Facebook live QA 3

At the start, Hare Krishna, so, I welcome, all of you, to, today's, question and, answer session, and, I'll start with, some of the questions, which are, there from the, session which I had, two weeks ago, and, we will continue as, if you have any more questions, you can please, type the questions in the, comments, below, and then I'll take those questions, so, let us start, here we have, question, question from, Vivek Shenoy, to, yes, so, this was a question from last time, if any of you have questions this time, please feel free to ask them now, so, Sarvopadhi Vijnanmuktam, Bhakti Ruchchate, it is said, then, I am an Indian, this means that I am not an Indian, but how do I reconcile this, with, discharging responsibility, as an Indian, there are, essentially, two, different, aspects, to our being, there is the material aspect, and there is the, spiritual aspect, so we are at our core, souls, and the souls, are present in particular bodies, so the duty at the level of the soul, is called Paradharma, and the duty, at the level of the body, is called as Apparadharma, so, now, Apparadharma, is not as important, as the Paradharma, but that does not, mean, that the, Apparadharma, is unimportant, Apparadharma, is also important, but when compared to Paradharma, it is, not that important, so, our duty as souls, is to love and serve Krishna, and to do whatever, to practise the process, of Sadhana Bhakti, by which we can learn, to love and serve Krishna, but along with that, while we are living in the world, we, also have different duties, we have duty to our family members, we have duty in society, we have duty in our country, we may have duty, as human beings, so, these duties are also to be performed, now, to what extent, the devotee may perform, these duties, that will, vary, according to, time, place, circumstances, so, there are some basic level of duties, which all citizens, are expected to perform, and the citizens, should perform those, as devotees, also citizens, should perform, devotee citizens, should perform those diligently, now, beyond that, there are certain, causes, associated with, the nation, now, devotees, need not become, campaigners, for such causes, unless, they themselves, feel inspired, to do so, and see, the spiritual potential, in such things, so, not every devotee, has to completely neglect, any nationalistic cause, nor does the devotee, have to become a campaigner, for the nationalistic cause, the important thing is, to have a sense of balance, recognising that, we have to, focus on, going towards Krishna, and, becoming dedicated to Krishna, so, to the extent, we do that, to that extent, we learn to serve, we can move towards Krishna, steadily, and achieve, fulfilment in our lives, so, we do our worldly responsibilities, at the same time, we also, focus on doing, our transcendental responsibilities, and, with the practical, intelligence, we can learn to balance both, thank you, Iqtad daily page, instead of logging, we are logging, Chaitanya Charan Das page, so, welcome to today's, question answer session, and, we will be discussing, question answers, based on, Hare Krishna, so, I welcome all of you, to, today's, question answer session, and, I'll start with, some of the questions, which are, there from the, session which I had, two weeks ago, and, we will continue as, if you have any more questions, you can please, type the questions in the, comments, below, and then I'll take those questions, so, let us start, here we have, question, question from Vivek Shenoy, yes, so, this was a question from last time, if any of you have questions this time, please feel free to ask them now, so, then, I am an Indian, this means that I am not an Indian, but how do I reconcile this, with, discharging responsibility, as an Indian, there are, essentially, two, different, aspects to our being, there is the material aspect, and there is the, spiritual aspect, so we are at our core, souls, and the souls, are present in particular bodies, so the duty at the level of the soul, is called Paradharma, and the duty, at the level of the body, is called as Aparadharma, so, now Aparadharma, is not, as important, as the Paradharma, but that does not mean, that the, Aparadharma, is unimportant, Aparadharma is also important, but when compared to Paradharma, it is, not that important, so, our duty as souls, is to love and serve Krishna, and to do whatever, to practise the process, of Sadhana Bhakti, by which we can learn, to love and serve Krishna, but along with that, while we are living in the world, we, also have different duties, we have duty to our family members, we may have duty in society, we may have duty in our country, we may have duty as human beings, so these duties are also to be performed, now, to what extent a devotee, may perform these duties, that will, vary according to, time, place, circumstances, so, there are some basic level of duties, which all citizens are expected to perform, and the citizens should perform those, as devotees also, citizens should perform, devotee citizens should perform, those diligently, now, beyond that, there are certain, causes, associated with, the nation, now devotees, need not become, campaigners, for such causes, unless, they themselves, feel inspired to do so, and see, the spiritual potential, in such things, so, not every devotee, has to completely neglect, any nationalistic cause, nor does the devotee, have to become a campaigner, for the nationalistic cause, the important thing is, to have a sense of balance, recognising that, we have to, focus on, going towards Krishna, and, becoming dedicated to Krishna, so, to the extent we do that, to that extent, we learn to serve, we can move towards Krishna, steadily, and achieve, fulfilment in our lives, so, we do our worldly responsibilities, at the same time, we also, focus on doing, our transcendental responsibilities, and, with the practical intelligence, we can learn to balance both, thank you, the question that had been asked, last time, and if any of you have any questions, please feel free to, join here, and, those who had logged in at, Chetan Charandas, they will also come here, in a few minutes, and then we will, go ahead, based on whatever questions you have, question from Ashwini Jadhav, we differentiate our senses, from our mind, and say that the senses are driving us, but isn't it that the mind, is ultimately driving us, answer, see there is the, analytical perspective, and there is the synthetic perspective, analysis means, we divide things into their components, into small small parts, synthetic means, we bring