​Help your mind to learn using association and intelligence

Friday feast program in the Middle East

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
I’m honoured to be here amongst all of you today afternoon I heard about the Dubai Yatra it is inspiring to see so many devotees I just came I just came two months ago from America and Canada and we came and we have a lot of devotees there but it’s not even on Sundays we have so many devotees for a programme in most places in America also it’s wonderful to see how vibrant Vishwanathji’s movement is here under the leadership of Vishwanath and happy to have the opportunity to give some service I was thinking that Shri Prabhupada has created a international society in true sense of the word we have Patrik Prabhu from Russia speaking in such sweet Hindi I was thinking my Hindi I stammer when I speak in Hindi I can speak but because I’m a writer so I try to find precise words and because I write in English so I just can’t get the precise words in Hindi so it is Prabhupada’s mercy that of course not just that he is here but he has shown us so wonderfully practising Bhakti so I would like to speak on the topic of the mind Bhakti is wonderful and we also experience it periodically to be wonderful but there is the mind which comes in between and the mind becomes an obstacle in many ways I will talk about it in two ways and then later I will focus on how we can deal with the mind so the topic the title of my talk will be learn to help your mind learn we have to learn how to help our mind to learn so what exactly first of all is the mind sometimes especially in spiritual circles we may have the mind is like a hen and we have to, it is very dangerous Krishna also talks about it Atma eva atmano vandhra atmanma rupuratmana so he says that the word atma here refers to the mind mind is the friend of the self and the mind is the enemy of the self also so what exactly is the mind the soul is spiritual, the body is material or the body is physical we will say and to connect the two together the mind is the mechanism its like if say I am working on a computer if I get a brand new computer which has only hardware but no software I may not be able to do anything I need the software to interface with the hardware so the hardware is like the body, the mind is like the software and the soul is the user without the software we cannot use the hardware but at the same time if the software becomes corrupted some viruses come into it now virus is just one there are so many different kinds of malwares that come into the software the software becomes corrupted then actually the hardware becomes unusable I am here, I want to use the computer I know how to use the computer but the software is not working just can’t make it work so the mind is like the software and the mind can become corrupted by many negative thoughts and when that happens then we can become dysfunctional we can become totally dysfunctional I was speaking on the mind last year in Ohio State University and I was talking to the vegetarian society over there and I talked about regulating our mental diet and after that one boy came he told me just before this class I was thinking of committing suicide I was thinking of committing suicide he had some relationship issues what is the use of living so he said, I just came in the world now I understand it is not I who wanted to commit suicide it is my mind which is prompting me to do this so the point is that when we have a software sometimes the software can give its own promptings sometimes I am visiting a particular website to read a particular article suddenly some pop up window comes up click this, if I am not careful I click on it and I go there I never intended to go and maybe watch that movie or see that picture or whatever I just end up there because rather than I controlling the software I let the software control me so this is our situation that on one side we need the mind because the mind is like the software for interfacing with the body on other side the mind also poses a great danger for us the danger is it has its own just like a software may have its own default settings like that the mind has its own default settings so I am a writer primarily so when I write articles I often proofread them using a text to speech software it reads out whatever I have written so once I wrote the soul is Sat Chit Anand and text to speech software read it out as the soul is Saturday Chit Anand so I had it read correctly but the software had it wrong because it has a default setting to convert SAT into Saturday so this is a harmless humorous kind of error but when the mind works the mind doesn’t just has a small harmless humorous kind of misdirections, the mind can hurt us in much more dangerous ways many times we experience when we do something and then why did I do that why did I do that sometimes we get angry and blast out at people and if somebody records what we spoke when we are angry and then plays the recording back to us how could I have spoken this how could I have spoken this so what happens is the mind takes control and so when the mind takes control it cannot take control on its own we have to give it control, we have to go along with it and we go along with it when we misidentify so when we are practising Bhakti right now the mind