4 ways to strenghten our relationship with Krishna | CAST acronym | Online class for Hyderabad youth

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Hare Krishna. So I'm grateful to be here with all of you today and I'll focus today on the topic of how to deepen our relationship with Krishna four ways. So the basic operating premise I'm going to talk about is based on the first two elements of Sharanagati that is Anukulyasya Sankalpa and Pratikulyasya Varjanam.

So Anukul whatever it is that we make it cool for us that we accept it and that which is Pratikul we avoid it. So when we talk about becoming more serious in Bhakti, becoming more committed to our relationship with Krishna, we all may have different understandings. Somebody may say that okay I will chant my rounds in the morning and that's where I show my seriousness.

Somebody I'll read Shastra already. Somebody will say that I'll take up some significant responsibility for serving Krishna and somebody will say I'll give some substantial donation and that's the way and these are all valid ways. So while there are ways so that there could be specific ways but what I would like to discuss over here is and these specific ways are no doubt important but can we place these specific ways within some broader categories so that we understand what does it mean or how can I actually go about.

So the specific ways are more about activities and activities are important but when you're talking about broader categories we can talk about principles then there are different ways in the specific ways can be talked about. Say we have the 64 items of Bhakti. Within that we have the five potent forms of devotional service.

We can talk about the nine forms of Bhakti. Like we said we have our sadhana card where we measure certain things. So that's some way we can think of how we can deepen our relationship with Krishna.

So there are many specific ways and we do need to come down to the specific ways but we start with broader categories. So to discuss this and I'll focus on the broad idea of a relationship. Now when we talk about a relationship the relationship with Krishna and our relationship with others.

So there are two ways of looking at this. One is that it is our relationship with Krishna and our relationship with others. It is categorically different that there is neither.

Krishna is the supreme person. Krishna is the one person with whom we have an eternal relationship. All our other relationships are relatively temporary.

So we can say that this is a completely different relationship. That is bheda and this bheda that becomes the focus when the object of the relationship is talked about. So Krishna is a different person from all other persons and that's why the relationship with Krishna is also different from all other relationships.

At the same time Krishna is a person. He's a different kind of person and we could say there is a bheda in the sense that the principles for expressing love, for relating with people, for relationship building they are to a certain extent universal. Say for example mother Yashoda's love for her child.

Now we can understand that by considering our love for our children or maybe what we have experienced as children, our parents' love for us. So now should that be compared? Well while remembering that they are different, that there is difference in the relationship, still if we don't have the abheda aspect then the entire aspect of relating with Krishna itself will become something so different and different from our experience, something so beyond our experience that it's almost like the relationship will become unrelatable. So we don't want that also and Prabhupada also says that if you have Krishna as your child, he will be the best child.

You have Krishna as your parent, Krishna will be the best parent. So we do use those metaphors also. So when the focus is on the relationship itself and not so much on the object of the relationship then there is some abheda.

So now bheda and abheda are generally translated as oneness and difference but there's another way to translate that is also dissimilarity and similarity. So abheda is similarity and so there are similarities and there are dissimilarities. So the actual understanding is that there is both, there is bhed and abheda is there and it's important to know when to use, when to focus on what.

So Krishna is the person with six opulences, nobody else has the opulences like Krishna. So that is a categorical bhed but still Krishna is a person. So we will use the metaphor of a relationship to look at these principles.

So I'll talk about an acronym, caste. Now the word caste, this is different from the word caste in the caste system. Say caste means like saying this is an agreement cast in iron that means that it is something which is very firm.

So when you use the word caste it is like sometimes we have a mold in which we shape something so that's also a caste. So caste is a way to shape, to solidify, to give concrete form, to make concrete what might not be concrete. So we'll talk about four ways in which we can cast our relationship that is these are ways in which we can strengthen our relationship with Krishna.

So earlier when I said that there is, there is the idea of anukul and pratikul. So that we can translate, we can understand in other ways that in every relationship there are bonds and there are boundaries. So that means that for a relationship to develop we bond with the other person and when we bond with the other person there are certain activities we do by which we come closer to the other person and say if you want to be friends with someone then one way to bond is we try to understand their interests, we try to spend time with them, we try to do some activities with them.

So it's bonds and then every relationship brings with it certain boundaries. So for example if a couple gets married then it means that they can't relate with other men and women the way they might have related before. There are always some gender boundaries in interactions but once there is marriage it becomes a little bit more and so the commitment to the relationship is seen both through the bonds and through the boundaries.

So we will focus today more on the bonds. We'll see what can be done to accept that which is favorable. So the first C is category.

That means that we do various activities in our lives and some activities may be just like a new category of activities for us. So for example if we are working in a company and we want to say if you're working in America and you want to connect more with your boss and you find that the boss is very interested in baseball then the boss always talks about baseball and whenever he talks about baseball we look as if that person is talking in some foreign language or that person is we look at them as if they're playing some foreign language movie with those subtitles. If we just have a complete blank face then that will not be able to help us to relate.

So for the sake of that relationship we may start exploring a new category of activities. Not just new activity but a new kind of activity, a new category of activity. So that could be becoming interested in sports or becoming interested in that particular sports.

So similarly for us when we start practicing bhakti say the new category of activity that we start is chanting. We all might have chanted some mantras if we came from somewhat pious backgrounds. We might have memorized some shlokas also but sitting down in a committed way and focusing on chanting this may well be an activity that is new for us.

So sometimes for the sake of a relationship we may need to explore a new category of activity. Now this category of activities we could put into categories that are directly devotional activities that we may do. That means say we might never have done deity worship before but now okay we learn how to do our aarti, what all is required for the paraphernalia.

