3 Principles for Success Enthusiasm Faith Patience Part 1 Nectar of Instruction text 3 Varanasi

This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:

Hare Krishna thank you for coming today and today broadly I’ll be discussing about what is required for success in life and so I’ll talk from very broad terms and then we’ll move towards a more universal specific devotional terms. See, in general among humans versus animals in some ways for animals, they are largely driven by their biology. They have a meeting season when they want to meet. They have eating time when they want to eat. And their life is driven by that. So for us humans it’s largely they are driven by survival value. What are the things which will help me to survive? Now we humans also have that but we humans our life can be much more confusing because we want something more in our life. At the end of a day we are not satisfied. Oh today was successful because I survived. You know, if we are in a war zone and there’s somebody out to kill us and we survive, that’s a different thing. But survival itself is not considered in our terms a great achievement. What we want is that is much more at a subtle domain. The psychology, philosophy, all that comes in. We’ll talk about a little bit more. But we want value to survival. Not just I want to live, but I want my life to have some value. And what will bring value to our life? What will bring value to our survival regarding that different people can have different conceptions. Somebody may say if I I have a family and I raise a family that will bring value to my life. Somebody may say okay I want to serve my country. Somebody may say I want to take care of the environment. Most people say I want to take care of myself. Everybody is an I specialist. Not EI specialist. It’s I specialist. So what happens is like that every one of us is thinking what will bring value to my life. So now because of this our life tends to become much more complicated. See in general wherever we are we could go at one moment in a dozen directions. So for us because our biology is one of our driving forces but not our only driving force. So we can tend to be much more confused. What should I do? If I’m going to choose a career, should I study in this field or that field? If I to choose an elective, should I choose this elective or that elective? Hey, if I’m going to take a job, should I take a job in this company or that company? I’m going to get married, should I get married to this person or that person? So if I’m going to stay in this city or should I move to another city? There are so many decisions here. to make and those decisions can sometimes overwhelm us. So if you consider from that perspective there are two things which are important. Sometimes in English they are called as means and ends. I’ll explain this means and ends that in my life what is it that is desirable and what is the means to get what is desired. So what is desirable? I want to come first in my class. That’s desired. So parents suggest parents tell a child who is not doing very well. No you come first in your class. The child comes back one day from an exam of school. I said daddy I come first in my class. Congratulations. How did you do that? I said I worked very hard to learn computer hacking and I hacked my teacher’s computer and I got all the questions before time and that’s how I memorized all the answer and I came first. So that’s not how I wanted you to come first. I wanted to study and come first. So there are ends what ends to achieve and what means to use to achieve things. Both of these are important questions. What is worth achieving in life and how do we go about achieving it? So for example, now we consider that I want to get a good job. That’s the end. I want to have a stable job. Now what is the means to it? You say that okay you get some good degree. Somebody say that but you know you also need to get some practical experience. You maybe you need to do some vocational training along with it how things will work in the job how things work in real life. So basically much of our indecision is at one level if I want to put it this way life can be confusing at one level is confusing here I’m talking more about the ends which ends do I want to achieve but life can also be confusing about even when I decide a particular ends to achieve in this visual say this is a straight way and probably that is the easiest or the shortest way but in real life which way is the shortest is not necessarily clear so I want to achieve an ends and how do I go about achieving that ends. So in today’s session we’re going to focus primarily on the means but we also talk about the ends a little bit but uh tomorrow morning I’ll focus more on the ends. So if I have decided I want to achieve something say I want to get a particular kind of job or I want to rise to this level in my job or say I want to become author I want to become social media influencer whatever it is I want to So what is required for achievement? Now yes okay work hard and you will achieve it. Now many people work harder and achieve it and say you work smart. Now work smart what does it mean? Only the smart people know about it and anybody who does not succeed they say you didn’t work smart enough. It’s like how what actually contributes to success? Why is it that some people start something thing and they succeed others do not. There are multiple factors on involved over here but we’ll talk about three factors and we’ll talk about it in particular terms that when we function in life if I am here and I want to get here this is my destination. So when you talk about the means we can refer to the means in terms of so if I should I myself study more should I join a coaching class uh should I take personal coaching? Should I do this? Should I do that? There’s so many decisions we have to make and sometimes the the specifics the minutia of these decisions minutia is the minute details of the decisions can consume us. But broadly there are three factors that is from the action to lead to the result. There is karma, there is da And that is kala karma dha and ka these three together they contribute to the result. So for example if somebody’s farming then karma is that they have to blow the land. The taa is that rains have to come and the kala is the season has to change to the harvesting season. So karma da and kala all three will work. If a couple get married parents that to have a child they they unite that is a but it’s not that every time union happens there is a there’s conception that happens so for that conception the ego is required nowadays fertility is a huge problem there is I have a friend who is a doctor he was studying that the the fastest growing medical field right now is fertility like on one side abortions are increasing people are ending like the children outside they was want to have children they struggle to have children so now there’s something beyond the human despite trying whatever treatments you may try I’m here for whatever there’s no guarantee in this so we do our karma there is but even after conception happens it’s not that next day we will have a baby there is ka gestation period is there so in some examples this karma taya and kala these three factors they are very easy to understand in some other situations it may take some more time. So if you are to build a relationship it’s over. Now what happens that every relationship whether it is a professional relationship whether it’s a romantic relationship whether it’s a relationship with a friend whatever relationship somebody wants to build a relationship now it requires at one level some endeavor is required but you know after the endeavor say the karma is there but trust building also takes time. Infatuation does not take time. Infatuation can happen immediately but then people fall in love and then they fall out of love. So that also happens at times. So the idea is that trust and infatuation are very different and consistently showing up consistently being there consistently being reliable that’s what builds trust in any relationship. So that requires time. That’s kala. So say for example I do my part I whatever I promise to do I do it. That’s karma and I keep doing it consistently you know it is one thing to say I’m attracted to someone another thing to say I trust someone when trust has to be earned that require k but even with all that there’s an element of the that is what we can call as destiny something you know sometimes some people we we are there for them for a lot of time we do a lot of things for them but still they never come close to us or they never bring us close to them. And somebody else who does not do much for them still what may happen is there say in in our college we may want to come close to a faculty not just because we want him to close good mark but we actually want to learn the support we do extra assignments and some of the faculty okay is kind of useless some other kid who does not do much also the faculty there’s something mysterious also about something beyond us So pron is karma, da and kaga. These three factors are important. Now these three are associated with three factors that the shamrat that is the letter of instruction written by rup swami talks about as required for us to succeed in life. With doing our karma we require enthusiasm. We require sa. So what Whatever is in our part to do we need enthusiasm for doing that. Now with respect to kala we need patience. Patience is what?
