GRIHESHU VARTAMANA OPI SA SAMRAJYA SHRIYAN VITAT SA VYAJENDAYA TE SHU VIRANIRAHAM MATAR ARKAVAT Translation in Purpose by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada.

INDRIYA, or stayshu, percent gratification, ni, nor, aham, I am, mati, a consideration, Arka, the sun, Vat.

Translation in Purpura by the Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada.

Maharaja Prithvi, who was very opulent due to the prosperity of his entire empire, remained at home as a householder.

Since he was never inclined to utilize his opulences for the gratification of his senses, he remained unattacked exactly like the sun, which is unaffected in all circumstances.

The word griheśu is significant in this verse.

Out of the 4 āśramas, the brahmacārya, grihasta, vandaprastha and sannyāsa, only a grihasta or a householder is allowed to associate with women.

Therefore the grihasta āśrama is a kind of license, a sense gratification given to the devotee.

Maharaj Puri was special in that although he was given license to remain a householder and although he possessed immense opulences in his kingdom, He never engaged in sense gratification.

This is a special sign that indicated him to be a pure devotee of the Lord.

A pure devotee is never attracted by sense gratification and consequently he is liberated.

In material life a person engages in sense gratification for his own personal satisfaction, but in the devotional or liberated life, 1 aims to satisfy the senses of the Lord.

In this verse, Maharaja Prithvi is likened to the sun, Akavat.

Sometimes the sun shines on stool, urine and so many other polluted things.

The sense of sun is all powerful and is never affected by the polluted things which it associates.

On the contrary, the sun shines and sterilizes and purifies the polluted and dirty places.

Similarly, a devoutly man gains in many material activities because he has no desire for sense gratification and they never affect him.

On the contrary, he dovetails all material activities for the service of the Lord.

Since the Puritabhadi knows how to utilize everything for the Lord's service, he is never affected by material activities.

Instead by his transcendental plans he purifies such activities.

This is described in the Bhakti-visarga-sindhu, Sarvapadhi-vinirmuktam tattvar-nena-nirvalam.

His aim is to become completely purified in the service of the Lord without being affected by material designations.

Vandeham Sri Guru Shri Jatapada Kamalam Shri Guru Vaishnavam Shri Rukam Sagarajatam Sahagana Raghada Tamitam Tamtam Sajeevam Sadaitam Sava Durtam Parijana Sahitam Vishnu Caitanya Devam Shri Radha Krishna Padam Sahagana Radhita Sivisha Tanditam So we see there are 3 orders that are not allowed to be associated with women.

You may say what's wrong with associating with women?

The difficulty is when mixing with the opposite sex, one's sex desire is aroused, So therefore it is advised to remain separate from the opposite sex.

And the house of life is regulated only for procreation, not for recreation.

So in this way, Mahayana Spirituality was a very ideal householder.

He did not utilize his household life for sense gratification.

Rather he utilized his household life purely in the service of the Lord.

This is the whole key of how to become liberated from material existence.

As long as we keep running after sense enjoyment, the tongue, the belly, the genitals.

As long as they keep running, running, running, running, until they feel sense enjoyment, they remain caught up in the cycle of birth and death.

Sometimes a worm, sometimes a germ, sometimes a tree, sometimes a grasshopper, sometimes an elephant, sometimes a lion, sometimes a demigod, sometimes a human being.

Around and around we go and we are not so merry go around in the material existence.

So if you want you can just serve your senses.

If you feel better gratifying your senses, go for it.

If that's what you really want, you just want to gratify your senses, but the trouble is you are not those senses.

You're not your tongue, you're not your belly, you're not your genitals, these are not actually you.

So if you dedicate your life to serving them, you are serving someone other than yourself.

So why not serve the actual self, the spirit soul within, who is actually hankering to re-establish his lost loving relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.

The soul doesn't hanker after sense gratification.

The soul hankers after Krishna gratification.

We become satisfied not by trying to satisfy ourselves independently.

We become satisfied by satisfying Krishna.

As the example I have given millions of times, the hand becomes satisfied not by squeezing the food in the fingers, the hand becomes satisfied by giving the food to the mouth, which then gives it to the belly.

So we have to understand we don't become satisfied by trying to gratify our mature senses.

The trouble is we are addicted to a brainless society where everybody is learning every sense gratification, every billboard, every web page, everywhere it's simply going on gratify, gratify, gratify, gratify.

And People dress in such a way to entice one's desire to gratify the senses.

