Practicing humility in a culture of promotion

​Srimad Bhagavatam class on 1.9.22 at Govardhan Ecovillage, Wada, Mumbai

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Today I am discussing the topic of practising humility in a culture of self-promotion. So, today, the whole world has changed, especially in the last one decade, because of the pervasive influence of social media.
And social media involves people, especially in some aspects of social media, people talk about themselves, they incessantly talk about themselves. And in fact, there are media slogans which say, growth is a function of visibility. That means the more visible you are, then you will grow.
The actual reality would be visibility is a function of growth. The bigger you grow, the more visible you will become. But today, because of so much promotion, is required for everything.
So, growth is a function of visibility. Only if you become visible, then you will grow. So, how this happened is also a significant history, which I will come to a little later.
I will just explain how I am connecting this with this particular section of Bhagavatam. So, here Bhishma Pitamah is in his last moments, and not actually last moment, last days, because after this, he will give instruction to what he will do for a quite a good amount of time. When you speak to Bhishma, if you wish to, the Shanti Parva and Anushasan Parva of the Mahabharata are the two of the longest Parvas.
And their elaborate discussions between Vishnu and Bhishma, they will come apart. So, that is almost several thousands of verses in the Mahabharata is condensed in two verses in the Bhagavatam, where it says, in this way, he gave instruction on the various aspects of Dharma, on the Varna Dharma and the Raja Dharma. So, according to some sources, actually Bhishma spoke for about 43 days.
Others say he spoke for a little lesser time, but it was, it went on for a fairly long time. So, but at this point, in that last long conversation that they have, the, here Bhishma s purpose is to console Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira is feeling that I am responsible for the colossal bloodshed that occurred in the Kurukshetra war.
It was all fought because of my greed for a kingdom. And thus, he feels that the only way I can atone is by abandoning the kingdom and taking up a life of a mendicant for atonement. And Bhishma is telling him, Krishna has brought Yudhishthira to Bhishma to console and counsel Yudhishthira.
And as a, and the whole set of verses that he speaks starting from aho kashtamahonyayam, that how, how tragic it is that a person can do so much. From that point up to this verse, it s a sequence through which Bhishma is reasoning and telling that you should do the Lord s will. And the first thing that we strive if we read this verse might seem a little counter devotional.
The first line itself is, Therefore, because I am an unflinching devotee, just see what has happened. Krishna himself has come to be in front of me. Krishna has given me, come to give me darshan.
So, you may wonder, how can a devotee who is supposed to be humble say that I am a pure devotee, I am an unflinching devotee. Ekanta bhakti shivay. We have examples of devotees when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself says that I have no devotion for Krishna.
The Goswamis say this, there are so many devotees who feel that I have no devotion. And how is it that Bhishma is saying I am unflinching devotee. So, is this a lacking of humility when he is speaking this? See, there can be various aspects of humility.
And they are all important. Today, I will focus on one aspect of humility. Humility means to not let our ego interfere with our purpose.
Humility means to not let our ego interfere with our purpose. Humility can mean, we do not think I am very great, we do not speak a lot about ourselves. All those are also valid.
There are ultimately our life is not about ourselves, especially when you want to practise bhakti and serve Krishna. So, it is not about how great we are, nor is it about how small we are. It is about Krishna.
So, most of us probably know that last time on Monday, we came to Prabhupada and we said, Prabhupada, I am the most fallen. And Prabhupada said, you are the most nothing. You are simply insignificant.
So, our life is not meant to be about ourselves, neither about how great we are, nor about how small we are. Our life is meant for serving Krishna. And for that purpose of serving Krishna, whatever is required can and should be done.
So, that is why humility means to not let our ego come in the way of our purpose. Our purpose is to serve Krishna. So, here Nishma’s purpose is to serve Krishna by persuading Yudhisthira to do Krishna’s will, which is Yudhisthira should become the king as per Krishna’s will.
So, for that purpose, Nishma is giving himself as an example. So, he is saying that the implication when he says, ekanta bhakteshu paksha dhoopam kaputam, when he is saying this, I am an unclenching devotee. The point of this is not to say that I am such an ambiguous devotee.
The point is that if one stays devoted to the Lord without clenching, the Lord rewards in extraordinarily wonderful ways. So, Nishma had to do a very difficult service for the Lord. So, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavatam have some overlapping territory.
Largely, the Bhagavatam is an epic which is spoken in a mood of separation. The Bhagavatam is spoken at a time, it is a conversation between Parikshit and Shudra and Parikshit. So, that is it is spoken and even Shudra goes on his conversation with the Nakshatra.
It is all happening after Krishna has departed from the world. So, Krishna’s coming is a momentous event in universal history and everybody at this point is in separation condition. In the Bhagavatam’s mood is recollection in separation.
It is devotion through recollection in separation and in this mood, the Bhagavatam focusses on helping us look at the Mahabharata narrative from a devotional perspective. So, in the Mahabharata, if we see Bhishma, Bhishma comes off more as a conflicted hero. Conflicted hero means he does not want to fight on the side of the Kauravas.
But he himself says in a verse that actually I am the servant of money, money is not a servant of anyone. The Kauravas money has bound me and that is why I have to fight on their behalf. This is what he says when just before the Kurukshetra war, Bhishma puts down his weapons and goes on the side of the Kauravas to seek the blessings of the angels.
So, that is the reason for the Mahabharata and that is also true at one level, but the Bhagavatam reveals the incidents of the Mahabharata from a higher devotional level. And Vaishnavacharya explains that Bhishma Prakama fought on the side of the Kauravas, not for simply because he was bound by wealth. Actually, he was not bound by their wealth because ultimately it was his wealth also.
He was a part of the dynasty itself. Although he may not have a right as a king, he had a right as a descendant in the dynasty and also he had taken a vow that when he renounced his claim to kingship so that his father Shantanu could marry again, at that time he also took a vow that I will always protect the ruling king of the Kuru dynasty. And further, so all these are reasons, but the deepest reason is that Krishna wanted him to fight on the side of the Kauravas.
Why? By such a glorious warrior taking the side of Adharma, what would happen? Eventually, Dharma would triumph. It would demonstrate that if somebody takes the side of Adharma, no matter how virtuous that person may be, no matter how chivalrous that person may be, no matter how glorious that person may be, still they will be defeated. So, Bhishma would be misunderstood and chose wrong because of being misled by them.
But Bhishma was ready to take up this misunderstanding because he wanted to do the service to the world. So, it’s very difficult to do a service when everybody is going to misunderstand what we are doing. Everybody is going to think that you have fallen away, you have become materialistic, you have become this, you have become that and we are doing it for the sake of service.
When people misunderstand us, it is very difficult to talk like that. So, if we are asked to do such a service, most of us would flinch. But Bhishma Dev did not flinch.
So, ekanta bhakteshu, unflinching devotion means his eyes are fixed on the Lord. What will please the Lord? What the world says, I don’t care. I will focus only on the Lord.