We start learning that whole universe. So that some activities may be more directly devotional but that's a new category of activity that we explore and we can also decide okay so now the Karthik month is going on. Maybe what I wish to do is do a new category of activity that I have not done before.

So that could mean that okay I have not started reading Ketan Charita. So I've been reading books but I've not read that so maybe I want to read that or maybe this is the month I want to focus on Krishna. I want to read some book directly about Krishna.

So there could be some directly devotional activities and this way when we consider the point of a category the idea is that this is something new that which we were not doing before. So now there can also be indirectly devotional activity. There may be some of us might have been introverts and we don't like to have too much to be where there is a lot of gathering of people, a lot to speak of, speaking in public to a significant gathering of people and yet for our service to Krishna we may start exploring that.

So okay I want to share Krishna's message so I will start speaking and I will start speaking in public or we may learn something about management, we may learn something about counseling, we may learn some particular skills that are required for Krishna's service and this may not be something which we might normally do in the course of our life. It may not be our interest, it may not be a part of our normal set of responsibilities but we take up something new for Krishna. So for example when Srila Prabhupada went to America he was a significant traveler.

Prabhupada read mostly while he was traveling. His business kept him busy and he had a quite a large family also but he would travel extensively for his business and during that travel he would read. At the same time going abroad was an entirely new category of activity for him.

He had never done this and to do that at the age of 70, sometimes some devotees or some Indians they settle in America and they invite their parents to come to visit them over there. When that happens they make so much arrangement to make sure that if possible they will then still stick their parents with them when they go back so that they don't have to travel internationally for the first time. And then nowadays if you travel by flight there is wheelchair arrangement and there are people to consult, people to ask.

There are so many logistical arrangements are there but when Srila Prabhupada went to America he had to make all the logistical arrangements himself. Not just that he was traveling alone without any familiar people. Of course the people were cordial, the captain Pandya because the owner had told them to be cordial.

Because he was a Swami they respected him. Srila Prabhupada had to arrange the finances, Prabhupada had to get the legal permissions, Prabhupada had to get the sponsorship. So it was a huge category of activity that he had not explored before and he took it up for the sake of serving Krishna or we can consider before that when Prabhupada published the Back to Godhead magazine.

So the whole category we know that Prabhupada himself would go to the printing, go to the paper manufacturer and get the paper from them, carry the paper. Now this is a small thing but if you take a picture, carrying paper for thousand magazines and you carry it a significant distance. That was not a small effort.

Then Prabhupada would himself do the typing, the proofing. Then he would himself go and distribute the magazines. Now this whole Related With magazine was a new category of activity.

So if we want to look at our relationship with Krishna, we can see, okay, is there some category of activity that I have not yet explored and may help me in enhancing my relationship with Krishna. So now of course we can say that this category can be related with our guna, our varna basically. Our varna is associated with our guna and karma.

So now sometimes we may explore some activity which is according to our interests, our talents, even if that might not be in the domain of bhakti directly, conventionally in the domain of bhakti. If somebody were to decide that I like animations and then they will explore the whole universe of animations. It's quite a vast and technical universe.

Of course, you can say that you can use animation for serving Krishna but here there might not be a clear template of how to go about doing it. If somebody wants to do youth outreach, then we have others who have explored that path, others who have created some broad template, okay, you know, do this kind of program that collect, cultivate people in this way, this way, this way. So basically when we are exploring something, it may be something which is according to our guna and karma and we explore it because that's what our interest is and something it may not be according to our guna and karma.

We may explore because that's what is required at that particular time. The service requires us to do that. So if that happens, it is important and taking up that exploratory spirit.

For some people, it may actually be much more important than others as different people based on their psychology. You see some people based on psychology, some people try on order. Order means, okay, I'll do this in the morning, I'll do this in the afternoon, I'll do this in the evening.

They like to have a certain level of structure and predictability in their life. On the other hand, some people thrive on adventure. So if they have to do the same thing again and again and again, it just becomes monotonous.

Of course, we can say devotionally that in bhakti nothing is monotonous and that is true, but for us to realize it, we need to go beyond the psychological level and completely situate ourselves on the spiritual level and it takes time. So for example, if we thrive on order, say some services like a pujari service, where we have to be punctual, we have to be diligent, that service is what somebody may want to explore. On the other hand, if somebody is trying an adventure, then maybe a traveling preacher.

That life, if somebody wants to do order, I'll sleep at this time, I'll wake up at this time. Okay, but if you have a flight at some time, you have to go here, you have to go there, the flight gets delayed. If somebody is very much oriented towards or needing order, then this service may be incompatible for them.

So why am I talking about this at this point is that when we are exploring categories, sometimes we may explore categories within our comfort zones. I understand, you know, I am much more mentally peaceful and then I can connect with Krishna and focus on Krishna when there is a broad order to my life. Of course, nobody can have complete control and total predictable order in their lives.

We are not Krishna. Some people can have a greater structure and order to their life. Some people may seek greater flexibility and adaptability or adventure, innovation in their lives.

So we may decide to explore something that is according to our nature or something which may not be according to our nature because that's what our service requires. That's what our growth requires. But the point is, sometimes we may explore a new category of activities.

So by considering what am I doing? In a normal relationship, when somebody does something for us, and the English saying is a person went out of their way to do this work. So went out of their way means, okay, you know, if you tell someone, can you pick this up for me while you're coming? The grocery shop is along the way. And then they pick it up and bring it.

They're doing a favor. It is on the way. But if somebody goes five miles elsewhere to pick up something just for us, that is, they're going out of their way.

So generally, they're going out of their way and they do something for us. We feel touched by it. We feel grateful.

We feel closer to that person. So similarly, basically, when we explore a category of activities, we need to go out of our way. And that's how we learn.

