Treacherous Desires

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, late morning class
5 February 2020, part 3

Dhruva Maharaj was a king, but when he was five years old, he went to meditate in the jungle. How much yoga, meditation (dhyan) he did during this time—it was too much austerity for a five-year old boy. He did not eat, drink, take bath or anything for five years—he had only been meditating for five years. We sit for half an hour in one place, and our legs start paining; we stand on one place for half an hour, and our legs start paining. But Dhruva Maharaj had practised austerities for five years.

Finally, Krishna was pleased and sent His disciple Narad Goswami to give Dhruva Maharaj initiation. Narad gave him initiation, and Dhruva Maharaj started practising. In the end, Krishna Himself came in front of him. Krishna said to Dhruva Maharaj, "Here, take your kingdom. How much kingdom do you want? Tell Me." Dhruva Maharaj became shy, "O Prabhu! Please do not embarrass me. I do not want any kingdom. I have been foolish. Now that You have come to me, I do not want anything else. You have come, that is sufficient for me. If I get You, what do I need a kingdom for? A kingdom is a simple matter, I want to forget it all." This is what he said in the end.

There are also two points. On the one hand, it is said,

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

If you have some material desire and want it to be fulfilled, Krishna will give that to you happily. Suppose you keep a baby on the ground—he will start eating soil, and his mother will come running and crying, "Oh, why are you eating soil?" But the baby does not know that he is eating soil! His mother comes and takes it out of his mouth. We are also foolish—just like babies we want a car, we want a house, a home, a wife, etc. Krishna thinks, "Oh, this is a baby's character! What sort of things do they want?!" If you take soil, mother comes and chastises you; some time later, somebody gives the baby a sweet, and the baby rejects soil thinking, "No, no, no. Soil is not good; now I want something sweet." One fancy replaces another one.

So, if we think we want a car, a house, some opulence, etc., we are being foolish. We think these things are necessary for our life, but if you get the sweetness, the love and affection of Krishna, then you will realise that those things are nothing.

On the other hand, it is also said,

কৃষ্ণ কহে,—আমা ভজে, মাগে বিষয়-সুখ ।
অমৃত ছাড়ি’ বিষ মাগে,—এই বড় মূর্খ ॥
আমি-বিজ্ঞ, এই মূর্খে ‘বিষয়’ কেনে দিব ?
স্ব-চরণামৃত দিয়া ‘বিষয়’ ভুলাইব ॥

krsna kahe,—ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha
amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha
ami—vijna, ei murkhe 'visaya' kene diba?
sva-charanamrta diya 'visaya' bhulaiba

"Krishna says, 'They worship Me, desiring material happiness—leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are great fools. I am very intelligent though. Why will I give these fools material things? Instead, I will give them the nectar of My lotus feet and make them forget the material world."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.38-39)

Krishna says, "I am not a fool—why will I give them visaya (material things)? Instead, I will give them My lotus feet and make them forget visaya! Those who ask Me for fulfilment of their material desires are foolish, but I am intelligent—why will I give material things to them? I will give them Myself instead, and they will forget about those material things!"

We see these two points in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita written by Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami.

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