has its default settings and usually to talk in our spiritual language, philosophical language the mind’s default settings are our attachments now whatever we are attached to the mind just naturally goes we may start off wanting to do one thing but the mind will make us yoga master the mind will take us in some other direction and unless we are very alert the mind can very easily misdirect us so the process of Bhakti means that our attention normally is caught in the world, we think this will make me happy, that will make me happy but actually the things of this world is they can give us some pleasure but that pleasure is just like a drop of water … … … Krishna says that everything attractive in this world manifests a spark of mind’s pleasure, so there are attractive things in this world and we recognise them they are attractive but their attraction is tiny, it is just like a spark whereas Krishna is the whole Krishna is the ocean, Krishna is like the full sun so whatever happens we can get through the things of this world that is just like a drop whereas the happiness we get in connection with Krishna, in loving and serving Krishna that is like an ocean however the mind misdirects us and makes us think that actually the drop is like an ocean and it makes us think the ocean is like a drop that means yes, I have to practise Bhakti and there is some happiness maybe later it is too much effort I can’t do it and with respect to material things the mind makes us think I want this now so the mind distorts our perception and when it distorts our perception we start thinking that the worldly things I want them, I want them now and I can’t live without them actually yes, we do need things of this world but they are not the sources of happiness they are tools which we need to function in this world money is necessary money is the means for living but materialism and materialism makes us think that money is the purpose of living so money is the means for living but it is meant to be used for some purpose and that purpose is spiritual knowledge so the mind misdirects us by making us think that I will get happiness by getting more and more material things and makes us think spiritual things are good but later it’s not all that urgent I can do it later so in this way although we have the opportunity to practise bhakti, the mind makes it difficult for us and that is why there is two important principles for ensuring that the mind doesn’t come in our way one is buddhi and the other is sangha so Bhaktivedanta talked about association how important it is see our desires are not just linear our desires are also triangular what do you mean by triangular desires? normally you think of desires means I see something and I want it, I get a desire for it so say I may be walking along the road and I see some nice, some delicious food item is there in some bottle I want it so the sense object is here, I am here and our desires are linear I get the desire by looking at an object but that is not the only way our desires are linked our desires are also triangular triangular means that when we see someone else enjoying something we get a desire for it nowadays last 3-4 months there is a big craze for this video game Pokemon Go people are just all over the world they are on the streets they are in Zamani searching for a Pokemon, where is the Pokemon? maybe on this mountain, on this building or behind this ground so initially when the video game came out there are so many video games one more has come but when say one person saw it, he is completely like what is this? just flipping away buttons trying to catch what is this? why are you so excited about it? and then by seeing somebody else playing it maybe let me try this what is so special about it? and then this person starts playing it and they get hooked to it so in this way the desire can not just by seeing the video game but by seeing someone playing the video game so it is a triangular desire between us the person enjoying that thing and the object and in Bhakti usually our desires grow triangularly not so much linearly linearly also they can grow but if somebody sees a Bhagavad Gita ok, it is an interesting book book of wisdom there are so many books in the world but if we associate with some devotees who love the Bhagavad Gita who live the Bhagavad Gita who are constantly filled with fresh insights from the Bhagavad Gita then really how is this person so enthusiastic about this book? there must be something special in this and by seeing their enthusiasm for studying the Bhagavad Gita we get enthusiasm our desire is triangular similarly can you come to the temple? yes, you may have gone to many temples and in this other temple they go and offer some respects but then if you meet some pujaras, they are worshipping the deities for years and years their life is centred around the deities can you start by associating? there is something special about it so in Bhakti just by encountering a manifestation of Krishna whether it be a deity or whether it be a scripture or even the holy name there will be some interaction but a far stronger interaction develops by association in the Bhagavad Gita in 2.62-62 Krishna says भगवतो विशायान बुत्स संगस्तिषि पुजारते संगात संजारते कामा now in the context of this word संगात refers to attachment from attachment infatuation