2. Overview
Antya of Antya Lila: More reflections than
instructions
The Lord lives on through his ecstatic
instructions
1-5: Sambandha
6: Prayojana
All 8 texts: Abhidheya
5. ceto darpana marjanam
The mind as a window
The mind as a TV screen
The mind as a mirror
Cit (Cons. as feature of the soul)
vs Citta (Embodied cons.)
6. ceto darpana marjanam
The mind that is clean is serene
Gita 06.27
Clean mind like pure water –
free from impurities: desires
other than the desire to serve
Krishna
14. Extraordinary demonstrations of
mercy are meant to inspire us to
follow the standard process for
getting mercy, not excuses for
avoiding the standard process
15. Gita 13.8-12 p: “to not be anxious to have
the satisfaction of being honored by
others”
To not let our ego interfere with our
purpose
To accept honor, but to not expect honor
16. Self-pity is not humility; it is
negative self-absorption, whereas
humility is the launching pad to
freedom from self-absorption
The cure for pride is not suppression
of talent, but purification of intent
17. Self-pity is not humility; it is
negative self-absorption, whereas
humility is the launching pad to
freedom from self-absorption
Focus on Krishna’s greatness, not
one’s own smallness
18. “One’s greatness is estimated by the
ability to tolerate provoking
situations”
Tolerance means to call off our war
with reality
19. Not passivity, but ability to keep
small things small and focus on big
things. Eg Gita 2.14 vs 11.33
If we let everything that happens
matter, we don’t let what matters
happen
21. Aversion to commitment is
not detachment
Sadhana-bhakti is not about
attachment & detachment,
but about commitment
22. Conscience is the dog that barks
when the thief of sin comes to
steal our bhakti
The bark of conscience is guilt
23. We may not be able to avoid
falling down, but we can avoid
staying fallen
24. Karma & Jnana: Endeavor is
primary
Bhakti: Grace is primary
25. Prabhupada, “If we are not
determined, even the Supreme
Personality of Godhead can’t help
us.”
Let determination be an expression
of devotion, not of willpower
26. In bhakti, our strengths can be our
weaknesses, and our weaknesses can
be our strengths
We may win against temptation and
not go close to Krishna; or we may
lose and go close to Krishna
27. We are unqualified, but we are
never disqualified
Our endeavor doesn’t generate
mercy, but it attracts mercy
28. Partial – he favors his devotees
Impartial – he opens the doors of
devotion to everyone
29. Sentiments: ornaments of life
Rama-Lakshmana dialogue
Sentimentality: sentiments are the
only deciders of our actions and
level
30. Let reason direct emotion
Let emotion animate reason
Reason w/o emotion:
Impersonalism
Emotion w/o reason: Sahajiyaism
32. Opposite of sentimentality is
judgmentality eg. Unfeeling
imposition of standards on others
Be transcendental – not sentimental
or judgmental
33. Spiritual emotion is the fruit of
purification
Sentimentality is sentiments without
purification and often with impure
consequences
34. Krishna consciousness sadhana – feeling
the presence of Krishna in his absence
What we miss reflects what we value
Start with whatever uddipana works at
our stage
35. For materialists, Krishna has no value
without the world. Eg Duryodhana
For devotees, the world has no value
without Krishna eg Arjuna
36. Material memories are automatically
preserved; devotional memories
need to conscientiously preserved
Separation is to love what wind is to
fire
37. Purification means to change our
default definition of happiness
Our desires are not just linear, they
are also triangular
40. Baby elephant shackled – realizes its
strength internally and expresses it
externally on pulling
Similarly, love realized & expressed
in the presence of opposition
41. Krishna reciprocates in his own way
– returns to Vrindavana and re-
unites with the gopis
