Standards Of Pleasure

So in this 21st verse Krsna is explaining the characteristics of the liberated soul. A person situated in transcendence is not attracted, Krsna says, by the pleasures of the material world, for he is always in "trance." That trance does not mean sleep or some unconscious state, but steadiness of mind, a mind fixed on the Supersoul, or supreme goal Krsna. In that condition, the verse says, one is always enjoying the pleasure within. Unlimited happiness is his, it says, because Krsna is the reservoir of all pleasure. The name Krsna means all-attractive, and by His omnipotence He has endowed His name with full potency so that in the name of Krsna we can attain all pleasure; simply by chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare one has access to all pleasure.

Krsna is the reservoir of all pleasure. Krsna is the reservoir of all opulence, all beauty, all wealth, all fame, all strength, all knowledge, and all renunciation. Thus He is the reservoir of all pleasure. Whatever pleasure there appears to be in the material world variously reflected, it is but a reflection of this supreme pleasure, Krsna. So the devotee who is merged in the thought of Krsna is drinking deeply at that pleasure well, and because he is obtaining some higher pleasure, he has no desire for a lesser pleasure. Actually, we are all seeking pleasure, and we must go where we find pleasure. Therefore if a man is not finding pleasure in Krsna he will seek it elsewhere; that is for certain. Similarly, if a man is finding pleasure in Krsna, he will not seek it elsewhere. So verse 22 says, "An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them." How can sensory contacts, which are temporary and ephemeral, compare to the pleasure of Krsna, which is eternal, always blissful, and fully cognizant? In the Eighteenth Chapter Krsna says that there is a happiness "which at the beginning may be like poison, but at the end is like nectar." And similarly, there is another pleasure, which "appears at the beginning like nectar, but at the end is like poison."