This is what I can do. This is what I would like to do. This is what I feel inspired to do.

So exploring a category of activity may be something which enables us to connect with Krishna more. When Prabhupada went to the West, it was not just geographically he was traveling to the West, but even culturally, it was a new culture. And there is one place where Prabhupada says, I have practically invented this Krishna consciousness movement.

So what he meant by that, the specific ways in which devotees can connect with Krishna, the whole idea of using an ordinary truck made in some Western manufacturing company as the chariot for Lord Jagannath. It's a whole new category. But Prabhupada did that because that's what made Krishna consciousness accessible to people in the West.

So we may explore categories. So I was talking with Amal Mahaprabhu about how after he did his youth outreach and then he started, he decided to focus on doing something different. The way he has written his books and he has done courses and by which he has managed his grasta obligations while focusing on serving Krishna.

This is practically a new category. And not many devotees have explored this particular way of serving Krishna. And that's something which is significant.

So some people may take a particular kind of job. Some people may take a different kind of job. So this is something where it's a significantly new thing that has been done.

So it's a new category that is explored. So some devotees in terms of their outreach may choose, okay, I will focus on the whole universe of self-help and then see how can that path of self-help or personal development, can it be connected with Krishna? Some devotees nowadays may be focusing more on broader dharmic outreach. Some people may be focusing on institutionalism and how can that be connected with Krishna.

So now whether that category of activity that we are trying to explore, can it be connected with Krishna? How much can it be connected with Krishna? So that is something to explore, no doubt. But the idea is that when we are thinking about enhancing, strengthening our relationship with Krishna, we may explore a new category of activity. Say we go to Vrindavan and we do a Vraj Mandal Parikrama.

And we may not be used to walking 21 kilometers. But we walk that. So that so much walking might be a new category of activity that we explore.

So that's the first aspect of category. Now the second is the acronym cast. It is accountability.

By accountability, what do we mean? That what we are trying to do for Krishna, are we in some way accountable for that? So now generally speaking, if we consider in terms of accountability, with respect to money, most of us are careful or with time we become careful. Somebody, we ask them, okay, you earn one lakh a month. How do you spend your money? They just have a blank face.

I spend it on this and that. There's so many things to do. How do you spend it? I don't know.

You don't know how you spend your money? Would be a sign of being very careless. So just as we can say we have accountability in terms of money, we can have accountability in terms of the relationship. So in any relationship, there is some accountability.

Now parents may ask their child, came back so late. Where were you? What were you doing? If a child comes back looking injured, a child comes back home with a black eye and a broken nose. So what were you doing? So we want to know, what were you doing actually? So that is a certain level of accountability.

So in every relationship, there has to be some accountability. Now with respect to accountability, quite often it is the other person who's in the relationship, that person will hold us accountable. Or it could be their two siblings, the parents hold them accountable.

But the younger sibling or the elder sibling may also talk about you. To do this, what will your parents think about you? How will you explain this to your parents, our parents? So there can be others also who can hold us accountable. Now we could say ultimately in our relationship with Krishna, the accountability comes through karma.

That sometimes we just minimize and trivialize karma and we say that karma doesn't act for a There is some truth to that assertion, but it involves complete rejection as mundane, something that is actually an arrangement of Krishna. That is karma mundane and bhakti transcendental? Well, yes and no. Karma is also an arrangement of Krishna.

So in that sense, we can't just dismiss karma as mundane. Of course, karma is an arrangement of Krishna through material nature. So in that sense, we may say it's not directly, personally, constantly being something that is done by Krishna.

Karma has its own almost mechanical arrangement. Not mechanical in the sense of we use the way we use mechanics in our normal sense of the word, but mechanical in the sense that it is a system which is set up and which works. Krishna said, Krishna in the third canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam says that material nature is actually both the cause and the effect.

Krishna also talks about his 1321 in the Bhagavad Gita. So Prabhupada translates the material nature as the cause of all causes and effects. So that means that material nature creates the basic foundation in which the principle of cause effect occurs.

That's one way to understand. So my point is that Krishna may not be directly involved in karma, but karma is also arranged by Krishna. So karma is one way by which we are held accountable by Krishna.

At the same time, because Krishna is invisible and the principle of karma is subtle. So the accountability in our relationship with Krishna may not be that evident for us immediately. And that's why we may need to create accountability.

Now accountability can be in this case towards self or towards others. That means that we take stock of our actions. See generally, there are two things.

First of all, there has to be accounting and then there can be accountability. So like earlier I gave the example of money. First, we need to know where we spend the money and then we can evaluate or we can be evaluated.

Okay, why did you spend this money this way? You went on this trip, was so much money required to be spent for this trip? In order to buy something, did you have to buy something so expensive? Whatever it is. So without accounting, there cannot be accountability. Ideally speaking, the graph can grow.

The greater the accounting, the greater can be the accountability. But these are two distinct activities. Going back to the previous example, these are two different categories.

First, we have to start accounting. Then we do the accounting, then we can do the accountability. So for example, accountability could be that once as I said, we have this whole idea of sadhana cards.

So now that is one way in which accountability is kept. But that is about specific things. As each one of us grows in bhakti, we may find that there are specific things that inspire us in Krishna consciousness that energize us and that may not be necessarily included or accounted for in particular pre-designed templates.

So for example, if somebody finds that memorizing verses is such a ready-made template for absorbing myself in Krishna, I want to memorize verses. I want to learn Vaishnav songs. Somebody said I want to learn some musical instruments.

So now we may be very diligent in doing that. Or we may not be, although we want to be. But we may have to decide to have some accountability for that.