And he in this way, unflinchingly courting a bad reputation among people, he did what the Lord wanted him to do. And his reputation could have been completely ruined. So, that’s why if you just read the Mahabharata, it will be very difficult to reconcile.
Bhishma chooses to fight against Krishna. And if it is simply because of the considerations of wealth, then he would become almost like a materialist. And why would Krishna be there by his side at the moment of death? So, the Mahabharata, this is a portrait of the character, but it’s not a complete portrait.
And many of the missing links, many of the mysterious things in the Mahabharata, which just can’t put together, when we see from the makti perspective of Bhagavatam, then we can reconcile with Bhagavatam. So, Bhishma fought on the side of the Kauravas, doing the service was very difficult for him. But he did it and the reward that he got was saksha Krishna darshanamagata.
Krishna has come to see him. Now, what Bhishma is telling Yudhishthira is, O Yudhishthira, you too become an unflinching devotee. You may have some hesitation in becoming the king.
But if that is what the Lord wants you to do, then that is what you should do. And how Krishna will reward you, what Krishna’s plan is, you can’t know. In fact, the whole reasoning, actually speaking, after the Pandavas have won the war, and they have now been victorious.
It’s very curious that when Bhishma starts speaking, if an army has fought a glorious war and then won the war, normally we would expect that even the defeated warrior, if there’s a cricket match going on, a tough match, one team wins, what does the other team do? Other team goes and congratulates them. So, Bhishma and Yudhishthira meeting now, and Bhishma starts not by congratulating Yudhishthira. He starts with So, he doesn’t refer to the present with me at all.
He just goes back and talks about the past. Now, in one sense, all those injustices the Pandavas had suffered, they’re all over now. A happy chapter in the Pandavas life is about to start.
So, rather than talking, celebrating about the happy chapter, rather than a felicitating or congratulating for the beginning of this happy chapter, why is Bhishma going over a past history? It’s already over now. The point of that, the narrative, the thread that is underlying that is, that his plan is very difficult to understand. So, why you had to suffer by his plan, we can’t understand.
Why I had to fight on the side of the Kauravas, I may not have been able to understand. But in the end, we see how the Lord really is like that. And then he gives his own example.
So, his point is not that I am an unflinching devotee, he is using his own example to illustrate the glorious result of unflinching devotion. His point is not to glorify himself, but to show that if we practised in bhakti unflinchingly, how eventually a glorious result will come. That’s why, the second part of this word, the first line is tāte kānta bhakti.
But later part, paśyā bhūpāṅkāṁ pitā, and then paśyā, just see. So, what you just see means, actually, whenever the word paśyā is used, it is more in an emphatic or rhetorical sense. Even Yudhiṣṭhira, he knows, in fact, Krishna has come with Yudhiṣṭhira.
So, Yudhiṣṭhira knows that Krishna is there next to Bhishma. So, what is there to just see? To just see means, it is a fact that is there, but through a particular analytical framework when a fact is highlighted, then the significance of that fact registers in our consciousness. So, the extraordinariness of Krishna coming to be on the death bed of a person who had fought against Krishna’s dearest devotee, Arjuna.
In fact, Krishna himself had fought against Bhishma himself, because Krishna was a charioteer of Bhishma. So, the extraordinariness of this has been highlighted. Paśyā, just see, just see, oh, Yudhiṣṭhira, that this Lord has come to be my right side.
And the previous verse was that the Lord is equal to everyone, but he specially rewards the devotees. And the reward he has given me is that he has come by my side. So, similarly, oh, Yudhiṣṭhira, don’t cringe in your devotion.
If the Lord wants you to be the king, become the king. We cannot understand his plan, but if we do his plan, eventually glorious results will come. So, here Bhishma uses himself as an example to thrust home the point of glory of devotional service, glory of surrender service to the Lord.
And we see a similar example in the prayers of Prahlāda Mahārāja also. Am I audible to everyone here? So, that Prahlāda, now, it’s a long set of prayers, so I won’t go into the numerical sequence, but I will just outline the thought sequence here. Now, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, initially, that actually, that I’m very fearful of this material existence.
He says that, prastosmihaṁ krupaṇavatsara-viśvam saṁsāra-cakra-gamenaṁ dasyātmantaḥ baddharsva-karma-dhīrya-ucitāṁ devatī-mūnaṁ śrī-tokvā-viśvanam vaheśe kadānām. So, I’m bound with material existence where there’s a dog-eat-dog world, one million beef, beef, eats another million beef. And bound by my karma, I just go round and round this cycle.
I say, Lord, when will I become the creator? When will I come to you? Oh, Lord, vaheśe kadānām, when will you call me to your lotus feet? Then later he says, my dear Lord, jivvai-kocita-vikarcita-mahā-vipuptaḥ, that all the different senses are dragging me in different directions. The tongue is directing me in one direction, the eyes are dragging in another direction, the ears in another direction. So, then, after a few verses, suddenly he says, naivodvijetara-guratyaya-vaitaranyas pradhvīd-yagāyana-mahā-mṛta-madhya-cittaḥ caucetata-vipu-cetata-invaryātāṁ āyā-sukhāya-dharmadvaita-vimūdhāṁ He says, I’m not afraid of material existence.
Why? Because I’m absorbed in your glories. pradhvīd-yagāyana-mahā-mṛta-madhya-cittaḥ mahā-mṛta, in relation to the supreme nectar of your glories, I have no fear of material existence. So, what is going on here? First, he’s saying, I’m very fearful of material existence, my senses are dragging me here and there, and then he says, I have no fear of material existence.
So, actually, if you look at the thought flow over there, Lord Maharaj is again using himself as an example of the glory of bhakti. He says, if I am just in the position of a conditioned soul, then material existence is very fearful. But because, by the mercy of my spiritual master, I have learned to glorify you.
And by glorifying you, I have become so absorbed, I’m getting so much taste, that I have no fear of material existence. So, therefore, he also does the same thing. He’s not glorifying himself when he’s saying that, I get so much taste in glorifying you, that I’m not afraid of Maya.
It can seem to be a very arrogant claim at one level. But, it is not arrogance, because his purpose is transcendence. His purpose is to glorify his superior.
So, we have to see humility, not just in the form, but in the substance, in the purpose. Now, somebody might be going down very nicely, holding hands and offering obeisances, and these external gestures of humility are important. And that is fine.
And somebody can say, I’m very foreign, please pray for me, please bless me. That is also fine. But the important thing is, humility is not just these things.
Humility means, I am not so important for myself. Krishna is important. And whatever is required for doing Krishna’s cause, I will do that.
So, we see this more in the Bhagavatam, where I give two examples, Bhishma and Prahlad, both of whom are marginals. And both of them, in one sense, speak positively about themselves, for the purpose of demonstrating to the world, the supreme positivity of devotion. So, now today, we live in, as I started mentioning it, we live in a culture which requires a lot of promotion.
Culture requires a lot of promotion. So, what has, I just talked a little bit about the historical background of how the present culture came about. And then, we’ll talk about how bhakti can be applied in this.