them together, so from the synthetic perspective, actually, Krishna talks about, six senses, and he includes, the mind among the senses, this is 15.7, the 10th chapter also, Krishna says that, there also he counts the, mind as one of the senses, now there are other places, where, the mind may be categorised as, distinct from the senses, so for example, Krishna says that, in 2.67, he says that, whichever of the senses, the mind focusses on, then, the intelligence gets carried away, so he has differentiated between the senses, and the mind, so the point is, to recognise, not get caught in technicalities, about what is what, but to recognise essential principles, and the essential principle is, the senses, are associated with the gross physical body, for example, we have sensory organs, the eyes, and, the mind, is a subtle interface between, so this is the gross body, this is the soul, the mind is the interface between the two, so now, who is driving us, is it the senses who are driving us, or is it the mind which is driving us, it can work both ways, that means, sometimes, we may see, some temptation externally, and, the senses, so the desire for the temptation, enters, from the senses, into the mind, the mind gets agitated, and then, we are driven to try to fulfil that, particular, craving, so here, from the senses, the driving force is coming towards the, mind, and to the consciousness, on the other hand, sometimes, it may happen that, the mind, itself, may get triggered, even without any external temptation, or agitation, that means, based on some impression, that is there in the past, that means, there is some temptation, which is there from the past, the impression rises in the mind, and when it comes up, we feel agitated, and then, we ourselves, through our senses, look for some temptation, and then we get stimulated, then we get agitated, so in this case, the, the mind, is what became the, initial trigger, for the agitation, so that's why, it can be that the senses are driving us, or it can be the, it can be the, mind that is driving us, depending on whether, the trigger for the temptation, comes from externals, objects, or it comes from internal recollections, thank you, now, moving on, other question is, how can we, how can we cope with, enduring sadness, recurring sadness, answer, actually, when we are, going, when we say we are in a boat, where, constant waves are coming, we cannot avoid the restlessness, that will come because of the movement of the waves, but if we are anchored, to some, heavier object, if the boat is anchored, then the boat will shake less, so, in life, we will go through, waves of dualities, and sometimes happiness, and sometimes distress, and, within this, there may be phases, in which distress may come more and more, so we all, based on, whatever, is our karmic situation in life, we go through phases, where the difficulties may be more, and at that time, sadness, may seem to recur more and more, so at such times, we need to take stronger, hold of Krishna, because, that is our anchor, and everything in this world is temporary, tam sthityakshya svabhārata, Krishna says in 2.14 in the Bhagavad Gita, are you not tolerate because, āgam āpāyino anityās, that everything in the world is temporary, so, to the extent we recognise that it is temporary, to that extent we will not get overwhelmed by it, so, whatever distress we have right now, we know that it is not going to last forever, so suppose we are going in a train, and in the train, we come to a particular station, where it is very, nasty, the people are nasty, foul smell over there, everything is dirty, now, the train will eventually move out of that station, but if we stay mentally in that station and thinking, then, we will, be, we will be causing ourselves distress, but if we also move ahead with the train, and don't let our mind dwell on that station, then, we will not be so troubled by it, so similarly, in our case, when we face distress, what we need to do is, rather than getting carried away by that, rather than letting our mind stay with the source of distress, and stew and stew on it again and again, we need to do something positive, do something constructive, do something purposeful, especially find out something, which we all have certain obligations, which we have to do, but along with that, if we find out some activity, in which we can absorb ourselves, why absorbing, when we get absorbed, then the mind will not have the scope, to dwell on the sources of sadness, so, that way, we can minimise the sadness, so first is, we connect ourselves with Krishna, and, second, we focus on, striving to, find some constructive activity, in which we keep ourselves engaged, so that we don't mentally stay with the sources of sadness, at a practical level, whatever problems are there, we need to do the necessary to deal with the problems, but at a more level of principles, we can do these two things, don't stay with the sources of sadness, and anchor oneself, connect oneself with Krishna, by which we will be able to, overcome the problem, overcome the effect of the sadness on us, not let ourselves be overcome by that sadness, thank you, question, from Shambho Majumdar, what is the difference between, the mental and the spiritual, the mental, refers to the interface between, the spiritual and the physical, our existence is three dimensional, there is the body, there is the mind, and there is the soul, so this is like, if you consider a computer system, there is the hardware, which is like the body, there is the software, which is like the mind, and there is the user, that is the soul, so, the mind is the software, it is not the user, the user is the soul, the difference is that, we could put it another way, the soul is the root, R O O T, root of consciousness, the mind is R O U T, the root, the pathway of consciousness, so the consciousness comes from the soul, originates from the soul, and it's channelled through the mind, to the body, and through the body to the physical world, so the, so for example right now, you are watching this YouTube video, so now you are at a different, this Facebook video, you are at one place, I am at another place, so, the link between us, is this device, so, when you are observing, your consciousness is channelled, through the device, to wherever I am, when I am speaking, my consciousness is channelled, through the device, to wherever you are, so the channel, is not the source, the channel is the mind, and the source, is the soul, so many people, mistake the mental to be spiritual, because they think that, anything that makes