And this is where actually either self, we can keep accountability for ourselves through introspection. Now introspection can sometimes be done specifically in written form through journaling. But the essential principle in introspection is what? It's like you say, if we are going through life, we take some time to look at ourselves, look at ourselves at the present, look at ourselves, how we did in the course of the day.

And we can look at also how what we are planning to do later in the next day or the future. So we may decide to spend some time on a daily basis. And okay, I decided I want to read Bhagavatam, read Shastra.

How much have I actually read? When I was reading, how much alert I was, how much absorbed I was. So we may decide that I want to have some level of accountability. So sometimes we can have accountability towards that is created by ourselves.

So many times we may make some resolution, say for Karthik, we make a resolution, maybe New Year, we make a resolution. Many times we start the resolution with great enthusiasm. And after some time, we not only fail to keep the resolution, we may even fail to remember that we had made such a resolution.

The mind gets so busy at times and our mind can get so consumed with so many things that certain things may just get wiped off our horizon, swept away from the forefront of our consciousness. So having some kind of accountability helps us. So sometimes we use the word a reality check.

So when we say a reality check means what? We check what we are thinking we are doing with the reality of what we are doing. So I may be thinking, you know, I'm a very good devotee. But then I start exploring.

Hey, you know, I've missed this and I've not done this for so long and I've not done this and I'm not doing this. So on what basis can I say that I am a good devotee or I am trying to practice bhakti religion? So some level of introspection can help us and especially as we grow in our spiritual lives, the idea of having someone else to whom we can be accountable that can become a luxury. A luxury means it is something which life just doesn't afford us.

Now what may happen when I say why it might become an unaffordable luxury? Because say if somebody becomes senior, then they may not have someone above them who is accessible to them. They may have a lot of responsibilities. They may have their own kshetra in which they're functioning, their own area, the geographical area, conceptual area, whatever.

And then at that time 10 equals may also not be so easily available to them. Although we should always try to make time to connect with someone of our equal so that we can have but it may be more and more difficult. So at that time we have to have accountability that is created by ourselves but at least initially in the initial few years of our spiritual life this is a necessity.

That's why we may have a counseling system, we may have a mental system. So what happens by this is that what we are doing, it can be evaluated, it can be assessed and creating some system of accountability is very helpful. So in the next six months I want to complete this canto of the Bhagavatam.

Six months may be a long time but this canto is a long canto. There are 90 chapters in the 10th canto of the Bhagavatam. So okay I can complete one chapter in one day.

Okay that means in 90 days I can complete. That's wonderful. And if you read this commentary, I will read that commentary also.

I will read that also. Okay it may take more time but I plan it. I have some plan and then we see how we are progressing according to that plan.

So accountability. So first there is accounting, there is accountability. So in general if we are serious about our relationship with Krishna, having some form of accountability is important because in some ways a relationship is a bit abstract.

Like two people may say, you know if two people are asked how do you assess the state of your relationship and one person may say relationship is very good and the other person may say it's not very good. That's because the two people may have different parameters for evaluating the relationship. Different people may have different ideas of what is important in the relationship.

So sometimes in a husband-wife relationship the husband may think okay yeah my marriage is very nice, everything is okay. The wife may say no we are not okay because she may have certain expectations and certain parameters of measuring the relationship. So in the two parameters may not be matching.

So exactly how we are going to hold us as accountable in our relationship with Krishna that may not be so easy. Some thought is required for how exactly accountability is to be done. But we talk about one point over here.

In one sense like in any relationship the accountability is there through reciprocation or non-reciprocation. So we want to meet someone and that person immediately makes time for us. That person doesn't make time for a long time and that itself indicates whether a person considers important or whether our relationship with them is in a healthy state or not.

So similarly for us if one way we can if we are experiencing dryness or emptiness in our relationship with Krishna then we could say that it is another way in which Krishna is holding us accountable. Now of course Krishna is holding us accountable. In a normal relationship also if we talk with someone and that person is very curt and cold, say what's wrong did I do something to offend you.

The same way when we are coming before Krishna and praying, when we are participating in kirtans, when we are doing devotional activities and it just feels completely dry and empty. So that is an indicator something is wrong over here. Something is messed up.

Something is missing. So now of course now the dryness could be there are many reasons but broadly the two reasons one could be that maybe we have been neglectful, we have been offensive and because of which we are experiencing that loss of taste or lack of taste. So loss of taste means we had it before and we are no longer having it.

Lack of taste means that we have been practicing that activity for some time as a discipline. We were expecting that we should be developing some taste now but we have not developed that taste. So when there is a taste there is a loss of taste that was already there or there's a lack of taste that we expected should have been there.

Maybe some people are normally very cold but if we take care of them, if we serve them, we attend to their needs then gradually you might see a little bit of a thaw in the relationship a little bit. Their coldness goes away and they start becoming softer and warmer. So that's that but if not it's not happening then something is an issue.

So now that dryness could also be a test that means it's not that we have been neglectful or offensive it's just that Krishna wants to see that are we ready to persist in an activity even when we don't get taste in it. Are we doing the activity just because we get pleasure or because we consider that relationship important even when there is no pleasure in that relationship. So that Krishna's reciprocation also a way in which Krishna holds us accountable and that is the presence or the non-presence of the absence of taste.