develops Srila Prabhupada in one lecture he gives an alternative reading of this verse and he says Sanga can also be an association संगात संजारते कामा means that in association our desires develop so the process of association is essentially a process of the transfer of desires that means how do I know that I am associating with someone yeah we can go and sit next to them we can talk with them all that is good but the result of association should be a transfer of desires devotees are enthusiastic we share Krishna’s blessings with others and Patripra was talking so enthusiastically about so much concern about the situation in Nepal and how we should do something to rectify it so on hearing that we also feel inspired let me do my part that is a transfer of desire so this is what happens when we associate with enthusiastic devotees that their desire is coming to us they are trying to serve Krishna and we feel inspired to serve Krishna so the mind it will keep generating its own desires and most of those desires will be based on its own past experiences it will be based on other default settings so it will be usually the mind will keep generating desires if we want to cultivate and grow spiritual desires we need association so one of the best ways to change the mind is to associate with people whose minds are changed or who are on the process of changing their mind if we associate with materialistic people then our mind will stay materialistic if we associate with spiritually minded people even if our mind is materialistic gradually it will start becoming spiritual so that is one thing second thing is buddhi so externally we need samgha internally there is buddhi buddhi means intelligence so the intelligent Jiva Goswami in his Sandarbhas he explains that for the siddha bhakta siddha means those who are realised, those who are perfected for the siddha bhakta they stay with Krishna because of their preeti they love Krishna so they always think of Krishna they always serve Krishna but for the sadhakas we are all sadhakas, at least I am a sadhaka so at the sadhaka level we don’t have much preeti for Krishna we don’t have so much love for Krishna at the sadhaka level what keeps us in bhakti is not our preeti but our buddhi it is our intelligence which will keep us in bhakti and that’s why intelligence is very important sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit 6.25 and 26 in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna talks about how to focus the mind and he says the intelligence is still by conviction so the intelligence is what will help us the mind will go off it will go here, it will go there, it will go everywhere we get the mind back with our intelligence and then next verse he says sanskrit the mind is chanchala the word chanchala is often used to refer to children, children are restless so now so mother tells the child sit here and study now every mother knows i cannot just go to my kitchen and some other work for 3 hours and come back and see the child is studying does it work like that? children are restless and what does the mother do? the mother tells the child to study and she comes back and the child is playing hey come study now again the mother goes away and the child comes back hey come study now so what does the mother do? the mother expects the child’s restlessness and prepares for it preparation is get the child back my child will go here, my child will go there so our mind is going to be like a child our intelligence needs to become like the mother the mind will go here and there the intelligence gets the mind back and there is no need to get discouraged just because the mind goes here and there the mind is going to go that is its very nature when we are growing on the spiritual path change of desires is not as important as change of values what does that mean? change of desires means the nature of the mind is we may practise bhakti for many years and still the mind may get very gross low level desires then we just stop but that change, even if it doesn’t happen, what should happen is change of values change of values means if we get some unworthy desires why are we getting this desire? I don’t want this desire if we consider ourselves before we started practising bhakti 5 years ago, 10 years ago or if we look at the large most people want to get desires they want to stimulate themselves they want to agitate themselves they think there is pleasure so the values have changed for us earlier we wanted to increase our desires now we are trying to manage our desires so one devotee once said that twice in the temple hall he left a very expensive camera, forgot it and after he came back there found the camera was still there nobody took it away but he says twice he forgot Mahaprasad in the temple when he came back it was not there this is change of values so actually the camera is much more expensive than prasad but those who come to the temple they will Krishna’s verse camera is Krishna’s property so that awareness is there so like that the change of values is what is important the mind will always be fickle but whereas earlier the mind is craving for things I want this, I want that, I want that come let’s go why should I get involved in these things the change of values happens through our intentions that means earlier our mind was like a