Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Nitai: "The demoniac person thinks: ‘So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the future more and more. He is my enemy and I have killed him and my other enemy will also be killed. I am the lord of everything, I am the enjoyer. I am perfect, powerful and happy. I am the richest man, surrounded by aristocratic relatives. There is none so powerful and happy as I am. I shall perform sacrifices, I shall give charity and thus I shall I rejoice.' In this way such persons are deluded by ignorance."
Prabhupada:
idam adya maya labdham
imam prapsye manoratham
idam astidam api me
bhavisyati punar dhanam
asau maya hatah satrur
hanisye caparan api
isvaro 'ham aham bhogi
siddho 'ham balavan sukhi
adhyo 'bhijanavan asmi
ko 'nyo 'sti sadrso maya
yaksye dasyami modisya
ity ajnana-vimohitah
So last night we discussed about the demons' thinking. Asa-pasa-satair baddhah. He does not know "So long I shall be aspiring more and more, I am getting entangled more and more within this material world. Because Krsna is so kind, he has given me freedom to enjoy this material world, but according to my work, I am becoming implicated. So long I'll have a pinch of desire for enjoying this material world, I'll have to accept a typical body." This is the law of nature. When you'll actually be free from all material desires, then it is called mukti, mukti, liberation. That is liberation. So that standard of mukti, mukti standard or mukti platform, is bhakti-yoga.
"No desire" does not mean no desire for serving Krsna. That is real desire. Other desires are artificial. That is material. But the desire to... That is called Krsna consciousness. When all our desires are for serving Krsna... Desires you cannot give up. That is not possible. Desires will remain there, but at the present moment, in the conditional stage, the desires are being misused. That is the defect. Therefore the definition of bhakti means anyabhilasita-sunyam [BRS 1.1.11]. Sunya means zero. That is called nirvana. The Buddha philosophy advocates nirvana, no more desire. That is their philosophy. "By desire, you are becoming implicated, so make all your desires extinct. Then there will be no more feelings of pains and pleasure. Desirelessness."
But that is not possible. Desire must be there. Because I am living there, living being, I must have desires. That is the symptom. A stone has no desire, but a living being, however small, insignificant ant, it has got desire. The insignificant ant gets information that in the other corner of the room, which is one hundred miles for the ant... Because the world is relative, relative world, so this length of the room, from this corner to the other corner, for an ant it is hundred miles, yes, because the world is relative according to the size, atomic size, the distance. Now we have got speedy aeroplane. The distance has reduced. Distance from Honolulu to India, if you go by land it will be ten thousand miles, but... It is ten thousand miles, but the speedy aeroplane has reduced. So relatively... Everything is relative. This is called relative world. Dar... What is...? Professor Einstein, he has proved the law of relativity. So the ant, he has to go, to pick up one grain of sugar, by going hundred miles in his capacity, but it will go. That is desire. You have got experience. You put little sugar here. You don't invite ants, but they'll come. They'll come. They'll get immediately information. Just like from Europe many people came in America -- gold rush desire. So desire must be there. The ant has desire; Lord Brahma has desire; I have got desire; you have got desire. This is artificial, to make desireless. That is not possible.
Therefore bhakti means to purify the desire. That is bhakti. Anyabhilasita-sunyam.
anyabhilasita-sunyam
jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanu-
silanam bhaktir uttama
[BRS 1.1.11]
Tat-paratvena nirmalam. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. I am desiring now with upadhi, designation. I am Indian; I am desiring in a way. You are American; you are desiring in another way. Similarly, cat is desiring another way. The dog is desiring another way. Everyone has got desires, different types of desire. Child is desiring some way or other. The boy is desiring another way. So the desire is on account of this body, different desire. So when we become transcendental to the bodily concept of life, then we come to the spiritual platform. In that platform the only one desire is how to serve Krsna. That is required, not to become desireless but to purify the desire. That is bhakti.
Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Nirmala means without any dirt, cleansed completely, crystal clear. That is required. The senses will be there, the mind will be there, the intelligence will be there, I'll be there -- everything will be there, but we have to cleanse the desire, purify the desires. Asa-pasa-satair baddhah. Here, the demons, they're also desiring, but baddhah: they are becoming conditioned. But a devotee, he's also desiring, but he's mukta, means liberated. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, yajnarthe karmano 'nyatra, karma-bandhanah: "You work for performing sacrifice, performing sacrifice." Sacrifice, yajna... Yajna means to satisfy the Supreme. That is sacrifice. I sacrifice my own convenience. I take all kinds of troubles... There is no trouble. It is pleasure, just like the mother takes all kinds of trouble for the little child, but she does not think that is trouble. That is pleasure. When you do something out of love, that is pleasure. That is not trouble. So in the transcendental platform, devotional service, anything you do, that is pleasure. That is not trouble. Just like you are dancing here. Actually, bodily, there is some trouble because you are perspiring, but you are not feeling the trouble; you are feeling pleasure. Otherwise how you can dance? This is the transcendental platform. So the demons are bound up by material desires, and the devotees -- apparently there is desire, but there is no bondage. This is the difference. There is no bondage. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170].