Now that's accountability. So the next two which are somewhat related so the acronym is caste so S is space and T is time. So what does space and time mean in this context that say if somebody is serious about a particular relationship say popular exploring a relationship and there's two are in different countries and I think the question is going to come up if you're going to take this relationship further are we going to do are we going to relocate there are you going to relocate here are you going to look at the third place and if parents want to have their child admitted in a particular college and that child of college is far away from their home then are you going to stay in a hostel or the child is uncomfortable the parent may say we will look this is a very good college this is a bright prospect for you so we will relocate in this area the parent may say our father may say I'll take a job over here the mother may say okay I'll come over here for this one year two years you know we will take care of everything just focus on your studies so that space is important in the sense that it shows the tangible way in which we are committed to a relationship so if somebody wants to be serious about the relationship with Krishna then they may create space in their home so we try to have an altar in our home now how nicely we decorate the altar how prominent is the altar in our home now if it doesn't mean it has to be done decoration has to be expensively done but it just means that we have put in some time thought and effort in that so the physical space that we devote to something that is important it could also be proximity if somebody stays far away from a temple or stays far away from place where they devotee association and then they relocate closer to that place so that is an indication that they are serious now you know space could also be in terms of travel tirtha yatra is a very important part of devotional activity this is one of the part of of the one of the five forms of devotional also going to a holy place basically it is it is one of the 54 items of devotional service and it is also talked about by rupa goswami so now we may or may not be able to literally physically go to vrindavan but many devotees as they become more serious in their bhakti may they say they may say that okay eventually i would like to take a job in a place where there is a vibrant community of devotees prabhupada by his mercy has created replicas of vrindavan in various places across the world so the space whether we create that space in our home whether we relocate our home to a space that is closer to a sacred space that is in a sacred space so that is all indication of how how much we are serious about our work so right now i am in the middle east and this is a place where when devotees earn a decent amount but this is not a place where the local countries give immigration rights so you can never get a permanent residency kind of thing and indians don't even want it over here most of the time so they're here but i think in the future okay many devotees okay i want to relocate to india i want to go to vrindavan mayapur or some other place where i can do some tangible service so here it's remarkable that everything that was traditionally considered as central to iskcon all those those three all those things are non-doable so for example iskcon would for most people when they hear the word iskcon what comes in their mind you know it could be people devoted to a public kirtan there's no question of public kirtan over here distributing books out of question distributing books building grand temples impossible you have to hire a place for each week you can't even many places they don't even allow indians to own pretty so and renting so we may hire for a few hours every day or every week a hall and do programs so none of the things that are considered and of course another thing is to have a temple and we have president brahmachari so there's no question of any brahmachari being over here so all the things that are associated with krishna consciousness conventionally all those are absent and still krishna consciousness is vibrant hundreds of devotees every weekend when we have a program i'm right now in oman in one city there are 500 people coming for a weekend program that weekend is friday another city i went again 300 people i go to other places in the so the point is that sometimes we may have to be very subtle in creating a sacred space one of the expertise of the bhakti tradition is that that space can be created very dynamically see mahaprabhu in mayapur did not instruct his followers to build any temples but bhaktivinoda thakur envisioned a temple but it's only after the islamic rule had ended and the british rule was there british rule was relatively culturally congenial and now we are trying to build a magnificent temple over there but during the islamic rule when there was a lot of cultural destruction and if not cultural destruction there's a danger of cultural destruction so obviously just focus on performing kirtans shivaji maharaj is one of the greatest revivers of dharmic culture from maharashtra now he did a lot for the protection of dharma but he did not spend energy and time on building temples there's a later queen in that dynasty he did a lot of work that was almost uh 250-200 years later she was in matepadej but she's actually the person who went to kashi and when she went to kashi temple and she did many other things eventually when the dharmic kingdom was established the grip on the geographical political space that was strong then that was done so the idea is how space can be utilized uh that may be that may vary from place to place so but the idea is space is one way whether it is public space in where it's personal space in the form of our own home space is one way in which we show by devoting a certain amount of space show our commitment to krishna so prabhupada does say that in one of the seven purposes of iskcon that to build a place dedicated to the transcendental pastimes of krishna to erect the place does not use the word temple now i asked devotees who who were close to prabhupada why does why is prabhupada so ambiguous or it's not so unambiguous and clear over there that like prabhupada is very clear about say kirtan dedicated to chaitanya mahaprabhu that we want to do that so it seems that actually prabhupada recognized that in the west temples may not be the best way to do outreach so for example when he went to new zealand he said don't try to build temples over here he said focus on creating a reading room and a library let people come let people read books and let discuss over let them discuss so whatever would be the suitable way in which people could have that space dedicated to krishna's worship say if you come to the govardhanico village and there is a beautiful temple the temple is not the center of the place there are so many other things going on there are a lot of people who equate a temple with something very religious and there are people who want to be spiritual but not religious so if the temple becomes too prominent then it becomes i don't really want to go to a temple may go either out of cultural curiosity only the temple i don't want to make it my regular spiritual practice at least initially so the idea is that space may have to be devoted in creative ways so now the same applies to time one one tangible way we know that somebody is serious about a particular relationship is that they are ready to make time for that relationship so if somebody says you are the most important person for me my whole life is for you but i have no time for you you what is the life if it's not time so you can refer to daily time that we have our daily sadhana now many people they may chant the holy names but when the quantity of sadhana that we do that is sometimes quite substantial not many traditions whether within the vedic path or outside devote so much time for sadhana so that just indicates that for us we are serious about our relationship so of course name alone is not enough sometimes some people like say when parents have teenage kids and the