So kala it will take its own time and da that is there’s destiny. That is where we need faith. The confidence is more like faith. That is So broadly it’s for us to succeed in any endeavor you could say there is the part there’s a human part for doing our part we need to be enthusiastic for that which is beyond our control now we could say diver determines both kala also but I’ll talk about my kala we get a separate element over here so Destiny means some factors beyond us have to fall in place. But the thing is in some situations even when the factors beyond me fall in place after that also some suppose somebody opens a restaurant. Okay. If you have a restaurant we have to cook well. You have to have good care for the customers who come in to be polite staff we get all that. And NA is what you know that maybe the place where we are there is some big sports event or political event or religious event or whatever. A lot of people come and they search and then we have a crowd coming over there that’s fortunate suggestion but then it’s one time people come they like it second time they come third time they oh this is a good place I want to keep visiting over here so what happens gradually the trust that revelation develops so karma kala these three are elements that are involved for success in any way So now in different endeavors you know it’s not necessarily that it’s convenient this is 33% this is 33% this is 33%. It’s not necessarily like that you give me 33.33%. To be more precise uh it’s not that simple in some areas it might be that the destiny has to work out the role of destiny becomes much much more and the role of endeavor becomes relatively less. Say if you consider a cricket match. Now some pitches they are very good for batting and there the the batsman has to make efforts to get out. The pitch is such that it’s like a bit called the batter’s paradise. So there the kuma the bats batter doesn’t have to be very expert they just play and the shots happen. So in one sense you could say the destiny at that particular point is favorable. But even then it doesn’t the batter comes and just swings the bat and the batter will have to time will be required. So karma sometimes it may be that the karma might be 10% the da might the 80%. The kal might be 10%. Sometimes it might be that like some cricket pitches might be like a ball. ‘s dream and a batter’s nightmare. The way the ball rises, bounces, lays low and swings and spins and all those things. It’s very very difficult to bat and so there sometimes the faith’s favorability will be very very less. So then what happens? It is the batter who has to put in 80% effort. And that’s why sometimes a double century on a pitch which is like a batter’s paradise and may not be as praiseful. as a half century on a pitch that is a baller’s paradise. So thing is that success is not so simple to quantify or measure in life. But broadly all these three factors are involved that that we need to be enthusiastic. We need to have faith that whatever is beyond our control it will work out and then we have to have patience that things will take take their time to work. So with this understanding, let’s look at it from another perspective and we go into each of these elements. So as I said right now, I’m not focusing on what it is that we want to achieve. No, I’m talking about means and ends. So how tomorrow morning when I talk about how in Krishna or whenever we have the next session for this topic, I’ll talk about how when we are practicing bi all these three actually are most productively done when they directed towards Krishna and how Krishna also helps us in these things but let’s explore these one by one so I hope this point is clear about these three elements and how they interplay each other so now
question when we call like there I have two understanding of car I just want to clarify that which understanding is better that one thing is any effort you do there is a certain time required like for example you want to prepare for jail then 2 years is required but sometimes in negative example when see that some person has done some bad karma and he’s not getting the bad effect of that then we say that is not it is not the time to fortify his karma So isarly dependent there’s no limit. That’s a good question. When we talk about time, how do we uh is there a objective measure for time required for particular things? Well, it depends. And normally we could say in certain areas. See, see, in general, in life, there is a normal way things function or let’s not use the word normal because the word abnormal has a negative connotation. So, let me use the word standard over here. There’s a standard way things function and there are some things which work in non-standard ways. What do I mean by that? So normally if if pregnancy is not a normal period let’s say 9 and a half 10 months what we call body but sometime that might be a prematurity like babies don’t stick to a time table they arrive on their own time now of course with medical intervention and cesarian sometime we can fix the time but still sometime it’s unpredictable so there’s a there’s a normal standard time duration but there are exceptions to the standard so so is a non-standard situation also. So for example, if somebody wants to learn a language, a new language, then see then is how long will it take to learn a language? Well, if we go and learn an online course, let’s say six course, if you have 6 months, you attend every day for 1 hour, you’ll start speaking this language. Now, most people if the course is well structured, well designed, people if they put in the effort, they will be able to learn. Some people may become very fluent. Some people may just barely be able to communicate. So there are always is border lines on both sides like that that much time lot more can happen and that much time less can happen but in general so now what you are talking about slightly different and I’ll come to that see when we use the word it can be used in a functional sense and in a moral sense that well they are related but they’re not exactly the same functional sense means what that if there is water underground, I have to dig to get water. That is karma. It’s in a functional sense. Now, is there a moral dimension to it? Well, it depends if it digging if it’s not our property and we’re taking water over there. That’s there’s a moral dimension to it. But I’m talking today right now simply in the functional sense of that in any suppose
I was just in Dubai 15 days ago 15 20 days ago. So, production. So there we went and saw some oil fields over there. So now if you see they they know there’s oil that particular part of the now we have quite sophisticated sensors to detect but the thing is sometimes the oil is offshore and then you know there is oil but you don’t know how deep it is and then it is you know it’s it’s always a bit of a gamble that even when you know there’s gold in a particular Okay, you know it’s gold over here but is it exactly over here? Is it over there? And how deep do we need to dig to get it? So there is an element which is beyond our so if somebody’s digging for oil or gold or water that is karma karma is that you have to keep digging. The da is the gold has to the water whatever digging for that has to be there and then kala is how deep is it. So I’m talking about it in more in a more in the functional sense. Now in the moral sense we’re talking about the reactions to our actions like somebody has done something bad and the results for them when will they get them that’s a completely different anion of karma and that’s also important to consider but that’s not our focus right now because what happens sometimes uh when we focus too much on the moral side of karma see karma like karma or dharma for that matter. It’s a moral moral concept but it’s also simply a functional concept. That’s the way the world works. So now in the moral dimension of karma, it is true that some people may have particular kind of karma by which certain results may not come to them. So it could be that somebody smokes regularly and never gets lung cancer and somebody never smokes and gets lung cancer. Now by taking those extremes you can say that there’s no correlation there’s no connection between smoking and lung cancer. That’s not true. So sometimes past karma may intervene over there but that is more of a like a more moral dimension. What that would mean is that a particular person by the past karma has got very robust body right now very healthy body and that’s why even if they are abusing the body right now that is not leading to any particular kind of results of that. Okay,
I think we need to put this. So broadly when we are discussing in life, How do we attain success? So there is karma, diga and ka. So accordingly in enthusiasm we need saha, mishaya and let’s try to look at it from another perspective to understand this a little bit more. In in material nature there are three modes threeas. Which are the three was?
