3 principles for spiritual community building – Session 3 – Balance & Commitment
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
So I'll speak on today's topic of spiritual community building and three broad principles. I'll start from the individual and then I will move to the social and the transcendental as the uniting thread in all these three. So ABC is the acronym, is the shorthand for these.
Who is operating this or am I operating this? Maybe you can just take it closer to you, just keep it with you. You don't have a, okay, you have a remote, you can just take your seat there. So yeah, ABC is, A is authenticity, B is balance and C is commitment.
So authenticity is more about being true to ourselves, developing our own individuality. B is about learning to balance between various extremes towards which our mind frequently tends. And C is, C is about commitment wherein we need to be connected to something bigger than ourselves and it is through that connection that we grow.
We grow to become a better version of ourselves. So how actually commitment and authenticity are being true to ourselves and being committed to something bigger than ourselves, how both of these are combined together in bhakti, that will be the theme of the discussion. And I'll speak primarily on the Bhagavad Gita and I'll quote from the Bhagavatam and the Mahabharata, Ramayana occasionally.
So we have broadly three sessions, we'll have this session till about 9, a few minutes after 9 and then 10 to 11, 11 to 12. So in each session I'll cover one of these. So now I'll speak about authenticity and we will have a few minutes for questions at the end of each session and at the end also we will have, after 12 I believe we have some time for question answers again.
So if you have any questions, you can either note them down, in case we are not able to cover them at the end of each session, we will cover them in the question answers at the end. If you have any burning questions within, I will give time at the end of the class, but if something is not clear while I am speaking, please feel free to raise your hand and I'll answer. Downward, okay, thank you.
The point here, so with respect to authenticity, there is a big emphasis, okay, yeah, so this is the defining principle, there's a big emphasis, you know, to become like someone else in today's world, because we live in a competitive, comparing world. So if God had wanted you to be someone else, he would have made someone else. Each one of us is unique and this uniqueness has a purpose, that we are all meant to contribute in our own ways.
Now we can look at this uniqueness from multiple perspectives. At one level we can say we are all souls and we have our own karma, so whatever psychophysical nature we have, whatever individuality we have, we could say it's just the result of our past karma. But we are not just random results of our past karma.
Now Krishna has, yes, we are all results of our past karma, but that our past karma works under Krishna. Maya adhyakshena prakriti, 9.1, Krishna says that material nature works under me. That means we are also arranged by Krishna in harmony with our past karma.
We are arranged in such a way, what is needed for our spiritual evolution, for our growing towards Krishna. So we are souls who are on a multi-life journey of spiritual evolution and what we need to be for our spiritual evolution, Krishna has provided us or Krishna will provide us. In 9.22 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that I will protect what you have and I will provide what we lack, what you lack.
So this is often used to refer to financial security that a devotee can depend on Krishna and Krishna will provide. But it's not just financial security. Whatever we need for our survival and our growth, either we have it or Krishna will provide it.
And that refers to even the talents that we have, the skills that we have, the interests that we have and the talent, skills, interests that we may lack. So in today's world, because the world is such a, there's so much comparison that happens in the world, there is always this incessant pressure to become like someone. Of course, we have always, humanity has always lived as a part of community most of the time and there's always been comparison.
But the sphere of comparison has become much greater in today's world than in the past. When people had to compare with someone, if they were living in a village, they would compare with the wealthiest person in the village or they would compare with the most good-looking person in the village. But now when we want to compare, we have the wealthiest people in the whole world, you can see the kind of luxuries they have.
And then we feel deficient. When you look at good-looking people, you want to see the most attractive people in the world we see. And actually they're not even just attractive, there is physical makeup and there's digital makeup.
And then they look and then people feel no, what is the use of, I don't look good at all. I was at a college program and people have different slogans on their t-shirts. So this boy had a slogan, he had come for this program, he said 90% of the world's women are beautiful.
The remaining 10% are in my college. Now, this is a snide comment, but how does he know how 90% of the women look? That's just an idea from what he's got from TV and movies and things like that. So in anything, if we start comparing what the digital world shows with what the physical world shows.
In the digital world, always things are hyped up. And then we feel that what I have, either myself or in the situation around me, that is always deficient. So because the sphere of comparison has become so much bigger, because of that, the pressure, no, I have to become like someone.
Look like this, speak like this, talk like this, do like this, do like that. So that is enormous. And when we start practicing bhakti, sometimes we see bhakti as, okay, I have rejected my material life and now I'm practicing my spiritual life.
But who we were materially, it affects us tremendously in our practice of bhakti. We may have this disconnected idea, okay, this was the material life, I rejected it, and this is spiritual life, I'm practicing it. But we have still the same body-mind set up, we have still, our values and purposes may have changed.
But the vehicle we have remains the same. I'll use this metaphor of a vehicle repeatedly during this talk. So if I'm driving a vehicle.
Now, earlier, I might have been driving to opposite one destination. And when I start practicing spirituality, I start driving towards the opposite destination. So my destination changes.
And earlier, I might have been driving recklessly, I don't care at all, I'll just do what I want. Now I'm driving more cautiously. But my vehicle remains the same.
