SB 4.29.61 – Increase Your Spiritual Desire

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Chapter Four, Chapter Twenty-nine, “Talks Between Nārada and King Prācīnabarhi,”

TEXT 61

śayānam imam utsṛjya
śvasantaṁ puruṣo yathā
karmātmany āhitaṁ bhuṅkte
tādṛśenetareṇa vā

TRANSLATION

The living entity, while dreaming, gives up the actual living body. Through the activities of his mind and intelligence, he acts in another body, either as a god or a dog. After giving up this gross body, the living entity enters either an animal body or a demigod’s body on this planet or on another planet. He thus enjoys the results of the actions of his past life.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Although the root of distress and happiness is the mind, intelligence, and ego, a gross body is still required as an instrument for enjoyment. The gross body may change, but the subtle body continues to act. Unless the living entity gets another gross body, he will have to continue in a subtle body, or a ghostly body. One becomes a ghost when the subtle body acts without the help of the instrumental gross body. As stated in this verse, śayānam imam utsṛjya śvasantam. The gross body may lie on a bed and rest, and even though the machinery of the gross body is working, the living entity may leave, go into a dream, and return to the gross body. When he returns to the body, he forgets his dream. Similarly, when the living entity takes on another gross body, he forgets the present gross body. The conclusion is that the subtle body — mind, intelligence, and ego — creates an atmosphere with desires and ambitions that the living entity enjoys in the subtle body. Actually the living entity is in the subtle body, even though the gross body apparently changes and even though he inhabits the gross body on various planets. All the activities performed by the living entity in the subtle body are called illusory because they are not permanent.

COMMENT

So, the purport is quite long so we will discuss the first part that living entity actually lives within the subtle body made of mind, intelligence, and ego, and the happiness and distress enjoyed and suffered by the living entity are perceived within the subtle body. There are many examples even in ordinary activities by which we can understand that the real source of pleasure and pain is the mind. For example, there is the phenomenon of the phantom limb. For example, some person has an accident and his leg is amputated. He has no leg, but he feels in his mind when he has a leg and he perceives pains and pleasures within the leg although the leg does not exist. This phenomenon is called phantom limb. But the point is that even though the limb does not exist, we feel that it exists, and we experience sensation as if it existed. So the actual perception of pleasure and pain takes place in the subtle body, it is actually independent of gross body. Although gross body is there as an instrument for the fulfillment of the desire, actually the real experience comes in the subtle body.

Now there are ghost who have no gross body; they have only the subtle body and generally they have gross desires. Say if someone very sinful, for example, if someone commits suicide, he can get the body of a ghost. Because Krishna fulfills the desires of the living entity, so if living entity commit suicide, it means he does not want gross body. So, Krishna fulfills the desires of living entity, He allows him to live without a gross body, he has only subtle body. All his desires are in subtle body but he cannot fulfill the desires because he doesn’t have gross senses and therefore, he is very frustrated. So ghosts are tormented creatures; they are tormented creatures because they are full of material desires. Why will one commit suicide? Because he has material desire which he could not fulfill. And he is so disappointed in life that he commits suicide. So the strong material desires continue in the subtle body, but now he has no gross body. He wanted to escape from the gross body. He does not have gross body to fulfill the desires.

One devotee told me about one film called Ghost. And in that film, I guess the hero of the story has a subtle body but he doesn’t have a gross body, but he wants to do some good act in this world. As a person with only a subtle body, not have gross body doesn’t know how to influence this world. So he comes in contact with an experienced ghost. Actually, some devotees have thought that of the writers of the film must have read Srila Prabhupada’s books because many elements of the philosophy of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam came in the film. So anyway, the new person approaches the experienced ghost to learn how to influence matter even within the subtle body. After some lessons, the experienced ghost becomes overwhelmed with the desire to smoke a cigarette. So there is a subway in New York City, and there is a vending machine with cigarettes. So the ghost, he is just overwhelmed with the desire to smoke a cigarette, he starts banging on the vending machine to get a cigarette. But he has no gross body; he can’t smoke. So this is the frustration of ghosts, that they desire things of the world but they have no gross senses with which to enjoy them. So they are very frustrated and tormented, and they try to gain possession of some gross bodies. Therefore, they harass people; they trouble people because they try to get possession of their bodies and enjoy sense gratification through their bodies.