Yes. Sa rajas and now Krishna says that these three elements are present in nature. Now the now there are two ways of understand many ways of understanding these modes but let’s look at one particular aspect of it. See what standard metaphor we use is the ga the They are like ropes. They pull us in particular directions. And it is true. And from that perspective, we could say tamoga is bad. Tamoga makes us lethargic. Tamoga makes us uh apathetic, uncaring. That is true. Why? It is undoubtedly true. In one sense, if we consider in nature, all three modes are important. Like at night when we sleep, If the mode of tamas doesn’t come upon us, we may want to sleep but we not see the moment of sleeping is actually it’s a bit of a mysterious moment. Recently I’ve been having problems with sleeping. So I’ve been reading a little bit about sleep and there are whole there are philosophers who have written books about the philosophy of sleeping and it’s not special philosophers and they want to talk about grooming and other things but even vanta There’s a lot of analysis of sleep. The point is that the moment when we actually fall asleep that particular transition from the waking state to the sleeping state that is not really in our we lying down in bed and there’s a particular time we fall asleep. Now we can make the conditions right. We can make sure that we’re comfortable. We make sure there’s not much noise around us and we make it dark. We can do all those things. But that particular moment it’s almost like a switch turns off. We can create the conditions for the switch to turn off but they’re turning off the switch and that is not completely in our so so for example the sua rajas and tamas. Now broadly speaking the sa rajas and tamas these three are associated with three things. It is tamas that brings patience. Now I’ll talk about how this can work negatively also that same I want to work and I want to achieve things in my life but you all need to sleep for many many people the people who have uh many people their bed is like the magical place but as soon as they get out of they remember all the things they did not do throughout the day what happens I don’t do this I don’t do the other just can’t sleep you know So now to some extent I had to let go. Yes. Tomorrow morning the sun will rise and end those people. So you know now too much patience also is a problem that you never do anything. So what we talk about here is that that patience see all these three are elements of nature and all three are important. Now rajas is what brings good saha. Rajas is what brings energy. Come on do things shake. People with more than people sa they have this they have that faith that there is a higher arrangement. Now in some ways satwa and tamas can look very similar but externally dissimilar. is hyperengetic. Persona is peaceful. A person tab also means but a person sata is peaceful and thoughtful. A person tab is peaceful and thoughtless. Thoughtless in the sense of just their mind is wandering or they’re lethargic, they’re uncaring. But the point is that in nature a balance of All three is there. So there is a certain level of energy that is there that is associated with oursa. There is also a certain level of patience that is required. But patience can so if you consider if you consider these three to be like a triangle there is saha enthusiasm is required without which nothing will happen. Then there is that when I do my part then god God will take care of things. God will do his part and then we need now when I say that this is associated. I’m not saying that we can become more tamasic and have more patience. That is not the point I’m making. These three again these three modes can be seen from a moral perspective and they can be seen from a functional perspective. From a moral perspective when we look at the modes we can say satuna is good thing is the best. and tamuna is the worst. But the bunas as I said they can be seen from both perspectives a functional perspective. So I’m right now looking at it from a functional perspective. So sometimes if you study ayurvea and you do some ayurveyic analysis then they will tell what is the composition of which in you and for some people the sada is too much that can be a problem also. So for people who sata is too much have too many thoughts and it’s not that thoughts are not good. They are too many good thoughts. They are good at having good thoughts but they are not good about doing something about the good thoughts. They get a lot of good ideas also. So the person tamura they will just just live passively and they they either get bad ideas they get no idea they just live. So the thing is there is a moral dimension to this but we are talking right now simply emotional words that people who are they will have a lot of energy to do things but they will be and that can lead to a lot of anxiety also. What if this doesn’t work that doesn’t work. So these three you could say in one sense are like a triangle in the sense that all three when all three are there within all three there is success that comes out. So now if let’s try to look at it from as I said continuous first continue if there is only if there is only energy without any patience or without any faith then this is what leads to a hyperontrolling mentality. Hyperontrolling means something you start something today and tomorrow it has to be done and it is not ready to give space for anything or anyone else and probably managers some people type A managers they say they very very controlling it’s like they would like to advise everyone everyone in what they doing they will give advice to God you know do this don’t do like this why you do like this so in too much of utsaha without the other two becomes a problem. So we neither acknowledge the role of time nor do we acknowledge the role of destiny of the so when this happens then see another another point I’ll talk about over here that we have in general in life there’s ata ata means there are things of value and there could be many things of value so for example Example this survival is a thing of value and like that there are many things of value. We want to survive. We want to after survive we need oxygen. We need food. We need a home. We need warm clothes. We need some amount of respect in society. We all need all these things. So there are many life. And then there is a paramata. Paramata is the supreme value. Ara and Paramata. So ultimately Paramartha is God Krishna and I’ll talk about that tomorrow. But what happens for many of us sometimes ara that which is ara itself can become a parad. That which is of value we can make it into a thing of supreme. And when ara becomes permar that lead leads to ana. What do I mean by this? That when that which is of intermediate value becomes of supreme value. So, so that leads to another. For example, we consider wealth. Now, wealth is but wealth becomes a supreme value. It lead to greed. Now, we all need pleasure in life. Now, we if you’re eating food, we like to have some pleasure in eating food. If we have some entertainment we want to get some pleasure in that. But then pleasure become the supreme value it becomes addiction. Now we all need some level of control in life. Right? If I’m giving this class I need a certain level of control in the class. I’d say all the audience should be peaceful. They should keep their phone in silent mode. They should not be chatting among each other. That’s the level of control that’s required. But suppose there are some some small child in the the child starts coming. Now that is a loss of control. Now if I make control the most important thing then I start yelling at the child or I start yelling at the parents of that child. Then what will happen at the end of the class? No matter how good my class was, the audience will only remember how I check or the parents. So what happens when control becomes the most important thing? It leads to anger.