me feel good, is spiritual, but, sometimes there may be, things which may make us feel good, at the level of the mind, but they may not actually, heal us at the level of the soul, they may, actually, to be healed at the level of the soul, we have to realise our spiritual identity, we have to practise the process of yoga, especially bhakti yoga, by which we can realise our spiritual identity, and by realising that spiritual identity, we will, because the soul is satchitananda, soul is eternal, blissful, and, eternal, and cognisant, and blissful, because the soul is by nature joyful, when we become spiritually situated, we become naturally joyful, thank you, so, question from, Vicky Gautam Prabhu, how can we express thanks to God, answer, through our intention, and our actions, gratitude or thankfulness, is, both a disposition, as well as a practical action, normally, when we want to thank someone, we do something, that, we know will please them, so, one of the best ways we can thank Krishna, thank God, thank Krishna, is by, by doing what he wants us to do, and, what is it that he wants us to do, he has described it in scripture, the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita is, two verses, one verse is, so, Krishna says, think of me, become my devotee, worship me, offer your homage to me, this way you will come to me without fail, because you are very dear to me, so, essentially, we are living in this world, we have our various activities to do in life, and while doing these activities, when we, would like to express our thankfulness to God, God's, God's greatest gift to us, is not just that he, makes things right for us in this world, by which we can feel thankful for, God's greatest gift is, that we, that he gives us the opportunity, to raise our consciousness from this world, to the spiritual world, to rise from material consciousness, to spiritual consciousness, because only at the level of spiritual consciousness, can we have, lasting happiness, can we have eternal joy, ultimately that is what we long for, we long to be, forever joyful, so, to the extent, we, would like to express our gratitude to God, the best way to do it is, to do what he wants us to do, and he wants us to attain eternal life with him, for attaining eternal life with him, we, if we practise the process, which will raise our consciousness to the eternal spiritual level, that, let's say, that itself expresses our gratitude to God, so, for example, chanting his holy names, is, a practical way, in which we can express our gratitude to God, another thing that we can do is, that, what God has given us, we share with others, so, the gifts that God has given us, if we share them with others, that is a way in which, we are, actually, expressing our gratitude, so, if we have been given spiritual knowledge, if we have spiritual insights, we share them with others, that is also another way in which we can express, our thanks to God, thank you, question, from, Shyam Saha, why does corruption exist, within religious organisations, and can it be minimised, answer, yes, corruption exists, within religious organisations, because religious organisations, are also made of human beings, and human beings, one of their weaknesses, is that, they can become greedy, and greed leads to corruption, so, essentially, the, the purpose of religious organisations, is to bring out our higher nature, to free us from lust, anger, greed, but that will happen, when people, practise their religion, as a, transformational process, but when they practise it, simply as a cultural activity, they practise it, simply, for namesake, or sometimes some people, come to religious organisations, with ulterior motives also, they come for the sake of, gaining prestige or power, or whatever they feel, will get by, appearing religious, so that way, the, people who are there, in the religious organisation, they, are the, they, they need to be, screened more effectively, so we can't just accept, anyone who wears a religious garb, or speaks some religious sounding, words, we can't accept them, necessarily as a, religious person, and leave alone a religious authority, religious teacher, so there is, achar, there is, vichar, there is prachar, so there is, the thoughts that a person has, there is the conduct, that the person has, and there is the, behaviour, then there is the, the preaching, that the person does, so, now, the ideal pure situation is, all these three, are in, and purification, actually brings all these three, in a synergy, vichar, the prachar, the achar, and the vichar, so now, in this stage of sadhana, there are people, who, we want to, we want to cultivate high thoughts, we read and hear about, high spiritual stuff, and the vichar is high, but then, we try to cultivate high vichar, but the achar, does not follow that much, so therefore, we have to, so this is the, normal stage of struggle, but, there are some people, who come with ulterior motives, they have no intention, of raising their, raising their vichar, but they simply want to, make a show, of being religious, so that they can, grab the religious goods, misappropriate religious resources, so we have to be vigilant, individually, and collectively, so, if we are associating, with religious people, we have to, be vigilant to check, whether, they are really, interested in God, or they are simply, interested in the religion, for its fringe benefits, or for misappropriating, religious resources, so especially, if we, are connected, with those religious, or spiritual organisations, where, there are strict standards, of sadhana, where there is, where the, where the level, where the level, where the process, for purification, is stressed, adequately, then the chances, of people, being corrupted, are lesser, of course, there can be people, who will be, who will be, falling to their, lower impulses, everywhere, and we need to, not just, blindly assume, that all religious, organisations are good, or all religious, organisations are bad, or even that, everyone in a religious, organisation is good, or everyone in a religious, organisation is bad, you know, just as when, we go to college, if we go to college, we have a purpose, when we are going to college, that is, we want to study, we want to get a degree, and we want to have, a bright career ahead for us, now in a college, there are a lot of people, who come just for, loafing around, if we associate, with that kind of people, then we will get, we will waste our time, we will also become a loafer, but if we, go to the college, we do our studies, we associate, with those who are studious, we