Positive Thinking 30 – Faith reveals the integrated beyond the fragmented

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna welcome back to our discussion on positive thinking we are discussing the last of the energy sutras why say yes to God with faith we will discuss about faith how faith enables us to see the positive in the negative to set the wrong right once a mother asked a child asked daughter would you like to have a cake oh yeah sure okay here take some oil what? I don’t like oil here take some grains I don’t like grains here take some custard okay and like that the mother gave several ingredients one by one and the daughter was non-plussed and then you told me I will give a cake yes mother said you have to combine all these things cook them and then we make a cake oh she had thought that she was expected to eat each of those items separately then she realized that she was going to cook them and then she could consume the product which was delicious when it was eventually made so like that when we see things from a fragmented perspective then often things which are right in the long run appear to be wrong in the short run if we see things as fragmented oh this is going wrong why is this happening what’s the point of this oh things seem to be pointless so if we keep seeing things from a fragmented perspective then we don’t see any plan working and we don’t see ourselves moving onwards in our life we feel that things are just going chaotic but when we understand that no matter what is happening God is still in control and God has a plan so just as a patient may not understand oh yesterday you gave me an injection today you are subjecting me to this test now you are giving me this bitter sounding medicine what is going on but all that is a part of the plan and to the extent we understand that it is all a part of the plan to that extent we can cooperate with it and to the extent we cooperate with it to that extent we can benefit from it so when we are going through various situations in our life different things are happening at that time rather than seeing them as fragmented events which are pointless or even chaotic we can focus on doing our part now we may not immediately be able to discern God’s plan but we do know that there are some things which we can do so as St. Francis of Assisi prayed oh God give me the strength to change the things that I can change and the endurance to accept the thing that I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference so very often when we are faced with problems we get overwhelmed by the negativity because of things that are going wrong but no matter how many things are going wrong there are still things which we can do there are things within our control things by which we can set things right so even if we feel that everything can’t be set right but still we can bring about positivity we always have something within our capacity to change if nothing else we can at least change our attitude and if we just change our attitude from that point of view we find opportunities and facilities to change other things also so we can envision this in terms of two circles there is a circle of concern and there is a circle of influence circle of concern refers to things that matter to us but circle of influence is a smaller circle within the circle of concern a small circle is a circle of influence wherein we can change things wherein there is something which we can do about those things so if we focus on things which are in the circle of concern but not in the circle of influence then we disempower ourselves we dishearten ourselves we even paralyze ourselves by dwelling on things which we can’t change we not only create negativity for ourselves because we feel helpless we feel victimized but more than that we lose the opportunity to change the things which we could have changed the things within our circle of influence so in every situation when we face problems we can focus on ok what can I do about it we can pray to God God nothing happens without your will you have put me by your sanction by your plan now I am in this situation please guide me what I should do now how can I serve you now O Lord by such prayer Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says I will give the intelligence by which you can come to me so what happens is that when we focus on having the mood of not controllership but of contribution ok even if this plan doesn’t work out how can I continue how can I continue serving so when we especially chant the holy names when we chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra this is a prayer to God and the essential mood of the prayer is O God O energy of God please engage me in your service with this mood when we engage in activities when we want things to work according to our plan and things go out of control then there is frustration but if our plan is simply to do the best that we can to serve God then the opportunity to serve is always there no matter what the situation is we may not be able to serve according to our plan but we can serve still and there is always something that we can do and actually when we do what we can our influence increases the circle of influence becomes bigger when we act within it and we are able to do more things and we are able to exchange more of the things that are in our circle of concern so for example if we are worried about something which is going to go wrong in future which may go wrong and if we let that worry consume us then we can’t do anything in the present that we could possibly have done to either prevent that from happening or to minimize its consequences when it happens so we actually make the circle of influence smaller by letting the present get wasted away in worry about the future instead okay this thing matters to me but I can’t do anything about that what can I do right now we think like that we bring our attention into the circle of concern into the circle of influence and thereby act positively and thus may do what is in our power to address the issue that is in our circle of concern for this again we need to say yes to God Jesus said that thy will be done not mine Arjuna said in the Bhagavad Gita I will do your will when we have this faith in God it actually releases our emotional energy which can otherwise be choked by frustration and resentment at life’s apparent wrongs but when we accept okay God I accept this now what can I do about it that faith becomes easier to have when we recognize God’s expertise in changing things for the better clouds are formed in the sky God breaks clouds and through that now the clouds may look beautiful in the sky but when the clouds are broken they don’t look particularly beautiful at that time but through the breaking of clouds God ensures that rains comes out now the rains they are just falling falling on the ground but then when they hit the ground what happens God breaks the rains they get distributed into the ground they percolate into the cracks in the ground and then from their ground grains emerge so God breaks clouds to make rains God breaks rains to make grains and then when we have grains the grains cannot be consumed as it is they have to be broken so when they are broken they often sometimes look like shapeless powder but it is through that that we get eatables varieties of eatables so God breaks grains to give us energy we eat the food we get energy and then when the food goes inside what happens further that food is broken so that we get energy in a form that the body can use so God breaks this food to give us energy so God is expert in breaking things to make them better sometimes when we have our plans and those plans life seems to go wrong because of life’s vicissitudes we should know that God is in control and He has a better plan for us sometimes our plans for short term material enjoyment or achievement may not work out but if we stay diligently fixed in the service of God saying yes to God with gratitude saying yes to God with faith then we will find that from His master plan will emerge set of events which will lead us propel us uplift us towards lasting spiritual fulfillment thank you great