The destination, just because the destination has changed, does not mean my vehicle has changed. And secondly, whether my driving has changed also is questionable. The way I was driving, the way I was conducting myself in material life, overall, I may still be conducting myself in a similar way, but now with spiritual goals in my life.
So what spirituality changes is the direction and destination of our life. But the resources that we have, whether it is the vehicle or the driving skill, that does not change. Now this driving metaphor is important because the two things, we can improve our driving skill, but we can't change the vehicle that we are driving.
So improving our driving skill means understanding better, understanding how to better live with our body, mind, machine. So I'll talk later about how living in goodness means living in harmony with ourselves. By ourselves I mean our body, mind, machine.
And living in transcendence means living in harmony with Krishna. So living in harmony with ourselves means that I understand that, okay, this is the kind of vehicle I have. If I have a sports car, it may move very fast.
If I have an ordinary car, it may not move so fast. So by driving has to be in harmony with the car that I have. So coming, understanding the kind of car that we have, coming in harmony with ourselves is goodness.
And coming to harmony with Krishna is transcendence. So the kind of vehicle we have, that we don't have to change that. In India there is a person who has got, who, actually, I don't, maybe I met the same person.
I was once traveling in India in a train and I saw somebody, saw somebody with a bead bag in their hands. And it's a very big bead bag. I was surprised.
Normally, although India is a religious country, but it is not a, people don't, we don't see many devotees over there. So I just went in the train and started talking with him. Oh, you see, you're chanting.
He says, chanting? What is chanting? What is this bead bag? He says, it's not a bead bag. This is my nail bag. I said, what? He said, I want to enter into the Guinness Book of World Records.
So I'm growing a nail. And my long nail is in this bag. So it was a huge bag and the nail was just going, going, going, long, long.
So, we may keep our bead bag cautiously, but he was keeping his nail bag even more cautiously. Don't touch it. Because if the nail breaks, then I'll miss out one record.
So now, just, I read about this, this man entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. I don't know whether it was the same person. Maybe many people were competing also.
But this person entered into the Guinness Book of World Records and then he decided, so he was practically not using his, because the nail becomes super long, you can't use that hand for any purposes. So for many years, he was just working with one hand. Of course, I had noticed that his bead bag was in left hand.
So it is a little unusual. But, so then I read, just 15 days ago or something, I read in the news that there's this man who entered into the Guinness Book of World Records and after he entered the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest nail, then he decided to, now I have won the record, I want to start functioning. So then he cut off his nail, which just couldn't function.
His hand had become atrophied. Because he had not used it for so long, he has completely become dysfunctional. So he lost the hand.
He got the record, but he lost the hand. Sometimes people may become so obsessed with one particular thing, that I want to get into this record book. And they think that is going to be my defining identity, that I am the Guinness record holder.
But what they are, what it is costing them, in the big picture, they have no sense of that. So there is a big pressure in today's world, on one side, to conform to some, to become like someone. At the same time, we also want to be special.
So we want to be special, but at the same time, what is special is defined by society's glamorized ideas. And then we try to become like that. And in that, we are not in harmony with God, nor are we in harmony with ourselves.
So we have to understand our body, mind, machine, and work according to that. So by authenticity, I'll be talking mainly about understanding the kind of body and mind that we have, by which we can function harmoniously with it. So the first thing is, we may say other people might have a vehicle better than me, but it doesn't matter.
The vehicle that I need is good enough for my purposes. So if Krishna, he had wanted us to be someone else, then why would he have made us? If he has made us, he has made you, you, he has made me, me, and it's for a purpose. So we all can serve in our particular ways.
If the shoe doesn't fit the leg, don't cut the leg. So people have certain external ideas of how I should be, and they try to conform to that. And in doing that, they just go through so many external changes, which are very artificial, which don't lead to any real inner change, and which don't lead to any inner fulfillment also.
So there is, I think, some record of the person who has done the maximum plastic surgeries. Some person who has done like 100 surgeries on their nose, to get their nose to the right shape, so that I look good enough. Now, okay, nose is what it is, but how long can you go on changing it? So it is, this is exactly like that.
We have some external idea of what duty means, and then we are trying to cut ourselves practically to fit to that. So the more we live in a materialistic world, our conception of ourselves become reduced to our material externals. Now they do matter to us, but they are not the only thing that matters.
So the shoe and the leg both have to fit together, but for that the shoe has to be adjusted, not the leg. So similarly, we all have a particular personality, a particular nature, and we have to work in harmony with that, not that we fit ourselves or we change ourselves, cut ourselves so that we fit into some external models. To the extent we try to do that, to that extent, we actually end up becoming inauthentic, we end up becoming superficial.
So, Oscar Wilde said that fashion is a form of ugliness, so intolerable that we have to change it every six months. Fashion is considered to be attractive, but yes, it is attractive as long as it is in fashion. For a person who wants to be fashionable, who prides themselves in being fashionable, there is no comment as painful as being called, you're old-fashioned.
It's an insult, an unbearable insult for them. There's so much insecurity comes because of that. Now it's not that necessary that we have to be old-fashioned.
