?" Buddha looked at him and he asked him, "When someone buys and gives a gift for another person, and if the person rejects the gift, whose property is the gift?" The man thought about it. First he thought it is a funny question from a man whom he had just attacked. Then he thought about the answer. "If someone I am giving a gift to, does not want it, it still remains my property." So Buddha smiled and said, "You want to transfer your insult to me. That is very nice, but I do not want your insult. I do not want to counteract. So to whom does the insult belong to?" It belongs to the man who started the insult. So Buddha said, "You keep the insult and let me be peaceful." Maharaj said that this is how we escape from "I and mine". No counteraction. The moment we counteract the material energy, we will lose. The moment a devotee says something that has nothing to do with Krishna, we will lose. Our relationships will go out of the window. That is why Maharaj said, "We tolerate like anything. We have to tolerate. We have to do only two things in spiritual life. We adjust and we tolerate. We tolerate and we adjust. The whole life is about that." This is the expert way in which we stop "I and mine". "I and mine" is much deeper than just saying, 'this is not mine.' It is much deeper.
1. The story of Pururava and Urvashi is not for other people, but it is for all of us. That is why Bhagavatam speaks about it. The question comes back to what Pururava asked, "Whose property is the body?" Now Pururava has come to the end of his journey. He is a frustrated man. He is a lonely man. But now, something has come to his heart as he sat down. What is that? Renunciation. Why? Very simple. He got slapped over and over again. Face is black and blue. Nowhere to turn. Better start becoming yogi, because bhogi days are over and now he must become tyagi. Otherwise he cannot become bhakta. So this is the way maya adjusts and tolerates us. She will adjust us in such a way that the slaps will come. Maharaj says, "When the slaps come on your faces, do not transfer the slaps to others. Then you lose. Accept the slaps and sit down and contemplate seriously about your condition. Gajendra contemplated after 1000 years of fighting with the crocodile. You and I do not have 1000 years to contemplate. Today after Bhagavatam, we may just die. Better we contemplate NOW about our condition." So Pururava sat down and he said, "For so many years, I enjoyed bodily pleasures. So many years I tried to enjoy, but I was not satisfied by the enjoyment - Just like you pour more and more ghee into the fire thinking that the ghee will douse the fire, more and more I tried to enjoy with Urvashi, the more I tried, the more frustrated I became." Maharaj says, "The more you try to exploit a devotee, the more you try to put yourself above others, the more frustrated you will become. When you are frustrated in your life, it is because you are exploiting what is given to you by Krishna. If you renounce that, you will become peaceful." Such an amazing formula to be free of frustration.
2. Pururava says what is the use of all the big education, all the great austerities, all the renunciation, what is the use of studying revealed scriptures and living in solitude and silence, if after all that, the mind is stolen by the object of one's desire? What is the use? Maharaj said, "We may read Bhagavatam till the cows come home, we may write so many slokas and study them but tomorrow if we cannot walk away from the object of our desire, then what is the point of all that?" This we should ask ourselves seriously.
3. What is the value of this human body? This is the key now. What is the value? He said, "How can I blame Urvashi for my trouble?" Actually Maharaj says, "When you renounce, you stop blaming others. When you renounce, you blame yourself. It is only when you attach, you blame everyone else. It is a very important point. Those who blame others, they are not renounced. But those who look to themselves and say, 'It is my fault', it ends there, they become renounced. Buddha never counteracted. He became completely renounced. He took the insult and he said, 'This is your gift. You keep it. I do not want it.' So when we are also insulted by devotees, or by so called devotees, we should not insult back. We should not behave in a counteractive fashion. We should absorb, tolerate, adjust and we become renounced. We become free. The problem is that the ego comes in the way and we say, "He has said something. Now I must take a stand and this is my stand." What stand you have? Your only stand is you are supposed to be the servant of the servant of the servant. Servant does not have a stand. Servant bows. He does not stand." See how nicely Maharaj put the point. So Pururava then says, "Why am I to blame Uravshi? It is my fault. I was attached to my body and everything that gave enjoyment to my body, I wanted for myself. When I did not get it, I became like a madman. So I must stop this."
Prabhuji went on to explain the further realizations of Pururava and the same shall be transcribed and offered in the next mail, Krishna willing.
Thankyou very much,
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Vaijayantimala devi dasi,
Abudhabi.
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