Nowadays, in today’s culture, advertisements are so common, that most of us may not even think that, find it difficult to conceive, that about two centuries ago, there was no such thing as advertisements. Yes, the only advertisement will be like some vegetable vendor, or a fruit vendor going along the road and shouting, please take my fruit, please take my fruit, these are very sweet fruits, they are very fresh vegetables. That’s all the promotion was there.
But since the industrial revolution took place in Europe, and there was mass manufacturing of goods through factories. So, because goods were manufactured in huge quantity, far more than what were locally needed. So, their distribution required promotion.
And even this advertising, which went on in the start of the 20th century, focused primarily on talking about the virtues of the product. Oh, this product is so good, this is so nutritious, this is so comfortable, this is so easy, this is so light. So, what are the utilities of the product? Based on that, the product was advertised.
Now, around the 1920s, 18, 19, 1920, there was a psychologist, Sigmund Freud. He’s called the father of modern psychotherapy. And he came up with the idea that in the human psyche, there are two forces.
There is the rational, there is the force of rational intelligence, and there is a force of irrational emotions. The force of rational intelligence is what enables people to make sound decisions. And the force of irrational emotions makes people act crazy.
So, now he said that the rational intelligence is just like a small canoe. A canoe is a wooden structure, which can be used for rowing across a river or a water body. But it is a very fragile and unprotected structure.
Canoe is basically a set of logs tied together. There are no sidewalls also. It is very risky.
So, he said the rational intelligence is like a canoe. Whereas, the irrational emotions are like a vast turbulent ocean. And although people think that they are rational, and people often talk rationally, but if their irrational emotions are triggered, then just like a stormy wave in that ocean can overturn the canoe and it will drown.
So, like that people’s rational intelligence gets drowned out. Once there, irrational emotions are triggered. And that is how people act irrationally.
People act irrationally. So, now broadly speaking, when Prabhupada went to America, the first thing he said about America is Rajasthamoguna era sabaiyachan. Vasudeva Tatharuchi nahi satasam.
So, he did not think prosperous America filled with all the markers of modern progress. He saw this as the covering of the laws of fashion in the US. Sabaiyachan, all of them are covered.
So, actually speaking, if we compare what Freud is saying to our philosophy, the rational intelligence is like Rajasthamoguna. The irrational passion, stormy emotion is like Rajasthamoguna. So, everybody has some element of sattva.
But in most people, the element of sattva is very vulnerable to the attacks of Rajasthamoguna. And therefore, if the Rajasthamoguna actually become activated, then the sattva does not work well. So, now, Freud, he had many, he had many peculiar ideas.
But this was a fairly sensible idea which he had. And he, he spoke this idea for the purpose of saying that people need to actively protect their rational intelligence. Otherwise, they will be, their irrational emotions will over, will all destroy them.
But his insights were taken by various fields. It was taken by, by politicians, it was taken by the industry, and it was especially taken by the advertising industry. And the advertising industry recognised that if we try to sell our product by telling people how good the product is, we tell the virtue of the product, then we are appealing to the rational intelligence of the people.
But the rational intelligence force is quite flimsy. On the other hand, if we can appeal to the irrational emotions of the people. So, rather than telling people how good the product is, we tell people how good this product will make you feel.
So, advertising becomes pop psychology. Advertising becomes sessions which are meant to help people feel good. So, a few years ago, there was a popular advertisement of, of a Bollywood star, which is a young man is walking along the road.
And he sees from the other side a Bollywood star is coming. And there are several young good looking girls. As soon as they see this Bollywood star, they just run to him.
And they call out his name, and they hug him, and they kiss him, and they are, you and I about him. And this young man is looking, nobody is noticing him. He is feeling very sorry for himself.
And then, this Bollywood star comes to him and tell him, you want to know my secret? Secret is how I was able to attract so many young beautiful girls. He said, I use this fair and handsome shampoo. And then, this young man goes and puts the fair and handsome shampoo on his head.
And he comes along walking on the road. And then immediately several girls come rushing to him, you and I, and kissing and hugging him. And he is in Samadhi.
So, now, if we think objectively, such an advertisement is an insult to both male and female intelligence. Why? Because that a woman will fall for a man just because he has applied some shampoo on his head. That is an insult to female intelligence.
And that a man will such fairytales, that is an insult to male intelligence. But, you know, when people’s feel-good feelings are activated, then intelligence gets a vacation. Or rather, intelligence is sent on vacation.
So, what happens, most of the advertisements today are about making people feel good. So, it is all about branding. It is not about substance.
The substance does come in the long run. The branding may not last for very long if substance is not there. But even if substance is there, if branding is not there, people’s attention is not caught.
And if people’s attention is not caught, then they would not even notice things. That is why, anything in today’s world, even if it is very good, unless it is promoted, see the goodness, the strength, the positivity, the goodness, the virtue of something, virtue not necessarily in a moral sense, virtue in a beneficial sense, any beneficial sense, the virtue of something, all this appeals to the intelligence. But people mostly today do not function based on their intelligence.
I am not saying people are not intelligent. There are intelligent people. But the primary basis on which people start exploring a thing is not in intelligence.
It is on how much it catches the attention, how much it creates some feeling within you. So, because of this, the culture of promotion is become vital in today or rather in because of this culture of promotion. For anyone to have an impact, promotion has become essential.
Now, if we see now, in our tradition, there are usually two centres of power. There are the Brahmanas and there are the Kshatriyas. The Brahmanas operate, the Brahmanas primarily have spiritual power, intellectual and spiritual power.
The Kshatriyas have political and financial power, although the Vaishyas generate finances. But the Kshatriyas, they control the state’s treasury. So, in that sense, there is a rough separation between material power and spiritual power.
So, with this separation, any place where there are two centres of power, there is always the possibility of conflict. And the way conflict is avoided in our tradition is by stressing that the Brahmanas cultivate a culture of detachment and renunciation, whereas the Kshatriyas cultivate a culture of engagement and activity. So, for example, if somebody offends a Brahmana, a Brahmana is recommended to forgive.
But if somebody offends a Kshatriya, the Kshatriya, you know, the Kshatriya has to take action. So, essentially, even if somebody is a wrongdoer, they go to a Brahmana, the Brahmana will forgive. But a Kshatriya cannot so undiscerningly forgive.
Prabhupada writes in Bhagavad Gita Purport that non-violence in state craft may be a strategy, but it is not a principle. That means even a king may sometimes choose non-violence. Strategically, somebody is, there is a war going on and this king decides, I do not want to take any side of the war.
But non-violence cannot be a principle for a state, for a state ruler. Now, when Hitler was terrorising Europe, at that time Gandhi, he sent a letter to the Jews saying that all of you should simply tolerate and by tolerating, Hitler’s heart will change. Now, if that had been done, the whole world would have come under Nazi rule.
So, now, in particular situation, non-violence can be used as a strategy. But as a matter of principle, even Gandhi was very pragmatic. Now, whenever the Britishers did something oppressive, he fasted and he threatened to fast to death.