The point is just conforming to fashion, it can just become an obsession which never leads to any satisfaction. So now, what does authenticity mean? It should be ourselves physically, psychologically and spiritually. Spiritually, we understand that we are souls who are parts of Krishna and ultimately we want to realize ourselves as souls.
At the same time, we are souls in particular bodies and we have to function in harmony with the body that we have. In the Bhagavad Gita, in 2.13, Krishna tells Arjuna, you're not the body, you're the soul. And immediately the next verse, 2.14, he states, Therefore, tolerate the temporary, the appearance and disappearance of happiness and distress, knowing that they are temporary and they are material.
But while telling this, you should tolerate, Krishna uses two names to address Arjuna. One is Kaunteya and the other is Bharata. Now, Kaunteya, what does that name mean? Son of Kunti.
If Arjuna is not the body, then how is he the son of Kunti? If Krishna has just now told him, you're not the body, then why is he addressing him as Kaunteya? And what does Bharata mean? Descendant of the Bharata dynasty. Yes, thank you. But then, if he's not the body, he's not a descendant of the Bharata dynasty.
So, immediately after telling that you're not the body, why is Krishna referring to Arjuna with two forms of address related with the body itself? Because Prabhupada explains in the Parpot that belonging to a great dynasty brings a great responsibility with it. So, the point is that, yes, I may theoretically understand, intellectually, philosophically, I may understand I'm not the body. But to live at that level is not easy.
And to live at that level, the bodily sensations will keep coming and you have to tolerate them. Tam sthityakshasa bharata. The thrust of the message is that that verse is tolerated.
But tolerance is not easy. Yes, Arjuna, I know it is not easy. But you are capable of doing great things.
Because you come from a great family. Because you have a great mother. So, the idea is practicing spirituality is not easy.
And whatever impetus, whatever can inspire us to practice spirituality, that can be taken as a positive force. So, our bodily identity is not to be rejected, but it is to be incorporated in our spiritual quest. And Krishna is telling that, O Kaunteya, O Bharata, you can do this.
That means, yes, you have this identity. Use this identity for your spiritual growth. And Prabhupada was expert in this.
And Prabhupada came to India with his western disciples. At that time, he told them that, he came with many of the American disciples, he was organizing a big festival. He says, you know, people in India consider that Americans are great people.
He says, what is the use of your being Americans unless you do something great for Krishna? Now, the devotees are so inspired. Yes, they made a magnificent Hare Krishna festival at that time in 1971. Now, Prabhupada's classes are told, you are not an American, you are not an Indian.
But functionally, we have an identity. There is a functional identity and there is a foundational or transcendental identity. So, the functional identity is not to be rejected.
It is to be incorporated or integrated in our spiritual quest. And Prabhupada did the same thing with Indians. Now, when he was speaking with Indians while addressing them, when he was building the Juhu temple, he says, Bhagavad Gita is the knowledge of India.
But instead of Indians sharing this knowledge all over the world, I have to bring Americans to India to share this knowledge with Indians. He says, you learn this knowledge. This is your knowledge.
You share it all over the world. So now, if you could analyze this philosophically, they are not Indians. Bhagavad Gita is not Indian.
Everything is transcendental. Yes, it is true. But at a functional level, Bhagavad Gita originated in India.
At a functional level, people have a body in India. Sometimes devotees say, we are not Hindus. Yeah, it is true.
But then, we are not Muslims either. Isn't it? If we want to put ourselves somewhere in the religious designations or religious categorization of the world, we will have to put ourselves as Hindus. Yes, we are not Hindus in the material sense.
But that is, if you want to say Vrindavan exists in the spiritual world. Yes, Vrindavan exists in the spiritual world. But on the world's map, if you want to put, we cannot put Vrindavan in China or Pakistan or anywhere else.
Vrindavan is in India. So, the functional identity is to be acknowledged. We don't want to be reduced to the functional identity alone.
We are not just Indians. We are not just Americans. Vrindavan is not just another city in India.
But it is a city in India and it is much more. So, the journey towards realizing of I am not the body begins with acting at the level I am more than the body. I cannot suddenly stop acting.
I am not the body. No, the body needs to be fed. The body needs to be taken care of.
I am not the vehicle. That's true. But this is the vehicle I have for driving.
So, the journey towards realizing I am not the body begins with acting I am more than the body. There is a spiritual side to me that is my essential side and that also needs to be nourished. So, Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita while talking to renunciate, to renounce the world, he tells them you have to be regulated.
You have to be balanced. So, the body is something which we have to acknowledge and we have to harmonize with that. So, the whole authenticity means if we consider there was the Varanashram system in India.
Varanashram is not simply about dividing people into castes. The essence of Varanashram was engaging people according to their natures. And where do those natures arise from? Natures arise from their body, mind, machine.
So, a Kshatriya, it is not that the soul is a Kshatriya or the soul is a Brahmana. The soul is transcendental. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu famously says, naham vipro, narpatir na api vaishyo na shudro that he says, I am not a Brahmana, I am not a Kshatriya, I am not a Vaishya, I am not a Shudra.