So the Mayavadi philosophers, they cannot understand. They are thinking that "Why these people are taking so much trouble, dancing jumping?" They cannot under... Therefore they feel displeasure. They feel disturbance because they are not purified. So asa-pasa-satair baddhah. The demonic principle is to become bound up by their desires, but if you are on the spiritual platform, then all your desires means loving service to the Lord. That is wanted. So the demons' desires is described here. There is nothing to be explained. We have got practical experience in the material world. They are always thinking, idam adya maya labdham: "Now, today I have earned five hundred dollars" or something more or less. Maya labdham means "I have got it." Imam prapsye manoratham: "Again I shall get tomorrow so much money, and my bank balance will increase to such and such strength." Idam asti: "I got so much, and so much will be added, and the balance will increase." Idam me bhavisyati punar dhanam: "In this way I will increase the amount of my wealth more and more."
There is no question of "how much love I have increased for Krsna." That is bhakta, bhakti. But where there is no bhakti, they are thinking of this material increase. Asau maya hatah, thinking others are enemy... Actually, in the higher status of life, a devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param [Bg. 18.54]. Samah. He knows that "Nobody can become my enemy unless Krsna desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy? Krsna has desired him to act as my enemy just to correct me, just to make me more advanced in spiritual life. So why shall I take any action upon him as enemy?" Of course, this stage is meant for very highly elevated devotee. That is not meant for ordinary devotee. But the fact is this: "How one can become my enemy? If I am Krsna's servant, how one can become my enemy? If one is acting as my enemy, it is Krsna's desire. I have got some defect, and he is correcting me." Therefore it is called samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param [Bg. 18.54]. That is the topmost devotee's conception.
But when we are preaching, we have to come to the second stage. There are three stages of devotional life. The first stage, or the lower stage, the middle stage, and the top stage. So this kind of conception, that "Nobody is my enemy," that is on the topmost stage. That is not to be imitated. When you are preaching, you have to come to the middle stage. Even if you are on the top stage, you have to come on the middle stage because you have to discriminate: "Here is a devotee; here is a demon." On the top stage there is no such thing as demon and devotee. The top stage, the devotee sees: "Everyone is engaged in Krsna's service. Simply I am not engaged." This is topmost devotee's vision, that "I am lacking Krsna's devotion."
Just like Radharani thinks that "All others, they are engaged in Krsna's devotion, but I could not." Caitanya Mahaprabhu said. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that "I have not a pinch of devotion to Krsna. Then if you say, ‘Why you are crying?' that is to make a show." Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that "I am crying for Krsna just to advertise Myself that I have become a big... But actually I have not a pinch of devotion to Krsna." "No you are so great devotee. Everyone says." "No. Everyone may say, but I am not." "Why you are not?" "Now, because without Krsna, still I am living. That is the proof that I have no love for Krsna." This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's statement. "If I had any drop of love for Krsna, how I could live so long without Krsna?" Sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me. So this is love of Krsna, that "How can I live?" -- separation from Krsna. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's philosophy. And the Gosvamis followed them. They never said that "Now I have seen Krsna." Never said. The Gosvamis... Caitanya Mahaprabhu also said that "I was dreaming Krsna. Why you got Me awakened? I lost the chance." But the Gosvamis, they said that
he radhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-suno kutah
sri-govardhana-kalpa-padapa-tale kalindi-vane kutah
ghosantav iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair maha-vihvalau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
They were simply feeling separation. In Vrndavana they lived, but they never said, "Last night I saw Krsna was dancing." Never said. They said that "Krsna and gopis, Radharani, where you are all?" He radhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-suno kutah: "Where you are?" Kalindi-vane kutah govardhana-kalpa-padapa-tale: "Either on the..., near the Govardhana Hill or on the bank of the river Yamuna, where you are?" This is called bhajana, devotion in separation, feeling separation. So in this way we shall increase our aspiration more and more. That is required. That asa, that hope, that expectation, will lead us to the topmost platform of devotion.
So instead of thinking always like this demon that "I have got so much money. Now I shall get further amount of money and it will be like so much money. He is my enemy. I have killed one of them. The other enemy..." This is going on actually, in the material field. So we have to rectify. We have to rectify. Adhyo 'bhijanavan asmi: "I am the richest man. I have got so many friends, all aristocratic." Abhijanavan. Janavan, dhanavan. Dhanavan means possessing wealth, and janavan means possessing men, strength, popular strength, and strength of money.
So Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that na dhanam na janam na kavitam va jagadisa kamaye. These are the bhakti path. The demon is thinking, "I have got so much money. I have got so many friends, and so many relatives, so many family members." Caitanya Mahaprabhu is denying that na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye, just the opposite: "I don't want any material friends or followers, neither I want money. Simply I want to serve You. Simply I want to serve You." So in these three verses everything is... Word meanings are there. So these are the demonic propensities, and the very thing can be changed into devotional service, and then we become devotee or demigod. So I am going tomorrow. So here you shall try to become devotee, not to think like demons. That will not help us. Then asa-pasa-satair baddhah. We'll remain bound up in material bondage. You cannot stop desires. That is not possible, but purify the desire. Purify the desire. Purify desire means that the same hopes, hope against hope, just to improve your position as devotee... That will help you to make your life successful. Thank you very much. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975
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