Because he knew even the Britishers for no matter what they were, they had a conscience. They had grown up in a Christian culture where Jesus had enjoined people to curfew. Jesus had told them that if somebody slaps, turn your other cheek.
And what had happened was, Gandhi was doing that to them. So, what Gandhi was doing was, he was showing the example of Christian teachings to Christians. So, that had a very powerful moral influence.
But later on, when Jinnah started agitating for Pakistan, Gandhi did not say that if Pakistan is created, I will fast to death. Because Jinnah would have just let Gandhi fast to death. Jinnah would not have stopped because they did not come from that cultural background.
So, non-violence is a strategy. And it works sometimes, it may not work sometimes. I am not going to get into actual politics here.
The simple point that I am making here, that actually, the way the conflict between, a possible conflict between the two centres of power, that of Brahmanas and Kshatriyas, that is resolved. The way it is resolved is by encouraging the Brahmanas to be non-possessive, to be forgiving, to be tolerant. But just being tolerant, forgiving, you cannot rule a kingdom that way.
There are going to be aggressors and there has to be protection required. That is why we see the Brahmanas in the case of Maharaj Vena, initially they were to do council. But eventually, when Vena was not ready to learn, the Brahmanas had to take the Kshatriya role.
The Brahmanas at that time put a non-violent letter, aggressive, tyrant, have free reign on the kingdom. So, usually the Brahmanas have an ethos of non-engagement, of detachment, of renunciation, where the Kshatriyas are very much engaged. Now, our challenge, we are trying to follow the traditional Bhakti culture, but our great challenge is that when we are sharing Krishna consciousness, we often have to combine the role of a Brahmana and a Kshatriya.
Now, Prabhupada said we want Brahmanas with a Kshatriya spirit. Brahmanas with a Kshatriya spirit. Why? So, the Brahmana is satisfied in the culture of knowledge.
If there is a person who is a purely Brahminical, that person will delight in studying Shastra. And if others come, the Brahmana will share knowledge with us. But Brahmanas themselves are not active machineries who will go out and share knowledge.
They will not create systems and structures for sharing knowledge. So, if we may cultivate spiritual knowledge, we may develop some Brahminical qualities and wisdom. But if the Brahminical knowledge is to benefit society, there has to be a Kshatriya initiative also involved.
The Brahmanas are knowledge cultivators, Kshatriyas are social organisers. And when both of all, if you look at the history of the world, wherever change has happened, major change has happened, that has happened by the combination of an intellectual and a diplomat, of a Brahmana and a Kshatriya. Wherever change has happened, Buddhism was just a marginal force in Indian history till Ashoka had opted out.
Once Ashoka was influenced by a saintly practitioner of Buddhism, then that Brahminical intellectual and Ashoka’s martial power, that is what transformed enormously the whole Indian landscape, so much so that for almost 7-8 centuries, large parts of India were ruled by Buddhist kings. So, similarly, if you look at Christianity, because Jesus was more like a Brahmana, Paul was a Kshatriya. He was a person who went around actively canvassing people, converting people, preaching.
And later on also when Constantine adopted, then adopted Christianity, he was influenced by a saintly Christian preacher. And then Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. And then it spread all over the world.
So, even we see Communism, which had spread over a large part of the world. Karl Marx was an intellectual. But it was only when Stalin and Lenin took up that ideology and brought it into political power, then Communism gained power in the world.
So, wherever transformation has to take place, there has to be the Kshatriya and the Brahmana forces coming together. Now, if we see the history of Islam, in Islam, Mohammed was both the Brahmana and the Kshatriya. He was the giver of a spiritual message, and he was also a warrior.
And unfortunately, subsequently, most of the, in Islamic history, most Muslims, or at least most leaders, those who became influential Muslim leaders, they have followed the political example of Mohammed much more than the intellectual or spiritual example. And that is why, that is why Islam, in many ways at present, there are individual Muslims who use Islam, who practise Islam diligently, and they may go closer to God. But for, as far as societal influences concerned, Islam is much more a political search for power than a spiritual search for truth.
It is much more a political search for power, because Mohammed, he was one person who embodied both the Brahmana and the Kshatriya together. And the followers took the Kshatriya side much more than the Brahmana side. And then, by taking the Kshatriya side, many licences were also taken.
And that is why now it is more of a political search for power. Yes, there are many, there are many great Islam, Muslim saints also. There are many sincere Muslim practitioners.
But as an overall body of influence, the political search for power is quite prominent within, within Islamic ideology as it exists today. So, for us, the relevance of all this is that, you know, we, we as preachers of the Bhakti tradition, we have to integrate the roles of a Brahmana and a Kshatriya, if we are to be effective. We have to cultivate spiritual knowledge.
At the same time, we also have to create systems of organisation and, and by which the message can reach out to a large number of people. And that is why, no, the, the Brahmanical ideal of humility does not work for a Kshatriya. Both Kshatriya and Brahmana are humble.
But the way a Brahmana is humble and the way a Kshatriya is humble is very different. If we see the way Kshatriyas speak in the Bhagavatam, so they brag about their power. I am going to, even Arjuna, he says, I will finish off the power of our army in just a few days.
Today I am going to send you to the abode of death. I have defeated you so many times, I have done this, I have done that. So, why is that? That is a part of the Kshatriya ethos.
See, whenever any war takes place, the war is not just a war of skills. The war is also a war of wills, wills, will means willpower, of determination, of fighting spirit. And if the opponent’s will can be decreased, then half of the war is won.
So, when Kshatriyas brag about their power, it may seem like bragging to us, but when they are basically talking about their power, what are they doing? They are trying to intimidate their opponents, so that the opponent’s morale goes down. And if the opponent’s morale goes down, then what happens? Then it is much easier to defeat the world, defeat the opponent, who is already demoralised. So, it is not that when say Arjuna or Bhima, they talk about how glorious, how powerful they are, what all they have achieved, it is not that they are lacking humility.
It is, humility means to not let our ego interfere with our purpose. So, if the purpose is to defeat the enemy, then if the enemy can be demoralised, then defeating that enemy becomes much easier. So, if for demoralising that enemy, that enemy’s faults have to be pointed out, if for demoralising that enemy, one’s own strengths have to be pointed out, that is all a part of strategy.
So, similarly, in today’s culture, when somebody is preaching, at that time, often we give a preacher’s introduction, preacher’s profile. So, it may seem as if, it is not very humble, the preacher has done this, this, done that, this, done that, gone here, done that. All that is required, so that it catches people’s attention.
So, people are impressed, as I said, first we need to catch people’s attention through their emotions. And then we can catch their attention with their intelligence. People with emotions are much more active in directing their consciousness than their rational intelligence.
And that is why when their promotion is done, whenever the records are there, oh, this person has done this, this person has done this, this person has done this. So, it catches people’s emotions and after catching people’s emotions, thereafter, when, when they hear the message, this makes sense, very wise. So, the principle of promotion, sometimes it may be promotion of a particular preacher, it may be promotion of a particular product, promotion of a particular project, whatever it may be.