child and our intelligence was also like a child what does the mind say, let us do it but now the intelligence has become like a mother and at least we think should I do this, should I not do this and this way when we start disciplining the mind then we will see that gradually the mind will learn you have to be patient sometimes when I say the mind is like an enemy yes it is like an enemy but it is an enemy with whom we have to live it’s like India and Pakistan are enemies but India has to live with Pakistan isn’t it and of course India has to live with Pakistan but for us the mind is not only we have to live with the mind but we have to make the mind work the mind is the tool through which we work so we can’t, first of all we have to recognise this mind, it will come up with various ideas various desires it’s not like I have to act on all this it’s like a mother, I will conclude with two examples that say a mother and a child say they are going in a car mother is driving, child is in the next seat, child says mummy look at that mummy let’s see that mummy what is that now the mother starts looking everywhere where the child is pointing then the car will not go anywhere or it will go somewhere dangerous it will be an accident now the mother knows, just because the child is saying look here, look there, look there it’s not necessary that I have to look at it the child is restless and the mother also knows, so if the child is mummy look at that, what the mother will do is first look at the child now if the child is in a restless, frivolous mood or the child is in a serious mood and then based on that the mother will decide whether to look at that or not so like that the mind will always, come on do this eat this, touch this, watch this, go here we don’t have to take all those desires seriously not just because a desire has come in the mind, does not mean we have to do it because the mind is like a child now first part is that we don’t take everything that the mind says seriously second is, we may want to take something seriously, but the mind doesn’t take it seriously the mother tells the child study but the child doesn’t study well so what to do, sometimes we may want to do something, but the mind is, sometimes the parents want to take a child somewhere and the child is dragging its legs not going with it, parents are pulling and the child is not wanting to, sometimes our mind becomes like that so when this happens at that time, we have to learn how to make the mind learn that means that different children are different and different children have some different interests, different talents and the parents have to see what are the interests, what are the talents in my children and engage them accordingly the mind is a very slow learner especially when it comes to spiritual things, the same thing we have to tell 100 times and still it forgets but then we have to tell 100 times so one example to understand what does it mean to learn, how to make the mind learn, means compare, say the mind is like a dyslexic child child with some learning disabilities now it’s not that the child is bad but the mother may tell 100 times and the child just doesn’t get it then if a child has some learning disability then the parents and the counsellors, they find out some children, they can’t just learn words, but they can learn through art they can learn through music they can learn through experience it’s not that they are dull but they need some special improvisation to be able to learn similarly, in the Bhaktasangh there is a word called Uddipan Uddipan means spiritual stimulus so when we are trying to practise Bhakti we are trying to direct our mind towards Krishna so we find the mind just not going towards Krishna I want to be a devotee but my mind is going everywhere so then we have to find out what is the spiritual stimulus that our mind gets attracted to we have a great saying in Sufi Vibhahamana Krishna Deity Aushitam please drain the nectar of the holy water so here we are instructing the mind guiding the mind, urging the mind so we have to find out what is it that connects the mind with Krishna that means some of us may like music, so we do whatever activities of Bhakti are there but we can focus more on, if we like Kirtans expose ourselves to more and more Kirtans and that is the way the mind can connect with Krishna somebody else may like philosophy, they like some intellectually stimulating stuff, get some civilisation stuff, yes now I’ve got something to learn, I’ve got something to change something to manage on some of us may like to do more practical we are going to go out and read books or whatever, there are different things which we may do so we have to find out within the realm of say this is the circle of Bhakti and this is the circle of the mind’s likings we find something which the mind likes and this is the circle of Bhakti and we focus our Bhakti on that and through that we will grow, so now this is called the Uttipan, so learn to make the mind learn means we find out what is our Uttipan and expose ourselves more and more to that so for example, I am a very verbal person so when I take darshan of the deities I always try to recite some verses and then I recite some verses and then I meditate on this same lord who is described in these verses he is here, then I feel a