So we have to then, this Vedic culture is very wonderful and very beautiful because it subdues, it helps diminish as much as possible the desire for sense gratification.

So instead of trying to gratify our senses we can think how to gratify the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I'll please my spiritual master.

In this way we learn how to give up this so-called taste for sense enjoyment.

Vishayagani-vartante niraharashidehina rashtra-varsamrta-pyasva parambrasvani-vartate The embodied soul may be restricted to sense enjoyment, though the taste of sense objects remains, but seizing such engagement by experiencing what?

By experiencing a higher taste in your fixed consciousness.

So unless they get this higher taste, you see, taste we must have.

Our nature is we want taste, we want to satisfy.

We are always interested in being satisfied and being gratified.

We don't want tastelessness like the Mayavadis preach, which doesn't really work.

The trouble is Now we're addicted to material sense enjoyment.

We're running, running, running, running, running like a dog, like a monkey, like an orangutan running after material sense enjoyment.

Running, running, running, gratify, gratify, gratify.

But that doesn't actually give us a taste, it gives a temporary taste, it's called maya-tukayo-vusuriyatya.

That is how your material sense, it doesn't actually give you a real taste, it only gives you an illusion of taste.

There's no actual taste in material sense enjoyment.

Because real taste doesn't go away, it's not temporary, it's not boom, boom, boom, enjoy and finish, no.

Real taste goes on increasing, increasing, it's sweeter and sweeter and sweeter and sweeter and sweeter and sweeter going on for all of eternity.

So you want actual taste, you have to learn how to subdue these material desires for taste.

We have to give up the lower taste to get the higher taste.

I think, well, I like the higher taste, but I want to keep having the lower taste too.

Don't tell me to give up the lower taste, teach me how to get the higher taste in such a way that I can also enjoy the lower taste on the way to getting the higher taste, but it doesn't work that way.

You can't keep going to the lower taste and expect to get the higher taste.

Just like if you're sick and you require some things, some certain things in your diet to get healthy, you take the medicine, you also have to avoid certain foods which make you prolong your sickness.

You have to give up, you take the medicine but you have to also give up the foods which are detrimental for your recovery.

You can't keep eating those things that are detrimental to your life, but I really enjoy them.

You have to give up the things you enjoy in this material world that are detrimental for your spiritual awakening.

Therefore we have to follow regular principles.

No illicit sex, no mediating, no intoxication, no gambling.

You may have a taste for 1 of these things, but no, you have to be austere and give it up.

And by having faith in the process, by giving up the object of sense enjoyment, and taking up the satisfaction of the Lord instead of the satisfaction of myself, nobody can actually become satisfied.

The whole point is we do not become satisfied by trying to enjoy independently of the Lord.

We only become satisfied when we take the Lord's enjoyment as my real business.

I must always think, I must always speak, I must always act in every time, place and circumstances in such a way as is pleasing to the Lord.

That's the key, that's the whole point of Sannida Bhakti, which takes you through these stages.

You have Adarsana, You have faith in the process and then you think well these Hare Krishna people are kind of nice, they seem pretty happy, pretty merciful, I am attracted to them, I have a little faith, now let me go hear from them.

Bhagavad Gita, it all begins with hearing.

They seem like pretty nice people, let me go hear from them.

And by hearing, you see, Sadhosharath, Katar, Tadhu, Sanghata, Then you take up the activities of devotional service, bhajana kriya.

And then by taking up these activities of devotion, then you realize, well, Dr.

Niviti, I can give up those things which are not beneficial for my advancement in Krishna consciousness.

And then by giving those things up and continuing to engage in the bhajan activities, the chanting, the remembering, the serving, all these activities, then what happens?

In this style you become fixed up, solidly fixed in devotional services.

No material attraction will lure your mind away from remaining dedicated and serving the orders of the spiritual master and Krishna.

And then when you have this dedication, you get taste.

Getting some, getting some nectar and chanting Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

My Guru Bhagawati Swami said, Do you not know how much nectar these 2 syllables Krishna produces.

When you actually get taste, there is no limit.

You can't even imagine how much nectar is there.

You can eat it forever and it gets sweeter and sweeter and sweeter.

You can pop it in your mouth and you never finish it.

You go on enjoying that glubjaman for all of eternity.

So Hare Krishna mantra is the ultimate glove jamban.

So the difficult reason we don't embellish the holy name is we commit so many offenses against the holy name.

We still hold on to these material desires, these material attractions, these material allurements.

We think about sense gratification, we plan to have sense gratification, we do have sense gratification.

Any of these activities, even thinking about material sense gratification is detrimental for our getting this taste.