parents are devotees they want their teenage kids to come to temple but the teenage kids don't want to come to the temple then they are physically in the temple they may be attending a class but by their face and their expression they're showing they would rather be anywhere in the world except there now so it's not just how much time is being spent but also how much we are being involved in it but time is the first parameter after other things coming so it could be any time it could also be periodic say for example we have every fortnight we have an ekadashi where we can try to intensify our devotional activities every year we have this month of kartik so we would like to be very intense in our bhakti throughout but we have our limitations we have our physical limitations we have our social limitations professional limitations so we may not be able to devote the same amount of time throughout but maybe during this phase i am going to prioritize so that's periodic or intermittent we do it so time is a way in which we can we can quantify how much we are prioritizing the relationship and it is said that the goswamis they would chant but they would also because that enables again that extract to be made and so if we get some associations of senior devotee and we get five minutes we are grateful but if we get one hour two hours we get substantial amount of time also because you know that this devotee values because devotee cares for me so time is not necessarily the only way care is shown but it is an important way the same applies for how we are prioritizing our relationship with god so we all can try to take stock and see it's the when you talk about time there is both the quantity of the time and the quality of the time so how much time are we actually are given and how much are we there when we are giving that time but these are ways in which we can substantially strengthen our relationship with Srila Prabhupada was so tireless in his service to Krishna all day he would be speaking about Krishna to people who came to meet him and practically the entire night he was speaking about Krishna to people who had not yet come to meet him he was doing that through writing his book he was giving his time to Krishna this is what Prabhupada said to George Harrison right so how do we know who is a saint who is a truly spiritually advanced person so Prabhupada said see how much time they are devoting to Krishna how much we talk about Krishna how much do they out there is the life center of Krishna so that's how we can understand these parameters so I'll summarize what we discussed today we talked we talked about strengthening our relationship with Krishna I started first broadly we discussed these five points first was about the Bhed and Abhed in our relationship with Krishna versus others so we need to recognize the Bhed because the object is different but we also need to recognize Abhed because the principle of relationships there are largely similarities so there is Bhed and Abhed so based on that understanding we discussed the acronym caste the C was category so in any relationship for that relationship to grow there are bonds what we do for that person and there are boundaries what we do in order to preserve that relationship or how we deal with others what we don't do so that we can preserve that relationship so we focused intersection primarily on the bonds so with respect to category we discussed that some new set of new activity or new set of activities we may explore to enhance our relationship with Krishna these could be either devotional but they could be either directly devotional say we learn deity worship we learn singing or it could be indirect where we find out some resource which we can leverage in Krishna's service so we may learn public speaking we may learn counseling and for that purpose we also discuss that sometimes it may be according to our varna sometimes it may be not according to our varna so one example of varna I gave is it's not exactly varna but one example of our nature is that some people prefer structure and order in their lives some people prefer adventure in their lives so basically seeing how can I serve Krishna when Shri Prabhupada decided to go to America all the way there is a whole new category of activity when Prabhupada thought of having a yatra with a truck open-bedded truck that was a new category of activity and we talked about accountability how in every relationship there has to be a certain level of accountability and that begins first with accounting how am I spending my money so we keep a track of our activities and there is self and others at least initially having the others having somebody else to whom we are accountable is very helpful not only helpful because initially it is essential so that could be certain specific activities that are standard say we may have some kind of sadhana card or it could be that some activity we especially want to do and request someone that you please check on me regularly whether I'm doing this I want to learn this particular thing I want to study this shastra and as we go become severe we self-accountability becomes more and more important this comes through introspection where we take some time to look at ourselves and see what we are doing right what we are not doing how we can do some things more right then space in terms of space I discussed domestic space inside our home it can be overall geographical space do we choose to live where do we choose to live is it somewhere closer to association whether I choose to relocate so sometimes the space what we can create is not in our control so much but we try to do what we can and that shows a certain level of commitment and it's also in terms of time that is a basic parameter so we have the quantity of time and the quality of the time so in these ways we can make our relationship with Krishna more strong more tangible so in terms of accountability I also talked about how karma is a basic principle of principle of accountability and we could say rasa or taste the specific way in which Krishna also holds us accountable but what is abstract the idea of a relationship with a lord who is invisible we can try to make it more concrete by considering these four steps and thereby committing ourselves more for relationship thank you very much are there any questions or comments thank you for this very systematic progression and explanation and especially categorizing that into this acronym so it fits very easily also I was just wondering that do you have another class for the boundaries as well yes yes in fact I have spoken on the boundaries many times last time when I had come to Bangalore I think I just about one month ago I had done so I spoke on the Sita Pragya in the I think I think it's a temple so based on that see the same four things you can apply for boundaries also yes I have that class yeah so we would like to also hear from you probably about this so bonds is covered so nicely with boundaries also yes you know why I'm reflecting on this was also so my observation of myself and other devotees is what I have seen like why the strengthening of relationship doesn't happen so generally it is because the like as the time we spend for Krishna either directly or indirectly becomes a very minuscule part of our entire day or life or month we can say day also but days sometimes are like we have to be flexible on because sometimes things are going in one way so we have to address them but let's say a week or a month or sometimes a full year like if we can as you rightly said that relationship accountability and it became begins with accounting so that whole introspection that where did I actually spend my time you know so the urgent important things and sometimes the pressures of others like other people pressurizing us for this for that you know so this actually occupies a large portion of the day or you know you can say month even year and that's why the time for Krishna becomes extremely limited even even I'm speaking about direct as well as indirect as well you know if that is addressed so in that of course will come like for example the habits of