Therefore, someone who commits suicide suffers more, he suffers doubly. Just like a person who is sentenced to jail, to prison. If he tries to escape, he will be caught and put back in prison, but he will have to suffer two sentences. He will have to serve the sentence for which he was already in prison, and he will have to serve another sentence because of the crime of trying to escape. So persons who commit suicide can’t escape the karma for which they are suffering. They will be caught, so to speak, and punished doubly. So, they will be punished first for suicide which is sinful and then they will be punished for the offense which they already suffered, which made them want to escape the gross body. So we should not commit suicide either materially or spiritually. Spiritually means we should not want to merge and become one with brahman. Srila Rupa Gosvami says in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that someone who is possessed by the desire of bhukti and mukti, bhukti means sense gratification and mukti means impersonal liberation, he is like a person haunted by a ghost. Why? Because if someone is haunted by a ghost, he will experience desires which are not really his desires. He may want to kill someone or strangle someone else, which he doesn’t really want to do. But because he is possessed by the ghost, he has some desire which is really not his.

So similarly, the living entity has only one real desire, which is to serve God. So if he has desires for bhukti and mukti, it is like being haunted by a ghost. Artificially or extraneously, he is desiring something else which he, as a spirit soul, really doesn’t desire. So both desires are compared to being ghostly—to desire sense gratification or liberation.

PURPORT (continued)

Liberation means getting out of the clutches of the subtle body.

COMMENT

Not the gross body. Because we can commit suicide and get out of the gross body, but it doesn’t mean we are liberated.

PURPORT (continued)

Liberation from the gross body simply involves the transmigration of the soul from one gross body to another. When the mind is educated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or higher consciousness in the mode of goodness, one is transferred either to the upper, heavenly planets or to the spiritual world, the Vaikuṇṭha planets. One therefore has to change his consciousness by cultivating knowledge received from Vedic instructions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the disciplic succession. If we train the subtle body in this life by always thinking about Kṛṣṇa, we will transfer to Kṛṣṇaloka after leaving the gross body. This is confirmed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead:

janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ‘rjuna

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” (Bg. 4.9)

COMMENT

So, according to the consciousness in the subtle body, we will get the next body. If we have consciousness like a dog, we will get the body of a dog, if we have a consciousness of like a demigod, we will get the body of demigod. And if we have consciousness, spiritual consciousness like the residents of the spiritual world, then we will get a spiritual body, and we will go to the spiritual world. So everything depends on consciousness. Consciousness means to be conscious of something, and nothing like consciousness exists without being conscious of something. So Krishna consciousness means being conscious of Krishna, and Krishna means His names, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His paraphernalia, His entourage, and His abode—all are in the same category as Krishna. So, Krishna consciousness means being conscious of Krishna. And one of the conscious of Krishna here, within the mind or within subtle body.

Therefore, the cultivation of Krishna consciousness includes cultivation with the senses of the body, with words, and with the mind. And the cultivation of Krishna consciousness with the mind means to always be thinking of Krishna—thinking of Krishna and His pastimes in Vrindavan or thinking of Krishna and His instructions and thinking of the service of Krishna. How to serve Radha and Krishna, also comes in the same category as thinking of Krishna. So somehow or other, we should always be thinking of Krishna, and this is Krishna consciousness. When we always think of Krishna, even at the time of death also, we can enter into the spiritual world to serve Krishna there, like the residents of the spiritual world, they are only thinking of Krishna. They never forget Krishna, even for a moment. They cannot forget Krishna. In fact, there is one statement in the Bhāgavatam about bhāgavata, that he cannot forget Krishna for a moment. If you give him all of the opulence of the whole universe, he is incapable of forgetting Krishna. It is not possible for him to forget Krishna. So the residents of the spiritual world are always absorbed in thinking of Krishna, and they cannot forget Krishna even for one moment. If we have the same consciousness that they have, then we can serve Krishna in the same way that they serve Krishna in the spiritual world.

Srila Prabhupada give the example, that if someone is in the ninth standard in school but he doing the work of a student of tenth standard, he will be promoted to the tenth standard. If someone is in the material world but engaged in the same activity as the spiritual world, they will be promoted to the spiritual world.

PURPORT (continued)

Thus the change of the gross body is not very important, but the change of the subtle body is important. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is educating people to enlighten the subtle body. The perfect example in this regard is Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, who always engaged his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ). Similarly, in this life we should always fix our mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, who is present in His arcā-vigraha, the incarnation of the Deity in the temple. We should also always engage in His worship.

COMMENT

If we engage in the same activities as the residents of the spiritual world, we become eligible to go to the spiritual world. Like the student who does the work of the tenth standard student, he can go to the tenth standard. We worship the deity with the same activities as in the spiritual world, such as waking up the Lord, bathing Him, dressing Him, and offering Him foodstuffs. These activities continue in the spiritual realm. We are practicing here; it is called sādhana-bhakti. We are practicing here with the senses and the mind. Worshiping the deity in the gross senses means serving with the senses.

PURPORT (continued)

If we engage our speech in describing the activities of the Lord and our ears in hearing about His pastimes, and if we follow the regulative principles to keep the mind intact for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we shall certainly be elevated to the spiritual platform. Then at the time of death the mind, intelligence, and ego will no longer be materially contaminated.