associate, with the teachers more, learn from them, then, irrespective of the, even if there are, some elements in the, in the college, who are wasting, their time still, our time will be, constructively used, and we will get our degree, similarly, even when we are, coming to the religious, even when there is, a bona fide organisation, in a parampara, even then, we have to know, our purpose, and associate, with those who help us, to fulfil our purpose, we come here to learn, to love Krishna, to come closer to Krishna, and those who are, seriously pursuing, that purpose, we associate, with them, and by that, we ourselves, will grow, spiritually, and, we will, and as people, become more, and more discerning, individually, and collectively, they will be able to, identify, and sideline, those elements, in religious organisations, who have not come, with the purpose, of going closer to God, and as those people, get sidelined, then, the corruption, that is there, in religious organisations, that will become, lesser and lesser, thank you. Great, so question from, Anupam Mohapatra Prabhu, in the age of media, and easy internet, at fingertips, how can we prevent, being distracted, and fall in the trap of Maya, how to focus, on Krishna consciousness, and there are so many, things like Facebook, WhatsApp, actually, this is a perennial problem, for everyone, and we need to know, that our will power, is a finite resource, this means, that, we, can use our will power, to fight against temptations, only up to a certain degree, say even if a person, is a very big weight lifter, who can lift huge weights, even that person, cannot lift weights, unlimitedly, if they try to lift weights, unlimitedly, they will get exhausted, similarly for us, our will power, this is the capacity, for lifting weights is there, similarly the capacity, for lifting, for resisting temptation, that's our will power, so our will power, is a finite resource, and we need to invest it wisely, that means, that, if we know, that we are vulnerable, to certain temptations, if we go into the temptation zone, then we will, we may come unscathed, to the temptation, we may be able to resist it, and come unscathed, but what will happen is, we will, we will ourselves, we will be weakened, with that battle, and next time again, the temptation battle is going to come, again the next time, the temptation battle is going to come, so we will eventually, be weakened, and we may succumb, so it's best, to avoid such battles, whenever we can, this means that, it's not that we can, avoid the internet, we are in a, we are in a culture where, we do need to interact, on social media, we need to have internet access, and distraction in this, is a struggle, which everyone has to go through, I go through this, I know everyone goes through this, the level of distractedness, the magnitude, the nature of distractedness, that will vary from person to person, but distraction is a problem, which everyone has, and that's why, we need supports, so in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, when he's talking about, how to overcome selfish desire, he says, begin by controlling senses, first regulate the senses, then he talks about, purification that will come later, so if we find that, we are repeatedly distracted, by certain things, then we need to, regulate our usage of those things, so for example, we may make a plan, that okay, from this time to this time, I'll be available online, from this time to this time, I will do these things, from this time to this time, I will just be disconnected, and especially, if you're going to do some important work, at that time, we may just, we can just, cut ourselves off, from the things, so we have to fight, we have to have the right weapons, to fight the right war, for example, if the enemy is attacking with arrows, we cannot fight with swords, so like that, if it is technology, that is creating trouble for us, and we are in a situation, where we just cannot give up technology, then we may have to use technology, to create obstacles to that trouble, so we may use some apps, which act as net filters, we can use some apps, which regulate access, there are many free apps available, some paid apps available, whatever they are, we can use it, which can cut off our access, and which can enable us to focus, so this is of course, the initial solution, but this initial is important, Adav Krishna says, and then in 3.43, he says thereafter, evam buddhe parambudhva samsthavyatmanamatmana, jahishatram mahabaho kamarupam durasadam, since with your intelligence, situate yourself at the spiritual level, and by situating yourself at the spiritual level, he says that we will be able to, overcome the lower desires, the distractions, so that means, we have to find something purposeful to do, in our service to Krishna, and fill our life, with such purposeful activities, so at one level, we have to say no to distraction, but distraction comes, because there is not adequate attraction, now initially, we do not have attraction to Krishna, but initially, we can have a strong purposefulness, in our services to Krishna, services can be direct devotional activities, even our worldly responsibilities, can also be done in the mode of service to Krishna, so if we contemplate, on the importance of whatever we are doing, remind ourselves repeatedly, of the importance of those things, and then purposefully, absorb ourselves in those things, then we will be able to resist distraction, so one is, we have to say no to distraction, and to help ourselves in saying no, try to make distractions, as less accessible as possible, that way we don't exhaust our willpower, our finite resource of willpower, in unimportant battles, the important battle is, we use our willpower, to focus ourselves, in absorbing ourselves, and that is important for us, so the best way to say no to lower things, is to have a yes, for higher things burning within us, and this yes for higher things burning within us, comes when we associate with, associate with purposeful people, when we associate with, devotees who are serious, who are focused on doing, purposeful things, who don't waste their time, and by seeing that, by their association, by their inspiration, we also get that yes burning within us, and we have to use association, and intelligence, by intelligence we remind ourselves repeatedly, about why certain things are important for us, and by that repeated reminders, we will be able to, be busy in saying yes, and by being busy in saying yes, will automatically say no to unimportant things, thank you. Great Krishna.