There he is exerting his transcendental identity. naham varayena grahapatir na manastho yathirva kintu pradyanakila paramananda poornam rudabde gopi bhartur padakamalayor dasa dasan dasa So, I am simply the servant of Krishna. Servant of the servants of Krishna.
Servant of the Lord of the Gopis. He is exerting his transcendental identity. But at the same time, when he was functioning in this world, he says in this world, I am not a sannyasi.
But while functioning in this world, he strictly followed the rules of sannyas. So, the functional identity cannot be rejected. So, our functional identity is also a part of who we are presently.
And being authentic means, okay, understanding that this is my physical nature. So, for example, Kshatriyas, they like to lead, they like to delegate, they like to manage, they like to control, they like to control. And they can do it in Krishna's service.
Normally, we say that we should not have a controlling mentality. Ishwarabhav. But in 18.43, Krishna says, Ishwarabhav is actually a characteristic of Kshatriyas.
And Krishna is not saying that at all in a negative way. He says, that is the characteristic of Kshatriyas. There are some people in society who need to lead.
And Kshatriyas are the people who will lead. So, they will lead, they will delegate, they will control, they will manage. But they are meant to do it in a dharmic way.
In a way that is in harmony with the principles of dharma. So, a Kshatriya cannot be told to reject the Kshatriya nature. They will not be able to do that.
So, now this division of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, that is one way of dividing. But the important thing is that the psychophysical nature can be analysed in different ways. Some people are introverts, some people are extroverts.
Now, this introverts can also go out and mix with people. Extroverts can also have some private time. But this is a basic characteristic of the personality.
So, some people get introverts. It's not that they dislike people. Introverts are people who get strength when they are alone.
By reflection, by analysis, by introspection, that's when they get strength. And extroverts, they get strength when they are with people. Some people go to a party and the more people they meet, the bigger their smile becomes.
Oh, there are so many people. And they are obviously extroverts. They meet so many people, talk with them.
Introverts, they may go in with a smile and the more people they meet, their face starts becoming, a frown comes on their face. They are just looking. Sometimes, you are talking with someone and we can see from their expression, they are just waiting to leave.
So, I was at a public speaking seminar and they were telling that, you know, when should you stop your class? If you are giving a talk, when should you stop your talk? Before people start looking at the watch. Now, of course, we can't always do that. But the idea is that sometimes people want to leave.
So, introverts, if they are in a social situation, yeah, they will be there. But they want to leave soon. Now, this can't be changed.
An introvert can't be made into an extrovert. So, both people can practice bhakti. And both people can contribute in different ways to Krishna's service.
So, everybody needs association and everybody needs some privacy, some space. But for some people, the need for space may be more and the need for connection may be less. For some people, the need for connection may be more and the need for space may be less.
So, this is simply our individuality. And each of us has to work according to our individual nature. To the extent we work according to our individual nature, to that extent we can function optimally.
I was with one senior disciple, Vishal Prabhupada. And I asked him that as we grow spiritually, do we transcend our material nature? He said, no. The more you grow older, you become tired of fighting with your nature.
So, in youth, you have the energy to try to become like someone else. But then after some time, this is not who I am. I cannot function like this.
So, in youth, we have the energy to challenge and fight things. So, we fight ourselves also. Now, we do need to fight ourselves.
I'll talk about this, what we need to fight ourselves. What about ourselves we need to fight. But basically, physically, we may have a particular nature.
Psychologically, we may have a particular nature. Some people are very sensitive. You speak some one little word to them, and you just get so hurt.
Some people are completely insensitive. You chastise them also, and they're smiling. As if nothing happened to them.
So, now, each person is different. And then if somebody is sensitive, then we have to be careful that we don't, whatever, if we have to speak some, give some feedback, then we do it very carefully. And for some people, we have to communicate the message in a way that they understand.
So, they may have to be spoken to strongly or spoken through certain assertive actions. So, each person has their nature. And psychologically, what we are, we can't be changed.
Yes, a person is very sensitive. They can try to decrease their sensitivity. But they can't absolutely change themselves.
That's the way the body-mind-machine is. Some people, when they have insecurity, they become very fearful. But some people actually thrive in insecurity, adventure, risk.
Some people like to go, they have this whole genre of adventure sports. Jump from a parachute, jump in a parachute from a helicopter, or go in high-risk sports. Some people, you know, they're afraid of even going to the top of a mountain.
What if you fall down? Now, it's not that one group of people are cowardly and other are brave. It's just that some people have a greater need for security, and some people have a greater need for adventure. And each person will be different.
So, we have to be who we are. Even in bhakti, some devotees may like more order, structure, planning, and then they can serve better. So, there are services in bhakti which are more structured, more orderly, more planning.
So, if somebody likes to share Krishna bhakti. So, there is, we could say, broadly speaking, teaching and preaching. So, we could call preaching as outreaching.
So, we have outreacher. So, now teaching, relatively speaking, we have a fixed community of people who are doing bhakti shastra or something like that. So, teaching is much more structured.
