Attachment-To Shadows

Attachment-To Shadows

Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.25
Chicago, July 9, 1975

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Nitai: "The child's broken language and movements were very pleasing to Ajamila, who was very attracted to the child. He always took care of the child and enjoyed his activities."

Prabhupada: "Attached, attached to the child."

Nitai: "...very much attached to the child."

Prabhupada:

sa baddha-hrdayas tasminn
arbhake kala-bhasini
niriksamanas tal-lilam
mumude jaratho bhrsam
 [SB 6.1.25]

So this is called material attachment. He is very much attached to the child, but he does not know this will break. This attachment will not endure. When the child is grown up, neither the father will have so much attachment, nor the child will have so much... This is called material world. But the same attachment is there in the spiritual world. Just like mother Yasoda. Maharaja Nanda, he is attached to Krsna. They are also enjoying the same way, but that enjoyment is never broken. That is the difference. This attachment between father and son or mother and son in this material world, it will not stay. It will break, today or tomorrow. That is the nature.

Therefore in the Vedanta-sutra it is said, janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1]. Wherefrom this attachment has come unless originally it is there in the spiritual world? Originally, the same attachment... Just like we have got attachment for our country, nation. Then attachment between the servant and the master, attachment between friend and friend, attachment between father and son or mother and son, and attachment between husband and wife or the beloved and the lover -- these five kinds of attachment are there in this material world. Santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, madhurya. So the same attachment is there between Krsna and devotee, either in the santa... Some devotees have become there land, water, tree, flower. They are attached to Krsna. Some devotees, they have become servants. They are attached to Krsna. And some devotees, they have become cowherds boy, friendly. They are attached to Krsna. And some devotees have become Krsna's father, mother, uncle, elderly. They are attached to Krsna. And some devotees, they have become gopis, young girls, and love Krsna, dance with Him rasa dance. So in this way Vrndavana means this attachment to Krsna. Central point is Krsna, but the varieties of attachment, they are the same. The only difference is that this attachment centering round Krsna is never broken. If you love Krsna as your child, just like Ajamila is loving his youngest child so much, similarly, if you love Krsna, then it will continue eternally. You will enjoy. It is enjoyment, ananda. The father is seeing that the small child is trying to walk and trying to talk with the father in broken language, and he is observing very minutely, and mumude, he was enjoying. So you can have the idea of enjoyment. Not idea. Everyone has got practical experience. So if enjoyment continues perpetually, just imagine what is that life. And you are enjoying, but if it is broken halfway, then it is very painful.

So if you want this permanent enjoyment, eternal... We are all eternal. We want everything eternally existing. If you want that, then you place your love in Krsna. This is the difference. Krsna consciousness means if you practice here, following the inhabitants of Vrndavana either as gopi or as cowherd boy or as flowers, trees, water... Vrndavana is not vacant. It is full of varieties. Without varieties, there is no enjoyment. Variety is the mother of enjoyment. So the Mayavadi philosophers, nirvisesa-sunyavadi... There are philosophers. They are trying to negate these varieties. They are disgusted with the varieties. Everyone is disgusted. The same child, when he grows up, he becomes disobedient to the father and breaks. He goes away. The father is broken-hearted, "Oh, I loved this child and he became so unfaithful? He has done so much harm and he has gone away?" Broken-hearted. Broken-heart... That you will have to experience in the material world.

So the sunyavadi and the nirvisesavadi, they want to make these varieties of enjoyment zero. That is called nirvana philosophy, Buddha philosophy, that "These varieties of enjoyment is followed by painful condition, so you should make this variety zero." Just like sometimes one commits suicide. When these varieties become intolerable, social condition unbearable, then he commits suicide. So this sunyavadi, mayavadi, means it is spiritual suicide, because they have no information of the spiritual varieties. Anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah. They do not know that these varieties of enjoyment can be executed with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that will endure eternally, and we shall enjoy eternally. That they cannot understand. That is the difference between Vaisnava and others. They, being disgusted... Brahma satyam jagan mithya, Sankara's philosophy, impersonalist, that "Take to Brahman. The so-called varieties of enjoyment in this material world is mithya, false. So take to Brahman, merge into the Brahman, and remain there perpetually. Don't seek after these varieties of enjoyment."

But the thing is that we are living entities, and Krsna is also the supreme living entity, and both of us after enjoyment... Because the same quality, we are qualitatively one. As Krsna dances with the gopis, we also try to dance in the ball dance, the same imitation. But the ball dance does not endure. We become frustrated, because it is only shadow. The reality is there. A shadow... Suppose you love a boy or girl. But if it is a shadow, it does not give you actual pleasure. Just like in your country, in the tailor's shop, there are so many beautiful women and beautiful man also, dressed, but nobody is attracted there because you know it is shadow. It is shadow. There is a very nice, beautiful girl in the window, and you pass on. You are not attracted, don't see even, because you know it is false, it is not reality. Again, suppose you love one girl, very nice, beautiful, and when she is dead, you are no more attached, because you know it is shadow. Why you are not attached to the same lover or beloved who is dead now? "No, no, here is your lover. Here is your beloved. Why don't you...?" "No, no, she is gone," or "He is gone." "Oh, where he is gone? He is lying there." (laughter)

So when we are attached to the shadow, that is called ignorance, illusion. This is illusion. So here in the material world we are all engaged in shadow attachment. Therefore it is called illusion. Maya-mohitam. Daivi hy esa gunamayi [Bg. 7.14]. So this is going on, life after life. We are after shadow. Tejo-vari-mrsa mrdam yatha vinimayah. They, just like in the desert you will find exactly a vast water, pool, and the animal runs after the... It is called phantasmagoria? No?