We all need control and we control becomes the most important thing. It becomes similarly we all need respect. But when respect becomes the most important thing that leads to ego like sometimes somebody does something wrong and don’t say other person is really got on that case just apologize and just end this matter. I will die but I will not apologize. Hell why yes respect is important but If you want, if we are a student and we are learning something from a teacher, some the teacher corrects us, publicly corrects us or harshly corrects us. Now, nobody likes to be say we may say disrespectful. Nobody likes to be disrespected. But then if we are going to a teacher, we are not going to a teacher to be respected. We are going to a teacher to learn. Of course, we not going there to be disrespected either. But the point is if respect becomes the most important value for me, then I will never give to learn in terms of getting some feedback isn’t it? So anything good if it becomes too much ara becomes paramata that leads to an earth. So from going back to our perspective when saha enthusiasm becomes the most important it’s a valuable thing but it becomes the only thing at the cost of everything else it leads to hyper similar Similarly, if we consider this and now patience, if patience is the only thing we have and we don’t have anything else that will lead to passivity, we have to be patient. But you know like if you go to hospital, you have to be patient. But just being patient doesn’t make you a patient. You have to take the treatment to be a patient you know and this patient in the hospital. No, you have to actually do something also and you have to wait for the treatment to work. The treatment will not work overnight.
So in that sense if patience alone is there that’s a problem that lead to passivity. I will wait for fields to work like okay I have bought this property. I’ll wait for uh harvest to grow over here. Have you sewn the seeds? Have you have you plowed the land? No, I’m just waiting. No, you know, if we are always waiting, we will be basically be waiters. We’ll not be winners ever. We can just constantly keep waiting, waiting, waiting. So, now if you consider this, nishta is faith. Now, like I said, that the mode of goodness and the mode of ignorance they are somewhat similar internally they are different but externally they are similar. Now when we have only when we have faith but the faith is not translated to energy okay I have faith in God it is good but faith in God also has to be transmitted into some kind kind of action. It is only faith without action that leads to sentimentality.
So sentimentality and passivity seem similar. But what is the difference? In passivity, we are doing nothing. In sentimentality, we are expecting God to do everything. So if you see in bi there is the aspect of shaandati there’s the aspect of surrender now we have the example of drappati surrender and how drappati surrendered was she raised her arms independence on krishna complete dependence onishna at the end of the bhagat gita krishna also told sadharma And Arjuna replied by saying I will do your will. So he did surrender but Arjuna’s surrender was not raising his hands. Arjuna surrender was raising his ki raising his phone. So because what happens is when we are god conscious there are two distinct aspects to this. Let’s try to look at another way now. If I am here in the world and above me God, God Krishna. So now surrender means that I accept God’s will. God’s will as it is happening to me. So when something just happens by factors beyond our control, we can say it’s God’s will and I accept Dropati she was okay I accept Krishna in the situation nothing is in my control so I accept that is surrender that is so that is yeah that is but God’s will also is meant to happen through me it is not just that I’m supposed to accept God’s will but I’m also supposed to do God’s will myself so draat is the example of accepting God’s will as it is happening to me and Arjuna specifically at the end of the Bhagat Gita is the example of accepting God’s will as it is meant to happen through me as it is meant to happen through me so both these aspects are important and there are times when so if we come back again to this particular point so accepting God’s will as it is happening to me that is indication of which this is example of and accepting my respons that would be saha that would be enthusiasm but I also have to do some things so But faith should actually lead to enthusiasm. If I have faith then that should lead me to enthusiasm. In fact in the in the English etmology of words the word enthusiasm uh in that the word theos enthos that is actually that god is within you like theology the study of god. So enthusiasm that word originally came with the The followers of Jesus they had enormous energy after the person you know of Jesus to go around in sharing his message and that was said you know there is God these people are they’re enthusiastic so that is the original meaning now it has become very generic the word but the point is that if our faith is there it should lead us to enthusiasm so yes God is there and God will do his part but God will do his part part I also have to do my part. So I have to do my part and God will do this parts and so I talked about at one level how having only one of these a problem. So if we have only one of these without the other two balancing out then it will lead us to a state of imbalance. Now I will conclude with two points. One is how ideally speaking all these three they come together. How they come together in a argument. So ideals now here envision is a triangle. But if you envision another way there only so many ways which can envision things but let’s try this enthusiasm. There is faith and then there is patience. So in the best case situation what will happen is our faith will enhance our enthusiasm and our enthusiasm will enhance our faith. Our faith will enhance our patience and our patience will enhance our faith and our enthusiasm will build our patience and our patience will build our enthusiasm. So this is the best case scenario. Now of course for most of us this best case scenario is quite rare but that’s why tomorrow when we talk about so even if one of those things is there we move along with one of those things but in general if I’m working in life if I’m trying to do something so I have the energy to do my part so if we consider the example say of prahuad prahuad when his master told him that you should share Krishna’s message with the western world he started that and he had extreme and extraordinary enthusiasm he was introduced to his guru maharaj in 1992 got in 199 1933 and he’s already writing articles introducing his colleagues to the to the godamat and through his spiritual master’s teachings and then he started writing a magazine in 1940 the back to world magazine where he started doing so many things. So praupad had a lot of enthusiasm. Now while he had the enthusiasm what happened is the results were not coming. See when there’s a hyper controlling mentality we had enthusiasm for some time but if the enthusiasm results are not produced we just lose the enthusiasm. What the point of being here but prahuad did not lose his enthusiasm he continued to now it’s interesting when prahapad came to America so when he went to America at that time in 1965 he had been you consider the timeline he was introduced to a spiritual master in 1922 he went to America 1965 and his whole period. We could say that this was 43 years. You could say more seriously he started in 33 maybe a little before that he had started his serious outreach efforts. But whatever it is whether you call 30 years or 40 years it’s not a small thing. There was practically the success there was low or almost no success. The only success tangibly speaking he had was Three years before he went to America, he wrote the Bhagwatam first cano commentary. There was something tangible he had to show with him. So when we do some surveys, we would like to see some tangible results. The tangible results is something this is what I did. Braha did not have any institution. Braha did not have any followers. So actually to persevere when we are not getting success is not easy. But he had that enthusiasm that was market at the same time when he went to America. So there is one statement that he made that there are temples and they’re filled with devotees and the devotional dimension I’m going to talk about more tomorrow but I’m just elaborating the principle here that he said that there are temples and they are filled with devotees but it is time that this so in one sense this time aspect is he was patient but he also had faith. So faith and patience they are related generally things and we say like that. So generally it’s easy for us to associate faith with patience in our mind in our mind okay we have faith in god bhan uh god will do things in his own time but associating faith with enthusiasm also is important. So it’s like if I have faith In Krishna, it’s enthusiasm in doing my part and patience in the rest working out.