Now, aid is not contrary to the principle of humility. Because humility is not a goal in itself. Humility is a laudable virtue.
But in bhakti, humility is not the ultimate goal. Service is the ultimate goal. And humility is invaluable for service.
But if we have a certain stereotype, conception of humility, humility means, I would never speak about myself. Sometimes there are some devotees, who say that, they give Bhagavatam class, but they say, I am not qualified to sit in the dasa centre. So, now that feeling is very, it can be a very noble feeling.
And I am not in any way intending to disrespect the devotees who have this attitude, that I am not qualified to sit in the dasa centre. But actually, what happens in the end then, they sit on the floor, and all the audience has to stretch their legs to look at them. Isn’t it? So, the sitting on the dasa centre can very well be a service.
So, I am not saying that those who are, those who have that attitude are wrong. I am just saying that ultimately, if you want to do a service, then we should make that service as easily accessible to people as possible. We should not make it more and more difficult.
So, if somebody is giving class and not sitting on the dasa centre, then what happens? They may say, yes, I am being humble. But in that humility, actually the audience is being convinced. So, my point is that it is not that a person who sits on the dasa centre is not humble, and a person who sits on the ground is humble.
So, we should not have, every devotee may have particular consciousness and that is perfectly fine. The point is simply that we should not, we should not equate humility with certain stereotype, ideal of what humility is. Essentially, how do we know whether a person is humble or not? We see that based on how much they are focused on the service of Krishna.
How much they are, what all are they ready to do for the service of Krishna? Once when Prabhupada was in India, at that time he was in Mumbai, and the devotees had gone, some devotees had gone to Jaipur to arrange for the deities over there. And actually a couple of Matajis had gone there. And these Matajis, while they were there arranging for the deities, every day they would go to the Radha Govindji temple and they would sing kirtans.
And the local people in Jaipur were fascinated. See these western Matajis, they were wearing sarees and they were singing Hare Krishna. And they asked them, where are you, who have you come from? And they told about Prabhupada.
And they said, oh, it must be great sage, we would like to invite him to come here. And Prabhupada was very pleased when he heard it. He said, yeah, see, these Matajis have organised a big programme for me.
I am very proud of them. And then Prabhupada just before the programme, they came and showed Prabhupada, a few days before the programme, promotion material they had prepared. And they had written Bhakti Dance on Vishwila Prabhupada with his foreign disciples.
So, Prabhupada said, why foreign disciples? He said, write American and British and western disciples. So, Prabhupada said, change this, this is not proper. Why does Prabhupada have to say American and British and western disciples? Because in India, foreign can be anything, it can be African, it can be any other part of the world.
And that does not have so much glamour. So, Prabhupada actually got all the pamphlets reprinted. Remove foreign and put American, British, western disciples.
Now, this might seem like ego. What is this? You want everyone to know that you have got American disciples, you have got British disciples? No. What was Prabhupada doing? What was required for attracting people to Krishna? So, he was, so for people, there is a fascination with America, fascination with Britain.
Britain not so much now. Now it is mostly America. That is why Prabhupada also went to America primarily.
But still, people have that fascination. So, what Prabhupada was doing is, appeal, that idea of America catches people’s imagination, it triggers people’s emotions. So, use that.
Use that and get people to come for the programme. And when they come to the programme, then they hear the proper philosophy which appeals to their actual intelligence. In his classes, Prabhupada is not entertaining people with jokes and things like that.
Prabhupada was proper philosophical substance. But Prabhupada did what it took to get people to come to Krishna. So, if it was required, Prabhupada did that.
And we have to understand that because we live in a culture where there is no varnashram now, so brahmanas have to read about as kshatriyas. We cannot give up our brahminical nature. At the same time, we cannot just be brahminical.
We will not be able to influence society. We will not be able to benefit people. And being a, and taking up kshatriya activities means that if we have such a stereotype notions of humanity, we may not make the plan.
In our personal life, we, you know, when we are with devotees, it is not that we have to brag about I did this and I did that and I did that. You know, with devotees, you know, we can just be in the mood of serving and trying to do whatever is required. But when we are to present, when we are to present either ourselves or others, whatever it is to the world, we have to promote.
And we do promotion as a service. And I will conclude with two point, with one point about how while promoting ourselves, promoting our project, promoting whatever it is, how do we avoid that promotion becoming a matter of danger. So, that is primarily, there are many aspects to it, but primarily two aspects.
First is that we have to keep reminding ourselves that this is not what I have done. This is not mine. If that is Krishna, it will be manifesting through me.
It will be manifesting through me. So, once, actually when I was in Pune, I used to translate classes from English into Hindi for visiting preachers who would come. So, one Chandramouli Maharaj gave a class and I was translating the class.
So, after the class started over, somebody asked Chandramouli Maharaj a question. And then Maharaj started answering the question. And while answering the question, he got carried away and he forgot that I was supposed to translate the answer.
So, Maharaj spoke almost a 15 minute answer. And then he realised, then he looked at me and he started laughing. Then I tried to recollect as much as I could and I spoke almost 15 minutes also.
So, then many people clapped at that time. Then afterwards, one devotee, one senior devotee, Vrindavan Prabhu, he came and told me that you have an amazing memory. Now, I just told him that he just has been trained as devotee that if somebody clarifies, he will say that it is Krishna’s mercy.
So, I just said it is Krishna’s mercy. He said, yes, and if you remember that, it is Krishna’s greater mercy. So, I will say that my ability is Krishna’s mercy as a matter of saying.
But if I can actually remember that my ability is Krishna’s mercy, that is a far greater mercy of Krishna. So, sometimes when we talk about being empowered, now some we get the empower, we may get some skills and abilities to do some wonderful service. And that is the first instalment of empowerment.
The second and more important instalment of empowerment is humility. Ability is the first instalment of empowerment. The second instalment of empowerment is humility.
Humility in this context means to remember that our ability is not our ability. Our ability is a gift from Krishna. So, if we can remember this, okay, even if we are, if we are, whatever we are promoting, this is not mine.
I may be promoting, I have a jet, I may be promoting my special master, I may be promoting something connected with me, I may be promoting whatever I have done, whatever it may be. If it is required, if the service required, I may do that. But remember, actually this is not mine.
This is simply, even my spiritual master is not my spiritual master. It is the spiritual master’s mercy that he has accepted me. Now, in Hindi they say, I have become a Guru.
So, actually we don’t have to become a Guru, we have to become a disciple. It is not that we, we take a spiritual master, it is rather the spiritual master takes us. We become the disciple of the spiritual master.
So, it is not that he is my spiritual master, rather I am his disciple. So, it is not that we can be, it is not a matter of pride for us, it is a matter of fortune and mercy for us. So, if we remember that whatever it is that we are promoting, that is not our glory, it is Krishna’s mercy and consciously make some effort to remember that.