The same people will come. There's a course. And we teach them the subject systematically.
And people who come for a course, say like a bhakti shastri, it's already assumed that people are interested. They want to understand the subject. So, then we may not have to do a lot of, we could say, performance to attract people's attentions.
Maybe in programs for new people, we may do dramas. And we may do various things to attract people's attention. That may not be required.
So, teaching is something which is more predictable, more orderly. And some people will thrive in that. But when we have to do outreach, it's not just about speaking the class.
You have to connect with people, cultivate with people. One day, there will be 15 people. Next day, there will be 5 people.
So, outreach, if we do, it's much more unstructured and unpredictable. And those people who thrive in adventure, they will find teaching very boring. Hey, same people are coming.
What is this? You have to go through deep analysis of the subject and then explain the subject. There's no newness in this. On the other hand, they would thrive in outreach.
Okay, you meet new people. You call for distribution. You call people for a program.
And they need a sense of newness in their life. But for somebody who is a teacher, you put them into outreach directly. They'll feel, you know, they'll feel like, as they say, a fish out of water.
We normally use the word fish out of water. To refer to the soul being in the material world. But it can also refer to the person working in a way that is not harmonious with the nature.
Just feel completely out of place. They can function wonderfully as teachers. But when they have to speak with new people, it just becomes so draining for them.
They may do it. But if they're given a preference, they will just focus on teaching. So there Krishna's movement is big enough that everybody can be accommodated.
Now, of course, I'll talk in the last session about commitment where I'll come to the balancing part that sometimes the need of a community may be that a particular service is required. And even if that is not according to our nature, we still need to do it. And that is our surrender, our service attitude that we do it.
But in the long run, it is important that we all work according to our nature. So the individual should be willing to do whatever service I'm told to do. But the community and the community leader should be thinking, how can this devotee be engaged happily lifelong in Krishna service? And to be engaged happily lifelong, it is best that the devotee be engaged in a way that is harmonious with their nature.
So I'll elaborate on this part a little later in the second session, but I'll mention it here. When I say be yourself, what does it mean? I said that we have the vehicle that we have, we have to accept it. And we have to act in harmony with it.
But within us, we say there are two kinds of impressions, broadly speaking. The soul is here, the body is here, the mind is here. So in the body-mind machine, two different kinds of impressions are there.
So we could broadly categorize them as instincts and impulses. Now, terms can be varying in different contexts. But the concept is what is important.
Impulses are generally those which are considered negative. I have impulse to overeat, I have impulse to oversleep. I have some people have impulses to smoke, people have impulses to drink.
So impulse means where we don't use our intelligence, but just act on some feeling that comes within us. And that is usually anti-intelligent. In both impulse and instinct, there is no conscious use of intelligence.
We feel like doing something and we do it. But impulses are negative. Because impulses make us angry, they make us greedy, they make us do anti-intelligent things.
Whereas instincts, we could say, are programmed intelligence. Some people are just good at some things. Some people come into a room, they may visit somebody's house, and they just look at the house, one glance, and they say, you move the sofa here, you put this painting here, you do this like this, this house will look much better.
And somebody may have stayed in that house for six months, and still they don't get that. Hey, do this, do this. Some people just get it.
So where is that? That is the intelligence that is there in the body, mind, machine. And instinctively, they just get the right thing. And all of us have instincts that certain things are good.
Some people write, they spend hours writing one letter, and still they feel this is not good. You know, how do I express this thought? How do I express this thought? Somebody else comes, in five minutes, they just express it so nicely. So they have a language instinct.
So all of us, these instincts, we could say broadly, it's similar to talents. Instincts means things which we are innately good at. In the Mahabharata, when the Pandavas were in exile, not the second time, the first time.
The first time, the Pandavas, they were put in a house where they were tempted to be burnt. At that time, they were not married. And they escaped into the forest.
And then they went to Drupada's kingdom. And there, there was a swayamvar of Draupadi, where there was a marriage ceremony of Draupadi, where she could choose a bride. And Arjuna won the hand of Draupadi.
Now, at this time, the Pandavas were, because they were in incognito exile, they were incognito, not exactly in exile, they were hiding. So they were dressed and appearing like Brahmanas. So, Drupada, the father of Draupadi, wanted to know, who are these people really? He felt by their hefty physical appearance and by their regal carriage, he felt they must be Kshatriyas.
But they were dressed like Brahmanas. So, he invited them to his house, to his palace for a feast. And there was a big hall where the feast was there.
The feast was to be served. And in that hall, on the opposite side, there's a long table on which he had kept various items. On one side, he had kept various religious texts, scriptures.
Then there were some weapons, bows, arrows, swords. And then there were some things associated with business, some things for trading. The tools that, say, may be used for trading for some ploughs, some ropes used to tie cows and things like that.
And another heap was some artisans' tools, that which Shudras would use. So, he had kept basically the things which different Varanas might be naturally connected with. And the Pandavas came.
They sat down and they looked around. And Drupada said, I'll come in a few minutes. So, they were sitting and they looked around.
They saw this table and all of them went straight to where the weapons were there. And they picked up the weapons. Hey, this weapon is like this.