So, now next question here is, so question from Dayal Nithai Prabhu, is love for our parents, sisters, brothers, Maya, does such love have no meaning value? No, not at all, the, all love that we get in this world, is ultimately a reflection of Krishna's love for us, all love that we offer in this world, is also, expression of our ultimately our love for Krishna, the problem is, when such love, becomes disconnected from the source, there is the famous, shloka, Tomeva Mata cha Pita Tomeva, Tomeva Bandhu cha Sakha Tomeva, Tomeva Vidya Dravinam Tomeva, Tomeva Sarvam Mama Deva Deva, so, that you are my father, you are my mother, you are my teacher, you are my, you are my brother, you are my friend, you are my belt, you are my knowledge, you are my everything, now what does this verse mean, is it saying that, the mother itself is God, it is not saying mother is God, it is saying, you are my mother, you are my father, this is meaning, what this verse implies is that, actually, that in this world we get love, we get shelter, we get help, from various sources, so when a child is born, the mother, offers her breast milk to the child, without that the child will have, a great difficulty to survive, so the mother's love, is a very sublime and selfless love, at the same time, the mother does not do anything special, to produce milk in her breast, when a baby is born, the same God who sent a baby, through her womb into this world, the same God has also sent, milk in her breast, for that baby, so the point is that, we need to see, the love that we get, from the people in this world, as expression of Krishna's love for us, so when we do that, when we reciprocate lovingly, with those people, at the same time, we also focus on developing, our relationship with Krishna, so now that means, we have a vertical relationship, with Krishna, we have a horizontal relationship, with people in this world, and this horizontal relationship, the ideal situation is, the vertical and the horizontal, are symbiotic, that means, by our connection with Krishna, by our devotion to Krishna, we become calmer, we become more self-controlled, we become more tolerant, and our horizontal relationship, becomes stronger, and if our horizontal relationships, are also with those, who are also devoted, those who are also practising bhakti, then their example, their guidance, their inspiration, inspires us also to practise bhakti, the symbiosis between these two, is the ideal situation, now this horizontal relationship, can work in three ways, they can be pro-devotional, they can be non-devotional, they can be anti-devotional, so pro-devotional means, our relatives are also devotees, or at least devotional inclined, and they assist or encourage us, in our practise of bhakti, that is the best situation, it can be non-devotional, non-devotional means, that they let us practise our bhakti, but they are themselves, not all that interested, that is not the best situation, but even in that situation, we can keep practising our bhakti, only when the relationships, are anti-devotional, then things become, a little troublesome, they actively oppose, our practise of bhakti, so then, now the relationship itself, is not maya, not seeing that relationships, connection with Krishna, that is when it becomes maya, and if that relationship, if we don't see that connection, and if we let that relationship, drag us away from Krishna, then that relationship, takes us into maya, but it's not that, the relationship itself is maya, see maya means, that which does not exist, at present our relationship, with our family members, does exist, it is real, so the maya is to think, that this is all, that is there to life, that I've got this relationship, that I'm doing my duties, in this relationship, and I don't need to do, anything more, that is maya, so if, certain relationships, are involving us, where we are being dragged away, from Krishna, because of those relationships, then we have to be, we have to be firm, it's like Dhritarashtra, was not as villainous, a person as Duryodhana, but Duryodhana was like, active scheming villain, and Dhritarashtra, was more of a passive, consenting villain, in the Mahabharata, and the attachment, of Dhritarashtra to Duryodhana, made Dhritarashtra also, become a party, in various devious, grievous, ghastly, reprehensible schemes, so, that kind of situation, where our attachment, to our world, our relatives, makes us do activities, which are anti-devotional, that is something, which we have to check, and how we practically, check that, that will vary from, according to time, place, circumstances, the important thing is, that at the material level, in this world, these relationships, do shelter us, so in that sense, they do have value, but the Bhagavatam says, that if, whatever we see, as meaningful, if we don't see, its connection with Krishna, then that is Maya, so if we say something, as meaningful, but don't see, its connection with Krishna, that is when, it becomes Maya, so if we let, these relationships, drag us away from Krishna, then, their influence on us, will be Maya, but if we, somehow, manage to harmonise, these relationships, with our practise of Bhakti, then, we will be moving onwards, in our, spiritual life, even through, those relationships, thank you, sorry, so actually, the internet went off, here, poor connection, and, so we will continue, our question answers, so, question, how, how can, overcome lust, actually, this is a struggle, which all of us face, and, there are no, shortcuts, Krishna talks about this in, 3.36 to, 3.43 in the Bhagavad Gita, and, we could say that, this involves, the, major steps, which way, which we could, classify, that is, there is at the, physical level, there's a mental level, intellectual level, and the spiritual level, so, physical level, we all have certain, triggers, which, we need to deal with, ourselves, that means, that, if, as I said, if a person is a drunkard, then, if a person is alcoholic, and is trying to recover, from alcoholism, then they need to, they need to, avoid the trigger, which is there, for their alcoholism, and that trigger, maybe, if they see a bar, if they, they have, they go to a bar, where they have frequented earlier, or the associated people, who have been, with whom they are drunk earlier, so, if they have certain triggers, which make the desire, strongly come within them, then they have to take the responsibility, to minimise the exposure, to the triggers, so, we have, now, we can't blame the triggers, alcohol, the, drunk, the alcoholic, cannot blame, the bar, for, succumbing to alcohol, so, we cannot blame, but we have to regulate, our exposure, to, the triggers, so, we, we need to, at a physical level, we find out, what our triggers are, and we try to minimise, our exposure, to those triggers, at a mental level, we can focus, on, finding out, that, those things, by which, our mind, can become, constructively absorbed, it is idle mind, that is the devil's workshop, and last is, one of the primary ways, in which the devil attacks, so, to the extent, we, our mind is idle, to that extent, we become, vulnerable, to the, to the, fantasy, that lust induces, within us, so, if we can keep our mind, purposefully engaged, the mind's function, in this case, is imagination, even when, we encounter, a sense object, it is not the sense object, itself is dangerous, it is when, when the sense objects, triggers our imagination, that it becomes dangerous, so, imagination, is the function of the mind, which, is often monopolised, by lust, and lower, similar lower desires, so, we need to release, free, our imagination, from the monopolised, occupation, by lust, and we have to, direct it constructively, so, for example, if we, are engaged, if we can absorb ourselves, something constructive, and we have, we let, those constructive