Theme: Going Beyond Attraction and Repulsion

Intro:
1. Duality: A constant reality of the material world
2. MW doesn't come with a single side of coin - you have to get both sides
3. Sukha and dukha, maan and apamaan, heat and cold

Different manifestations of attachment and hatred:

1. Attachment and hatred for the same thing:

a. Eg: Boy loving a girl, when expectations are not fulfilled, or she goes with
someone else, he develops such hatred that he puts acid on the same girl!
b. Eg: Ravana - attracted to Sita, and said that if you don't marry me after a
month, then I'll eat you up!

2. Attachment to one thing, and hatred for the thing that prevents one from
attaining that thing:

a. Eg: Wanting to see movies on internet - attachment, Getting angry against those who
are not allowing us watch that thing - repulsion
b. Eg: Attracted to tasty, tender rice, dislike for hard rice.
c. Eg: attachment to hearing and seeing one’s own sons, but dislikes seeing or hearing
the sons of one’s enemies.

d. Eg: Bharata Maharaja - had so much attachment for the deer, that he started blaming
providence when his deer was not seen
e. Eg: Wives of Citraketu - attachment to him, hatred for Krtadyuti and her child that
was preventing them from his association -
i. Went to such an extent that they killed the child.

3. Attachment to what is forbidden by scriptures and repulsion for what is

prescribed by scriptures:
a. Attachment (räga) for what is forbidden by scripture :
i. Such as giving gifts to other’s wives, or seeing or touching their
bodies;
1. Desire comes along with knowledge of the positive features of
doing so.
 b. Repulsion (dveña) for what is prescribed by scripture :
i. Such as distributing gifts to, serving, seeing and touching the guru, the
brähmaëa, the holy places and visitors.
1. Hatred comes along with knowledge that speaking to saintly
persons is undesirable, and lack of knowledge of anything
desirable in it.

4. Attachment and hatred is in the MIND or the SENSE OBJECTS?

a. BOTH
Bg 3.34
indriyasyendriyasyärthe
räga-dveñau vyavasthitau
tayor na vaçam ägacchet
tau hy asya paripanthinau
VCT Translation
34. Attachment and repulsion are firmly fixed in each of the sense objects. One
should not come under control of attachment and repulsion. They are the two
obstacles.

Any sense object brings with it these two things - attachment and repulsion

Eg: Woman - has certain features by which you get attracted, and has certain
traits by which you get repelled
Eg: Food -you get attracted, but it also has some inherent repulsive traits,

Problem with this DUAL FEATURE:

1. Misery is to the degree we are attached

a. Eg: Pururava - he experienced terrible pain when Urvashi left him, and madly he was
searching after her.

b. After getting miserable, one even gets blinded!!

i. He even did yajna to go to svarga to be with her - that was the madness of his
attachment.
ii. And later did he realise his mistake.

2. Mercy is to the degree we are free from it!!

BG 2.64
räga-dveña-vimuktais tu
viñayän indriyaiç caran
ätma-vaçyair vidheyätmä
prasädam adhigacchati
But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control his senses
through regulative principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the
Lord.

Can attachment and repulsion lead to detachment on frustration of desires

automatically?
 No. Otherwise, most people would have become devotees.

People try in different ways when their desires are frustrated. But they don't give up the
attempt to enjoy. They feel we haven't tried in the right way to enjoy.

One gets detached by:

Lord's mercy
Association of devotees
When one hears in asso of devs, one understands the futility of material
desires.
Srnvatam sva katha krsna -

How to go beyond?

1. Understand who is the ENJOYER!!!

a. Its neither our mind, nor our senses

June 4, 1969 Initiation NV – Bhagavan and krishna-bhamini

marriage.

Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. Vikarma means the actions
which we should not have done. Why? Yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti.
Indriya, indriya means sense. Prītaya means satisfaction. Simply for the
satisfaction of the senses. If one is philosopher, he can understand, “Why
we should be so much busy for sense gratification?”

Now we can give one example. Everyone is trying, working hard for his
sense gratification. Nobody is trying… Suppose if I say that “I want to
satisfy my senses in this way. Will you kindly work for it?” Nobody
will… “Oh, why I shall work for you? You can work for your own
satisfaction.” Nobody will.

So if that is the position, that I want to satisfy my senses—whether the

senses are mine? That they do not know. What are the senses? The
senses means this body. If this body actually belongs to me, then of
course there is meaning that I satisfy my senses of this body. But if we
philosophically see whether this body belongs to me…

It is very doubtful whether this body belongs to me, because I have got
this body from my father and mother. So it may belong to my father and
mother.

Or if I am a slave, then it may belong to my master.

Or even if I am not slave, because I belong to some state, this body
belongs to the state.

Immediately if the state calls, “Come on. You sacrifice your body in the
Vietnam,” oh, you have to do that.

So in this way, if you analytically study, you’ll see the body does not
belong to you. Then why should you be so much dexterous to satisfy?

Just try to understand. I am NOT interested to satisfy the senses of

YOUR body; I am interested to satisfy the senses of my body. But if this
body does not belong to me, then why should we be so much expert in
satisfying the senses?

Therefore they are called pramattaḥ, intensely intoxicated. That is

philosophical vision that “This body does not belong to me.” Therefore
Kṛṣṇa’s name is Hṛṣīkeśa.

