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

TRANSFORMATION IN A MOMENT - Is it possible?

"A moments insight is sometimes worth a life's experience." - Oliver Wendell Holmes. We are all looking for transformation, isn't it. Transformation of heart, transformation of consciousness and transformation of our experience in life. We all want to experience higher levels of love, bliss and freedom. How long does it take for transformation to happen? It can take a long time or can happen in a moment. It all depends on whether we are tuned-in to the moment at hand. God keeps throwing transformational opportunities at every moment but we are so distracted by our mind and senses that we miss to catch them . Here are few life-stories that show, how transformation occurs in a moment - in a flash, if we can catch it when it shows up. THE LOST BAG This is a story from the teenage life of Radhanath Swami as a wanderer in India. During the course of his travels, he had become quite attached to the spiritual books he carried. He had gradually gathered a small library in a...
Post a Comment
Read more

GETTING OUR ATTITUDES RIGHT

" Our altitude in life depends not on our aptitude but our attitude in life. " A few days ago was the appearance day of Sri Advait Acharya. Advaita Acharya is non different from Lord Vishnu and appeared as one of the most confidential associates of Lord Chaitanya. His life is filled with great lessons for all devotees in the line of Lord Chaitanya. Here are two most prominent and crucial lessons from His life that is very very important for devotees to understand. RIGHT ATTITUDE OF A PREACHER Advaita Acharya even though was Lord Vishnu Himself, still seeing the suffering condition of the human society, prayed to Lord Krishna to personally descend. Why? Because He thought, He was powerless to transform the hearts of the living entities. Just see, He Himself is the powerful Lord but still felt incapable. This is a true quality of a powerful preacher - he considers himself powerless and thus seeks and prays to access powers, higher than himself. By His earnest prayers, Lord Kr...
1 comment
Read more

SEEING THE UNSEEN HAND OF GOD

"kartum akartum anyatha kartum"  "Everything happening, not happening or otherwise happening is His happening." A few days ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a retreat for brahmacharis (monks) connected to the Radha Gopinath temple, Mumbai at the Govardhan Eco Village - the farm project of Radha Gopinath temple. Among other feelings, retreats like these always leaves you feeling a little more grounded and humble. You feel small in front of hundreds of other accomplished monks. The saying - " a big fish in a small pond becomes a small fish in a big pond " aptly summarizes the feeling one experiences in these Yatras. Another interesting experience was the experience of saving my slipper. May sound a little silly. But, it wasn't that silly given the fact that most monks have a similar kind of slipper (paduka type sandals). It was a kind of fun to try to hide my slippers in different places so that it wouldn't get interchanged with those of...
Post a Comment
Read more