prajalpa habits of many other things like you know it will come that the other part of boundaries will come into picture so but if that is done well then we have availability of ourselves for you know even making relationship with Krishna because the other part occupies so much so this part doesn't come so much that's what my observation that's true now in time we can talk about something like time blocking they say just decide that every day this time is going to be blocked for this particular activity so in some places we do time blocking naturally if we are giving a class then it's even if some phone call comes we're not going to attend to that call because I'm giving a class right but if I'm hearing a class you say okay maybe even if I'm not there for the class I can always hear the recording later talking may not be that serious so if you're physically attending the class it becomes a little more serious if you're attending a class then you may say okay let me just go for a few minutes and come back but for some important activities time blocking is required so we may decide that okay this time like normally we try to have our morning sadhana time so we are blocking that time so now there are certain professional and familial responsibility that will also block our time and we cannot just run away from them and we shouldn't also simply dismiss them as non-devotional time those can also be done with devotional consciousness but it is difficult to maintain that devotional consciousness while doing those activities if we are not doing direct devotional activities also at other times so that's why time blocking is very helpful when we talk about time and to be able to block this time sometimes we may have to set boundaries for other times so somebody decides that before this time I'm not going to respond to my phone call if I use my phone I want to use my phone only this particular app okay I'm not going to go on social media before this particular time in there that's one way to set boundaries like some people may have their office phone and their personal phone and the office phone is open only at particular times of the day or something like that so each one of us has to find out how we can block time so that we have the time for the bonding any other questions or comments and one more question on this sudhi sometimes the devotees may have very good intentions like now you gave the class now this I'm sure that everybody will be so inspired and definitely you know the sincerity is there that that intention to develop relationship comes but can you also suggest like from intention how to make it into a tangible action and then from tangible action how to actually continue it for like long periods of time so that actually it results into a significant improvement that part also if you can discuss project yeah see the key what I have found is the key to commitment is recommitment so what that means is that with time commitment will naturally decrease and we should be ready to even expect that it's not something we can avoid it but what we can do is that have periodic practices or even rituals or forums whatever for recommitment so what that means is let's say many devote many of us may be able to stick to some karthik resolutions because it's finite in space sorry finite in time okay 30 days one month basically yeah I can do that but then what happens is some resolutions we want to do lifelong I say I will do this lifelong and the long remains too prominent okay it is so long and then even I have such a long time to do this also I have my whole life to do this sometime I'll if not today so that's why one problem with making any kind of the long-term resolution yes we do need to make long-term resolutions for example initiation is a lifelong commitment but it is when there are lifelong commitments it's our lifelong resolutions the problem with them is that there is no success in it there is only failure what do I mean by that that I may stick to a resolution for I mean for 90 days but there may be 9 000 more days that are there and will I be able to stick to it so I cannot say that I have succeeded in that resolution at all and there's always the possibility of failure and then after 90 days so 90 days I decide I'm going to wake up at this time sleep at this time wake up at this time and do my sadhana by this time we stick to that and 91st day we fail because of some reason then the only thought that comes in our mind is oh I failed so that's why instead of trying to make lifelong commitments or we need to make lifelong commitments but try to make it more of recommitment in smaller time units so I'll do this for one month or I'll do this for one week for one fortnight and after we complete that so when there are smaller time units there is a tangible sense of success I did this as it was Krishna's mercy it was whatever business support was there but I did it and we can appreciate ourselves otherwise in our in bhakti our relationship with ourselves can become very unhealthy even toxic because all the time we are just beating ourselves you're not doing this sincerely enough you're not doing this you're not doing this you're not doing this but it's it becomes for most devotees whatever if I have come close to them most mental health problems come because our relationship with ourselves has become very toxic where we are constantly finding fault with ourselves constantly criticizing ourselves constantly demeaning about ourselves belittling ourselves devaluing what we are doing and here's a horrible state of mind religion and in general more and more religious studies are showing that religious organized more and more sociological studies are showing that religious organizations which have high standards of morality high moral standards often those practitioners of those religious traditions not always but many times they end up having more mental health problems than general people also that's not because those religious practices themselves are or that those high standards are bad it's just that in pursuing those standards the relationship with oneself is becoming very negative now imagine if a parent constantly found fault with the student with their child and the only interaction of the parent with the child was you didn't do this you didn't do this you didn't do this you didn't do this the child will get fed up he said when can I get rid of this I just want to move to my own place I don't want anything to do with my parents or at least I don't want to be I don't want to be under their space so sometimes we do like that with ourselves so I've seen especially in Karthik devotees make very strict resolutions rather than living under the shelter of Krishna more and more they live more under the dark shadow of guilt so this should never happen now when our resolutions should be enhancing our shelter of Krishna it should be bringing us under the shelter of Krishna not under the dark shadow of guilt guilt or or self-condemnation self-hatred at I'm such a terrible person why did I do this this should not be happening so in that case we need to maybe rethink okay I did this for one month but it was really very difficult so maybe I need to cut some slack for myself maybe this level of intensity in this resolution may not be practical for me so maybe I will decrease it a little bit maybe I have to adjust some things according to my particular situation whether it be a social situation or even a psychological my own particular nature so things of both ways so one is making tangible time-bound resolutions rather than lifelong resolutions and then appreciating ourselves if we stick to that and then evaluating whether that is the level we can sustain we need to make some adaptation so that overall our relationship with ourself needs to become healthy in the prayers of Prahlad he says so Prahlad starts by saying that I am that I am born in a demoniac family how can I speak all these devatas have spoken such beautiful words in your praise but that particular verse when it comes to that Prabhupada when the word to word translation therefore I will give up all contemplation of being