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The example given here is very appropriate. If a big lake is covered all around by long kusa grass, just like columns, the waters dry up. Similarly, when the big columns of material desire increase, the clear water of consciousness is dried up. Therefore these columns of kusa grass should be cut or thrown away from the very beginning. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed that if from the very beginning we do not take care of unwanted grass in the paddy fields, the fertilizing agents or water will be used by them, and the paddy plants will dry up. The material desire for sense enjoyment is the cause of our falldown in this material world, and thus we suffer the threefold miseries and continuous birth, death, old age and disease. However, if we turn our desires toward the transcendental loving service of the Lord, our desires become purified. We cannot kill desires. We have to purify them of different designations. If we constantly think of being a member of a particular nation, society or family and continuously think about them, we become very strongly entangled in the conditioned life of birth and death. But if our desires are applied to the service of the Lord, they become purified, and thus we become immediately freed from material contamination. (More...) Here also the same point is stressed. Bhaja vasudevam indicates that one who is engaged in the loving service of Krsna, the son of Vasudeva, can very easily stop the waves of desires. As long as one continues to try to artificially stop the waves of desires, he will certainly be defeated. That is indicated in this verse. Desires for fruitive activities are strongly rooted, but the trees of desire can be uprooted completely by devotional service because devotional service employs superior desire. One can give up inferior desires when engaged in superior desires. To try to stop desires is impossible. One has to desire the Supreme in order not to be entangled in inferior desires. Jnanis maintain a desire to become one with the Supreme, but such desire is also considered to be kama, lust. Similarly, the yogis desire mystic power, and that is also kama. And the bhaktas, not being desirous of any sort of material enjoyment, become purified. There is no artificial attempt to stop desire. Desire becomes a source of spiritual enjoyment under the protection of the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord. It is stated herein by the Kumaras that the lotus feet of Lord Krsna are the ultimate reservoir of all pleasure. One should therefore take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord instead of trying unsuccessfully to stop desires for material enjoyment. As long as one is unable to stop the desire for material enjoyment, there is no possibility of becoming liberated from the entanglement of material existence. It may be argued that the waves of a river are incessantly flowing and that they cannot be stopped, but the waves of the river flow toward the sea. When the tide comes over the river, it overwhelms the flowing of the river, and the river itself becomes overflooded, and the waves from the sea become more prominent than the waves from the river. Similarly, a devotee with intelligence plans so many things for the service of the Lord in Krsna consciousness that stagnant material desires become overflooded by the desire to serve the Lord. As confirmed by Yamunacarya, since he has been engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, there is always a current of newer and newer desires flowing to serve the Lord, so much so that the stagnant desire of sex life becomes very insignificant. Yamunacarya even says that he spits on such desires. Bhagavad-gita (2.59) also confirms: param drstva nivartate. The conclusion is that by developing a loving desire for the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, we subdue all material desires for sense gratification. (More...) Tat-paratvena nirmalam. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. I am desiring now with upadhi, designation. I am Indian; I am desiring in a way. You are American; you are desiring in another way. Similarly, cat is desiring another way. The dog is desiring another way. Everyone has got desires, different types of desire. Child is desiring some way or other. The boy is desiring another way. So the desire is on account of this body, different desire. So when we become transcendental to the bodily concept of life, then we come to the spiritual platform. In that platform the only one desire is how to serve Krsna. That is required, not to become desireless but to purify the desire. That is bhakti. (More...) Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Nirmala means without any dirt, cleansed completely, crystal clear. That is required. The senses will be there, the mind will be there, the intelligence will be there, I'll be thereeverything will be there, but we have to cleanse the desire, purify the desires. Asa-pasa-satair baddhah. Here, the demons, they're also desiring, but baddhah: they are becoming conditioned. But a devotee, he's also desiring, but he's mukta, means liberated. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, yajnarthe karmano 'nyatra, karma-bandhanah: "You work for performing sacrifice, performing sacrifice." Sacrifice, yajna... Yajna means to satisfy the Supreme. That is sacrifice. I sacrifice my own convenience. I take all kinds of troubles... There is no trouble. It is pleasure, just like the mother takes all kinds of trouble for the little child, but she does not think that is trouble. That is pleasure. When you do something out of love, that is pleasure. That is not trouble. So in the transcendental platform, devotional service, anything you do, that is pleasure. That is not trouble. Just like you are dancing here. Actually, bodily, there is some trouble because you are perspiring, but you are not feeling the trouble; you are feeling pleasure. Otherwise how you can dance? This is the transcendental platform. So the demons are bound up by material desires, and the devotees-apparently there is desire, but there is no bondage. This is the difference. There is no bondage. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. (More...) Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/?g=1633 Previous: [none] Next: [none]
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