It is not that pragad didn’t have faith in sometimes it is if you have faith all results will come. Yes. But faith itself may take some time to produce the results. It’s Not that just because if I have faith I want to build a garden for Krishna but I sold the ros roses today and tomorrow I get roses. Even if I have faith I need patience. So this is illustrated this dynamic is illustrated also in the Mahabharat in one of the most dramatic days in the Mahabharat war. So Mahabharat war was there for how many days? 18 18 days. Now Among those 18 days, there were four commanders of the Kawarasa side. From day 1 to day 10, who was the commander?
Vishma was the commander. Now, as long as Bishma was the commander, more or less he kept things under a decent level of morality. He ensured that Kowas followed war codes and that’s how things were decent. Now, for the next 5 days, was the commander Chandra
Corona was the commander. Now during this stage things started going down in 16 and 72 days Karana was the commander. The last day Shia Shalya was the commander and the last night Ashwat Kama was the commander. Now in one sense the worst thing happened during Ashwatama’s commandage. So now if you consider during this time on the 13th day Abimmanyu was killed and that was devastating. Now and that day basically the way things transpired is that when Bishma fell that’s the time when Karna came to the battle. Karna had said that because Bishma has always been minimizing me. I don’t want that he if I’ll fight for him and then he as the commander get the credit for the victory. As long as he’s fighting, I won’t be there. So then when Vishma fell and karna came at that time, Durona expected that because Duryun and Karna are so close karna will become the commander and actually offered Karna the commandership. But Karna said that many of the warriors here to be trained by the And in this presence if you offer the commander ship they will all not only Dona take offense but they will also take offense and it is better than to offer the commander ship to so had whether it was he didn’t really have much respect for Dona but he had that strategic sense that a if he is the commander and if the soldiers the warriors under him don’t fight wholeheartedly then again he will be blamed for the difference. So he also hoped that the next few days he would actually demonstrate his promise to people. So now Grona was so surprised and delighted was also thinking that I’ll have to be working under karna and naturally as a elder actually as a teacher it was a bit of a not a pleasant feeling for him to have to worked under karna. So when the offered him the commandership was very he said this is what go and Duryodan was just ready for this. Guruan said that I want that you are extinguished and bring him to be alive. Eyes opened wide audition such that even you do not want me to kill him. So shook his head and he said that after watching the pandas fight for 12 years for for 10 days especially him and Arjuna fight for 10 days I have concluded that it is impossible for us to defeat and destroy them in war and if we kill Yudishtar then they will go mad and you will destroy. My plan is once you arrest Yudishtar I will challenge you to another gambling and I will have him exiled for another 12 + 13 years that person will never But Dona promised. Now on the 11th and the 12th days, Dona came very close to arresting you. But Dona told also already I can arrest you. But you have to keep Arjuna away from me because although Arjuna is my student, he has learned everything from me that would have been my equal. But he is young and he has greater energy than me. and he has performed severe austerities and gained many celestial weapons. This was one critical difference. So Dona said that because of which if he comes in the way I will not be in this extent. This is a difference not only between Ka the sorry Arjuna and Dona. This is also a difference between Arjuna and Karna. When the pandas were in the forest Arjuna did severasia to get celestial weapons. Now Kana why pandas in the forest? Kala focused on he would do his surya puja regularly but karna focused more on pleasing those by winning wars for him and by supporting him in this space. Karna knew at once that once in that push had cursed him that the celestial weapons you have learned your most important weapons in the most important war that you have you will forget them and the so he knew that curse now’s curse had been only for the weapons which Sharam had given him the celestial nuts which he had given. So that’s why when he got the shaky astra from Indra he did not forget the shaky mantra so that he got by separate means. So Karana could also have got more celestial weapons but he did not. So either way what happened is that Arjuna came on the 11th day and on the 12th day and just when Duna seemed to be victorious in arresting Arjuna came and stopped him. Now Now this was frustrating for but it was even more infuriating for he says you have promised to achara that you will why are you not doing this so he had arranged that Arjuna be challenged by some other warriors and taken to a different direction but Arjuna would come back in time so and he just stop it so don’t offend that told that if you are affectionate towards the pandas and because of that affection you cannot fight wholeheartedly then please step down as the commander and karma be the commander and he will provide me victory. This was a terrible insight and the difference between Dona and Bishma was that see Bishma was the family. Bishma was the grandfather. So even when Dona would insult Bish sorry even Duryodhan would insult or like criticize Bishma this is just my grandson he would not take it very seriously but while Dona was the teacher of Duryodhana also Dona was also Simon is an employee of Duryodan and because of that what happened the same words of criticism duly had accused the Vishn when he accused it to Dona Duna was affected much more and then Dona said that I will create a chakra tomorrow morning and tomorrow I will have today. If you can keep Arjuna aside then we will surely the so the start of the day did not form chakra start of the day they did not form chakra they had a normal military formation and then sushi one of the kings challenged Arjuna raja got diverted in fighting with him and Arjuna power say And then after they quickly reformed and the chakra was revealed behind the initial army formation the whole chakra had already been formed. It was concealed and it started marching towards the panda ranks and now the spies from the pandas knew that this was meant to target and they became very and then they decided that the only way is now told that I can go inside but I can’t come out. So assured him just go in you break in we will follow you and once we are inside we will destroy this from inside that plan was sensible but unfortunately Jayat came and was trapped so although was trapped and when a bibi was trapped the military formation closed the cover was celebrated yes lot of women but it seemed for some time that the The trap was going to trap them because was just destroying everyone in the earth. No one could stop him. Neither karna, neither ashwatama, nor dona himself, not duryodhana, not norasana. Nobody find that do something. So karana said command that he will come up with some idea. Shakuli said that yes let’s consult Dora and Dora feeling the pressure he suggested that all six warriors attack him as then a moment he was killed and then that evening when Arjuna came back when he was returning a long hard