Are we Disturbed by Our Desires?

This is a lecture on the Bhagavad Gita as it is, Chapter 2, text 70 given by His Grace Purujit Dasa, the founder of B.L.I.S.S.

apuryamanam acala-pratistham

samudram apah pravisanti yadvat

tadvat kama yam pravisanti sarve

sa santim apnoti na kama-kami

Bhagavat Gita as it is, Chapter 2: Contents of the Gita Summarized, text 70

SYNONYMS

apuryamanam—always filled; acala-pratistham—steadily situated; samudram—the ocean; apah—water; pravisanti—enter; yadvat—as; tadvat—so; kamah—desires; yam— unto one; pravisanti—enter; sarve—all; sah—that person; santim—peace; apnoti— achieves; na—not; kama-kami—one who desires to fulfill desires.

TRANSLATION

A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

PURPORT

Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is always, especially during the rainy season, being filled with much more water. But the ocean remains the same— steady; it is not agitated, nor does it cross beyond the limit of its brink. That is also true of a person fixed in Krsna consciousness. As long as one has the material body, the demands of the body for sense gratification will continue. The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires because of his fullness. A Krsna conscious man is not in need of anything because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. Therefore he is like the ocean—always full in himself. Desires may come to him like the waters of the rivers that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in his activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by desires for sense gratification. That is the proof of a Krsna conscious man—one who has lost all inclinations for material sense gratification, although the desires are present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the ocean, and therefore enjoy full peace. Others, however, who fulfill desires even up to the limit of liberation, what to speak of material success, never attain peace. The fruitive workers, the salvationists, and also the yogis who are after mystic powers, are all unhappy because of unfulfilled desires. But the person in Krsna consciousness is happy in the service of the Lord, and he has no desires to be fulfilled. In fact, he does not even desire liberation from the so-called material bondage. The devotees of Krsna have no material desires, and therefore they are in perfect peace. (end of purport)

''Ocean which is ever being filled but is always still —can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.” We're being bombarded by an incessant flow of desires. That is why we're in this material world. This body we have is the result of our desires, from our previous life. Just like studying in school, if you study very nicely, you do your homework, then, at the time of exam, you're going to pass the test. And if you slack off, if you're negligent, then you're gonna fail. Right? So we've been designing our current body in our previous life, by our meditation. People think, oh, I don't do meditation. It's not for me, I'm more of an active person, I want to move around, meditation is too boring. No. Everybody is meditating on something. If you do not meditate on Krishna, you meditate on money, you meditate on your girlfriend or boyfriend, you meditate on Mr. Putin, whatever, something. You have to absorb your mind. The mind is always looking for some subject, for some shelter. The mind cannot be inactive. This is a great misconception.

People think that spiritual life or meditation means to stop the mind. The mind is constantly bringing all kinds of thoughts. Just like when we were chanting, now, just remember, how many thoughts passed your mind? We're thinking so many things, it is not so easy to just chant so many minutes or so many hours. So, you cannot stop the mind, this is not possible. Material objects like a drum do not have personality, like the spirit soul. So, when there is 'mine', there must be the 'I'. There must be the possessor. My body is that which is possessed. Just like sometimes they protest 'my body, my choice'. So if it's your body, then you must show, where's the 'I'? There must be the possessor, right? This place, this house, does not belong to no one. There is a proprietor. Similarly, there is a body and if you say this body is mine, there must be the possessor. Can you show me where the possessor is? Where is the possessor? If I chop off my hand and throw it in the garbage, am I in the garbage? Or is my hand in the garbage? If I take my hand, if I take my leg, my hair, ear, whatever, and I'm putting it in the garbage, I am not in the garbage. Right? So, from that I can understand that I am not this body. I am not the body.

The body is the possessed, and I am the possessor. I am spiritual. Consciousness. We're all conscious here, right? Because you're conscious, you can hear me now, you can see me now. You can maybe smell some incense. The senses are picking up perceptions. But if I ask you if you can show me your consciousness - is there any way you can show me your consciousness? Why is the mind constantly thinking of something? Because the soul is ever active. The soul is the spiritual active principle in the body. And the mind is a subtle covering on the soul. The soul is you. When we say 'I', that is the soul. I say 'my body', 'my hand', 'my leg', 'my face', 'my mouth', 'my eye', 'my hair.' Not even the mind you can show me. But if I say that because you cannot show me your mind, that you have no mind, you're mindless, that is not logical. We have mind, you can perceive the mind. Sometimes the mind is disturbed and you cannot focus on reading a book.