Then that helps in, prevent in, how you say, avoiding pride. Even when we are doing something wonderful or we are promoting something as wonderful. The second aspect is that whenever we promote something or whenever we glorify something, we don’t see a, we don’t, as they say, hog the limelight.
We don’t take the credit for ourselves. We understand that there is a whole group, there is a whole team involved. And if we honestly think about it, even if say I have become a, even say I have become a good preacher, but there is a whole organisation to go and facilitate for me by which I can study Shastra, by which I can learn Shastra, by which I have a forum to speak Shastra.
So, without the support of so many others, we do not need to achieve. So, one is to see the agency of Krishna and the other to see the agency of others around us. They may not be in the limelight, they may not be in the position they are achieving, but actually they all contribute to whatever we are achieving.
So, by remembering this, we can avoid the trap of pride. So, as a service, sometimes we may have to promote things connected with us. But if we remember that this is not my ability, it is Krishna’s ability and even if I have put in some endeavour, others have also put in endeavour and that is how this has worked out.
We can avoid the trap of humility. And lastly, let us actually again, it is important to remember that things come from Krishna, but remembering that ultimately everything is meant to take place in Krishna. So, in the Gopi Gita, it is said that, Nija-jana-smaya-bhamsana-svita.
Nija-jana, Nija-jana is your devotees, smaya, smaya is pride. Bhamsana-svita. Bhamsana-svita means that, that the pride is destroyed by your smile.
The pride of your devotees is destroyed by your smile. Now, what does this mean? Dacharya has explained it differently. One meaning is that, actually, sometimes a devotee can become proud, I am so this, I am so great.
But when the devotee sees the beautiful smile of Krishna, at that time, the sweetness of that smile, the joy in beholding Krishna’s smile, that is so great that the devotee thinks whatever, whatever pleasure is there in pride, it does not matter. It is nothing as compared to this. Actually, in glorifying Krishna and remembering Krishna and beholding Krishna, what fulfilment we will get is far greater than what we will get by, by, by being praised by others, by being glorified by others, by becoming proud.
So, that way, if we contemplate this, then what happens is, we all have experiences, wherein we did some service, and actually, by doing the service, we are very absorbed. But after the service, then we, the service goes off nicely, and then we expect others to praise us. And if the others do not praise us, we think what is happening? Why is no one appreciating me? And if others praise us also, still what happens? How, how long are they going to praise us? For a few moments, and then it is, that never gives that much satisfaction.
Because sometimes, when I give a class, I think now I have given a very good class, I expect others to come and appreciate me after the class. And then if nobody comes and appreciates, I feel so agitated. At least I used to feel long ago.
And then one day, when this happened, it struck me, actually, when I was speaking in the class, I was much more satisfied than after the class. Because when speaking in the class, I was thinking about Krishna. But after speaking in the class, I was thinking about who is going to appreciate me.
Then it does not work. Once I was giving an online Skype class to some devoted Bangalore, and I was speaking about the six opulences of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And then I was, it was an audio class, not a video class.
So, I closed my eyes and I was speaking. And suddenly, the Skype connection got up. I did not realise it only.
I spoke for almost 15 minutes more. And somehow, they could not call that. And my phone was also on silent.
So, they were calling by phone, I did not realise it. And after 15 minutes, it struck me, and actually, I am not hearing any sound of it. And I looked at the computer and saw that the whole, there was no call on it.
Then I saw the phone, there were several missed calls. And I picked up the phone and said, the phone has got disconnected. So, initially, I felt frustrated.
I said, I spoke for 15 minutes, it all got wasted. But then, when I was journaling, it just struck me that actually, during those 15 minutes, I was happy. I was closing my eyes and remembering Lord Chaitanya is speaking.
And somehow, it struck me at that time that actually, for speaking about Krishna, I do not need an audience. So, even without an audience, I can speak. And that is how somehow, by Krishna’s mercy, I started my online preaching.
I started giving lectures online, I started doing online courses, I started answering questions online, that even if there is no live audience, still, I do not have to make the presence of an audience a necessary condition for my speaking about Krishna. So, what happens is, if we can avoid that pitfall of pride, I am not saying that I have avoided, I have a lot of pride within, take a constant fight. But if in some moments, we can avoid that pitfall of pride, we can find so much enrichment that Krishna is going to give us.
And if we turn towards Krishna, nija-jana-smaya, dhamma-sarva-sutra, that in the service of Krishna, there is far greater satisfaction than whatever glorification we may get after doing that service. So, that way, we can keep our focus on serving Krishna. And we can move onwards steadily in our service to Him, doing what it takes to attract people to Him and ourselves marching on towards Krishna.
To summarise, I started by talking about how here, we live in a culture of promotion. And Vishwamitra Dhamma seems to be praising himself by saying that I am an unflinching devotee. But humility means not to say that I am so fallen, I am so fallen.
Humility primarily means to not be so concerned about oneself, one’s greatness or one’s smallness. It means to be concerned about Krishna’s service. Humility means to not let one’s ego come in the way of one’s purpose.
And Vishwamitra Dhamma has a purpose of persuading Krishna to do Krishna’s will. And for that purpose, he gives one example, I did Krishna’s will, even when it was very difficult, even when it gave me, it portrayed me as if I was a materialist. I did that and see Krishna has rewarded me by being present before me at the moment of death.
So, he glorifies himself not to glorify himself, but to glorify bhakti. And Prahlad Maharaj also does the same thing. So, in today’s culture, where actually people go by their feelings much more than by their intelligence.
And therefore, they notice things which attract their feelings, attract their emotions. And that is why promotion is essential to attract people’s attention. And then people will look at the substance.
So, ideally, visibility should be a function of growth. But today, growth is a function of visibility. And that has happened because we discussed how Sigmund Freud’s idea that our rational intelligence is like a small canoe, which can be torpedoed easily by the irrational passions which are like a stormy ocean.
And because everybody is catching people by their emotions. So, we too when we are to present Krishna, we have to promote so that people’s attention is caught. And that connection we discussed how there is the Brahmana model of how to grow and the Kshatriya model of how to grow.
And they are different. And the conflict between these two centres of power is avoided by the Brahmanas having detachment and forgiveness and tolerance and the Kshatriyas having engagement and assertiveness. And wherever in history changes happen, it is by the combination of Brahmana and Kshatriyas, whether it is Buddhism, Christianity, Marxism, or Islam or whatever else, it is by this combination.
Now, Srila Prabhupada told us that we need to be Brahmanas or Kshatriyas. Brahmanas alone will themselves cultivate knowledge and share with those who themselves come, but they will not actively go to become missionaries, they will go out and create systems for sharing knowledge. So, we need a Kshatriya spirit also.
And that is why if this I talk about Kshatriyas, sometimes they will speak about their own achievements and their own glories, that is for fulfilling their purpose, to demoralise the opponent so that the opponent can be defeated easily. So, similarly, in today’s culture, if we are preaching, sometimes promotion may be required, because that is what will fulfil the purpose. And that promotion is done so that later on they can come to this office.