services, spark our imagination, that means, we, we imagine, okay, I'm going to do this thing, I'm reading the Bhagavatam, and if I just read everyday, for one, one hour, just in three years, I can complete the whole Bhagavatam, how wonderful it will be, if I can complete, the Bhagavatam, or whatever it is, that we, we find ourselves, attracted to, so, we let, we find what it is, that our mind gets attracted to, in a constructive direction, and we, give a constructive direction, for the mind's imagination, because the mind, needs to imagine something, so, it has to imagine something, which gives joy, and, if it doesn't find something higher, to imagine something joyful, then it will find something lower, to imagine something joyful, and that's how we will get caught in, we will be dragged down, that's at the, mental level, then at the intellectual level, at the intellectual level, Jiva Goswami explains, that the sadhaka, that the siddha, those who are realised souls, they stay at the spiritual level, because of their priti, priti is the love for Krishna, but at sadhaka stage, we can stay at the spiritual level, primarily by our buddhi, not our priti, buddhis are intelligence, so, we need to keep our intelligence strong, so, why is it that, we want to fight lust, it's simply because, that will create a bad reputation for, if we indulge in it, it will create a, spoil our reputation in society, that is only the thing, then we may think that, okay, if nobody comes to know, then I indulge, that's not a problem, so, we have to go inwards, and check our own convictions, and we have to find out, that reasoning, those scriptural points, that analysis, that most convinces us, about why we need to fight lust, and overcome lust, so, to the extent, we use our intelligence, so, intelligence is a weapon, but just as a weapon, has to be hit, at a particular target, to, to, to make the enemy fall, so, like that, we have to take, the weapon of the intelligence, there is so much scriptural analysis, that is given, we have heard so many, we can, we can hear classes, we can hear talks, on this topic, and we have to find out, those weapons, which particularly, counter our misconceptions, so, that way, we will, when we are, using our intelligence, to resist, and to reject the temptations, then, we will be intellectually, buddhi, evam buddhe, Krishna says, so, now, the intelligence, is alone, not enough, but intelligence, is essential, as a foundation, in maths, we have the necessary, not sufficient condition, so, intelligence is essential, and Krishna also says, in 2.63, that, buddhinashad pranashyati, the intelligence is destroyed, then we fall back, so, our intelligence, is our, that primary guard, but the intelligence, is to be used, not just, to analyse, why lust is bad, why I should not indulge in lust, the intelligence, is to be more importantly, constructively used, to focus, on something positive, to focus, to engage ourselves, in something, more, more positive, more fulfilling, and, that ultimately, is devotional activities, so, it's like, a person, who's got diabetes, that person, should not eat, sweet food, but they cannot live, without food, so, they have to use, their intelligence, to remind themselves, of how dangerous, sweet food is, or sugar is, basically for them, but along with that, they also need to remember, that, they also need to use, their intelligence, to find out, a diet for themselves, which is healthy, which is nourishing, and which also, is reasonably, likeable for them, so, they have to use, their intelligence, to find a positive diet, and then, when they, get a taste, for that positive diet, then, the unhealthy diet, they will be able, to give up more easily, so, we say, when we just, give up things, we don't feel, we still feel, dissatisfied, but when we get, something higher, then we become, satisfied, and that brings us, to the spiritual level, the solution, the spiritual level is, we are souls, and as souls, we are parts of Krishna, as parts of Krishna, so, to the extent, we, render service to Krishna, to the extent, we connect with Krishna, to the extent, we, we learn to love Krishna, to that extent, our emotions, our thoughts, and our whole life, will get directed towards Krishna, and that, connection with Krishna, will purify us, Krishna is supremely pure, and he is supremely purified, to the extent, we connect with Krishna, to the extent, we learn to, direct our, desires, direct our love towards Krishna, to that extent, we will be, able to, move closer towards Krishna, and the quality of our desires themselves, will change, so, at the mental, at the physical, mental, intellectual level, essentially, we are curtailing our desires, and directing our desires, in a different way, but, it's not just, directing, we want to, change, the, the inclination of our desires, itself, that is what is purification, so that means, there is a floor, say, inclined, in this direction, then when I, when water falls on it, it will naturally go in this direction, now, if you don't want it to go in this direction, we will have to use some mop, or some, thing, by which you push the water, in the other direction, so presently, our, consciousness is inclined, towards materialism, and that's why, as soon as we leave, our consciousness idle, then, it will, just as water will slide down, in the inclined, direction of the inclination, similarly, our consciousness will go towards, towards, worldly objects, but, purification means, we change, the orientation, of our consciousness, purification means, that we, we redirect, ourselves, that our, the quality, of our desires, itself, changes, the mental flooring, changes, and that can happen, only by connection, with Krishna, by the practise, of bhakti yoga, our conception, of happiness itself, changes, we start thinking, as long as you're thinking, oh, in lust, there is so much pleasure, I have to give up, that pleasure, you will not be able, to give up, sooner or later, we'll relapse, into it, but, when you start connecting, with Krishna regularly, when you start experiencing, higher happiness, in relationship, with Krishna, then by that experience, of higher happiness, overall, we will realise, the mind is getting, so agitated, about this, but there is much more, fulfilling happiness, available over here, why am I going over here, and in that way, we will become, more purified, and that purified, means, the inclination, of our mental flooring, changes, then our thoughts, will naturally move, towards Krishna, and that is the situation, where we'll become, peaceful, and joyful, in our bhakti practise, so, to overcome lust, if everyone is struggling, in this, and I'm also, fighting, I'm not speaking this, as a pure person, but whatever, the scripture talks about, I just analysed in four, level framework, the physical level, we resist, the we, protect ourselves, from the triggers, at the mental level, we, try to avoid, imagining, based on whatever, stimuli we have, rather we, try to imagine, some, try to find out something, which you can, in which we can absorb ourselves, and direct our imagination, that way, thirdly, we can, at the intellectual level, we have to find out, that philosophical analysis, that scriptural teaching, that convinces us, about, not only the need, to overcome lust, but also the need, to direct our desires, towards Krishna, and at the spiritual level, we engage, in devotional activities, thereby gaining, thereby we gain, a higher happiness, and then, our inclination, of our mental flooring itself, will change, and then our thoughts, will naturally go, towards Krishna, the way, presently they were naturally, going towards sense objects, and at that time, and the natural flow, of consciousness, going towards Krishna, that is where, we will become, Thank you. Great. So we'll take, two more questions.