unfit it's a very powerful I will give up all contemplation of being unfit so we contemplate so much oh I am so unfit I am so fallen I am so worthless I am so insincere sometimes can be unhealthy or even toxic for our own Krishna consciousness so we want to be Krishna conscious not self-conscious either by thinking how great I am how wonderful I am or even how dreadful I am so both forms of self-consciousness are unhealthy self-consciousness in the form of ego is how wonderful I am but self-consciousness about how dreadful I am that is also self self-consciousness is the enemy of Krishna consciousness so those are some pointers about how to make resolutions sustainable for ourselves okay anybody else one last question before we stop Hare Krishna just like as a human being everyone has some emotional and psychological needs so when we are trying to develop this bond with Krishna is it like those needs are getting fulfilled or do we need something else from outside also with people like family parents etc so if we say like that so is it like we are downplaying bhakti because we do say that bhakti is the process which fulfills all our desires and something like that it's a very fundamental misconception about Krishna consciousness so Krishna consciousness is not meant to be fragmented consciousness it is meant to be integrated consciousness what do I mean by that there are times when fragmented may be required so say for example if I say that for my emotional needs I need my I need family so how do we have to see our family outside Krishna our family is provided to us by Krishna if I am here and this is the material world and this is the spiritual world and say Krishna is here in the spiritual world and that is true but that is only part of the truth actually the truth is Krishna is present everywhere the whole material world is within Krishna so if our emotional need if we have certain emotional need is taken care of by by a life partner by a friend by a family member that is why we have to see that as outside of Krishna that is arranged by Krishna so that inclusive vision is something which is downplayed by the jnana path I have mentioned this earlier in the Shastra Chakshu how bhakti was also influenced by the jnana path during the time and Advaita Vada was very prominent so there is this whole vision there is inclusive vision of bhakti and there is an exclusive vision of bhakti the same thing that bhakti fragmented or integrated can mean there is an inclusive vision and there is an exclusive vision so Tvameva Mata cha Pita Tvameva Tvameva Bandhu cha Sakha Tvameva Tvameva Vidya Dravida Tvameva Tvameva Sarvam Mama Deva Deva well-known prayer now this does not end with saying that therefore I will give up the Mata I'll give the Pita I'll give up the Bandhu I'll give up the Sakha I'll give up the Vidya I'll give up the the Drava Dravya and I'll surrender only to you no these are things which give us shelter and we need to be able to see that it is actually Krishna giving a shelter to these things now it is of course possible that while while connecting with these things we may forget Krishna and we may go away from Krishna but that is a danger that is there everywhere somebody may be living in the temple 24 hours a day in the temple they may be more concerned about you know whether the number of books I am distributing is more than the number of books the other person is distributing and they may not be concerned oh Krishna's message is being misshared he should celebrate that whether it happens through me or through someone else so that purushakra bhava that separatist mentality that fragmentation of consciousness can happen anywhere so we all have certain needs and rather than seeing that okay these needs are that my having these needs is a sign of my conditioning or my need to fulfill these needs is a sign of a deficiency in my Krishna consciousness we don't have to see like that so we have certain needs so it's having those needs or having means we feel the need fulfilling as we actually go and fulfilling the need so it's this is not necessarily a deficiency in our Krishna consciousness it is that each one of us is a individual in our own way and yukta ahara vihara here so vihara means that recreation so the recreation can mean many things but one aspect is that our mind gets relaxed our mind gets rejuvenated so for some people it may be that a devotional activity itself rejuvenates them for some people it may not be is it that the person cannot relax or rejuvenate their mind toward emotional activity to live with lifelong guilt no not necessarily sometimes this categorization of spiritual and material it's a very non-helpful categorization rather we can have spiritual and then we have sattvic rajasic and tamasic so somebody the vihara that they need somebody might just okay when i want to relax i just hear some kirtan and i feel so relaxed somebody else may say i read bhagavatam and i feel so relaxed but somebody else may for them okay kirtan is nice but you know that is a sadhana i concentrate and i become emotional i don't relax even the kirtan for studying shastra that is not relaxing for me so we should seek something in sattva now rajas it's best not to do that tamas definitely not but so here for vihara we spend time with our family that is it is bringing us closer to our family and if we're taking a proper responsibility in the family and then that is also dharma so that's not necessarily taking us away from krishna now if somebody starts uh okay you know i don't i don't get the emotional intimacy not just physical intimacy emotional intimacy with my family so somebody starts pursuing an affair that is namask certainly something not to be done one devotee was recently telling me he had a lot of excuse me with uh with the with with his scones and then he went to rindavan and he was staying in rindavan and then from there he went to rishikesh he was doing some service and he told me that when he went to rishikesh he went to the event on a trek of the himalayas in the last 10 years i have never felt so relaxed so at ease with myself as i'm feeling during this trek so and he said you know before i came to bhakti i was introduced i was following some impersonalist path so this idea of being close to nature being alone i'm afraid the mayavadi within me is the impulses in me is resurfacing certainly not and that is a possibility but you don't have to assume that that is a necessity now why should nature and silence why should we make it the monopoly of the mayavadis krishna says mauna as one of the austerities in the bhagavad-gita itself so if a devotee is finding some shelter in seclusion in some in silence that is the devotee becoming mayavadi somebody may look at nature and they may remember krishna through nature so we have the whole conception of the universal form so it's a sattvic activity just because it is not conventionally devotional does not mean it cannot be devotional for a particular individual so i'd say that that the key point is the vihara should be such that it keeps us you that means the aha that i do that if i eat i should eat in such a way that once i have eaten and after that my consciousness is free to focus on krishna if i eat too little and i'll constantly be hungry if i eat too much then i'll be lethargic if i sleep too little if i sleep too much what will happen is that basically the way we know what we are doing is yukta is that after doing it we can do yoga we can actually become yukta at other times so if i sleep adequately then the rest of the day i'm fresh and available for focusing on krishna so similarly vihara so if we find that okay if my emotional need is taken care of and once that need is taken care of then the remaining time i can focus on krishna otherwise that neediness leads to some clinginess and then i feel dissatisfied because devotees are not taking care of my emotional needs then yeah if we have a need we address that need and we are grateful to krishna that krishna has provided us some dharmic sattvic way to address that need does it answer your question yes thank you so much for wonderful insight thank you so much.