Positive Thinking 18 – Bhakti alchemizes our inner world

Transcript

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Hare Krishna. Welcome back to our discussion on positive thinking, we are discussing about reclaiming our will power, in the previous talk we discussed about the concept of alchemy, so alchemy is supposed to transform base metal into gold, similarly the process of inner purification, process of inner alchemy, it transforms our desires from selfish to selfless, from disempowering and distracting to empowering and transforming, just as if a person is told to carry a 20 kg weight of some base metal, now base metal also has its value but still that is a burden, but if that same person is told to carry a 20 kg weight of gold, and whatever weight of gold you can carry, that much gold is yours, really, person’s whole attitude will be transformed, so the same weight which might earlier have seemed like a burden, will now seem like a treasure, why? because we understand and appreciate and relish the value of gold, similarly when we recognize that we are at our core pure, when we understand that there are impurities which are sabotaging our prospects, then the process of purification can act as a whole transformer of our inner paradigm, it can become like a process of inner alchemy, now inner alchemy, how does this take place? we need to know that first of all what is iron and what is gold, so negative desires are like iron, the positive desires are like gold, just as if a person, sometimes some thoughts, some desires they burden us, for example, if we are addicted to something, suppose somebody is addicted to alcohol or somebody is addicted to smoking, this person at one level there is a tormenting conflict in the heart, where at one side the person knows I shouldn’t drink, I shouldn’t smoke and other person says why should I not, I want to do it, in that way that tug of war between the two makes that person miserable, miserable, miserable and to the extent one can break free from that tug of war, to that extent one can be happy, so what is required is the capacity to break free and that capacity to break free comes from the process of purification, so bhakti yoga is the best process of purification, just as how do we become pure, there are substances which are purifiers, if water is unclean, put some substance in it, then it has to be purifier, so all the impure things are settled down because of that and they are separated out, so purifiers can be in various ways, we may have a filter which allows certain things to go out which blocks certain things or we can have a purifier which settles down certain things, so either way the end result is that the thing gets purified, so similarly in both ways the process of bhakti purifies us, now what exactly is bhakti? Bhakti is emotion, but it’s not just emotion, it is emotion directed towards the supreme, directed towards God, sometimes some people think that being spiritual means becoming unemotional, no, bhakti counters that caricature by explaining that bhakti means becoming not just emotional but super emotional, we become filled with transcendental emotions, we strive for transcendental emotions and as we move onwards and relish those transcendental emotions, then nothing else matters to us, then we just focus on strengthening and relishing the transcendental emotions that come by directing our love towards God, so we as souls are pure and the things of this world can be connected with God and used in His service, and when used in His service, then they themselves become positive sources of satisfaction rather than negative sources of agitation and bondage, so bhakti brings about this alchemy, the inner transformation of the heart, it changes our emotions from negative to positive, we will discuss some practical techniques, practical thought exercises for doing this, but suffice it to say that we need to recognize that there is no purification possible without a process, just as a person cannot say that I will become healthy by wishing to become healthy, somebody has got loose motion, that person says, I will control, I will become healthy by my will power, I will not respond to nature, it’s going to be torture and failure, two results are going to be there, torture and failure, so similarly if you just try to suppress negative thoughts, that’s not going to work, we need a process, what is the process for? A process is for purification of our thoughts, and how do we purify our thoughts? As I said there is a filter effect and there is a settle effect, filter effect means if you want to purify water, you might use a water filter which does not allow some of the granular or some kind of impure things to come in, so like that when we put ourselves in a pure environment, when we don’t subject ourselves to a negative environment, when we don’t let ourselves get caught in negative emotions, at that time we learn ourselves to become purified, we learn to settle in our devotion to the Lord and that brings a positive purposeful orientation to our life, so we don’t allow negative impressions to further come in, the world is filled with negativity, but when we live a spiritually purposeful life, we don’t allow negativity to come in, so that’s like the filter effect, and then there is the settling effect, sometimes certain chemicals or certain alum or something when you put in water which causes all the impure elements and the water can be taken, so similarly when we not only follow the external practices of bhakti externally, but we also permeate our consciousness with the presence of God, with the presence of the purposeful intention to serve God, then that cleanses us, what does it do? the presence of God drives away impurities and it causes the impurities to settle as a drag at the bottom of our consciousness, and from there they can be gradually, so there is subjugation and then there is elimination, and these will happen gradually as we keep practicing and purifying ourselves, the scripture often describes many stories of remarkable transformation, there was the decoit Valya who used to brutally dispossess people and dismember them, plunder them of their wealth and cut off their fingers, and keep the finger as a trophy around one’s legs, and what would happen? there are different people like that of different categories, there are many stories in spiritual traditions of remarkable transformations of people, they got connected with the saint, they started practicing the process of bhakti, and where they would brutally slaughter animals earlier, brutally plunder people earlier, then they were so transformed that they would be gentle, they were sensitive, not wanting to hurt anyone, and in this way we see the greatest examples of transformation in the Bhagavad Gita itself, at the start of the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna practically had his head in his hands, dejected, his emotions had overwhelmed him so negatively, so overpoweringly, that he had become paralyzed in the battlefield, but by the end of the Bhagavad Gita, I will do your will Arjuna said, and he had picked up his bow and he was ready to fight, so Arjuna is putting aside his bow at the start of the Bhagavad Gita, and his raising his bow at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, these represent losing our determination and regaining our determination, so the spiritual wisdom of the Gita helped restore Arjuna’s determination, similarly it can restore our determination too, it can enable us to purposefully persevere, because this wisdom which the Bhagavad Gita gives, it brings about a transformation caused by spiritual love, and that is the most empowering of all transformations, so as our emotions change from negative to positive, as Bhakti Yuga brings about this divine alchemy in our heart, we will find ourselves bolstered, empowered, determined, to do transformational things in our lives.