This weapon is like that. This weapon looks good. But this is not that good.
And within moments, they went deep into the discussion. And Drupada was watching and he started smiling. He said, they are Kshatriyas.
They are not Varanas. So, actually, although the Pandavas are devotees, pure devotees, but still they were not attracted to scriptures. The religious texts were there and they would hear those texts.
They had that devotion. But spontaneously, when they had to choose between weapons and scriptures, they chose weapons. That was just their natural interest.
So, we will gravitate towards that which is our natural interest. So, we can all understand our nature. This is a big question.
Okay, you say we should live in harmony with our nature. But how do we understand our nature? So, through this story, I'm telling one principle that we can note consciously what we notice automatically. We can note consciously what we notice automatically.
So, in any situation, if I come to any room, it's just from maybe childhood or teenage, if somebody gives me a magazine, I look at the caption of the magazine before I look at the picture. I am naturally attracted to the text. If I come to any room, I become, I look at all the notices and I become like a self-appointed proofreader.
And many times, Indians are… I am Indian, but Indians sometimes make a massacre of grammar. And even devotees, sometimes they tell them, you know, the spelling is wrong. Everybody understands.
Why don't you understand? So, they just blame me. So, what… People don't even notice sometimes the spelling is wrong and they don't notice it. Now, I also make spelling mistakes, but it embarrasses me if I make a mistake.
For others, it doesn't embarrass them at all. It's okay. The message is being communicated.
What is the big deal? So, we can note consciously that which we notice automatically. So, if we… What we notice automatically, if we note that consciously, this is where my interest is. This is where my instinct is.
This is what I am good at. That is one broad way in which we can discover this. So, I will talk a little bit more about this in a future session also.
But develop your instincts. And then we have to discipline our impulses. As I said, impulses are anti-intelligent.
To be greedy, to be lusty, to be angry. These are all impulses. And those are also there in our psychophysical nature itself.
They are also… So, if somebody has an intellectual nature, somebody has a linguistic instinct, somebody has an artistic instinct, this has come from past life's karma. That person might have studied language or art in the previous life. That's why they are like that.
So, they have some talent. But from our past life, we also get some other karmic baggage. Some other baggage means we might have certain impulses which are unhealthy.
So, those need to be disciplined. And that is where we will need balance and we will need commitment for that. And then the idea is deepen your devotion.
So, by working according to our instincts, we can serve Krishna, we can become absorbed in Krishna. So, if somebody loves deity worship, and they like to decorate, they like to artistically make things. Now, we tell them to study Shastra, they will do it.
But they look forward to deity worship. Somebody loves to analyze concepts, they may also do deity worship. But they are longing, when can I go and study scripture? So, we will be able to serve Krishna with greatest absorption when we serve according to our gifts.
So, that's why develop our instincts. But even with our instincts, somebody may be very good at singing. And they will love to serve Krishna by singing.
But while singing, they may become very proud. I know one devotee, he was a brilliant singer. And whenever he would come for the morning program, after every kirtan, he would go and tell this singer, you know, you didn't sing this properly, you didn't sing this properly, you didn't sing this properly.
And then, he did that for, actually he was a good singer, then he went and did a singing course. And he actually studied singing very deeply. For almost 6 months or a year, he studied singing and music.
And then he came back. And then, in the morning program or whenever kirtan he would be there, after every kirtan, he would say, you know, this is not right, this is not right, this is not right. And then finally, he went to the temple manager and he said, you know, actually nobody in the temple knows singing.
So, my suggestion to you is, let me sing all kirtans. So, now, I said, yes, we are all devotees here and we are all trying to serve Krishna. So, yes, you may have to learn this professionally, but that doesn't mean that you can monopolize singing.
Now, he was not, so what happened was, then the devotee said that you just form your own, like a kirtan band and do something. But sometimes, if we are very good at some talent, that can make us proud. And that can make us judgmental about others.
And that is something which, so that pride, the singing talent is a part of our instinct that needs to be developed. But the singing talent can lead to pride, arrogance. And that is an impulse which we have to restrain.
I may become judgmental about others, I may condemn others, I may feel I am so great. No, I understand that I am a servant of Krishna and I have to serve Krishna and they are also serving Krishna. So, we have to discipline our impulses.
And in this way, if we do these two things, then we can deepen our devotion. Ultimately, our devotion deepens when we are spontaneously attracted to Krishna purely. But that will take a long time.
At our level, if we can serve Krishna according to our Krishna-given talents, that is where we can absorb ourselves in Krishna. So, in bhakti, to be authentic means that we understand that we have been given some talents, we have been given some instincts. And we just develop them in the service of Krishna.
So, we do not necessarily have to do something else to become devoted to Krishna. Just have to be who we are in the service of Krishna. So, bhakti can have a static understanding as well as a dynamic understanding.
Static means, you know, this is what is bhakti. If you do this, this A, B, C, D, that is bhakti. So, I will explain what static understanding means.
Static understanding means that this is the path to bhakti, you have to follow it. A, B, C, if you do this, you are practicing bhakti. If you are doing anything else, that is maya.
