6. पहले रास्ता देखो फिर चलो

रास्ता भूलना अकसर हमारी हिम्मत तोड़ देता है| और उससे भी बुरा तब होता है जब हम यह आशा खो बैठते हैं कि आगे हमें कोई रास्ता नहीं मिलेगा| हतोत्साहित करने वाली परिस्थितियों में अकसर ऐसा होता है| अर्जुन के साथ भी कुछ ऐसा ही हुआ (भगवद्गीता १.३०)| यदि रास्ता भूलने के बाद भी हमें समझ नहीं आता कि हम खो गए हैं तो वह स्थिति और भी अधिक खतरनाक होती है| ऐसा अकसर बड़बड़ाते-लड़खड़ाते उन शराबियों के साथ होता है जो खुद को अपने कल्पना-जगत के शहंशाह मानते है| सांसारिक वस्तुओं के नशे में चूर तथा भौतिक सफलता के पीछे दौड़ते हुए हमारी स्थिति भी कुछ ऐसी ही हो जाती है| बिना सोचे-विचारे कार्य करने से हम कर्मबंधन तथा दुखों के चक्र में फंसते जाते हैं, और शीघ्र आश्चर्यजनक वस्तुएँ प्राप्त करने के सपने देखते हैं| परन्तु ऐसे सपने बमुश्किल ही पूरे होते हैं| सफलता के सर्वोच्च शिखर पर पहुँचने के बाद हम पाते हैं कि सुख हमारी मुट्ठी से फिसलता जा रहा है| सुख की लालसा हमें और ऊँचे शिखरों पर जाने के लिए लालायित करती है और हम सदैव भयभीत रहते हैं कि कहीं कोई हमें हमारे वर्तमान शिखर से धक्का न दे दे| दूर से सफलता दिखने वाली परिस्थिति वस्तुतः विफलता सिद्ध होती है| इसे पहचान कर कुछ लोग जीवन से निराश हो जाते हैं| उन्हें समझ नहीं आता कि वे किसके लिए जीवित रहें| गीता का ज्ञान हमें ऐसे दुखों से बचाता है और सच्चे सुख का रास्ता दिखाता है| हम सब आत्मा हैं| हमारा सच्चा सुख भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण के दिव्या प्रेम में निहित है| इस ज्ञान के माध्यम से हम भगवान् द्वारा प्रदान किये गए अपने स्वभाव, स्थिति तथा प्रतिभाओं द्वारा उनकी सेवा एवं उनका गुणगान कर सकते हैं| अर्जुन ने यही किया| यदि भौतिक दृष्टि से हम सफल हो जाते हैं तो श्रीकृष्ण को वह सफलता अर्पित करके हम अलौकिक सुख की अनुभूति कर सकते हैं| यह अनुभूति अहंकार-आधारित क्षणभंगुर सफलता से कहीं अधिक संतोषजनक होती है| और यदि हम सफल नहीं होते, फिर भी गीता हमें विश्वास दिलाती है कि भक्तिभाव से प्रयास करने के कारण हमें एक यशस्वी भविष्य प्राप्त होगा| इसलिए, भौतिक दृष्टि से हमारे जीवन में क्या होगा यह महत्वपूर्ण नहीं है| हमें आश्वस्त रहना चाहिए कि हम कभी भक्तिमार्ग से भटकेंगे नहीं और अपनी सर्वोच्च मंजिल श्रीकृष्ण की ओर अग्रसर होते रहेंगे| मेरे लिए यहाँ खड़े रह पाना संभव नहीं है| मुझे स्वयं अपनी विस्मृति हो रही है और मेरा मन चकरा रहा है| हे केशव, हे कृष्ण! मुझे तो यहाँ केवल अशुभ ही दिखाई दे रहा है| भगवद्गीता १.३०

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

It is recommended that one come to the ideal of 16 rounds as quickly as possible but I have seen that some of my friends start chanting 16 rounds and then find it difficult because of work and family pressures and then either stop chanting or just chant one or two rounds. So I feel that like everything in life there is no shortcut and one should come to chanting of 16 rounds gradually. Kindly show some light.