connection, some devotion so once in a class I said that we can recite verses and then we can connect with the lord, after that a couple of days one devotee came and told me he said you should recite verses you told me but no, whenever I go home for 20 days I try to think of some verses and trying to recollect the verse causes so much tension and whatever Bhakti is there goes away so here what has happened verses are a Uttipan for me but verses may not be Uttipan for that person so sometimes what happens when we are practising Bhakti, we may see some devotees are very good at something you may think no, if I can’t be good like that then I can’t be a devotee no, it’s not like that, we are all different and Bhakti is ultimately democratic what is democratic means whatever we have Krishna accepts us from wherever we are Krishna, we don’t have to become like someone else if God had wanted us to be like someone else God would have made someone else if God had wanted us to be like someone else he would have made someone else, he has made us so we don’t have to become like someone else to become a devotee we have to simply use what we have in Krishna’s service we can take inspiration from others I talk about triangular desires we can take inspiration from what others are doing but look at us what can I do to serve Krishna, how can I connect with Krishna and whatever abilities we have whatever interests we have whatever inspirations we have, we use them to connect with Krishna and as we keep doing this, we find that gradually the mind starts learning the mind will start appreciating, one thing it appreciates in Bhakti, through that we develop a connection with Krishna some people just like kirtans as soon as many temples when I go in some places, when the kirtan is there the temple is full as soon as the lecture starts, one third of the people start leaving because they are just not able to connect with the classes because it’s our responsibility to present the philosophy in a way that people can connect but the point is that for people at least there should be one connection and from that one connection at least they are coming to the temple because of the kirtans but from that gradually what does this feel like, why does it feel so good then somebody gives a class oh this makes so much sense so if we have one connection with Krishna through our particular uttika the mind starts learning this Krishna Bhakti is so nice I get so excited about this and that I think that will make me happy but this Krishna Bhakti is so joyful then if this one activity is joyful maybe the other activity will also be joyful and gradually we will start becoming more and more enthusiastic more and more absorbed in Bhakti so this is some work this learning to make our mind learn that is a work which we have to do ourselves nobody else can do it for us our spiritual master, our spiritual guide they are there and they will inspire us but it is we who have to live with our mind and we have to take responsibility for living with the mind as it is and for gradually changing it when we do this then we will start finding that Bhakti will become more and more sweeter and the mind because it distracts us from Bhakti that is why it is not joyful but when you can focus in Bhakti it is like say I am just drinking some mango juice and while I am drinking mango juice somebody suddenly comes and moves my neck I was drinking mango juice, what happened? it just disappeared, it is all spilled down the way the juice is relishable but if somebody just moves my mouth away I can’t relish it so like that Krishna Bhakti is joyful but the mind just distracts us the mind distracts us away and then you can’t relish it the mind is like, you can get that what you are enjoying is right now delicious why don’t you get that, why don’t you get that and the mind keeps distracting us but as the mind stops distracting as the mind starts cooperating then Bhakti will become more and more joyful so in the initial stages there is a struggle but that struggle is like a mother helping the child to learn and as the child learns then Bhakti becomes more and more joyful to summarise, I spoke about how in the process of Bhakti we need to learn how to make our mind learn the mind is our interface between the soul and the body, like the software between the user and the hardware so the software is meant to do our work, but if the software becomes corrupted it may do something else and distract us, so like that the mind will need it, but it can very easily distract us and in the association of devotees, the mind distracts us in two ways one is it makes us think, oh material things this is what will make me happy and it attracts us towards material things and towards devotional things this is later so to deal with the mind, discuss two things one is Sangha and the other is Buddhi association association taps the triangularity of desires just by seeing devotional objects we may or may not feel desire for them but when we associate with those who are attracted to those objects, attracted to Bhagavad Gita, attracted to Gita, attracted to Kirtan, attracted to Seva, then we get that desire also so association essentially means the transfer of desires and internally there is Buddhi so the Buddhi is the mind is going to be like a child the Buddhi has to be like a