day of fighting and while while the war was brutal there was al also a bit of a atmosphere of a sporting contest over like it was meant to be a test of strength and skill. And in the evening at the end of the war on both sides there would be there would be musicians who would play soothing celebratory music to welcome all the warriors back. But on this day there was complete sober silence. I started feeling a bit When he came he said what what could be wrong something terrible happened who could have passed his mind what would have been killed and as soon as he entered the main tent eyes went to the throne ofish seated there seemed here and there immediately saw that the women knew throne was empty He looked back in shock again and they noticed that tears had been flowing down space. The space had become marked by the tears flow collapsed. She couldn’t believe it calling out and then came towards him with heavy steps and the heavy heart. Now Arjuna went over there a series of emotions. First was shock. Shock that something like this happened. Then after that came guilt. I am a warrior. I meant to protect everyone and I couldn’t protect my own son. In his final moments would have called out to me. This is the child would call out to his father for help on me. He said I went chasing my own glory and I was not there for my exam and from that guilt came. Then anger immediately was directed towards the pandas his own brothers. He said he looked at us and he said are all your weapons just or could not one of you protect my sonish and be this kick on the face. So Krishna came to and pulled me to side hug. And Krishna said, “Oh Ba, bad things happen to everyone in life, the wise and the unwise.” But the difference is when bad things happen to the unwise, they act in ways that make things worse. When they happen to the wise, they act in ways that make things better. Look at the faces of your brothers. They are in pain at the death of Abdmanu. Just as you are in pain please don’t speak words that will increase this pain so then Arjuna’s anger shifted towards the kavas and within them specifically jadrat now why specifically jadrat now at this particular point see the the pandawas had spies. But the spies would often not be in the middle of the battle. And at this particular point, the exact mood in which Abanu had been killed was not known cuz all that the pandas knew was when Abani was killed, the Kora started celebrating and when they started celebrating, they knew Amatu has been killed and that news came out. Now later on the brutality with which he was killed came to be known later but at this point From Arjuna’s perspective what happened that he very he thought as a thought not as a father but as a strategist as a military strategist when they used to explain what they had thought what they had planned. Yes you had a sound plan but it was Jadrat who blocked so it was Jadrat who cut off the support network that was there for women and therefore Jadrat has to be punched. Therefore Jrat is the cause of his death. Now the next day. So then Arjuna took he said tomorrow before sunset I will kill Jayat and if I don’t kill him then I will enter into fire and I will end my life. Arjuna spoke this the mood of the Pandava camp changed completely. There was complete shock and dismay and grief and from there it shifted to anticipation and confidence that day everybody knew Arjuna was a man of his word and if Arjuna had taken a bow the next day would be the day of probably worst defeat for the pandas for the pandas no what was one day a terrible defeat for the pandas next day it would turn out to be a worse defeat for the cowas so this is the background talk I’ll talk tomorrow about the whole second part of the story this is where is seen in Arjuna but there are some things over here also which are related to a topic so how Arjuna actually conquered in one one day on the 14th day that I’ll discuss tomorrow but the point over here is that when we say success so Arjuna now was Arjun not successful Well at one level yes aim you died so he was not successful but at another level he was successful that he died he fought as a hero he lived as a hero and he memorized his death as a hero and by that he attained an auspicious destination. So we may have enthusiasm but enthus the karma da and kala is there. So sometimes if the da is not favorable our karma may not lead to the so at that time we may think oh I failed well yes and no yes in the sense that the particular endeavor which we try for we may not get that particular result but if our karma that we do is done in a mood of dharma in a mood of devotion bi then that will bear higher results even if the results don’t come in this life they will come at an they will come in the next life. So when we talk about these three factors contributing in general when we start in an endeavor in life the problem is that we may seem to do everything that is in our control right and still things may not work and that’s why ultimately if we only have a material conception of life then We may become distrusted because I did everything that I could. I was enthusiastic. I was patient and I was things didn’t work out. Sometimes in life things do not work out. So you know faith is not this is the last one. Faith what it is and what it is not. The Diva can add one refer to destiny and da can also refer to divinity. These two are similar but they are not the same. Destiny and divinity. What is difference? Destiny is basically like the sum total of our past karma. So if I am going through life, if this is my present lifetime and I had another life before this, I had another life before that. So what happens based on those past lives when I enter into this life I have a karma cloud above me and this karma cloud is my destiny and based on this karma cloud sometimes some rain comes one major installment it comes partly positive partly negative at birth something good in the family where born the country we are born there’s something not so good about it also and then throughout our life sometimes a positive rain comes sometimes a negative rain comes so this is da da is basically destiny the stockpile of our karma which comes upon us but above destiny is divinity now what is the relationship in destiny and divinity that is that divinity is God Krishna divinity determines to some extent which karma comes to us at what time so I said karma is functional karma is a operational principle of reality but how which particular karma’s result will come to us when that is determined not by so by destiny but by so when uh
when Dona is frustrated sorry when is frustrated later on all that
when despite all his efforts the pandas keep winning says I have more veteran warriors I have more experienced warriors on my side I have more number of warriors on my side and yet I’m losing why is that so at that time replied is oh prince it is only endeavor that is rebuked in the hands of human beings. The results are ultimately interpreted by destiny and the lord of destiny is on the chariot of the lord of destiny is on the chariot of so destiny so da can refer to destiny da can also refer to divinity. So for those who are not practicing bi directly it’s mostly destiny that is playing role in them. God God himself does not intervene. Not that he doesn’t care but he intervenes in our life to the extent we want him to interact. So the dynamic of destiny and divinity we look at it tomorrow. But faith I was going to talk about this. Now faith is meant to bring in that when I endeavor faith is to bring in a certain level of submission.