Instead of thinking about material sense gratification, we have to think about how can I satisfy Krishna?

We are reminded of these ordinary things.

Even contemplating sense enjoyment is a list of sex.

So we have to always think, how can I think in such a way that my spiritual master can see what's going on in my mind right now, and he can flee?

So, if Krishna is pleased by what I am thinking about right now, does Krishna satisfy or does he find it very disturbing what I am thinking about right now?

So in this way we have to always see thinking, speaking and acting in a way that is pleasing to our spiritual master and Lord Sri Krishna.

By doing it gradually, gradually, gradually all that dirt accumulated in the heart for millions and billions and trillions and quadrillions of lifetimes gradually washed away.

It's like something in the kitchen is a pot.

There was a pot the other day that the daily sweets were cooked in.

And some of the remnants actually hardened on the pot.

In 1 pot, even a stainless steel scrubber couldn't take it off, but then I took a knife and I got it off.

Because this daily sweet is hard when it gets cool, it hardens, it becomes very hard.

So all these remnants are hardened on the pot.

And it had to really work hard to get it off, scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing.

So that hardness of that daily sweet remnants on the inside of the cooking pot are nothing compared to the heart, the remnants we have of all these sinful activities that have been going on and engaging us for millions and millions of lifetimes.

They're much harder, much more hardened than what was on the pot the other day.

So we have to understand I do a lot of scrubbing and become very aggressive to scrub this pot clean, scrub this heart clean, very very very aggressive to get all that lust, the anger, the madness, the illusion, envy, get it all scrubbed out So I can become a pure devotee, qualified to see Krishna.

So we have to understand it takes some time because we are still addicted to sense enjoyment.

We are still addicted to sense enjoyment.

We have been engaging in sense enjoyment for millions and billions and trillions and quadrillions of lifetime and our habit is very very deeply ingrained habit, sense enjoyment.

So now to change our whole, see our natural tendency is the mind naturally goes to sense enjoyment.

That's the natural tendency, The mind naturally goes to sense enjoyment.

Even that unnatural inclination is towards Krishna consciousness.

It becomes a bad conditioning over all these many many lifetimes.

Now our natural tendency is to go to sense enjoyment.

Unnatural we have in the material world is unnatural.

And we consider natural as actually unnatural.

It's an unnatural natural, not our real natural.

So we have to then associate Sadhu Sangha, Sadhu Sangha, Sarva Shastra.

All these great scriptures say you must associate with the Sadhus.

The Sadhus are the ones who are co-writing this text of Krishna Bhakti.

You have gotten varying degrees of this taste of Krishna Bhakti.

So by associating with these sadhus we can actually become gradually, gradually, gradually all that hardened, all those anarchas, all that dirt which is very, very deeply ingrained in the heart, gradually get it out.

It's not some instant thing, you just snap your fingers and boom, you're a pure devotee qualified into the spiritual world.

The dirt didn't come off the pot, it easily healed it.

You have to scrub and work hard to get free of all this stuff.

Whatever is favorable for our devotional lives we take up.

We do so many different services, offering Aarti, cleaning the dishes, sweeping the floor, whatever is necessary.

Raising funds, selling books, whatever we can do that helps to push forward this movement and maintain our centers and our options very nicely, we dedicate ourselves to that.

We shouldn't think, yes, I'll maintain my enjoyment and sense enjoyment at the same time as advancing Krishna consciousness.

If she follows the footsteps of our householder, she follows the footsteps of Prithvamahaj, being fully absorbed in devotional service, not taking in the householder life at some facility for sense enjoyment.

If a householder is trying to enjoy his senses, he is not a grihasta, he is a grihamedi.

So our householders should not be grihamedis, they should be in grihasta, gahasra Ashram.

Ashram is a place of spiritual cultivation.

So whatever your situation is, you use it as a place of spiritual cultivation.

Don't use it as some facility for sense gratification which is the doorway to hell.

You want to go back to home, back to Godhead?

You have to intelligently analyze what's better for me, spiritual world or staying here in the cycle of birth and death?

You have to philosophically and intelligently analyze it and see what is the best thing for you and once you understand intellectually you have to get your mind in line with your intellect.

Think of the trouble is our minds are not aligned, we may intelligently understand these things and realize these things because they are intelligent but our mind is acting independently.

The mind is like the child and the intelligence is like the mother.

The mother may know what is good for the child but the child does not care.

The child just wants to think about gratifying his senses.

Don't tell me not to do this, not to do that.