And Prabhupada himself did that when he had not just foreign disciples, but American, British and Western disciples. And we concluded by discussing that when we are promoting, when we are doing promotion, how to avoid the trap of pride, it is just three things. You remember that whatever ability we have, it is by Krishna, it is Krishna’s ability to manifest himself.
Even if we have put in our endeavour, still the others have also put in their endeavour in the background so that we are able to do what we are able to do. So, we give credit to Krishna and credit to others. And I definitely remember that even if we become, even if we promote ourselves, even if we become famous, even if people praise us, through it all, the praise that, the happiness that is going to come is very minimal.
But in contrast, if we absorb ourselves in Krishna, with a generous smile, one is a nursemaid. And the pride can be destroyed by beholding Krishna and absorbing ourselves in Krishna. When we get that higher satisfaction in Krishna, then even if we promote ourselves, we won’t get infatuated by the praise, because we will get, we will get higher satisfaction in Krishna.
And we will remember Lord Krishna while attracting others to him also. Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? Participate in the social events and activities that actually the emotions of people like there are some incidents of mass media there.
So, there is no need to be, by doing that, it will dilute the sense of the institution. Do you have any views on where to draw the line and where to draw the line? So, now, in a response to that question, there are some certain areas where people’s emotions lie. So, if we get there, then we can get an in-stream presence.
But then in getting there, we may have to dilute our whole essential message. So, how do we manage that? Yes, every tradition has two aspects. One is that which connects it with its essence, with the past, that is its fidelity.
Fidelity is faithfulness. And the other is that which connects the tradition with its surroundings, that is flexibility. So, fidelity connects the tradition with the past, flexibility connects the tradition with the present.
Now, if the tradition is connected only with the past, not with the present, then the tradition becomes a museum. Museum is something which people come and see, but it is not of any practical value, it is no longer a living tradition. And the Bhakti tradition is not meant to be a museum, it is meant to be a garden, a garden where the Bhakti Lata is planted and the fruit of love of God is harvested.
So, we need to connect with the contemporary philosophy that requires flexibility. So, this flexibility is very much a part of, when you talk about tradition and faithfulness to tradition, flexibility is itself a part of our tradition. When we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he taught pure devotional service, but still he did not make an issue to campaign against the caste conscious brahmanas who said that Haridasa cannot interfere in anything.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, whenever he was travelling anywhere in the world, although he was a devotee, still he ate only at the house of a Brahmin. When he was staying at the house of, when he was in Kashi, he was staying at the house of Tappan Vishwa, but he would take food at the house of, who was the other devotee of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Chandrasekharacharya. Chandrasekharacharya did? Yeah, basically.
Okay, so, no, he was staying at the house of Chandrasekharacharya and taking prasad at the house of Tappan Vishwa. So, because Tappan Vishwa was a Brahmana, Chandrasekharacharya was not. So, the point is, so that was what was expected of people at that time.
Sanyasi was expecting they take food at the house of Brahmin only. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would not do that. So, what does it mean? He is himself God.
But still, what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is demonstrating is that we all have to choose our battles. We cannot fight everyone and everything at the same time. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu focused on teaching Gauri Vaishnavism, on spreading chanting of the holy names and inviting everyone else to chant.
But the Brahminical orthodoxy that was there, he did not challenge that. And later on, Narottam Das Thakur challenged it when he initiated Brahmars also, that created a furor. But eventually it was accepted.
So, the point is that flexibility means choosing one’s battles. That means, there are, there are whole world, there are hundreds of misconceptions. And we cannot battle all the hundreds of misconceptions at the same time.
So, we may decide to choose, okay, this is the misconception which I am going to fight, this is the misconception which I am going to fight. Bhaktivinoda Thakur, he chose not to speak anything against the British Government. In all his writings, you do not find practically any criticism of the British Government.
Now, he was aware, he lived at the time, when after the 1857 rebellion, 1857 independence struggle, whatever it was, the Britishers very ruthlessly crushed the Thakurs. So, he was there in all the atrocities occurred. And there is a vague mention of it in Swaliki’s GVD, but nothing in detail.
So, why? Because at that time, his position in the British Government gave him a position by which he could reach to the intellectuals of his time. So, he chose not to fight the battle against the British Government. So, the point is that these are strategic decisions.
He was aware that the British Government was doing some damage, but he chose not to speak against them. So, Prabhupada also, he chose not to get involved in, in, say, the whole Pakistan-Thakur independence struggle. He said that we do not have to get involved in that.
Now, that is, we all have to choose that. We could have said in principle that, okay, an Indian Government might be more favourable for spiritual culture than a British Government, which might be true also. But the point is, he chose, Bhaktisaraj Anapur chose, and Prabhupada chose not to fight that battle.
So, flexibility means that, understanding that we cannot fight all battles, and we choose our battles. And choosing our battles means we leave some battles un-fought. So, now, at different times in history, different battles may be more important to fight.
The same battle may be more important one time, and another time it will be simple. Bhaktivinoda Thakur focused on the fact that at least under the British Government, we will be able to practise Harinam Sankritantri. He said under the Muslim Government, we will not be able to practise that also.
So, he chose to focus on what was the best, most effective way to fight that battle. So, we need to recognise that in the Krishna Foundation’s movement, individual leaders, under the guidance of their superiors, but individual leaders need to be given freedom to decide in their situation which battles to fight. See, the situation in America is very different from the situation in India.
Now, what a preacher needs to do in America to preach is very different from what a preacher needs to do in India. So, if we try to legislate and make everything monochrome, now everything everywhere has to be exactly similar, it is not going to work. Every place, the practical realities are very different.
So, now what may be required, that may vary. Now, there is of course a challenge that in the name of flexibility, we may change the essential principles. In the name of flexibility, the connection with the core may be, core may get weakened or may get lost.
So, then there has to be, whenever any adaptation is made, there has to be some vision of the system of protection. What is, we may go to this extent, but we will also be doing this, this, this by which we stay connected to the core. So, that inbuilt safety mechanism should be also envisioned.
While, ok, we are going to do this to attract people, but what are we going to do to connect them further with this. So, if we have a plan, it is very difficult to make a very general statement about what will dilute and what will extend. In one sense, any extension can be called as a dilution, but it need not be a dilution if that extension helps people to come closer to Krishna.
So, it is like, if we have a pyramid, pyramid at the top is a single point, but you go down, down, it is bigger and bigger concentric circles. So, you see Krishna also offering a pyramid like this from 12.8 to 12.12. 12.8 he says, just think of me, just and live in me. Then 12.9 says, if you cannot do that, then practise Adana Vakya, try to fix the mind on me.
You cannot do that, then work for me. You cannot do that, then, then give your food for some, then some charitable cause like that. You go down and down, you go way down actually.
So, that way Krishna is also offering us that flexibility. So, as long as the intention is to connect with Krishna, intention is to connect others with Krishna, the extent of what all can be done will have to be decided by the local leader at each place. So, sometimes what may seem entirely unnecessary or unreasonable at one place may be very necessary at another place.