Devotees: Mirage.

Prabhupada: Mirage, yes. So running after it, running after it, the shadow is also going ahead and the animal also running. So there is no water. He becomes more and more exhausted. Then he dies. This is the example. So here in this material world we are running after the shadow enjoyment. And running, running, running, running, somebody is exhausted and dies. The karmis, they have no knowledge. They have been described as mudhas. They are running after shadow, shadow, that's all. And the jnanis, they understand that "This is shadow, mithya." So shadow means there is reality also. Shadow means... Without reality, how there can be shadow? So they are searching after that reality. Brahma satyam jagan mithya. They understand, "This is shadow. Find out where is water." So the jnanis are also in the darkness, because they do not know where is water. They simply know that because it is shadow therefore there must be somewhere the reality. This is jnani, or yogi. And bhakta, they know where is real water. That's all. This is the difference. The karmis are like animals. They are after shadow water, running, running, running, exhausted and finished. That is karmi. And jnani, they understand that "This is shadow, but there is reality." But they do not know where is that reality. But a devotee knows that "This is shadow, but it is shadow of the reality," and they know where is that reality. Like this, this is the difference.

So the kingdom of God is not devoid of varieties. There are the real varieties. Therefore ordinary man cannot understand what is Krsna. They do not understand, because they have been described in the sastra as avisuddha-buddhayah: their core of heart is not yet cleansed. Avisuddha-buddhayah. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah [SB 10.2.32]. It is said in the sastra, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, that ye 'nye 'ravindaksa vimukta-maninah. These jnanis, they are thinking that "Now we have become liberated because we have learned to distinguish between the shadow and reality." So... But they cannot enjoy reality because they are sunyavadi, nirvisesa. They cannot believe that here there is ball dance and there is Krsna dancing with the gopis -- it is the same thing. So how it is reality? This is their misfortune. They cannot judge that unless in Krsna there is ball dance, how this ball dance can be shadow? The variety is there. But unless there is reality, how the shadow... We are after shadow. Shadow is not reality. But there must be reality. And if in the shadow there are so many varieties, so why not reality also full of varieties? The poor fund of knowledge of the Mayavadi... They cannot understand even that unless in the shadow there are so much varieties, unless there is reality... And in the Vedanta-sutra it is said, anandamayo 'bhyasat: (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12) "The living entities and the Supreme Being, they are full of enjoyment." Why we are seeking enjoyment here in this mater...? Everyone is seeking after enjoyment. But they are seeking after false enjoyment.

So this Krsna consciousness movement means to give them idea of real enjoyment. If... So real enjoyment means that when you are uncontaminated with this material body. Spiritual enjoyment. Now we are trying to enjoy with this body. The body is senses. Indriyani parany ahuh. Bodily enjoy means the sense enjoyment. Indriyani parany ahur indriyebhyah param manah, manasas tu para buddhih [Bg. 3.42]. In this way we have to understand that this body is false; therefore the bodily enjoyment is also false. That they cannot understand. This is their misfortune. Therefore one who does not understand in the beginning of spiritual life that "I am not this body. I am different from body..." Then his spiritual life begins. Otherwise, cats and dogs and everyone is engaged with this bodily enjoyment. So long we shall be captivated by this bodily enjoyment, we are in the groups of animals. That's all.

yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij
janesv abhijnesu sa eva go-kharah
 [SB 10.84.13]

Animals. The whole world is going on in a way which is animal civilization. So if you want to be happy, you have to come to the spiritual platform, reality. That is wanted, thorough overhauling. They should know perfectly well that "We are after false enjoyment. We have to come to the platform of real enjoyment." Somebody is mistaking that "Real enjoyment, there cannot be any varieties. If there are varieties, then what is the difference between this and that?" So these varieties are different in quality. This is material quality, and that is spiritual quality. They have no distinction between matter and spirit. They cannot understand this exactly like cats and dogs.

