It is very difficult to unsettle a seated person. In Mumbai locals, people try to find a place where they can just park their bottom. And once they get that little space, they are unwilling, and sometimes even obstinate in making a place for others. They wish to occupy a full seat! Likewise, it is very difficult to relocate a beggar seated at a particular place outside the railway station. When we ourselves go for a Bhagavatam class where there is a big audience, if we get a seat, we remain attached to that place in the temple hall. Being seated is a settled position.
Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita also talks about something being seated in the heart. Regardless to say, the paramatma is seated in everyone’s heart – īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ‘rjuna tiṣṭhati.
Where the paramatma is sitting is also very important. In a car, there is a driver, there is one person who sits beside the driver, and there are people who may sit at the back. We are the drivers of our bodily car. We need to ensure that the paramatma is seated at the right place.
In a conditioned soul, paramatma takes a back seat whereas the anarthas take the front seat. The anarthas direct the wanderings of the living entity. The living entity follows the dictates of the mind and the senses very submissively.
Prahlada Maharaja describes this embarrassing situation.
jihvaikato ‘cyuta vikarṣati māvitṛptā
śiśno ‘nyatas tvag-udaraṁ śravaṇaṁ kutaścit
ghrāṇo ‘nyataś capala-dṛk kva ca karma-śaktir
bahvyaḥ sapatnya iva geha-patiṁ lunanti
My dear Lord, O infallible one, my position is like that of a person who has many wives, all trying to attract him in their own way. For example, the tongue is attracted to palatable dishes, the genitals to sex with an attractive woman, and the sense of touch to contact with soft things. The belly, although filled, still wants to eat more, and the ear, not attempting to hear about You, is generally attracted to cinema songs. The sense of smell is attracted to yet another side, the restless eyes are attracted to scenes of sense gratification, and the active senses are attracted elsewhere. In this way I am certainly embarrassed. SB 7.9. 40
The anarthas are not standing in the heart. They are sitting in a conditioned soul’s heart – which means they have made a comfortable place for them. And it is not so easy to remove them. Just like the person in the Mumbai locals, the anarthas first demand a little space, a little time, and then they occupy the entire territory of the heart.
BG 3.40 states,
“The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.”
If we wish to get above this terrible ordeal of taking dictations from our anarthas, we need to invite the paramatma or the Supreme Lord Krishna to sit in the front seat. When we say that we need to invite Krishna in our heart, it really means to invite him to come and sit in the front seat. It means to invite him to play the active role of a guide, a friend and a well-wisher in our life.
How to do that? Do we first tell the anarthas to take a back seat and then paramatma will come Himself, or do we first invite the paramatma to come and the anarthas will go by themselves?
We need to do both. Continuing with our example, if we don’t make an attempt to take out our anarthas from the front seat, how can paramatma come and sit in the front seat? It happens by our willingness. When the driver says to the back passenger that you please come ahead, and tells the front passenger to go back, they follow. Paramatma is not obliged to follow us, but we can request him. We can make our case stronger by showing our readiness to remove the anarthas. Then, mercifully he will come and occupy the front seat and start actively guiding us in life. Otherwise, He will just remain a spectator.
We need to decide whether we wish to make Krishna a mere spectator or active contributor in our life.
In a devotees’ heart, Krishna not only takes a front seat, but He is so happy that He even makes it a place for His relaxation.
Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura states about the devotees,
tomāra hṛdoye sadā govinda-viśrām
govinda kohena-mora vaiṣṇava parāṇ
Your heart is always the resting place of Lord Govinda. Lord Govinda says, “The Vaisnavas are in My heart.”
When we make a nice seat for Krishna and invite Him in our heart, He gives us the right intelligence – dadami buddhi yogam tam, He acts as our heart-to-heart friend, He gives us indications as to what to do and what not to do. The life of such a devotee becomes a constant celebration in Krishna’s association.