mother and we don’t have to get discouraged because the mind gets all kinds of desires that mind’s desires may not change just like the child may not change over it but our intelligence will become like a mother that means our desires may not change but our values can change and with the intelligence we refocus the mind refocus the mind and by doing this we can treat the mind not as an enemy because we have to live with it and we have to make it work we can treat it as a child as a child who is a slow learner so we learn the mother, if the child has dyslexia the mother has to learn, okay, what does the child understand and give all the education in that understanding of the child, so like that we have to find out what is it by which the mind can be connected with Krishna that is our Deevan and then we focus on exposing ourselves more and more to that while doing our normal devotional activities and through that one thing when we become connected with Krishna gradually we start experiencing the taste, the sweetness of Krishna and through that one thing gradually the sweetness will permeate in everything else and then when the mind stops distracting us then the nectar of Krishna Bhakti will become sweet mango juice we can drink it steadily and then it will become the Krishna Bhakti will become impenetrably joyful thank you very much Hare Krishna we have a few minutes of request anybody has a request where are the mind intelligence and false ego located is there a Shastra reference for this see the mind, intelligence and false ego they are subtle and when we say they are subtle the whole idea of physical location it correlates with physical dimensions so now if you consider the bodies the earth, water, fire and ether these are five elements and then there is mind, intelligence and ego now where is earth, water, fire and ether situated in the body it is everywhere, it is distributed so the subtle elements the very fact that they are subtle means that we can’t necessarily point a specific location for them so broadly speaking we could say the soul is in the region of the heart soul is not in the heart, in the region of the heart so basically there are four prana vayus and the four prana vayus are like five sorry not four, five prana vayus and these are like five directed vectors which pull in five different directions and the point where the resultant of these five vectors is zero that is the point where the soul is situated and as a person’s consciousness becomes more and more elevated the soul also rises upwards so the location of the soul is in the region of the heart that’s where the prana vayus balance out and become resultant becomes zero so around the soul we could say the subtle body and then the gross body the second layer of covering so we could say in that sense that the soul is in the region of the heart and so the mind middle and zero are also in the region of the heart but because they are subtle the whole logic of applying a precise physical location that does not apply so much to it and as far as specifically each of these three are concerned the difference because it’s subtle so again we can’t really apply our analytical categories the difference between mind, intelligence and ego is more functional than structural that means like earth and water they are structurally different they have different structures and their function is also different but in the mind, intelligence and ego the primary the way we know about them is through their functionality so as far as I have read in Sankhya ontologically ontologically means in terms of the nature of their existence not much is talked about where they exist generally this whole analysis of mind, intelligence and ego is always done in functional terms. In the Bhagavad Gita also by talking about the characteristics of various elements the mind, intelligence and ego are talked entirely in functional terms what does the mind do? what does the intelligence do? so that’s why I feel because it is subtle so trying to apply the whole concept of a physical location and a physical composition that may not apply to the subtle elements we understand it more in terms of their functionality that was what the class was about yes so if somebody says that the sparks are good enough for me how do we answer them? yes the sparks give a very little pleasure but when one does not have any experience of any higher pleasure that’s what is this is what I want if somebody is starving and they don’t have any food then give this dry chapati how can I live without it? it’s when they get a taste of a big feast one more of this feast, give this chapati so the point is the whole process of Bhakti is about giving experience of higher reality of giving experience of higher happiness pratyaksha avagamam dharmyam su-sukham karmam can directly experience so what we can do is we give people the opportunity to experience Krishna and sometimes even after that people may not be ready at that time in the Bhagavatam there is a story in the 11th canto of a king named Urava he was infatuated with Urvashi and to get Urvashi he worshipped Vishnu now he was seeing Vishnu but he asked Vishnu please give me Urvashi so that means he was not ready for Vishnu but his darshan of Vishnu did not go in vain later on he realised yes actually I should have been desiring Vishnu