Skip to main content

WHO IS YOUR DEAR DEER?

"Oh Lord, please transfer the attraction I have towards the objects of this world to You."

We all know the story of King Bharat from Srimad-bhagvatam who became attached to a baby deer, so much so that, he forgot to perform devotional service to The Supremely Dear Lord. Thus, his attachment and attraction to The Dear Lord was replaced by his newfound attachment and attraction to this deer. This deer became his dear deer. The result - in his next life, he was born as a baby deer. Lord Krishna explains in Bhagvat-gita 8.6

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

"Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail."

Krishna in this verse explains that our next life depends on the object that is dear to us in this life. Or, in the context of the example of King Bharat, our next life depends on who is our deer in this life. So, who is your deer? Unarguably, we all have our own dear deers in our life - someone or something that is dear to us; someone or something that we are hooked on to; someone or something that we are attached to; someone or something that has overpowered and replaced our attraction and attachment to our dear Lord. The result - we will be forced to take another birth in a body mirroring our dear deer. But, if we make the Supreme Lord our dearmost deer, dearer than all our other deers then we stand to attain a spiritual body like His in His service.

The question is how to make Him our most dear deer and relinquish our longtime attachment to all our dear deers? The answer is "desire". If we cultivate a strong desire to achieve attachment to Him and detachment from this world and sincerely pray to Him, then and only then, it is possible. Queen Kunti, leads the way for all of us through the medium of her super excellent prayers which are recorded eternally in the pages of the Srimad-bhagvatam and are chanted and meditated eternally by all spiritualists. She prays to Lord Krishna to replace her attachments to her deers (her sons and relatives) to Him and thus make Him, her only dear deer. May these prayers be etched forever in our hearts.

atha viśveśa viśvātman
viśva-mūrte svakeṣu me
sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi
dṛḍhaṁ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu

"O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis." - Srimad-bhagvatam 1.8.41

tvayi me 'nanya-viṣayā
matir madhu-pate 'sakṛt
ratim udvahatād addhā
gaṅgevaugham udanvati

"O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else." - Srimad-bhagvatam 1.8.42
- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE SPEAKING RIVER

Rivers are considered lifelines of humanity. They not only nourish us physically but also emotionally and spiritually. No wonder, our culture has rightly given them status as mother's. Imagine, if rivers could speak, what message they would like to give us. Here are few lessons that we can learn from them. In fact if we remain in the mood of submissive students of life, there is so much we can learn even from "so called" inanimate objects. Many of these lessons are from Radhanath Maharaj's memoir - 'The Journey Home'. Lesson 1 - MAGIC OF SETTING GOALS The river is so desperate, so determined, so focused to reach the sea that nothing can stop it. It goes over, under or around all impediments. It never gives up. It has learnt the art of overcoming all obstacles. In fact it is said that, obstacles are those things that you see when you loose focus of your goals . The river teaches us that the first and most important key to overcome obstacles in lif...
Post a Comment
Read more

BORN INTELLIGENT

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein One time a young man approached a psychologist and told him that he considers himself unintelligent and foolish. The psychologist asked him the reason for him feeling so. He replied "It's because I don't have anything to say when my colleagues in office discuss sports. I feel like a total fool in front of them." The psychologist smiled and asked him, "Do you care about sports? Is it your area of interest?" The man said, "No, not at all." That's exactly what the psychologist wanted to hear. He told him, "You see, it's not that you are not intelligent - it's only that you are not good in the knowledge of sports because it's not your area of interest. And, when you are around your colleagues who have a lot to say on sports, you feel like you are unintelligent. The only ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE MASTERSTROKE - Reflections on the retirement of Dhoni & Raina

  "Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it." - Ann Landers Everyone is sad about the retirement of M.S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina from international cricket. This shows how much love and respect these players have earned from their fellow Indians. Indians also should be proud of the example these players are setting by retiring timely, thereby setting a healthy precedent for the other players to follow. Voluntarily retiring at the right time by the elder generation in order to make space for newer and younger generation is a sign of maturity and wisdom. This has been the mindset of great leaders of this great land of India - to live with dignity and leave with dignity. This is the spirit and ethos of India. To hold onto a position till one is made to forcibly quit it, is not a dignified life. Only those wh...
Post a Comment
Read more