Zitat von Vedanta am 16. Februar 2017, 23:52 Uhr

Bhaktirasamrita-sindhu, Eastern Division, 2^nd Wave, Verses 22-23 (Tape 14)
HH Shri Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji Maharaja

… continued (Part 2):

These two verses are commented by Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakur, he says:

bhakti iti shri bhagavata api svarga apavarga narteshu api tulyartha [?] darshina
iti ....... [?] eva mokshasya na ........... darshan kathanat ..... atra moksha sprihaya …

He is referring to the episode of King Chitraketu who was making fun of Shiva. Then Parvati got upset and she cursed him to become a pishacha, a demon. Yet King Chitraketu was not unhappy about this. She was surprised then, since she had cursed him to fall down from his elevated position - he was actually living in a floating aeroplane with apsaras and gandharvas singing - and now he had to become a demon. Lord Shiva then said:

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati

Devotees solely engaged in the service of Narayana never fear any condition of life.

Shri Bhagavata Purana 6.17.28 (part 1)

Parvati then asked Shiva: They are not even afraid of going to hell?
(Because most people are so afraid of going to hell.)

Shiva then replied: svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ

For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same.

Shri Bhagavata Purana 6.17.28 (part 2)

Devotees do not consider any difference between heaven, hell and liberation, they are all equal. This means that besides bhakti there is nothing which carries any importance for them.

If he [King Chitraketu] is now in heaven and he goes to hell, it doesn‘t matter to him. Because as far as he is concerned, he is a devotee and wherever he is he will continue with devotion. That was shown in the life of Vritrasura which was his next birth. Even though in that form he became a pishacha-type of person who was drinking blood and eating meat, unclean and ugly looking - but his mind was fixed on God. Therefore it did not matter to him. Here, Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakur is quoting this statement in which even moksha or liberation has been compared to naraka or hell. Moksha is not an elevated position. And thus the desire for moksha has been compared to pishacha and as improper. Because, basically, the desire for mukti is also hellish. Even moksha is compared to hell.

........... mukti ca madhye [?] ......... bhakti vashishta maha tatra apy - out of these two, bhakti which is devoid of the desire for mukti is supreme. That is described in the next verse where it is said that bhakti attracts the mind and senses of a devotee and gives him love.

Tata vishaya bhoge ca … na bhakta antyantik virodhini dibhava [?]

This verse is also signifying that the desire for sense pleasure is as antagonistic to devotion as the desire for liberation, it is not as bad. Between the two - the desire for enjoyment and the desire for liberation - the desire for liberation is worse, because in the desire for liberation there is no possibility for devotion. In desire for enjoyment one can still remain a devotee except that he is not fully devoted. He is desiring pleasure and he can also perform devotional service. And he is not against personality of God except that he is not desiring to surrender completely. But if one wants moksha or liberation that means he is not interested in devotion. Because moksha means i do not want anything else except my own self.

This is the height of selfishness.

For that reason he said in the next verse that when bhakti enters the heart, there is no desire for moksha because the person‘s mind, senses and everything is attracted by the devotion. And then he gives the example from Bhagavata Purana 3^rd Canto, 25^th Chapter, 36^th verse, spoken by Shri Kapila to Devahuti:

tair darśanīyāvayavair udāra-vilāsa-hāsekṣita-vāma-sūktaiḥ
hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktir anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte

My devotees whose minds and senses have been stolen by My bodily limbs which are so beautiful to look at, My wonderful pastimes, My bewitching smile and My sweet voice, and which fulfill their desires, and even though they do not desire it bhakti offers them liberation.

All these captivate the mind, body and senses of the devotee so that he has absolutely no desire. To desire you have to have at least some chance.After all you are going to desire with your mind.

But if your mind is stolen by Shri Bhagavan
- then how you will desire?

Hṛtātmano literally means that it is actually stolen away. So if the very instrument with which you desire is stolen away by Krishna, then you cannot desire. This is the meaning, that there is no possibility of ever desiring anything other than bhakti. Anyabhilashita, that we discussed, it describes the essence or the very nature by which one desires. That does not exist in the devotee. It is not that for sometime, you do not desire and after some time, the desire comes. This does not happen in devotion, because the mind is absolutely 100 % taken away by Krishna‘s love. And if the mind is completely fixed on Krishna there is no question that he can desire anything else. This is the proof given from Bhagavata Purana.