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

TRANSFORMING CURSES TO BLESSINGS - A tale of two trees

"Perhaps someday I'll crawl back home, beaten, defeated. But not as long as I can make stories out of my heartbreak, beauty out of sorrow." - Sylvia Plath, American poet and writer. Who doesn't like stories. Stories have always been loved by human civilization for eons probably because in the story of others, humans find semblance of their own stories. Some stories are entertaining, some inspiring, some touching and some enlightening. Here is one such story from the Srimad-Bhagvatam which contains all these aspects. This is a story of two trees - a story of the journey from bondage to freedom. This is a story of hope - a story of transformation. Even though this story happened 5000 years back, the lessons from it are still relevant and fresh. As you read this story, you may find clues to write or rewrite your personal story of transformation, hope, bliss and freedom.   THE TURNING POINT This is the story of the deliverance of the twin Yamala Arjuna trees by L...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE DEFECTIVE PURE DEVOTEE

Reading this topic, our mind naturally challenges - How can a pure devotee have defects? Shouldn't he, be free from defects? The 100% perfect person! The Mr. Perfect! The point is that a pure devotee can't be seen with material eyes and material logic. Just like Lord Krishna can't be seen with material eyes, so also His pure devotees. You need spiritual vision to appreciate God, His abode, His name and His devotees. Thus Bhakti Vinod Thakur, one of the greatest spiritual teachers of all times quotes the following verse from the Mahabharata which is generally sung before honoring prasadam. maha-prasade govinde, nama-brahmani vaishnave, svalpa-punya vatam rajan, visvaso naiva jayate. " Those who don't have sufficient pious credits cannot develop faith in Maha-prasadam, Lord Govinda, Holyname, Brahmanas and the Vaishnavas. " Sometimes Lord Krishna puts an apparent curtain of imperfection in front of our eyes, so that only those with faith can appreciat...
Post a Comment
Read more

TIME TO WAKE UP

"jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gauracānda bole kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole" "Lord Gauranga is calling, "Wake up, sleeping souls! Wake up, sleeping souls! How long will you sleep in the lap of the witch called Maya?" - from a song by Bhaktivinode Thakur. When someone is fast asleep and he needs to woken up, there are two ways to do it. One is "a soft way" and the other, is "the hard way". The soft way is by making a sound or by ringing an alarm and the hard way is by shaking the person up till he wakes up. If the soft way doesn't work then one has to incorporate the hard way. Similarly, there are two ways in which we, the sleeping souls are woken up from our slumber of ignorance and illusion. The first and the soft way is when we wake up from illusion by hearing the sound of the truth, the sound of God, either in the form of His message or in the form of His Holynames. This sound vibration is called "shabda-bra...
Post a Comment
Read more