But dynamic understanding means, okay, this is where you are, and from where you are, this is the path to bhakti. So, how can there be a path to bhakti from where you are? That is a dynamic understanding. I was in America, in Ohio, and I was with a devotee family, and they were telling that their child is brilliant at robotics.
Just a maybe 8-10 year old kid, and he makes his own robots, and he had won some national robotics competition at national level. And he said, at night he stays awake doing research on robotics, and he is completely into it. Then, but he says, you know, when we ask him to come to the temple, when we ask him to participate in kirtans, he is not interested at all.
So, what should we do? So, it is good. Parents have some concerns that children may fall in bad association. They were happy that actually he is doing something constructive.
But still, he has no spiritual interest. So, then I was talking with a brilliant boy. So, then I told him that, when you make these robots, how do you get the idea about what robots you should make? So, he said, generally, he says, most of us, we have the biggest user of robotics today is Amazon.
And all their warehouses, they do not have people. They have robots, which pack the packets, which position their products. And then most of the work for them is done by a robot.
So, for transportation of things, the robotics is geared toward that, for picking up, for transporting, for placing. That is what they are geared for. So, this is how a robot can efficiently pick up packages, how it can estimate the size of a package, where to hold, how much energy to exert, all that.
So, that is where we are doing. So, I said, yes. And he says, isn't that what most people will be doing? I said, yeah, that is true.
So, then I told him that, would you like to do something special, which no one will do in robotics? He says, some special idea for robots. He says, what is that? He said that in a future robotics competition, I told him that, maybe you can make a robo of Krishna and a robo of Arjuna. And Krishna can be speaking the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.
No, he just walked away. And I continued talking with his parents. And he said, after five minutes, he came back and he said, hey, you know, actually, it's a good idea.
He said, nobody will think of this. My product will be unique. And then he became excited.
Then after I left America, after a month or so, his parents called me and we were talking with them. Now, he says, now he's poring over Bhagavad Gita to see what part of Bhagavad Gita I can get his robo to speak. So, he's planning to make a robo, a small robo with Krishna and Arjuna, speaking the Bhagavad Gita.
So, now his interest in robotics is there. And one understanding of bhakti, you come to the temple, chant Hare Krishna, you do this, do this, that is bhakti. But another understanding of bhakti, a dynamic understanding is, this is where you are, from there, what is the path to Krishna? From where you are, what is the path to Krishna? That is a dynamic understanding of bhakti.
So, of course, the static understanding is also valid. There are certain active sadhana bhakti which we all have to know. We have basic principles of sadhana bhakti, the chanting, associating with devotees, worshipping the deities, that is required.
But that doesn't mean everything else has to be rejected. If we are deeply attracted to certain things, they can be connected with Krishna. And how to connect that, that will require some creativity.
That will require some skill to do that. And this brings us to the last part of the slide. So, Krishna says to Arjuna, Krishna says that, Svakarmanatam abhyarcha siddhim vindati manava.
Svakarmanatam abhyarcha means, through your work, worship that supreme. Through your work means, Krishna is telling Arjuna, that you are an archer, you fight. And through your fighting, you serve.
So, Krishna can be served even in this world, through whatever our instincts are good at. Whatever we are naturally good at, we use that for serving Krishna. Now, many of you may have heard of the story of Arjuna, how he was so dedicated to his archery.
And once he was, he would study his archery all day, practice all day. One night, he was coming and taking his food, he was taking food. At that time, the lamp that was there in the room, it just got switched off.
Because the gust of wind came over there, the lamp got extinguished. And he was eating food, and his hand automatically went to the mouth and he kept eating. And it struck him at that time, hey, if I can eat in the dark, then I can shoot in the dark also.
And that gave him the inspiration and started practicing archery into the night. So, all day he would learn archery, and he would practice. And night he would practice shooting invisible targets.
So, just by hearing the sound, that was a vital skill which made him one of the greatest archers. So, he practiced day and night archery. Now, when he was a student, practicing archery, at that time, he had no idea that there is going to be a dharma, there is going to be a fight of dharma in which he would use his archery in Krishna's service.
He just developed his archery because that was his nature. And eventually, Krishna revealed how that could be used in Krishna's service. So, similarly for us, what our interest is, it may not be immediately apparent also how I can use this in Krishna's service.
And if we are ourselves creative enough, if we associate with devotees who are creative enough, actually there are so many ways in which we can serve Krishna. As I was in America, one of the things which I found odd when I first came to America was so many devotees had pets, pet dogs. So, in India, pet dogs are not a fashion at all.
So, at least, not in the broad community also, and even in the, certainly in the devotee community. Dogs, we already have so many attachments. Why do you need one more attachment? So, that was my understanding.
And then I met many devotees who had pets. So, then I found that this one devotee, what is done is, this, this, Mataji, she, she used, before she came to Bhakti, she loved pets. And she, her actually job was sort of taking care of dogs.
There is a dog kennel was there. Now, she has, so there are small dogs which you use for, which are used as pets for children. And dogs are also, they can work in different, sometimes some children, they are, they are autistic or they have some, some deficiencies.