COMMENT

So, here the same point. We are engaging senses in service of the deity and words in the chanting the holy name of the Krishna, or describing the transcendental activities of Krishna. And we engage our minds in remembering the pastimes of Krishna. Pastimes automatically includes calling the name, form, and qualities of Krishna. Everything is including in pastimes. So, this will keep us clean because Krishna is all-pure, and the devotees of Krishna in the spiritual world are all-pure. There is not any tinge of material contamination in them. So, if we want to be qualified to enter the spiritual world, we have to become as pure as Krishna and the associates of Krishna. And here, the cleanliness is internal and external. Of course, the main thing is subtle body. Internal cleanliness is actually more important, which means keeping the mind clean by always thinking of Krishna. Krishna is light, and nescience is darkness. Where there is Krishna consciousness, there can be no material consciousness. If we are always thinking of Krishna, then the mind is clean. If we keep the body clean by following the regulated principles of deity worship and temple worship, then even the gross body will be clean, which is helpful for us because at the stage of sadhana, we are conscious of body and If the body is clean and we follow principles in the mode of goodness, it will help the consciousness to go in the mode of goodness and ultimately to transcendental consciousness or Krishna consciousness.

PURPORT (continued)

The living entity is present, and the mind, intelligence, and ego are also present. When the mind, intelligence, and ego are purified, all the active senses of the living entity become spiritual. Thus the living entity attains his sac-cid-ānanda form. 

COMMENT

So, we get the body that fits the desires of the mind. We get gross body according to subtle body. If the subtle body is purified and has only the desire to serve Krishna, then we will get the appropriate body with which we can serve Krishna. The appropriate body is the spiritual body because Krishna is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. So, we should also have the same type of body to serve Krishna. But to get the same type of body, we have to desire to serve Krishna in the spiritual world.

PURPORT (continued)

The Supreme Lord is always in His sac-cid-ānanda form, but the living entity, although part and parcel of the Lord, becomes materially contaminated when he desires to come to the material world for material enjoyment. The prescription for returning home, back to Godhead, is given by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (9.34):

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ

“Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.”

Giriraj Swami: Here again is the same point: man-manā, always think of Krishna with the mind. And māṁ namaskuru, always worship Krishna and offer obeisances to Krishna with the body. So, by engaging the mind and the body in the service of Krishna, the mind and the senses will become purified. Purified means that the desire changes. The impersonal philosophers seek liberation, but real purification in Krishna consciousness means to become full of desires—not these material enjoyment or liberation, but desires to serve Krishna like the inhabitants of the spiritual world, serve the Lord. We have to change the desire, and only devotees can do so and thus really become free from material desires. There is one beautiful verse in the Fourth Canto, that says, yat pāda-paṅkaja-palāśa-vilāsa-bhaktyā, that non-devotees, such as karmis, jnanis, and yogis, cannot become free from high material desires for fruitive work and material enjoyment. Fruitive work means for material enjoyment. Only the devotees of the Lord can become free from such desires, which flow continuously like the waves of a river. They never stop, and therefore karmis, jnanis, yogis, and others can never become free from them. But the devotees can become free because of the desire to serve the tips of the lotus petals of the toes of the Lord.

How is this possible? The acharyas has raised the question that when material desires flow without cessation like the waves of a river, how is it possible to become free from them, to overcome them? And the acharyas have given the answer that the waves of the river flow into the ocean. During high tide, the waves of the ocean come in and flood the river, making the waves of the ocean more prominent than the waves of the river. In other word, they overwhelm the wave of the river. In the same way, our desire to serve Krishna should become so powerful that it overwhelms us and takes over the desires for bhukti and mukti. We cannot become like dead stones without desire, but we have to change the desire. We have to make the desire to serve Krishna like the residents of the spiritual world so strong that those desires become more prominent than material desires. This is the only way to become free from material desires and to become qualified to enter into the spiritual world to serve Krishna there. The whole purpose of the Krishna consciousness movement is to make our spiritual desires stronger, to replace our material desires with spiritual desires, and to be so absorbed in our spiritual desires to serve Krishna that we are always thinking of Krishna and how to serve Krishna. This makes us qualified to fulfill the mission for which we come here, which is to go back home, back to Godhead, and serve Krishna there.

Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:34:55]

Giriraj Swami: Very good question. He said that devotees have material desires at first and they try to overcome the material desires by hearing and chanting. But in spite of hearing and chanting, the material desires may not go away; they may increase. So the question is, what is the reason or what is the remedy?