So, the local dynamics play a very important role. And we should not think of faithfulness to tradition means that we, we cannot change anything at all. In fact, just as times change, we have to change.
Now, for example, in Prabhupada’s time, no internet was there. So, now, internet is such an important way in which people are being used. So, for example, according to Pew Research Foundation, the prominent, a prominent statistics survey doing a study, especially on religion, they found the last around 10 years, more than 50% of young people who came to Christianity, young people means between the age of 20 to 40, they came through online outreach, 50%.
50% of young people, their preaching happened through online. So, if we decide, you know, we are not going to online, because it is all maya, then there is maya over there. But that is where people are searching for anything, it is the language of the world.
People search things over there. So, you tell me what happened, Buddhism and Jainism, there were small religions in it. And they were in, they were, they were propagating the local languages, Pali and Prakriti.
So, the Brahmins at that time didn’t take it very seriously. We are Brahmins, we will speak in Sanskrit. And then what happened is, they were giving their talks in Sanskrit, but the local people wouldn’t understand Sanskrit much.
And the local people were hearing this Buddhism and Jainism in Pali and Prakriti, and they got converted. And eventually, Buddhists and Jains became so big, that Buddhists and Jains wrote books in Sanskrit. And from 5th century BC to 5th century AD, if you look at Indian literature, Indian literature’s history, more books in Sanskrit are written about Jainism and Buddhism than about Vedic teachings.
Because Buddhists and Jains became big. So, what happened? By not speaking in the language of the people, the Brahmins lost out. So, we have to speak in the language of the people.
Now, language is not just a medium of speaking, but as I said, online outreach to the language. Similarly, whatever influences people’s emotions, that is their language. So, we may have to, we may have to enter into that with proper cautions in place, but without anything like that, we will just be left out.
So, I would say that it’s for the local leaders to decide. And it’s not at all advisable for one person who’s got one place to judge somebody else and criticise other people, why are they doing that. No.
Everywhere there are devotees who are sincere, who want to serve Krishna, who want to get people to Krishna. And they need to be given the discretion. Sometimes, some people may stretch too far.
And then, you know, maybe some enquiry can be made, some discussion can be had, some discussion can be sought. But rather, but without that flexibility, our tradition may become, become not a living tradition, it will become a museum piece. So, faithfulness to tradition also means faithfulness to the flexibility of the tradition.
The tradition itself has an aspect of flexibility. And faithfulness to tradition means faithfulness to the flexibility of the tradition also. Does it answer your question? Do we have time or can we stop? Stop.
One question. So, how do you go through it? Like you said, Mahatma Gandhi was one who had both the qualities of Krishna. Brahman is one of his qualities.
But he was too much, you know, mischievous. And he was always in a practise not to be mischievous. There is a list of people who have been Krishna devotees for ages.
And then, as a personality, he specialised, you know, how he should act himself. First, when a person tries to balance both his Brahman and Kshatriya roles, it may be that other people may just take one aspect of it or even that person oneself may get caught in one side too much. So, how does one balance? I think that is why we need the association of devotees who will balance.
And broadly speaking, if we have a good friend circle, in our life, we need to have at least one person, you know, to whom we look at our mind. Normally, we look at everyone through our mind. That means, if somebody comes and praises me, I think, you know, kya maska lag raha hai, kya chahiye sko? We think if this person is praising me, he must want something from me.
And if somebody criticises me, I think that this person must be envious of me. So, what happens? The mind is always with us. And we look at everything through the filter of our mind.
Of course, by purification, the filter of the mind will go down. But if we have at least one devotee, instead of, that devotee we trust so much that instead of we looking through our mind at that devotee, we look at that devotee and we look at our mind. Because our mind is saying this and the devotee is saying this.
So, we look at the mind through the devotee’s guidance. And in some cases, even if not one devotee, sometimes for different aspects of our life, we may have different guides. That may also work out.
We have to see what is practical. But the point is that in this thing, major decisions about balancing, when we are playing different roles, the major decisions of balancing cannot be done by our own introspection or our influence. Ultimately, it is our life.
And we have to decide how we are going to serve Krishna. Of course, under the guidance of our spiritual master and our authorities. But it is our responsibility.
So, we have to take the decisions, we have to implement the decisions. But because we are doing it, we are too close to ourselves to observe its objectivity. And that is why we need input from others.
So, if we are in the association of devotees and not just in the association, but physically, but association in terms of taking guidance where necessary from others, so that they can give us an objective perspective. Objective means they look at us from a distance, in the distance. Then we will be able to balance.
But then whenever we go off balance, they will help us to come back. That is one thing having guidance. And within ourself also.
Now, usually we need times of Satva Guna reflection. Most of the times when we are doing things. So, we are in Rajoguna.
That is not necessarily a bad thing. As for doing things, it is not the same passion is required. But if there are times of Satvik reflection which we also have.
So, it is said that when the aeroplane is travelling, 95 percent of the time it is off track. The plane is going from Mumbai to Calcutta, 95 percent of the time it is off track. Because of the wind pressure is there, the clouds are there, the atmospheric conditions are there.
And how does the plane reach the destination? Constant reorientation. The pilot is watching. Oh, it is going to off track, bring it on.
Oh, off track, bring it on. So, like that in our life also. While doing things in the heat of the moment, in the passion of doing things, we may go off track.
But if we have times of introspection, maybe once a week we sit back for some time like 10 minutes, 15 minutes. We may write down what events happened in our life or just sit and think about them. What I did? Did I do it properly? Could I have done it differently? If you look at time, if you look at the past, the past is not like a time axis on the chart for us.
The past lumps up. There are some moments of great significance and other moments are routine. So, the moments of great significance, either when we did something wonderful or something terribly bad happened or some altercation was there or whatever.
So, then when we look back, we will say, okay, this is what happened. Maybe I could have done it this way or maybe here this was too much. Maybe this could have been adjusted like that.
So, if we have those times for introspection, then we can ourselves do the reorientation. So, it is almost inevitable that we go off track. But when we go off track, if we have periodic times for introspection, then it is called a Sihavalokan.
Sihavalokan means, as it is said, a lion when it is chasing a prey, it keeps running, running, running, and stops and looks around. It says, where has the prey gone? Where have I come? And then again runs. So, like that, the periodic breaks for introspection if we have, we will ourselves reorient ourselves and if we take guidance from others also whenever required, then they will also help us reorient.
And that way we can maintain the balance. As far as others, we perceive others, it is important that if we are trying to understand someone, if we are, one of the, one of the principles, I am a part of the Shastric Advisory Council, which is the advisory body for the GDCR Shastra issues. So, one of the principles that we have in studying Prabhupada’s works is that on any topic, if we want to understand Prabhupada, we should look at all the statements of Prabhupada in the topic, not just one of those statements.
Because one of the statements may be on this side, other two statements on other side. And if we take only one side of Prabhupada, we will get a, we will get or share an imbalanced conceptual profile. So, basically to understand a person, we have to look at the full, full brain of either activities or life or whatever,