‘Shreyas’ and ‘Preyas’ are two opposite concepts. Shreyas is that which is good for us, but it may not always be pleasing to our senses. Preyas stands for things that might be pleasurable for us, but not good for us. In this video, Sri Poornima ji explains what shreyas and preyas means through various examples.
Sri Poornima ji in this episode says that Sage Vyasacharya in the beginning of Srimad Bhagavatam first takes us to the forest of Naimisharanya. We know that Lord Vishnu takes a different avatara or form whenever he comes down to earth. The forest of Naimisharanya itself is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. So, since the forest is an avatara of Bhagavan it is the most auspicious place. So, the Shaunakaadi rishis chose this spot to do their Satra Yaga. But they only allocated two hours out of the sixteen hours for the yaga. They spent the rest of the time listening to stories of Bhagavan. And the storyteller here was Suta Pouranika. The Shounakaadi rishis asked Suta Pouranika six questions and the first of them was, to show the path towards shreyas.
Sri Poornima ji further explained the meaning of shreyas through an example. Say, if we had to study for a test but a new episode of our favorite show was releasing. The shreyas here would be to study for the test and watch the show later, possibly as a reward for performing well on the test. Another example is let’s say we are tempted to eat a chocolate bar, but then also have a toothache. The shreyas in this situation would be to put the chocolate away until the toothache is resolved. The highest shreyas is however to understand the truth about why we are here in this world. We call this attaining Krishna. That is the real shreyas. But there are many other levels before this.
Preyas on the other hand is something we may like but that which is not good for us. For an example, if we didn’t study then we would’ve enjoyed the latest episode. But then that enjoyment would last for just maybe 30 minutes but then not studying for a test will actually affect our grade. Now, as for the chocolate example, if we ate the chocolate in spite of the tooth ache then it might have tasted good for maybe three seconds, but then, all of a sudden, the tooth can hurt really badly. Then would we rather add on to the pain or would we just wait until the toothache goes away to enjoy the chocolate?
This is essentially the difference between ‘shreyas’ and ‘preyas.’
