Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.55 - Overcoming bodily Consciousness by desiring to Serve (download mp3) , (download flv) and (download mp4)
by Murlidhara Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
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SB 10.14.55
krsnam enam avehi tvam
atmanam akhilatmanam
jagad-dhitaya so ’py atra
dehivabhati mayaya
Translation:
You should know Krsna to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He has, out of His causeless mercy, appeared as an ordinary human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency.
Purport:
In the Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Twenty, text 162, Srila Prabhupada comments on this verse as follows: “Pariksit Maharaja asked Sukadeva Gosvami why Krsna was so beloved by the residents of Vrndavana, who loved Him even more than their own offspring or life itself. At that time, Sukadeva Gosvami replied that everyone’s atma, or soul, is very, very dear, especially to all living entities who have accepted material bodies. However, that atma, the spirit soul, is part and parcel of Krsna. For this reason, Krsna is very dear to every living entity. Everyone’s body is very dear to oneself, and one wants to protect the body by all means because within the body the soul is living. Due to the intimate relationship between the soul and the body, the body is important and dear to everyone. Similarly, the soul, being part and parcel of Krsna, the Supreme Lord, is very, very dear to all living entities. Unfortunately, the soul forgets his constitutional position and thinks he is only the body (dehatma-buddhi). Thus the soul is subjected to the rules and regulations of material nature. When a living entity, by his intelligence, reawakens his attraction for Krsna, he can understand that he is not the body but part and parcel of Krsna. Thus filled with knowledge, he no longer labors under attachment to the body and everything related to the body (janasya moho ’yam aham mameti). Material existence, wherein one thinks, ‘I am the body, and this belongs to me,’ is also illusory. One must redirect his attraction to Krsna. Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.7) states:
vasudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogah prayojitah
janayaty asu vairagyam
jñanam ca yad ahaitukam
‘By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.’”