If a friend just died of suicide or something, you cannot read, you're always thinking of that friend. So the mind is disturbed. And sometimes the mind is very peaceful. You can perceive everything very clearly, you're not disturbed by anything, you're free. You feel no anxiety. So who is observing the mind? Obviously, it's not the mind. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to make the distinction between a peaceful state and a concentrated state of mind. So, the mind doesn't have to be killed or stopped. Simply the mind should be directed properly, to Krishna. Krishna, when we say Krishna, we don't mean an ordinary person, just like you and me. The mind is looking for the ultimate shelter, the ultimate. The mind is looking for the reservoir of all pleasure. Why we're disturbed, why we have thoughts, is because we're always looking for pleasure. But the pleasure in the material world doesn't last. There's a beginning, a middle and an end, that's it. The soul is eternal. Why is the soul eternal? How can we explain that the soul is eternal? What is the proof?

When a person dies, you cannot revive his consciousness by any material means. Suppose we conclude that the consciousness is made of some neurons in the brain or some chemical composition in the body. If that is so, then you take the missing neurons and you adjust the situation in a way that the consciousness can continue. But they cannot do it. So you cannot revive consciousness. The body is always changing, but the soul remains. The soul doesn't die. The body dies, but the soul doesn't die. The body is actually dying every second. The moment you entered into this temple, your body died. You have replaced your body because the cells, the tiny little molecules that your body consists of, are constantly being replaced, rejuvenated, replaced, rejuvenated, trashed. The old cells are trashed, the new cells are developed. Like that. The change is so subtle that we cannot perceive the difference. But if you take a microscope, you will see there's a lot going on. So, we're dying every single moment. The body you had as a small baby, where is that now? Can you show me?

That body is dead. It is practically dead. Because all the tiny elements that formed that body are gone. Your body consists of completely different cells. Everything is replaced. But you're still here, you're still aware, yes, I am such and such, I am living this life, I had a child body, now I have this body, in the future perhaps I'll have an old body. So you don't change, the body changes. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, roams the pasturing grounds with his brother, Balarama, and the cows. The spirit soul is unique, unlike a brass gong which is made on a mass scale. Stand there, do nothing. There are some philosophers and certain spiritual movements, they aim to stop the activity and kill the mind. So, when you observe the child, you see he can stay there for a little while. But as soon as you turn your head, he will do some kind of mischief again. But if you engage the child positively, if you give him some crayons or something to draw, then he will not create mischief, and he will do something positive. So, this Krishna consciousness means you absorb the mind in Krishna. Krishna, we're coming back to Krishna.

The gross body. The subtle body also changes, as I said, the mind is changing, undergoing different states of consciousness. The intelligence is changing. That is another subtle covering on the soul. It's like a small child, he's going to put his fingers into the electric socket. No intelligence. So the intelligence is developing, and you're observing, oh, my intelligence is developing. And the sense of identity, that's the most subtle covering on the atma, on the soul, it's called ahankara, false designation, sense of identity. We think “I'm such and such”. I'm this and that, I want to be this, I want to be that. Nowadays, especially, people are selecting different genders, different identities. So now, people can very much appreciate the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Because this is all explained: we're not the body, we have nothing to do with any of these identities or genders. The soul is eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge. And right now, we have put on a dress, a bodily dress. Due to our material desires, we have created this body by our consciousness, and we are undergoing the different consequences and reactions of our previous activities.

Even these desires that we have, the incessant flow of desires, they are also triggered by our previous activities, previous reactions, karmas. They don't come by accident. We think, “I desire, I want to do what I want”. But when you analyse that want, that want has been conditioned by reactions of causes and effects. So many. It is not that you desire by accident. We desire according to our association. If you associate with people who take intoxication, automatically, you will desire, oh, let me also smoke, let me also drink, let me try it out, you guys are all doing it, okay, I'm also going to try. We are social beings. We are very much affected by the association that we are situated in. Peer pressure. The association puts pressure on the individual. So, we cannot stop this flow of desires. It is just like when a child is very naughty. You tell Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As you can see there [points to picture of Krishna], this is the Bhagavan feature of Krishna. Krishna is the Absolute Truth. When we say God, that word God is not very nice. Because the word God refers to a controller.

But there's so many controllers. You are also God, you are also a controller. You control a limited sphere in this material world, you control your life to a certain extent. That doesn't fully describe the Absolute. The Absolute Truth is everything within your experience and everything beyond your experience. So, because we have the experience of energy, then God must be energy. And because we have the experience of the energetic, the controller, the personality, the consciousness, like we were discussing before, then God also must be conscious and must be a person, just like you are a person, you are an individual, you are unique, there is no one else in this universe that is like you. This is the beauty of consciousness. It is unique, it is original. When you take material things, for example these instruments [points to kartals], they are made in a factory, mass scale, and they all look the same.