So our this Krsna consciousness movement is not to stop your enjoyment but to bring you in the platform where you can enjoy eternally. That is Krsna consciousness. So if you want false enjoyment, then you remain in this material world in the darkness. But the Veda says, tamasi ma jyotir gama: "Don't keep yourself foolishly in darkness. Come to the light." So in order to come to the light, you have to follow certain restrictions. Just like you are diseased, and if you want to come to be healthy again, then you have to follow some restrictions, some injunctions. Doctor says, "You don't eat this. You don't do this. You don't do this." That is the way of going to the healthy condition of life. Tapo divyam yena suddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. So a person, intelligent person, if he knows that "By observing certain rules and regulations prescribed by the physician, if I can become again healthy, so why not do this?" this is intelligence. And if you fall victims of this material enjoyment, without any idea of spiritual life, then you remain cats and dogs. That's all. But we must always know that the enjoyment, as Ajamila... He is enjoying the movements of the child. The similar enjoyment is there in the spiritual world. Krsna is the child. Krsna never dies, and the father never dies, the mother never dies. Eternally there is enjoyment.

cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-
laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam
laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
 [Bs. 5.29]

So we have to understand where is that spiritual world. That is... You have... Those who are reading Bhagavad-gita, you will find, paras tasmat tu bhavah anyah: "There is another world." Bhava means nature. Paras tasmat tu bhavah anyo 'vyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah [Bg. 8.20]. Sanatana means eternal. The living entity is described as sanatanah. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah jiva-loke sanatanah [Bg. 15.7]. Sanatana means eternal. And there is another nature, which is also described, sanatana. So when a living entity is constitutionally sanatana, if he wants to go back to that sanatana nature, that is called sanatana-dharma. It is called... You have heard the name sanatana-dharma. Sanatana-dharma means when the sanatana-jiva, living entity, tries go to back home... That is our real home. Here it is not home. We have taken America as home. How long it is your home, sir? Say, fifty years, hundred years, that's all. Not this kind of home. So that home is eternal. That is called, therefore, sanatana. Avyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah. Yasmin sarvesu nasyatsu means when in the material world everything will be dissolved, annihilated, then it is said that the other nature... We have tried to describe in our Easy Journey to Other Planets, antimaterial, material and antimaterial. So that world, the spiritual world, there is if you go beyond this covering of the sky. You cannot touch even the ultimate covering even, Brahmaloka. We can see there is a covering round, what is called? Horizon. That is covering. This covering is covered by seven layers, same earth, water, fire, ether. One layer is ten times bigger than the other layer. If you can penetrate and go through, then there is the other world, spiritual world. So this is the position. We should be clever enough to understand the constitution of this material world, this material body, and the spirit soul, how the spirit soul can be liberated, how the spirit soul can go to the spiritual world and live there eternally. Everything is very nicely described in the Bhagavad-gita. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]. Everyone can go. Mad-yajino 'pi yanti mam [Bg. 9.25].

So our endeavor should be, instead of being attached to this false enjoyment like cats and dogs, like the animal is running after the false water, the human life is meant for understanding that "The animal is running after false water. Why I shall go there? I am not animal." That is human life. If one, like the cats and dogs and deer, animal, runs after the false water and he dies, struggle for existence... "Survival of the fittest," they say. Nobody will survive. So there is no question. If you take the word in a real sense, the survival of the fittest, one who has understood that he is not this body, he is spirit soul, he is fit to survive. Otherwise, bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg. 8.19], you will run after this false thing, and this body will be finished, and again you will have to accept another body, and again you will run after, bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg. 8.19]. This is going on. After false thing. Therefore the sastra says that this human form of life is not meant for running after this false thing. They must understand what is reality. And how to attain that reality? Exactly in the same way: intelligent man knows that "This is my diseased condition. How to get out, achieve that healthy condition? Because I am eternal." Na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20].

So it is possible even by Ajamila. That is the story we are now trying to understand. Simply we have to accept the association of realized soul. Then it is possible. There is no hopelessness. Anyone can attain the spiritual perfection. Satam prasangan mama virya-samvidah. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu has recommended,

sadhu-sanga, sadhu-sanga -- sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya
 [Cc. Madhya 22.54]

So our aim of life should be how to associate, how to keep association with devotee. Then everything will be possible. And as soon as we give up the association and we associate with maya, then our life is finished. Always remember this. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was enquired by a devotee that "What is the business of a devotee? How he will make progress without any difficulty?" So Caitanya Mahaprabhu said in two lines that asat-sanga-tyaga, ei vaisnava-acara: [Cc. Madhya 22.87] "A Vaisnava should always avoid asat, materialistic person, always avoid the association.' Asat-sanga-tyaga. But matter is asat, not permanent. So those who are attached to the material world, they are called asat. Satam prasangat, one should associate with sat, means those who are in spiritual advancement. They are called sat. And those who are interested in material advancement, they are called asat. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu advised, "Don't associate with persons who are trying to be advanced in material way." Asat-sanga-tyaga, ei vaisnava-acara. And how we can understand this person is materialist? That is stated next line: asat eka stri-sangi. Those who are too much attached in sex, they are asat, materialist, and Krsna, those who are not devotee of Krsna. That's all. If you can find out these two persons, then you understand who is asat and who is sat. And sat -- just the opposite. Sat means he is no more interested in material enjoyment. That is sat. And those who are interested in material enjoyment, they are asat.

So if we keep our association with persons who are materially interested, then we cannot make progress. If you keep our company always with persons who are spiritually interested, then you make progress.

Thank you very much. (end)

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.25 -- Chicago, July 9, 1975

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