so if we give people the experience of Krishna according to whatever is possible then it is up to them not everyone will be ready for spiritual growth right now so sooner or later whatever they are infatuated with right now sooner or later they will realise that it has disaccommodated that it does not live up to its promise when they realise that then what is the course that they will explore so we can try to philosophically explain to people that yes this is like a spark how long is this going to last but sometimes people don’t get it philosophically just give them an experience and then keep the door open for them it’s not that they are bad people because they are not practising bhakti they are just smart people different people are at different stages in their spiritual evolution and if you just keep the door open for them then whatever they are doing they realise that this doesn’t work then they will come towards Krishna does that answer your question? yes ok so what does stillness of the mind refer to? prashanta manasam yenam yoginam sukhamuktam upaiti shant rajasam brahma bhakta kalpam 6.27 prashanta mind becomes totally peaceful then he is saying how does it happen? upaiti shant rajasam rajas is the mood of passion so when the mood of passion becomes pacified then the mind becomes truly peaceful so within us the desires are raging I want this, I want that I want this to work out when all these desires are raging at that time the mind also stays restless so desire is what powers the mind now to the extent the desires go down the mind becomes calm now our purpose is not to become desireless because we can’t live without desires our purpose is to have pure desires so on the impersonal path people think that the perfection is to just give up desires to just still the mind yogas chitta bhakti lodh just stop all the activities of the mind that is considered to be the perfection of yoga the bhakti says yes how it is? the soul is here, the mind is here so to give the example of software the software is giving it an auto suggestion, go here look at this site, look at this link look at this picture, watch this movie I don’t want this, just stop it sometimes you may have a filtered software which has nothing else prompt so for us we want the mind to be still so that the natural desires in the soul is realised, so it’s not that I want to give up the computer I want to use the computer but I don’t want all this nonsense so for us the perfection is not desireless we want not just the still mind we want the pure mind we want the focused mind the bhagavad gita doesn’t talk just about calming the mind, yes this is 6.27 but then this 3 verses later he talks about yomam pashyati sarvatra sarvam jamee pashyati tasyam na praveshnam means jamee na praveshnam one who sees me everywhere and sees everything that person is never lost so we want that the mind stop distracting us and the calm mind will focus where we want to focus, so for us we are interested not so much in the stillness of the mind as a perfection the stillness of the mind is meant so that the mind can help us focus on Krishna and become absorbed in Krishna, the gopis are at that level where even they don’t want to think about Krishna one time Krishna left the gopis the gopis said you know Krishna if he can live without us we will also live without him, so our mind just goes to Krishna so what to do we have heard that by the process of yoga we can control the mind so the gopis said we will do yoga to forget Krishna so we do yoga to remember Krishna and then one of the gopis would speak something about Krishna and then the gopis would think about Krishna and lot of times they would speak and then we would remember oh we are supposed to forget Krishna so for them actually their mind was perfected because they were already attracted to Krishna so currently our mind is attracted to other things but we want to be attracted to Krishna so we want to calm the mind first the mind is a distractor then the mind is silent and then the mind becomes a cooperator so in our case we don’t go to the detour of trying to silence the mind we just try to shift the mind from a distractor to a cooperator we keep the mind in the practise of and gradually the mind which is a distractor will become a cooperator does that answer your question very good so after knowing that something is wrong we do it and then we regret it how can we avoid this first thing is that we are meant to be devotees of Krishna we are not meant to be frustrated devotees of renunciation frustrated devotees of renunciation means we are constantly thinking I decided I will not do it why did I do it so it’s like if you consider the graph of our desires sometimes the graph spikes up sometimes the desire becomes so strong that it’s impossible to resist it but if you look at our overall graph it’s not that the spikes are there 24 hours a day the spikes come occasionally maybe once a day once a week whatever particular attack we are talking about what about the remaining time so ok the spike has come but what am I doing in the remaining time the mind is so tricky that the mind plays a double role you know first it allures us and makes us do a crime and then it sits on the court judge and sentences us that means what first the mind says come on we may want to die we want to regulate