The more we absorb ourselves in the material consciousness, the more we lose our originality, our uniqueness. And the more we come back to our spiritual consciousness, the more original and unique we become. We are already unique, but we're covering ourselves within the material designations. So, Krishna is brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. He is the Supreme Personality. At the same time, he is the all pervading energy. Both. God is not complete without his potencies. You cannot separate God and His potencies or energies. So, we are also part and parcel of God. Tathasta sakti. We are the marginal potency of Krishna. Marginal means that we can choose, either we are situated in the material energy, matter, or we situate in the spiritual energy.

When we take up Krishna consciousness, we practice Krishna consciousness- this 'Hare', when we say 'Hare Krishna', this word 'Hare' is the address to the spiritual energy of Krishna. We're asking for shelter: oh, spiritual energy, Radhe, Radha, please engage me in Your service. Please give me your shelter. So the marginal energy of Krishna, he can choose. Either he is in the spiritual energy, or he is serving in the material energy. His position is always to serve. Even a great powerful man, Mr. Biden or some very powerful politician, President, Prime Minister, he is also serving. Although he can control the whole country, he derives pleasure from service. When his grandchildren come, he puts them on his back and pretends that he is a horse, and the grandchildren have a good time. Why does he do that? Because service is pleasure. Service can be, of course, a very uncomfortable, horrible experience, when we serve out of force. But service is also the greatest expression, or the only expression, of love. If you love someone, you don't just say 'I love you, I love you'. You want to serve that person, you want to bring that person something that he or she likes. That is love.

So, just imagine how pleasurable it is to serve God, serve Krishna. That is possible for the living entity if he serves Krishna, that automatically his desires are properly channelled, properly positioned. It is not selfish to serve Krishna, or to fulfill the desire of Krishna. At the same time, it is not dry renunciation, artificial renunciation: oh, I just stop all desires. Just like the devotees; they cook for Krishna. They've been working since early in the morning, preparing different foodstuffs for Krishna. Then they offer to Lord Chaitanya, they offer to Krishna. They are simply absorbed in Krishna's pleasure, not their own pleasure. We're thinking of our own pleasure. What will I eat today? Oh, I will choose this food and that food. Oh, I will relish so much. Oh, very nice. But they're thinking, 'what will Krishna relish tonight?' So they're thinking of Krishna's pleasure; it is not selfish. At the same time, their desires are automatically fulfilled because after Krishna takes the prasadam, all the devotees enjoy the remnants. This is the unique feature, the unique characteristic of Krishna consciousness or bhakti yoga as opposed to the other paths.

We are not saying that you should cut out everything. Yes, you must cut. Because the material life is suffering, is bondage, we create so many unnecessary desires, and then we have to work very hard to fulfill them. And then we are being disappointed continuously, right? Why are we disappointed? Why are we depressed? Why are we having a bad time here? Because everything is temporary. You think it will last forever, this relationship, or this project or whatever. But then, because the nature of the material world is that it is temporary, we become disappointed. Why we're disappointed is because we are eternal, we're eternal souls, we want eternal pleasure, we want eternal relationships, we want unlimited pleasure. That is possible, with Krishna. When you connect with Krishna, desires are not cut. Instead, you desire for Krishna. And because you are part and parcel of Krishna, you are his tiny little energies, when Krishna enjoys, you also enjoy. You also enjoy, but you enjoy through Krishna. Just like you have different bodily parts. They have different functions. The hand is supposed to take food and put it in the mouth. If you put the foodstuff in some other hole, eye or ear or nose, you will not be happy. It must go into the mouth. From the mouth that goes to the stomach, and it is distributed all over the body. And it goes to the finger as well. The finger is nourished very nicely. The finger is part and parcel of the body. It is not the whole body, but it's part and parcel of the body. If the finger wants to take the food directly through the skin, it will be frustrated. That's not how it works. He must put it in the mouth and it goes to the stomach. It is distributed, and the nourishment goes into the finger.

So similarly, we don't have to stop enjoyment. But enjoy through Krishna. Enjoy through Krishna, always think of Krishna first, then automatically you become the greatest yogi and the greatest renunciant. No amount of temptation will be able to take you down. Krishna says, the wise person doesn't engage in the pleasures of the senses, knowing well that they don't last. These pleasures, they don't last. We're very much foolish, because we always fall for this cheating of illusory potency. The illusory energy Māyā is trying to delude us, always. 'Come enjoy with me, it's going to be fine. It's going to be wonderful. It will be eternal. The pleasure will be eternal'. But every time we fall for it, we realise that no, I got cheated again. Again, I'm miserable.

So a wise person, a devotee of Krishna, is not cheated like this. He will not engage in this temporary activity because he knows what the result will be: simply disappointment. But at the same time, he's not a dry renunciant. All these people trying to isolate themselves, going to the Himalayas, to the forest etc, they think, 'now I'll be free from any material temptation. I will simply isolate myself, go to the jungle, go to the Himalayas, or close myself in a temple'. Our temple is not an ordinary temple. The devotees go every day and they try to spread Krishna consciousness. They try to bring others. Come and enjoy, let us enjoy together with Krishna. There are people who think that temple life means I close myself off, and I condemn the world, the world is all nonsense, it's simply frustration. So I'll cut myself off, I will give up the material world. There's a particular philosopher, Sripada Sankaracharya, who says brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. He says the absolute is the truth, but this material world is illusion. We don't say that this world is illusion, because again, it is the energy of Krishna.