I am claiming this hand “my hand,” but as soon as it is paralyzed, it is no

more my hand; it is physician’s hand or Kṛṣṇa’s hand or somebody’s
hand. In this way we have to study. This is called philosophical vision.
So Bhāgavata says they are mad after sense gratification, as a result of
which he’s getting different types of body.

Because body does not belong to him. Just like if you pay different types
of rents, you get different types of apartment. If you pay nicely, you get
very good apartment in New York, in Fifth Avenue or something like
that. Or if you cannot pay, then… Similarly, we are getting this
apartment, body, under different condition. So we should understand that
we have to get such a nice body that no more we’ll have to change. That
should be the destination of one’s progress. That they do not know.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just to put before this

bewildered human society what is the destination of his life. The
destination is… Everywhere in Vedic literature we’ll find. Just like
Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa, is saying in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Tenth Chapter,

mām upetya kaunteya

duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
 saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ

2. Detachment is the SOURCE of Happiness, not ATTACHMENT

a. SB 11.9.1 - avadhuta brahmana - 24 gurus

b. The saintly brähmaëa said: Everyone considers certain things within the material
world to be most dear to him, and because of attachment to such things one eventually
becomes miserable. One who understands this gives up material possessiveness and
attachment and thus achieves unlimited happiness.

c. Once a group of large hawks who were unable to find any prey attacked another,
weaker hawk who was holding some meat. At that time, being in danger of his life,
the hawk gave up his meat and experienced actual happiness.

1. What we are so attached to is going to PERISH:

a. What did Avadhuta Brahmana learn from this body?

i. The material body is also my spiritual master because it teaches me detachment.

Being subject to creation and destruction, it always comes to a painful end. Thus,
although using my body to acquire knowledge, I always remember that it will
ultimately be consumed by others, and remaining detached, I move about this world.

ii. A man attached to the body accumulates money with great struggle to expand and
protect the position of his wife, children, property, domestic animals, servants, homes,
relatives, friends, and so on. He does all this for the gratification of his own body. As
a tree before dying produces the seed of a future tree, the dying body manifests the
seed of one's next material body in the form of one's accumulated karma. Thus
assuring the continuation of material existence, the material body sinks down and
dies.

DEVELOPING ATTACHMENT and AVERSION to RIGHT THINGS IN

LIFE:

When we do this, then even while living in the world of duality, we won't be affected.

Attachment to:
Devotees of the Lord:
Aversion to:
Non-devotees

This is the perfect combination.

Madhya 22.91
varaà huta-vaha-jvälä-
païjaräntar-vyavasthitiù
na çauri-cintä-vimukha-
jana-saàväsa-vaiçasam
 It is better to accept the miseries of being encaged within bars and surrounded by
burning flames than to associate with those bereft of Kåñëa consciousness. Such
association is a very great hardship.

Eg: HH GKGM- would always take rest in ISKCON temple, and nowhere else.

Attachment to:
Appreciating devotees:
Aversion to:
Fault Finding:

Again a perfect combination

Eg: Krishna Himself is attached to find some reason to appreciate his devotee - SB
is full of appreciation of devotees.
Krishna - 10th canto - he even appreciates the trees of Vrindavan.

Eg: Giriraj Maharaja - wrote a book Many Moons on departed devotees - he even
appreciates his disciples therein.

Eg: Raghunath Das Goswami - if a devotee is just chanting HK, I don't want to
hear any faults about him!

Eg: Gopal Chapal who later became Devakinandan Das Thakura - previously had
attachment for criticising devs, later developed fondness only for appreciating
devotees.
He writes the song,

Attachment to:
Spiritual activities

Aversion to :
Sense gratification

Eg: Jesus - in Paradise Regained, John Milton describes how various temptations
were sent forth for Jesus, but he overcame all, and thus Satan fell.

Eg: Jada Bharata

Eg: Haridas Thakura - Perfect example - actually he was not averse, he was
beyond it.

SB 10.81.6 P - In response to this point, a distinction must be made between two

kinds of renounced devotees: one kind is inimical to sense gratification, and the
other is indifferent to it. The Supreme Lord does not force sense gratification upon
the devotee who is extremely averse to worldly enjoyments. This is seen among
such great renouncers as Jaòa Bharata. On the other hand, the Lord may give
 limitless wealth and power to a devotee who is neither repelled nor attracted by
material things, such as Prahläda Mahäräja. Up to this point in his life, Sudämä
Brähmaëa was totally averse to sense gratification, but now, out of compassion for
his faithful wife—and also because he hankered to have Kåñëa's audience—he
went to beg from the Lord.

Attachment to:
Topics of the LORD:

Aversion to:
Mundane TOPICS:

a
The Saunkadi rsis say to Suta,

Çaunaka Åñi inquired: Why did Mahäräja Parékñit simply punish him, since
he was the lowest of the çüdras, having dressed as a king and struck a cow
on the leg? Please describe all these incidents if they relate to the topics of
Lord Kåñëa.

athaväsya padämbhoja-
makaranda-lihäà satäm
kim anyair asad-äläpair
äyuño yad asad-vyayaù

Or please speak of topics related to the devotees of the Lord, who are
accustomed to licking up the honey available from the lotus feet of the Lord.
What is the use of topics which simply waste one's valuable life?