our food the mind says come on eat this you can take one one more and after a while the mind says you fool why did you eat when will you learn hundreds of times you have done the same thing you are good for nothing you are hopeless so what is happening in both cases we are mind conscious non-conditional conscious so what we need to do is actually when the desire comes when the spike comes many times it may be irresistible but what after ok I did something wrong let me not think about it now let me try to do something constructive let me try to connect with Krishna so our spiritual growth will not be determined so much by what we do with the spikes during the period of spikes as what we do in between the periods so in between if we are connecting with Krishna regularly if we are doing constructive activities that will be beautiful to us that will be strengthening to us and then by that purification and strengthening eventually we will come to a level when the spike comes also we will be able to fight it but if we try to define our bhakti only in terms of the spikes if I can resist the spike then I am a good devotee otherwise I am useless devotee then we will always stay under the curse of the mind so don’t define the bhakti in terms of battling with that particular desire focus on connecting with Krishna and gradually that particular desire we will be able to overcome it one last question small question and small answer so when aeroplanes fly there is so much pollution happens but in the Ramayana it says there was no such pollution so what was the technology there are two main things over here the first is that there are the modern science basically sees the universe as an interaction of matter and energy that you know there are particles there are particles and they are moving along by some energy that’s all that modern science sees now what the scriptures see is that yes there is matter there is energy but beyond that there is consciousness so for example if there is a billiards ball somebody may see that ok this ball went into the hole why did it go into the hole now this ball at this angle this velocity this momentum would make the ball go into the hole that’s correct but that’s not complete another thing is an expert player he or she hit the ball and that’s why by the expertise of the player that ball went into the hole so the laws of physics are the explanation for why the ball went into the hole and the expertise of the player is the explanation for why the ball went into the hole these are not contradictory, they are complementary so modern science focusses only on material causes and material effects whereas when we talk about scriptures they go beyond to the material causes and material effects to the conscious agents who are activating and controlling these things so when we try to develop technology today we are simply trying to analyse these material causes and effects and try to reject them tap them according to our needs or our desires whereas in the past what they would do is they would understand that over these stimuli or presiding over this interaction of matter are some conscious beings if we can satisfy those conscious beings then they will control it for us that’s why when the asuras they would worship the devtas and the devtas would do them benediction so Pushpaka Viman was a Viman of Kubera he is a devta and he had been given that because he had a particular post and certain functions to perform as a part of the privilege he had got so when the mechanism for tapping nature takes into factor the conscious beings that are involved in it then it is much more harmonious so whereas when we try to do it today we put aside the conscious beings and focus only on the material interactions and then we think this will lead to this thing but then the whole of nature is a complex interconnected web of things so this may produce this thing but this will also produce that thing so our aeroplanes produce motion but then they also produce pollution because we are simply looking at it in terms of this fact, this cause, this effect but that cause will have many other effects also so the Vedic technology focused more on not just trying to independently control the material causes and effects but to devotionally please those who are the controllers and then by their blessings get the facilities, get the resources, get the technologies by which to control material nature so it is much more harmonious but either whether it is a Pushpaka or whether it is FER airlines the important thing is not how we are going the important thing is where we are going so if you are practising Bhakti whether the technology we have is harmonious or not our ultimate purpose is harmonious and that’s why we focus not so much on condemning modern technology or researching ancient technology, our focus is on spiritual purification by that whatever technology we use Prabhupada has dispensed for Yukta Vairagya use it in Krishna’s service and then we can do constructive Thank you Thank you all and we are very happy that both of these devotees are here with us today on behalf of Dhamma Buddhesh we have a small contribution that you can give to Iskcon Nepal and a contribution to Iskcon Nepal and I thank you very much for being here with us again Hare Krishna and a quick announcement please Today’s Prasad