Submission means yes there’s a higher reality. There’s a higher plan, there’s a higher purpose and I said to myself faith is not a tool for manipulation. Manipulation means what? That look by my prayers, by my faith, I can get God to do my will. It’s not like that. Pray it is not that. Sometimes people say that you know when you are seeking God’s glory, you are basically flattering God. You flatter God and then God does what you want for him. It’s not like that. It’s not manipulation. And so sometimes somebody might be even devoted and still even they may face some s setbacks in life. The point is that when we make sense of life then we can perceive it. Okay, this didn’t work out. This this was particular factor because of which it didn’t work out. But so let’s summarize what we discussed today. Today we Discuss it our body. If you want to success principles sometimes use the success formula then success is too complicated to handle formula. Formula is more like a equation or something like that. But principles we can say so three principles we discussed about how the first is in life we can have many confusions. One confusion could be about the ends. What is it that we want to achieve and The second confusion can be about the means. Once I decided what I want to achieve, how do I want to achieve it? There could be confusion about means also. So today we were discussing the confusion about means. How do we know how do we move forward in our life to achieve success? So I talked about that there are three principles. If I am here and this is the This is the color the result I want. So the ends I want once I have decided the ends there are three you could say there are three planks on the bridge to success. So what are they karma and so karma and so karma is associated with enthusiasm sah was associated with faith and cal is associated with patience. So we need all of these to be able to be successful in life. So enthusiasm is what we do our part. I also discussed about what are enthusiasm is associated with purchase. Faith is associated with
faith is associated here also. When I’m talking about three kunas, I’m talking about them in a functional sense, not in a moral sense. In a functional sense, every human being needs to like the nature. There’s sometimes in satwa, sometimes, sometimes in tamas like that with the also in a functional sense, we need all three in balance. And then I discussed about the principle of how ara any if it becomes param then it leads to another so we discussed about how various examples specifically for us if there’s only faith or let’s start only enthusiasm that will lead to hyper controlling hyper controlling eventually leads to anger we discussed how control is a need for us but if control becomes too much it leads to anger similarly if there’s only patience that will lead to passivities. I’m just waiting I’m doing nothing. That’s not going to work. And if there’s only faith that will lead to sentimentality that is oh I have faith that God will do everything. Yes, God will do everything but we also have to do our part. So we discussed how these three can be ideally speaking they can be synergistics that our enthusiasm can increase our faith and our enthusiasm and patience can also have similarly a synergistic relationship and so can so can our faith and patience. So how this will work out we’ll discuss more in tomorrow’s session specifically in terms of how we can pursue in our spiritual life also. Thank you very much. Krishna are there any questions of just like everything comes with a price. So my understanding is even da and kala may have for that you have to pay a price like suppose I did my karma to achieve particular thing but on my level on my conscious consciousness level I may not understand that was there any fault in doing my karma but because the result didn’t came I assume that it is because of DV and Kala so it might happen that because of having faith in God or because of having patience I may not try to rectify if there was any fault in the process good point that see the question is that sometimes will my faith make me think or my spirituality or whatever my philosophy may think that if things did not happen in result was that because of destiny and then I may not try to introspect and improve myself that’s definitely a possibility and I would say uh broadly speaking eastern spirituality you may think of the west as materialistic but the west is not always materialistic materialism in the west came in the last 100 to 150 years Before that the west was also fighting across the world everyone was religious and then Europe started colonizing the world that was it is the Catholics who came towards the who went to South America Protestant went to North America the Protestants came to so Britain was Protestant they came to India also so my point is that there was religious reason so what happened is various reasons we could say the faith in the western world led to enthusiasm faith in the ind in India not just in India in China also to some extent faith to what extent faith was there that led to patience but not to enthusiasm so both ways extreme can be a problem so what happened in the west based on their enthusiasm they brought about a lot of external change in material progress but when there’s enthusiasm without patience the problem is that Sometimes things just don’t work out.
So one extreme is to think that if something has not worked out, it must be my fault. The other is okay, it’s destiny, it was just not meant to work out. So we could go towards too much extreme in either way. So what happens if I consider whenever there is a failure, there’s lack of success. So broadly it could be lack of karma. Failure is because of lack of what? It could be lack of karma. By lack of da means something diver. So now if we think it is only karma and we think it’s only da so what happen if we think it’s only daika as I said we’ll become passive. So it excess of patience. things will work out. What happens is an excess of karma. Oh, it’s all your responsibility, your problem. So that leads to in one sense anger. But anger can go two ways. Anger directed outwards is aggression. Anger directed inwards leads to depression. Depression is where you know that I start thinking that because I did not succeed. So I am a terrible person.
Sometimes it is just bad.
We did our best but things don’t work out. So So which is healthy? Well, we have to be it’s more like a we have intelligent analysis is required. Sometimes we can become if in our world view there is no place to acknowge the the role of destiny then what happens all failure becomes my personal responsibility and sometimes it’s not sometimes the batsman may bat very well but all the other battles get out and the batsman cannot leave the due to now if the batsman starts batt starts beating themselves up at that time they don’t use that now in such a situation easy to understand I did my best But sometimes it’s not so easy to understand that. So either ways extreme is not good. So we have to carefully analyze. That’s why in some ways association is important, good association. So if ideally speaking, if we understand that my nature like I have a lot of enthusiasm, then it’s easy for me to make friends with those who have enthusiasm.
