Develop the Vision that Nurtures Devotion

2019-07-14
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20.30 - Develop the Vision that Nurtures Devotion (download mp3)
by Chaitanya Charan Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.com

SB 11.20.30

bhidyate hrdaya-granthis

 chidyante sarva-samsayah

ksiyante casya karmani

 mayi drste ’khilatmani

Translation:

The knot in the heart is pierced, all misgivings are cut to pieces and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when I am seen as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Purport:

Hrdaya-granthi indicates that one’s heart is bound to illusion by false identification with the material body. One thus becomes absorbed in material sex pleasure, dreaming of innumerable combinations of male and female bodies. A person intoxicated by sex attraction cannot understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all pleasure and the supreme enjoyer. When a devotee achieves steadiness in devotional service, feeling transcendental pleasure at every moment in the execution of his loving service to the Lord, the knot of false identification is pierced and all his misgivings are cut to pieces. In illusion we imagine that the living entity cannot be fully satisfied without material sense gratification and speculative doubting of the Absolute Truth. Materialistic persons consider sense enjoyment and speculative doubting to be essential for civilized life. A pure devotee, however, realizes that Lord Krsna is an unlimited ocean of happiness and the personification of all knowledge. This realization of Lord Krsna completely eradicates the twin tendencies of sense gratification and mental speculation. Thus the chain of fruitive activities, or karma, automatically collapses, just as a fire collapses and goes out when its fuel is removed.

Advanced devotional service automatically awards one liberation from material bondage, as confirmed by Lord Kapila: jarayaty asu ya kosam nigirnam analo yatha. “Bhakti, devotional service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort, just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat.” (Bhag. 3.25.33) Srila Prabhupada states in his purport to this verse, “A devotee does not have to try separately to attain liberation. That very service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the process of liberation, because to engage oneself in the service of the Lord is to liberate oneself from material entanglement. Sri Bilvamangala Thakura explained this position very nicely. He said, ‘If I have unflinching devotion unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, then mukti, or liberation, serves me as my maidservant. Mukti the maidservant is always ready to do whatever I ask.’ For a devotee, liberation is no problem at all. Liberation takes place without separate endeavor.”