Because Krishna is real, Krishna is a reality, is the truth, this world is also real, but it is temporary. Just like if you take a shadow, you cannot take so much advantage from a shadow as from reality. If I want to embrace a beautiful girl and I try to embrace the shadow, I will not be very satisfied. Our soul is passing through many bodies even in this lifetime. Lord Caitanya's Sankirtan party Like slides in a film, the body appears continuous, but it is always changing. Similarly, this material world is like a shadow reflection of the spiritual varieties in Krishna. But because it is a shadow, it gives us little hints of the substance. Just like a shadow, you can see there's some similarity.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gave us this Bhagavad Gita in the English language so we can become free from lifetimes of misidentification with the material body. Why do you need this human body? You get a nice tiger body, you can enjoy meat without any restriction. Raw. You don't have to cook. You don't like to cook? Okay. Take the body of a tiger. You want unlimited sex life, 100 times every day? The human body is not meant for this purpose. In the Bible it is mentioned that man has been created in God's image. So, this is a hint. God has a similar form as you have. But at the same time, your form cannot be compared to God's form. brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. Although Krishna is a person, individual, through his energies he expands simultaneously everywhere. This is the sublime philosophy of Lord Chaitanya.

Here you see in this picture, [points to Pancha Tattva] this is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with his four associates. He is the last appearance of Krishna in this world; he appeared 500 years ago in West Bengal to start the Sankirtan movement. This is a special moment. We're trying to become Krishna conscious through Sankirtan. Sankirtan means congregational chanting of the holy name of Krishna. Lord Chaitanya also gave a very deep philosophy: one of his philosophical doctrines is called acintya bheda-and-abheda-tattva. That means that God is inconceivably one and different, simultaneously, from his creation. He is everywhere, this is all the energy of God. If someone says that God is everything, yes, that is true. But simultaneously, he is Krishna, residing in the spiritual world, enjoying His transcendental pastimes with his associates in Goloka Vrindavan. The planet of cows, transcendental world. At the same time, he's there.

Just like a big politician or a big entrepreneur like Jeff Bezoz. He is everywhere, all around Amazon. His policy is being followed. Right? So he's all pervading by his energy, by his policies. But at the same time, Mr. Bezos is not present in every Amazon factory. He is not there. He is sipping a nice cocktail in Hawaii. He is enjoying. He is not working at Amazon. So it is like that with Krishna also. He is all pervading. He's present by His energy everywhere, and at the same time, He's completely aloof. He is not affected. He is not attached to the material world. We're attached because we want material enjoyment. So Krishna gives us. You can enjoy whatever you like. You like to eat meat? Okay, become a tiger. The human body is meant for self realisation. So, take the body of a pigeon. Pigeons have sex life 300 times every day. So, Krishna is simply fulfilling our desires.

That's why a wise person wants to stop these desires and an even wiser person, he dovetails his desires in the service of Krishna, then he automatically becomes the topmost transcendentalist. Otherwise, Prabhupada says here, that because the person who wants to get liberation wants freedom from desires, he is not engaged in the service of fulfilling Krishna's desire. He's also frustrated. He desires liberation. He wants to be free from all miseries. But you cannot be in that position. The soul is seeking pleasure. The soul is seeking relationship. So after some time, even if he achieves liberation - that is possible, impersonal liberation, you can do that without Krishna - still, he decides to go back to the material world and suffer the karma. Why? Because he wants association. He wants love. He wants some love, some other person to share with. That's why he goes back to the material world.

So, this is not a very good idea. We should come to Krishna directly and Krishna is promising: janma karma ca me divyam evaà yo vetti tattvataù tyaktvä dehaà punar janma naiti mäm 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. Krishna also has karma, but that karma activity doesn't have any reaction. There is no reaction for Krishna, whatever he does, it doesn't have any consequences. So, if you understand that about Krishna, then you go back home, back to the spiritual world. After this body is finished, you go there to enjoy with Krishna unlimitedly, eternally. You will never come back into this material world. So that's what we want. And this is possible through Krishna consciousness. So a devotee, although desires are coming, he is not acting on them; he understands this is cheating. If I want nice foodstuff, I will make a nice foodstuff for Krishna. If I want a nice flower for myself, to smell it, I will offer it to Krishna. If I want a nice house, I will make a nice temple for Krishna. Everything for Krishna. Krishna, Krishna, Krishna. Then automatically you become free.