Well, the reason is from two points of view. From one point of view, the reason is that we are not qualified to chant and hear all day and all night because we have material desires. Material desires mean we have anarthas. Anarthas mean that there will be obstacles when we chant and hear. We can’t chant and hear. But when one is free from anarthas or liberated then he can chant and hear day and night. But we are not liberated, so we can’t hear chant day and night. So when we are not chanting and hearing, what do we do? Here, if we are engaged in the service of the spiritual master or the mission of the spiritual master, then the anarthas will be vanquished. If artificially we try to leave the service of the spiritual master, the mission of the spiritual master, and just engage in hearing and chanting, then anarthas will increase. So we have to do both. In the beginning stage, we have to do both: hear and chant, and serve guru.

From another point of view, the reason that these material desires may increase even in the presence of hearing and chanting is that when we get to the bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed of devotional service, we are supposed to water the seed with hearing and chanting. But there may also be other seeds: karma-bīja and jñāna-bīja and all other bījas, which are not the devotional creeper but are compared to weeds. If we are not careful to distinguish between the devotional creeper and the weeds, then the same water of chanting and hearing, which is meant to nourish the devotional creeper, may be utilized by the weeds, and the devotional creeper will actually be deprived of the benefit of the water and may be choked by the weeds. We have to be able to distinguish. A devotee may be sincere to some extent; he may be sincere, but he may be naive. He may not be able to distinguish between the real creeper and the unwanted creepers. He may engage in activities thinking that he is serving the guru and thus thinking that he will be getting free from material desires. But actually, the service may not be favorable. Instead of watering the devotional creeper, he may be watering the weeds. So it happens that a devotee quite naively thinks he is doing service, but actually, the service is not approved, and therefore the result is not eradication of anarthas but rather an increase.

Therefore, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has advised that we have to distinguish between the devotional creeper and the unwanted creepers, keep them separate, and take out the unwanted creepers. The unwanted creepers mean the material desires for bhukti and mukti, but they come in a covered form. We think that it is the desire for bhakti, but it is actually not the desire for bhakti; it is the desire for bhukti and mukti in a covered form. Therefore, if we are not expert enough to distinguish, we should consult expert guidance who can tell the difference between the creeper and the weeds and help us to pull out the weeds, even if the method is more painful, so that only the creeper remains to drink the nectar of śravaṇam, kīrtanam.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:40:40]

Giriraj Swami: In devotional service, sometimes obstacles come, so what is the reason and how to counteract them?

Seems similar to the last question, can you explain the difference between your question and the last?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:41:07]

Giriraj Swami: Fear comes because we identify with the body, we are afraid: I may get sick; I am getting old; I may not get good prasāda; I may not get a comfortable place to stay; my money may run out. We have so many fears which are actually based on the body. Srila Prabhupada says that fear comes from worrying over the future. We identify with the body and then we worry about the future, what will happen to the body in the future, because we don’t have faith in Krishna. We don’t have faith that Krishna will take care of us and protect us. So we think, What will happen to me? What will happen to my body? What will happen to my teeth? What will happen to my eyes?” I am talking about myself. I am always worried: What will happen to my heart? What will happen to my back? Thinking of the future, what will happen in the future? There are some signs now, and what will it be in the future, it may be much worse. We don’t think that Krishna will take care of us, that everything is under the control of Krishna. But we think that immediately a doctor should be consulted, medicine should be prescribed, bank balance should be increased, and so many other things.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:43:10]

Giriraj Swami: At what stage do we realize our eternal form and service to Krishna?

Yes, well, we actually begin to realize it in . . . It comes gradually, but when we come to the stage of bhāva-bhakti, we can achieve svarūpa-siddhi. Svarūpa-siddhi means, while living in the physical body, we still become aware of our svarūpa and our relationship with Krishna, our service to Krishna. Then, when we come to the stage of prema-bhakti, we can enter the place of Krishna’s pastimes, nitya-līlā, the eternal pastimes of Krishna, and serve Krishna in our eternal spiritual form. That is called vāstu-siddhi. So there are two stages of self-realization. But at the very end of sādhana-bhakti, in the stage of āsakti, which comes just before the stage of bhāva, one can get a glimpse of their svarūpa.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:45:00]

Giriraj Swami: Committing offenses is very serious. In the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the talks between Jada Bharat and Maharaja Rahugana, it is said that “I am not afraid of the thunderbolt of Indra. I am not afraid of the fires of hell. I am not afraid of this. I am not afraid of that. The only thing I really fear is offending the Vaishnavas.”

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:45:45]

Giriraj Swami: He is saying, Do I have to cultivate the desire to serve the devotees or serve the Lord?

The devotees are serving the Lord by definition, so serving the devotees means serving the Lord. But you are right. Actually, the Lord is more pleased by the service to the devotees than by direct service to the Lord. Therefore, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. We want to serve the servants of the servants of the servants of Krishna, the maintainer of gopīs. So here, we don’t aspire to serve Krishna directly, but we want to serve the servants of the servants of the servants of Krishna. By their mercy and under their guidance, we are also serving Krishna. So, very good question.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!