Krishna Bhakti-Enjoyment in giving Enjoyment

Krishna Bhakti-Enjoyment in giving Enjoyment

When I identify myself as center for the pleasure then my all activities will be centered around my own pleasure. However, that same activites of giving pleasure to my own self can alter completely if I act for giving pleasure to my supremely beloved Lord. Gopis in Vrindavan had only one center of attraction and that was Braj Raj. They lived only for one purpose for giving pleasure to their supremely beloved Lord. In that case also they acted for their own pleasure but their pleasure lied only in pleasing their supremely beautiful Kanha. It is not that they desired to please Kanha because he was some attractive child in their own village but Krishna is supremely attractive and is reservoir of all qualities and therefore Bal Gopal could occupy that place in their heart of being the supreme object of their love. It is also shared by some exhalted saints that those who get attracted by the glance of Krishna standing on Vamsi vat become so intoxicated in love for him that they loose their taste for all the worldly pleasures. So acting for pleasure of Krishna becomes very natural if one actually develops understanding and appreciation of the divine personality of Krishna.

However, on the other side, it is also said in Chaitanya Charitamrita that Krishna Bahirmukha Jiva Bhog vancha kare nikatastha maya tare Jhapatiya dhare. As soon as one acts for his pleasure which is devoid of pleasing Krishna, one gets caught up in Maya. This Maya traps a jiva in three ropes of Sattva Guna, Rajo Guna and Tamo Guna. These, three Gunas just describes the quality of enjoyment a jiva pursues while acting out of the desire to enjoy separately from Krishna. Among these three Gunas, predominance of Sattva Guna enables one to come closer to his liberated self. While predominance of other two-Rajo and tamo tends to take one away from that position of liberated self. Also, Krishna tells in Bhagwad geeta that Mam eva hi prapadyante mayam etam taranti te. Again, when one starts acting for the pleasure of the supremely beloved Lord, Maya again gets subsided and three binding ropes of the Maya gets opened up. Now, Bhagwad Geeta clearly describes the lifestyle of a person who has predominance of any of a particular mode. What he likes to eat, what type of aspirations he holds, what type of behaviour he exhibits in relations to others, what type of emotional make up he has. Although a person who is caught up in the ropes of Maya, he thinks that he is acting independently and doing what he likes to do but he is unaware that he is just dancing on the ropes of Maya and therefore, there is such level of definiteness of prediction of his behaviors, choices, preferences and emotions as described in Bhagwat geeta. However, the amount of pleasure felt by the devotion is in much more magnitude than that derive through enjoyment in the modes. The lives of great devotees is a personal demonstration of this concept. Bali Maharaj was ready to happily give up his entire kingdom of three world of which he was the sole enjoyer for the sake of service to Sri Vishnu who came in form of Vaman Dev. Because he understood that samarpan to Sri Vishnu gives higher satisfaction and fulfillment than any of the enjoyments derived from any personal gratificiation. Dhruva Maharaj felt on receiving darshan of the supreme Lord that the amount of fulfillment he experienced on darshan of Lord is so much that his aspirations of getting a kingdom greater than Brahmaji is like desiring for broken pieces of glass. 

The choices which one makes is heavily influenced by the environment, one chooses for himself. The kind of friends he has, the kind of literature he reads, the kind of work he does, the kind of music he hears and movies he sees. Therefore, if we choose to favourably associate with the devotees of the Lord who have deep love and devotion for the supreme Lord, then their association also inspires  hankering in our heart for that love for the supreme Lord. Similarly, hearing Bhagwat Katha describing the supremely beautiful reciprocation of the Lord with His devotees also inspires that feelings of love for the supreme Lord. Lastly, chanting of the holy names of the Lord like chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra inspires that love for the supreme Lord in our heart. It is said in scriptures that this holy name is a beej which also contains the rupa, guna , Lila of the Lord and by constantly reciting this name our rememberance of rupa, Guna, Lila of the Lord becomes very strong. It is like a beej of banyan tree, although very small but it contains the entire banyan tree. Similarly, the holy name of the Lord also contains the rupa, Guna, Lila of the Lord. Constant recitation of the holyname of the Lord nourishes that hankering for always acting for the pleasure of the supreme Lord. Similarly, there are many other methods described in the scriptures for strengthening our hankering for the pleasure of the supreme Lord. However, it is also mentioned that particularly for this age of Kali yuga, the constant chanting of the holyname is the best suitable process for reawakening our natural love for the Lord.