But I also need to be able to make friends with those who have more patience and more speed then they’ll be able to compliment me. So if there’s a bird of a bigger flock together that’s one truth but is also that unlikes attract each other like unlike both. So what is true that both are valid truths so at one level it is easier for people who are more than shik you know people who do big projects then bakti or out people do big projects It’s natural for them to gravitate with towards each other. But it’s important that at least in Bhavad’s circle some people who are not so important constantly by external tangible measurable definition of success. So by that what will happen is this passivity that the you did your best don’t take it personally. Mandar that there is no great when things are beyond human control. We did our part, it didn’t work out. It’s okay. So, it’s not so easy to introspect at that moment. Sometimes after the emotion of the moment has decreased, then we can actually objectively analyze when this didn’t work out. To what extent was it my fault? To what extent was it things beyond my control?
Thank you. I’m saying that uh the thing of it is not patient is instead of a system which is getting popular uh where they try to have system where you can think that you can do healing also you can get some of your bones to uh such society. So what is your view on that and how to see that?
Okay, if you consider system and that belief that we can be through our thoughts then at one level in the Vic world view the mind is just saying the body is real, the mind is also real, the soul is also real. The mind is real that mean the mind also has new powers. So the problem is often to go into these groups to think the mind has no power or to think the mind has all powers. So, so that’s why does the attitude make a difference? Of course makes a difference. Somebody can have positive attitude, somebody can have negative attitude. But does it mean positive attitude will always lead to success? No. It is that if like a finania nobody sit in the world. So it’s not that our thoughts alone can keep it to So now whether even if you consider praying to some divinity or connecting with some higher power or whatever is good but there’s no guaranteed success anywhere because how diver will work out. So in Ayurveda also they have this whole scale of analysis that sometimes when uh a particular medicine does not work then the I the doctor said this particular decision by destiny and then they may refer you to chantas or chants of mantras now that will work or not we don’t know but the point is to whatever extent we can we try to look causal perspective from our our frame of analysis so for example if I’m giving this talk and suddenly the sound goes off should I start thinking oh it is my destiny when the sound system went off No, look at I accidentally switch this off or did the battery get discharged? Uh did the power supply go off? To whatever extent we can analyze within our frame of reference, we should analyze and considering the mind and the role it play also got open. So the mind has healing power there’s no doubt about it depending on uh how our frame of mind is. So from biological pers neurological perspective you can say people who feel loved cared for valued then brain secretes more enzymes which are connected with which are stimulating key those there’s a famous paper quite a well-known paper which is a program that science and spirituality kiss the type of mental sense spiritual and mental are the same he found that people who have had some like very severe surgeries. If those people had loving relatives and had a sense of needing for their life, had something to look forward to in their life afterwards after the surgery, they recovered faster. People who did not have much to look forward to, they would not recover that. So that definitely plays a role. How do we understand that border? That becomes difficult sometimes. See
the board is difficult in everything because say if I somebody is prepared by it and they don’t succeed in first attempt second attempt yes maybe third attempt well probably not 10th attempt certainly is life has to go on there on life. So I would say that we have to have a sense of perspective. by which we will know how much effort should I put in this particular area. So it’s just like uh any other modality of treatment if I have some sickness been a long time chronic sickness I may decide that I’ll try this treatment for 1 month for 3 months for 6 months but after that I can’t really now I have to move to something else so how much will that be that is something which we have to make a judgment call ourselves Any other questions? Yes, please online.
Yeah. Hi. Questions. So, Abisha asked this question. Uh many times in the services we become too much result conscious and get disturbed if things don’t turn our way. How to rise above above from this platform to the platform of doing or uh doing our duty sincerely and dedicatedly. What practical action should be taken? How can we ensure that we we don’t become too result conscious in our services? It’s difficult because we live in the material world and we also want to serve Krishna in the material world. So to serve Krishna and Sati I’ll talk about this more tomorrow. But you know bacti has two aspects to it at one level. One is we connect with Krishna through our consciousness. This is you could say more like internal connection with Krishna. But the other is we connect with Krishna through the world. That is where we want to offer the world or offer at least our small corner of the world to Krishna. So praghad’s heart was always connected with Krishna. His consciousness always offered to Krishna but still why did he go from India to a marriage because he also wanted to offer the world to Krishna. So bacti have an inner dimension and outer dimension. Now which is more important? You could say the inner is more important but that does not mean the outer is not important. That ultimately what Krishna wants is the outcome. But we want to always have a heart to the things in the small also. So wanting to do our service well in the sense that wanting some tangible results of the service is not wrong. The challenge comes when we we reduce bi to only this part that if I’m not able to do my service or if my service does not manifest any results then that means I am a bad or I’m a I’m a worthless human maybe not sometimes you said purity is the force yes purity is the force but purity is not the only force but isn’t that from before 1965 196 was brahad not pure isn’t why brahad not get resolved before that so is it that after going to America the land of the pure impure then prahad became pure after
no so in the material world when success comes it’s a complex composition of factors and there’s a spiritual purity that is there but the material suitability of the situation that also important the same prahuad when he came back to India also after that it was a cultural sensation praupad coming back with western disciples but that cultural sensation did not lead to a spiritual transformation in the sense that not many people became initially the disciples of Shiva prahapati. So that happened later on after about 10 15 years when uh devotees disciples started becoming a little older and more experienced the thing is that so we have to be recognizing that it’s not only one or the other that I want to offer my consciousness torishna also want to offer the world that sometimes I’m not able to offer the world that does not meanrishna is going to reject then we may have to see okay this service is not working Then what should I do? Maybe I have to improve the service. Maybe I have to put some other service. Maybe I need some support in the service. So the consciousness is more important than the world. But the world is not on the at least what we should be able to do is so in one sense you can say focus on the internal more than the external. That is true. But in our life it’s very difficult to focus only on the internal. So then if we consider our services We need to have some kind of range of services maybe in some service we get some sense of success. Somewhere there is no success. So if we are doing only one service and in that one service there is no success then that’s going to be very difficult to succeed to continue for us. So everybody needs some sense of success some sense of value. Okay. Okay, I started doing this. I learned cooking. Now I will cook well. I learned speaking but maybe when I go and speak not many people come for my talks around it will become devotes to my that’s okay. We need to do something at least. So try to find out some area where we can get success and that doesn’t mean you have all other services but we don’t let ourselves be defined by those services only where we’re not getting success. We’ll continue tomorrow. Oh, it’s day after. Okay, fair enough. So, second part of the session will be day after tomorrow evening.
Thank you very much.