Our intelligence is the mother and the child is the mind.

We have to bring that child mind under the direction of the intelligence.

If we are thinking, speaking and acting in such a way which is not beneficial, which we can intelligently analyze is not beneficial for our Krishna consciousness, then we have to put a nip on it.

My dear mind, bhajahur re manasri na na na na na na, bhagavad-gita-sutra-sutra-vindhya My dear mind, now your only business is to be absorbed in devotional service.

Thoughts, no more contemplating sense enjoyment, trying to enjoy subtly by your thoughts of meditation and sense enjoyment.

Now my dear mind, your only business is to be absorbed in serving the Lord, the Supreme Personality of God, the Lord Sri Krishna.

So this way we have to train ourselves, train our mind, how to be compliant with the desires of the Guru and Krishna and the Vaishnavas.

My dear mind, now your only business is to use your 24 hours a day, hearing about Krishna, remembering Krishna, talking about Krishna, serving Krishna, serving the Lord, and serving the Lord.

In this way, my dear mind, you have no business except to be engaged in devotional service.

My dear mind, stop trying to cheat me and pull me away from devotional service.

By the mercy of Guru and Krishna I've got this opportunity now to get out of the horrible suffering of the cycle of birth and death.

So my dear mind, why are you trying to pull me back into that sense enjoyment once again?

The mind is either the best friend or the worst enemy.

If your mind is engaged in devotional service then it is a very good friend.

If your mind is running after sensual enjoyment then it is your worst enemy.

We have to turn that inimical enemy mind into a friendly and devoting mind.

By training the mind, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, we have to train the mind.

Right now we are habituated to going back to sense enjoyment within our brain, sense enjoyment, because of millions of lifetimes we need to keep training to become natural, become spontaneous, think of the krishnas, the 1 who is teaching the krishnas, the form of the krishnas, the past time of the krishnas, going to go over down hill, going to Dwaraka and meeting all those queens, having 16,108 queens and each queen with 10 sons.

We need to make it so that those thoughts are natural.

Our natural mind goes there instead of mundane things.

So my soul is getting with the divine again and again and bringing the mind back, bring the mind back, come on back you rascal mind, come back to the lotus feet of Krishna, don't go wandering here and there running after the fleeting flickering things of this world, my dear mind you come back, you come back, you come back to the lotus feet of Krishna, that's where you belong.

So in this way we keep endeavouring and endeavouring to bring the mind under control, that day will come when the mind actually says, okay, I'm going to give up my nonsense, frivolous activities of running here, running there, remembering this, remembering that, sense enjoyment.

I realize it's not good for me, your guidance, my dear intelligence, you made it very clear these things are not good for me, so now I'm going to give it up and from now on I'm only going to think about devotional service.

It's like a world war, a huge, huge thing.

This is even bigger than a world war, bringing that mind into control.

The difficulty of the mind, what did I say?

The difficulty of the mind is more difficult than the encounter of raging wind.

Just imagine some tornado comes into your town, it's going to the town, it's taking houses and throwing them, tearing apart and throwing them into the sky.

Can you imagine how terrible a tornado can be?

Something like a deadly killer tornado going through neighborhoods and wrecking house after house after house up and down the street, destroying the houses and killing so many people.

Just imagine if you could, with your mind you could bring that and say, okay, tornado now, boom, calm down.

So to conquer over the mind is more difficult than to conquer a raging tornado actually.

So only by Krishna's grace, only by the grace of Guru and Krishna and Vaishnava, only by their grace can we be successful.

That's why we have to be submitted to a bunch of spiritual masters.

Some of the things, I'll just be Krishna conscious on my own.

They're not going to be able to bring their mind under control.

You need the mercy of the entire disciplic succession, actually.

You're initiating guru, his guru, his guru, all the way back to Krishna.

You need a whole disciplic succession of great, powerful acharyas if you want to bring your mind under control.

You are not powerful enough, you are not intelligent enough to bring your mind under control on your own strength.

You require the strength coming down from the powerful Acharya, Lord Krishna, Lord Brahma, Narada Muni, Srila Vyasadeva, Madhavacharya, coming down to the Goswamis, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, coming down to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Kulkarsari Das Babaji, Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati, our beloved founder of Shari, is the Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.

And now to initiate the spiritual master, we have to take the help of all these spiritual masters to get these rascal minds to calm down, to stop being so crazy, crazy running, running, running here, running there, running, running, running, running.

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SB 04.22.52 Sense gratification is spiritual suicide Important 2023-08-01 Austin.mp3