Fwd: [Granthraj] Freedom from Material Attachment - Part 1
Sri Krishna Hari Das Satish Gosain
Yours
Dr. Satish Chander Gosain
M.B., B. S., D.N.B.(i) Med
Member Festival Committee, ISKCON Delhi.Initiated Name: Sri Krishna Hari Das (GKG)
Congregational Preacher, ISKCON Delhi, NCR & North India.
Govind Madhav Herbal Tea
B-29-30, Hari Nagar, New Delhi, 110064 India
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From: Granthraj <gran...@mahavishnugoswami.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 12, 2023 at 7:08 PM
Subject: [Granthraj] Freedom from Material Attachment - Part 1
To: <granthr...@mahavishnugoswami.com>
Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
Srimad Bhagavatam repeatedly teaches us that advancement in spiritual life and attachment to material things never go together. That's why Krishna also instructs in Bhagavad Gita to give up everything else and just surrender unto Him. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 11.2.42 the Navayogendras, while explaining about bhagavata dharma to Maharaj Nimi says,
bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ
prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus
tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo ’nu-ghāsam
Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things — these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.
So for one who is surrendered to Lord, by His grace, the following 3 Ds - occur naturally - Devotion, Direct experiene of the Lord and Detachment from material things. We can see this practically in the lives of every devotee in Srimad Bhagavatam. Parikshit Maharaj was emperor of the whole world. But when he was cursed by Shrngi, he could immediately detach himself from his royal position, family etc. In Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 2, Chapter 1, verse 4, Suta Goswami says
ātma-jāyā-sutāgāra-
paśu-draviṇa-bandhuṣu
rājye cāvikale nityaṁ
virūḍhāṁ mamatāṁ jahau
Mahārāja Parīkṣit, as a result of his wholehearted attraction for Lord Kṛṣṇa, was able to give up all deep-rooted affection for his personal body, his wife, his children, his palace, his animals like horses and elephants, his treasury house, his friends and relatives, and his undisputed kingdom.
In the above verse, the word virūḍhāṁ means deep-rooted and mamatāṁ means affinity. Srila Prabhupada in his wonderful lecture on above verse says, "Suppose when you have got sense, improved consciousness, human being, if one asks you to stand up here for one hour, it will be so troublesome. And even if you are forced to stand up for one hour, you'll feel so much uncomfortable. But this tree, because it has not developed consciousness, it is standing up for ten thousands of years, and in open atmosphere, tolerating all kinds of excessive heat, rain, snowfall. But still, it is capturing.This is the difference between developed consciousness and undeveloped consciousness. So the more you develop your consciousness, the more you become a freedom lover."
Attachments to the material things will keep us bound in this material world. Whereas if we want to experience freedom from these material attachments, then that is possible only when we attach ourselves to Krishna. If we are attached to Krishna, then we would not hold on to name, fame, position, land, property etc. When we have the real intelligence that nothing accompanies us at the time of death, what is the point in holding on or being attached to these temporary things in this material world which is also temporary?
So as Srila Prabhupada very nicely mentions in his translation - Parikshit Maharaj was able to give up attachment to friends, family, kingdom etc as a result of his wholehearted attraction for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Actually we can see in this verse we might not find the word-to-word equivalent for this phrase - as a result of his wholehearted attraction for Lord Kṛṣṇa. But Srila Prabhupada has mentioned it because attraction (rati) to Krishna will be there when our (mati) or consciousness is absorbed in Him. In the previous verse 2.4.1, we could see that Parikshit Maharaj was able to fix his mind on Krishna - upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe - because he attentively heard the instructions of his spiritual master Sukadev Goswami and by the mercy of his spiritual master and Lord Sri Krishna, it became easy for him to detach himself from material things.
Krishna willing we shall try to meditate more on this topic in the subsequent offering.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva
Sudarshana devi dasi
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