Do our default settings come from our past karma or our association?
Regarding the question that if we have certain default settings do the default settings come from our past karma or do they come from our association both generally speaking our behavior is factors first is our past karma the past karma creates the Swabhava Swabhava is our innate nature to some extent in modern scientific language we could translate it as genetics some people are genetically disposed they are just really very good at some things some people are say math super kids some people are computer whiz kids right from childhood they are so brilliant at it they are just genius our our our second is our past karma so certain things they are just natural for us in our life for example for example so in one side there is some aspect of their life which is sattvic but in terms of their eating they may be rajasic or tamasic also so you cannot judge people just by one behavior so the upbringing is second third is the association the kind of people we associate so the first two things are more or less unchangeable for us our past karma and our upbringing they can't change and our association we can change maybe not entirely but substantially so the kind of people we associate with and shimmy shapes are there so for example somebody may be by their past karma like but by their association they may decide which side somebody may be reclined by their past karma but discriminantly they will accept that can be determined by their association so somebody may be in India and they are just mad after cricket and then they go to America and nobody knows cricket over there now people know because they are substantial but there in America people are mad about baseball that same may then get channeled into baseball because that's what it is that's what is cool in that culture so if we want to change ourselves in any way it's vital for us to place ourselves in the association of people who are of the kind we want to be we want to be devotees we want to give up certain habit we have to associate with people who have given up that habit or who are not having that habit then only we are going to do that so association is what is substantial what is in our past the fourth is our free will that means despite all these three things the subhava, the upbringing and the association it's our free will that is important somebody may have all these three good but still some people may just become bad because ultimately they have a free will and they can choose it in whatever they want or some people may be in a very impure association but by their free will they can stay pure so these three things they push us they don't force us they push whether we push or not that depends primarily on our free will so it's like these three create the inclination of the mental flow but we can change the inclination even if the inclination is like that still I can push the water in the opposite direction so our free will is still there and the fifth factor is god's grace by krishna's mercy he is continuously gloriously trying to change the world and we can we can observe it ourselves that in some cases certain desires must have changed so for example some of us might have been before we started practicing we might have been eating meat and we might have been very attached to it also but after practicing even if somebody nearby is eating meat we don't feel anything the person is actually literally hungry so what is happening although that desire was there not only that but a strong pushing was there now it is just gone so not that I am fighting against it and I am able to win rather there is no need the temptation itself is gone so so there is conviction and there is purification conviction is of the intelligence, purification is of the mind so actually conviction has to come first evam buddhe parambudhva samsthapya atmanama jaishatrum mahabhava tam anupam tirasita first at least I have to be convinced that this is right, this is wrong this is the way I want to act, this is the way I don't want to act and when we act consistently that way maybe in a future class I will talk more about this there is conviction of the intelligence then there is application of bhakti then there is purification of the bhakti so when there is conviction that means I still have the desire I still have the tendency to act in a particular way but I know I shouldn't act like that and therefore I fight that but when there is purification then that inclination or desire itself is not there and when that purification happens when the inclination or desire itself is not there that time su-sukham ghar kamao gaya it becomes joyful till that tendency or desire is there, bhakti will be a struggle because we are fighting desire is coming, no but when the desire itself goes away then there is undistracted uninterrupted connection with Krishna and that is joyful it takes some time to come but it will come thank you applause.