And there are dogs which are trained to be companions to them. There are therapy dogs. Somebody gets seizures, fits, and the dogs are trained to help them at the time of fits.
The dogs start barking, and the dogs have particular symptoms, then people call emergency and the dogs can sometimes cushion the fall of the, of those, of the person who falls when they get fits. So, anyway, so these are, these therapy kind of dogs were there. So, she started working with this, after she became a devotee, first she gave up everything.
And she said, when I was practicing Bhakti, yes, I didn't feel the absence of Krishna, I was feeling the absence of dogs. And I was saying… So, initially, I know, this is just material attachment, give it up, give it up, give it up. That's what she was told.
But then, after this, so, she said, I just can't give it up. I love dogs. So, now, what she has done is, she has had this, she trains therapy dogs, that's her profession.
But she, small, small kids come there, and while the kids play with the dogs, in the place where she has, she has a very spiritual setting. And she doesn't explicitly make it Krishna, but she has simple Hare Krishna mantra going on, a soft tune. And there are people who would never come to a temple.
What is this music? It's very sweet. And the kids also like that music. She has put pictures of Krishna in her center, where, you know, all around, it's not Krishna as God, but it's Krishna as a child doing adventurous things.
And kids like to hear stories. So, then, what is this? What is this? She started telling them Krishna stories. And the kids are getting some knowledge of Krishna.
By that, they are getting some attraction to the holy name. So, there are various ways in which we may be able to use what our interest is in Krishna's service. Now, somebody might have had a pet dog, and they just, I don't need a pet, give it up.
They can give it up, that's fine. But somebody can't give it up, then it's not necessary that we have to condemn them as they are attached. That's what who you are.
Okay, you see how that can be used in Krishna's service. I'm in no way recommending pets. That's not my point over here.
That's something which is a different issue. I'm just giving the principle of how bhakti can be inclusive. The dynamic understanding of bhakti is that from where a person is, from there they can serve Krishna.
So, that's how we can be ourselves in Krishna's service. Yeah, so I'll come to the balance part later. I'll quickly summarize what I spoke today.
So, I started by speaking about how we need these three principles of authenticity, balance and commitment as a part of sustainable community building. So, authenticity helps us to be true to ourselves, become who we are. Balance ensures that we don't go too much off track in any direction.
And commitment helps us understand how we can be a part of a larger whole. And authenticity, I started by talking that if God had wanted us to be someone else, he would have made us someone else. So, we have a particular kind of body.
What spirituality does is, it changes the direction of the vehicle when we are driving it. But it doesn't change the vehicle, it doesn't change the driving skills. So, necessary.
So, we have to understand the vehicle that we have so that we can use it properly. And understanding the vehicle means understanding our psychophysical nature. So, there is so much pressure in today's world to become like someone else, appear like someone else, to talk like someone else, to conduct, to be fashionable and try to conform to some glamorized models.
And that materialistic glamorization often suppresses our individuality. So, when we understand that we are all made by God for a particular contribution, then we can strive to be ourselves. Arjuna, although Krishna tells him you are not the body, Krishna addresses him by names connected with the body.
So, our physical identity is not to be rejected. It is to be integrated with our spiritual quest. Like Prabhupada did with telling Americans, telling Indians and inspiring both of them to practice Krishna Bhakti.
Then I talked about when introverts, extroverts, they all have their needs. Varanashram, the point is not dividing people into castes, but getting people to work in a way that they are naturally endowed, harmonious with that. And for that, I said that how do we know what is our nature? Note consciously what we notice automatically.
The example of how the Pandavas gravitated towards weapons. So, we don't have to give up our innate instincts. We have to use them in Krishna's service.
And being ourselves does not mean giving in to our impulses. We have from our past impressions which are positive, instincts means we are, it's like programmed intelligence. Automatically we get it.
Whereas impulses means it's also without any conscious thought, but it is anti-intelligent. So, lust, anger, greed, pride, these are all impulses which need to be disciplined. And by developing our instincts, disciplining our impulses, we can deepen our devotion.
And thus, we can become who we are meant to be in Krishna's service. While just like Arjuna, he was an archer who did not know that in the future, my archery will be used in Krishna's service. But it was used eventually.
So, the static understanding of bhakti is that these are the activities of bhakti. Those who do it, they are devotees. The dynamic understanding is wherever people are, from there, how can they be connected to Krishna? The way they are connected, that is also the process of bhakti for them.
So, in sadhana bhakti, there are some standard activities that have to be done. But there is also a room for accommodating people according to where they are. They give the example of this devotee who loves dogs and then is using therapy dogs to bring people closer to Krishna through that means, in whatever way is possible.
So, we can worship Krishna through our work and thus, we can all move towards Krishna from where we are. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
So, I think we will have question answers in the next sessions. How many of you have questions that we can plan how much time we will have for questions? Okay, what we will do is next session, we can have breakfast now and we will reconvene about an hour after an hour. So, maybe 10-15 and we will start with question answers at that time.
Then afterwards, I will continue the PPT. Thank you very much.