What, what is the, how will you explain, the essence, of Bhagavad Gita? This is a question, by Nitin Dubey. The essence, of the Bhagavad Gita, is, love. We, in the Bhagavad Gita, demonstrate, the transformational, power, of love.

At the start, of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is disheartened, putting aside his bow, unable to do his, to answer the call of duty, unable to fight the war, that was there, in front of him, beckoning him. By the end of the Bhagavad Gita, that same bow, which is put down, he is pickled up, and he is ready to fight. So Arjuna's bow, represents, our determination.

When we face, perplexities, when we face adversities, in life, we put aside the, bow of our determination, we start thinking, I can't do this. But when we hear, the message of the Gita, it restores, our morale, it reinstates, our determination. And again, we pick up, our bow, to fight, whatever battles, we need to fight, in our life.

Now, what was it, that transformed Arjuna? That, that knowledge, is the knowledge, that centres on, spiritual love. So, Krishna explained to Arjuna, that, at his core, Arjuna is a, spiritual being. So, we are not our, physical bodies, we are souls, Atma.

And the Atma, has an eternal, relationship of love, with the Paramatma, the supreme soul, that is Krishna. And, to the extent, we act, in the light, of that loving relationship, with Krishna, to that extent, we can be purposeful, and, focused, in this world, irrespective of, whether we get success, or failure here. So, the Bhagavad Gita, urges us, to see life, as a reciprocation, of love, between us, and Krishna.

So, in this world, sometimes we may get success, sometimes we may not get success. Sometimes we will be loved, by others, sometimes we may not be loved, by others. Sometimes we will be honoured, sometimes we will be dishonoured.

If, our eyes are only, on this world, then all these dualities, will take us up, or take us down, and we will not be steady. But, by raising our eyes, beyond this world, to the source of the world, to Krishna, we, will become fixed, in, acting in this world, in a mood of service to Him. So, the Bhagavad Gita's, practical direction, for, applying this message of love, is twofold.

It says that, firstly, we need to, directly, connect with Krishna, through devotional activities, by which, we can experience, His love for us, we can experience, the shelter, the calmness, the clarity, the purity, that comes by connecting with Him, and we, ourselves, can direct our love towards Him. So, we need to give, a significant amount of our time, on a daily basis, for, connecting with Krishna, through practising Bhakti. And then, we bring, this vision of Bhakti, into our full life.

So, Bhagavad Gita says, in 18.46, that, we, all can, worship Krishna, through our work. That means, whatever we are doing in this world, we do it, not just for the sake of earning money, or gaining fame, or proving a point to someone else, we do it, in a mood of service to God. Whatever talents we have, they are gifts from Krishna.

And they are gifts, which He has given us, by which we can make a contribution, in this world, in a mood of service to Him. So, what we are, is God's gift to us. And, what we become, is our gift to God.

So, this is the Bhakti vision of life. And this is the, this, seeing life, as a reciprocation of love, between us and Krishna. And, learning to, experience Krishna's love, and express that love, through our daily activities, that is the essential message, of the Bhagavad Gita.

Thank you. So, question from, Jaydev Shant Jay. I work as a bar waiter, in a cruise ship.

How can I transcend, my occupational duty, to devotional service? Answer, there are, we are all in different, situations, based on our, past and present, karma and choices. And, important thing is, that wherever we are, we start connecting with Krishna. There is a connection with Krishna, which is direct, and there is a connection with Krishna, which is indirect.

Direct connection with Krishna, is, by, chanting his holy names, by associating with devotees, by studying scriptures, by worshipping his deity, basically called ABCD, Association Books, Chanting and Deity Worship. So, these, are the direct ways, in which we can connect with Krishna. And, whatever profession we are in, the profession doesn't take 24 hours.

So, we can allocate, some amount of our time, apart from our profession, to, connecting with, to connecting with Krishna, through our direct activity, through our direct devotional activities. Now, as far as, the indirect devotional activities are, that means, are concerned, we may not have, so much facility, or to, control or change them. The direct devotional activities, we just make some adjustments in our life, change our priorities.

We can make time, for doing direct devotional activities. Now, the indirect devotional activities, are something, which we have to use our discretion, use our intelligence, to find out how to spiritualise them. So, usually, the activities, that are involving, that are involving, activities that are anti-devotional.

So, for example, then they, are detrimental to our spiritual growth. And, we can try to minimise our involvement in them. But, if it is not possible, because of circumstances, so, if we can, so, there are four, primary, activities, which are considered anti-devotional, meat-eating, gambling, intoxication, sex.

So, these we try to avoid, and we try to avoid being involved, in professions, which are centred on these activities. But, if it is not possible, to avoid those activities, in whatever situation we are in, because of, because of whatever, circumstances, then, we need to try to infuse, a devotional consciousness, as much as we can. So, let me enhance that, you see, Prabhupada was so inclusive, that he said, that at one time, that, if somebody is a compulsive drinker, somebody is alcoholic, and, they say that, I just can't give up alcohol.