Quickly and gradually are relative terms and the important thing is that we feel convinced and inspired about what we are doing. Not that we do something because of pressure from others or because everybody else is doing it. In one sense if we are doing something good something which is beneficial for us then the pressure from others or the fact that everyone else is doing it and so we do it is good but over a period of time that external pressure has to be transformed into internal motivation.

Without that we will feel our spiritual commitments as burdens. Certainly in our fast-paced lifestyle chanting 16 rounds which takes one and a half or two hours is no doubt a tall order at least initially for us. So we can start off the chanting at a level that we feel comfortable and confident at and as we experience the benefit of the chanting we will naturally feel inspired internally as well as externally to increase the chanting.

Now should we just start off with 16 rounds because somebody else is telling us? We at least need to have some sort of realistic plan about how we will chant 16 rounds. Without a plan if it's just sentimental rush of the moment thing it will not last and at the same time we also have to recognize that in the material world things will never be comfortable enough for us to have the luxury of a lot of time and the absence of work and other distractions other engagements which will not impede our chanting. So waiting for a comfortable enough time in life so that we can start chanting 16 rounds is like waiting for the waves on the ocean bank to subside.

They are never going to subside. Somebody has to swim that person has to in spite of the waves jump into the ocean. So in spite of distractions we need to at some time or the other take the leap and start chanting 16 rounds.

Now when that time will be as I said there is the most important factor is we should be able to have some realistic plan of how we can fit it in our schedule and ideal would be if we have some association of devotees either with whom we can chant or at least with whom we can share about our chanting and the challenges that we face in our chanting. Most important for our chanting is regular association because if we are not associating with devotees who are themselves chanting and inspiring us to chant we are anyway constantly associating with our mind which is constantly dissuading us from chanting. It's telling us this is a waste of time this is too much of a burden there is no purification there is no result coming from this although all these are not true but just because the mind keeps repeating them again and again we start giving in to these lies the mind is telling us.

So if you want to start chanting seriously then we need to as I said have a realistic schedule where we have the time to chant and we need to have some facility for some inspiring association which will inspire us to chant regularly and when should that be generally speaking some devotees may be inspired enough to start chanting 15 rounds within a month or two after completing the after being introduced to Krishna consciousness and starting the process and hearing the philosophy but on average if somebody takes more than one year to come to 16 rounds that means that the delay is too long and the mind is making things difficult. So realistic if we have strong association externally and solid conviction and inspiration internally then we can even start chanting within one and two months say we need to complete the discover yourself course and immediately start chanting 15 rounds but if we are not feeling that then if you still keep going for the programs and start chanting say 2, 4, 6 rounds generally in about a year's time we should be able to come to 16 rounds of course we don't have to delay our coming out to 16 rounds to an year but as you have pointed out sometimes taking things steadily helps us to maintain them steady but in the name of steadiness our mind always has the tendency to postpone ad infinitum postpone forever so some devotees make a plan that say every Ekadashi will increase one round so if you starting with one round then in 16 weeks I will come to 16 rounds sorry in 32 weeks it's almost like two-thirds of a year one will come to 16 rounds so some devotees will say that every 2 or 3 months I will double my rounds so from 1 to 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 let me take say 4 or 5 months or 7, 8 months so that will vary individually there is no standard principle but we also need to know that we don't have an infinite life we have finite life and even the finite life when that full stop in that life at least in this life is going to come we don't know so postponing for the sake of a better or a comfortable situation in the future is not a very sound policy but taking things up gradually so that we can sustain the level of practice that we are doing that is okay and these sort of decisions should be taken individually with individualized guidance so if we are familiar with some senior devotees we can ask them we can tell them about our schedules and tell them about our plans as well as apprehensions and then with their guidance take up the level of spiritual commitment that we feel confident about and they feel also okay about general guideline is we shouldn't think that in the future time will be more comfortable at that time I will do it nor should we just on the spur of the moment take up a huge commitment that will not be able to keep but we should know that yes I should try to increase and I should try to do it as quickly as possible but as quickly as possible and it should be as quickly as sustainable thank you.