Prabhupada said, okay, think, that the taste of alcohol, is, Krishna. You think like this, then one day, by that remembrance of Krishna, you will become purified, and one day, you will become a great devotee of Krishna. So, what this means is, Krishna is not, Prabhupada is not saying that, you drink alcohol.

If you are not able to give it up, at least try to think of Krishna, within that situation, and that thinking of Krishna, will purify us, and gradually, the person will give up alcohol. So, whatever situation we are in, now, if we have to serve, in a bar, then, we have to, give alcohol to people. So, that's just a, if we can't, change that profession, then what can we do? We try to remember Krishna, as much as possible, in that profession.

So, we can see people, how mad they are, for alcohol. And then, we can think, what is, actually, alcohol is basically, people are killing themselves, by drinking it. But still, they are mad for it.

Why is it? Because, this, they are getting, some taste of Krishna, in a distorted, fragmented way, over here. Now, when Prabhupada says, the taste of alcohol is Krishna, what is he meaning? He is not saying that, we should all drink alcohol. He is simply saying that, that irresistible, allure, that they are getting, experiencing over there, where does that come from? That is, a spark of Krishna's remembrance.

But, this is a spark, that doesn't take them, towards the source. This is a spark, that takes them away, from the source. So, we don't want to go away, from the source.

We don't want to go away, from Krishna. But, we can appreciate, that means, people get so captivated, by this. So, a spark can be so attractive, how much more attractive, will be the whole? And, that way, whatever way is possible, we try to remember Krishna, we try to, whatever profession we have, we try to give, a portion of that, earnings from that profession, in charity.

And, as we keep practising bhakti, praying to Krishna, for a more favourable situation, for practising bhakti. Maybe it will work out, that, we might be able to get a job, which does not involve, such anti-devotional activities. Or, we might be able to, shift within that job, to a different kind of role, within that particular profession, to a different kind of role, where we are not directly involved in, such anti-devotional activities.

But the important thing is, don't, delay one's connection with Krishna, just because of one's circumstance. Now, wherever we are, whatever we can do, we should start doing. And, by doing what we can, to connect with Krishna, from wherever we are, we show him our intention, to connect with Krishna, connect with him.

And then, he will give us, greater facility, greater intelligence, for how we can keep connecting with him, more and more. Thank you. So, one last question.

So, question, from, Gaurachandra Prabhu. How to deal with devotees, who are part of ISKCON, but have the tendency, to criticise the movement? Answer, we have to, when we come to Krishna's movement, we have to be clear about our purpose. What have we come here for? We have come here, for trying to learn to love Krishna, trying to serve Krishna, to go closer to him.

So, we need to, cherish that association, that enables us to go closer to Krishna. And, we need to, if there are other devotees, who don't inspire in that cause, then, we need to keep a distance from those devotees. So, the important thing is, If, Vyavasayatmika Buddhi, Eke Hakur Nandana.

That, we have to be clear about our purpose. Now, as far as devotees, who are criticising the movement. Now, it's not that, all critics are offenders.

Sometimes, there are things, which are wrong in a moment. And, they need to be corrected. So, when somebody is criticising, we don't have to label those devotees, as bad devotees.

But, generally speaking, we all have to, choose our battles. That means, we have limited time, we have limited resources, we have limited influence. And, with that limited time, resource, influence, we have to see, what is the best, best that I can do.

Sometimes, some devotees may criticise, with a genuine intention, of improving things. And, if they have the power, or the position to improve things, that is good. But, if, that criticism is simply, creating a negativity, just discouraging, this is wrong, that is wrong.

And, devotees don't feel, encouraged to practise bhakti. And, an overall culture, of fault finding, comes up, instead of Krishna finding. Now, we are here for Krishna.

And, certainly, thousands of people, all over the world, have come here, because they are, seeking Krishna. And, they are finding Krishna, at different levels. So, as far as, finding Krishna is concerned, we can find Krishna, in Krishna's moment, if that is what our purpose is.

So, keep a distance from devotees, who criticise. And, find devotees, who are like-minded. So, if that devotee, that means, we have, we have a particular inspiration, in our practise of bhakti, we have a particular, we have certain, like certain things in bhakti.

And, just focus on doing those activities, wholeheartedly. To the extent, we keep doing those activities, wholeheartedly, we will be inspired, we will be able to, we, we will be able to, connect with Krishna. And, we will grow spiritually.

And, who knows, Krishna, may, by his arrangement, help us to have more influence in future. By which, we can also, make things better. We can play our part, in improving things.

But, right now, we have to, keep our, keep first things first. That means, our primary purpose is, to ourselves connect with Krishna, and to, learn to love Krishna. And, we associate with those, who inspire us to do that.

And, if things are wrong, genuinely wrong, and they need to be corrected, then if, if we have the power to do that, we can be a part of doing that. But, our focus should never become a, become to, look, we keep looking at what is wrong, and to keep criticising what is wrong, and to, go on a campaign for that. There is much that is right in Krishna's movement.

And, the most right thing is that, we all have opportunity, to go closer to Krishna. So, we tap that opportunity, and encourage others to tap that opportunity. That's how we can move forwards, in our devotional lives.

Thank you. Hare Krishna. So, thank you very much for your time and attention.

And, there are some questions which are remaining, which we will, take in our future session, which will be announced in due course, on our Facebook page. Thank you for joining today. Hare Krishna.