Applying spiritual wisdom to persevere through senseless suffering

[Bhagavatam class on 11.1.3 on Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Appearance day]

So today there is a quite a heavy narrative from the Bhagavatam and a heavy purport and it is also Krishna Thakur’s appearance day. So I will, these are two very different topics, so the way I will try to integrate is that I will take three quotes from Bhakti Sadanand Thakur which I have found quite inspiring and instructive in my life and I will try to explain the verse and the purport in that context.
So the three quotes are, Bhakti Sadanand Thakur says that anyone who thinks that the world is in need of reformation is himself in need of reformation. So he said anyone who thinks that the world needs reformation, himself needs reformation. The second quote he says is that when the Jeeva gives up the burden of wanting to enjoy the material world, the Jeeva gains peace and happiness.
The third is that the only reason why we see faults in others is because we are ourselves honeycombed by thousands of faults. One of the biggest puzzles for all theology and even for philosophy in general is that is God really in control of this world? Because so many bad things happen in this world and these things naturally raise a question about God’s control over the ship. So of course at one level we understand that we all have free will and when people misuse their free will they can do terrible things and God will sanction those things although those people who do bad things, they will get the new consequences sooner or later.
But still the very fact that so many terrible things happen, in today’s world we see terrorism, we see genocide, we see starvation, so many, if we just look at the news, there are so many terrible things happening in various parts of the world. So some people take this and say that there is no God or God doesn’t care. So either God doesn’t exist or God doesn’t care and there is a whole school of thought called humanism and transhumanism.
So humanism is, humanity is the centre of existence and human progress is the parameter of all success and happiness. Now transhumanism takes this humanism one step further and says that whatever are the limitations of humanity which are imposed on humanity by nature, we will overcome them through the power of our intelligence, primarily through the power of our science and technology. So basically the same aspiration which makes spiritualists go towards transcendence, the same aspiration some materialists, they take it to expand material things and interestingly transhumanism, what are the evils that they want to remove? Old age, disease, death and birth.
Of course, when they want to remove birth, what they want to do is, they want to have birth control. They want to avoid what they feel are unwanted pregnancies. So either it is abortion or contraception or whatever.
So their attitude is that we are meant to enjoy life. So old age and disease, they limit our enjoyment. So by the power of science and technology, we will go beyond this.
And the hope is also there is a whole branch of science called cryonics, which is basically involving low temperature processing of things and there are quite more than a dozen wealthy people who have had their bodies preserved using cryonic technology and the hope is in future whenever science finds out the secrets of making dead people alive, then their body which is preserved using cryonic technology will be again revived and they will become alive. So the point is that everybody in this world acknowledges whether it is materialist or spiritualist that there is something wrong over here and it has to be set right. So humanism or transhumanism tries to set things right at the material level while rejecting anything transcendental.
So when Bhakta Sudhanshu Thakur is saying that anyone who thinks that the world needs reformation, such a person oneself needs reformation. What does it mean? Basically he is stressing that we need to change our own consciousness, that the focus is on understanding that our implication in this problematic material world is because of our own misdirected consciousness. In 13.20 to 22 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about how the soul gets implicated in material existence.
So prakritim purusham caiva vidya-anadi-ubhavati, vikarams ca gunams caiva vidya-prakriti-sambhavan. That’s 13.20. Krishna says prakriti and purusha, both are eternal. Baldev Vidyabhushan and Vishnu Acharya Thakur both use this purport for stating that actually the baddha avastha of the jiva in this world is also nitya.
So both of them are prakritim purusham caiva vidya-anadi-ubhavati, anadi, it has no beginning. Bhakta Sudhanshu Thakur also says anadi karma phale, pori bhavar na vajane. Now these both of them are eternal, but vikarams ca gunams caiva vidya-prakriti-sambhavan, that all the transformations, if both are eternal, if the soul is eternal, the body is eternal, if matter is eternal, spirit is eternal, then why are we undergoing suffering? We are always eternal.
It says vikarams ca gunams caiva vidya-prakriti-sambhavan, it is because of contact with matter, the changes happen in matter. So material forms are temporal, matter itself is eternal. And what we are attracted to is not matter, but material forms.
And when the material forms deteriorate, when the material forms get destroyed, we lament. Next verse says that karya karana kartrutve hetu prakritruchyate, purusha sukha dukkhana bhaktrutve heturuchyate. So it says that actually karya and karana, so there is a cause and effect which goes on, a chain of cause and effect goes on in this world.
And that chain of cause and effect happens in material nature. So cause and effect is, we could say, it is just incension, drop a ball, it falls down. There is cause and there is effect.
But the verse says that purusha sukha dukkhana bhaktrutve heturuchyate. That because the soul desires to enjoy, that is why the soul experiences happiness and distress. It’s like say if a TV is going on somewhere and the TV, a horror movie is going on.
Now a young boy comes and sits and watches the horror movie. And the mother is in the same house and the mother is doing some housework. Now the child who is watching the horror movie, it goes through a whole panorama of emotions because bhaktrutve, because the desire to enjoy the horror movie, so the consciousness goes into the TV and then it’s a horror movie.
So most of the time there is fear, there is panic, there is agitation. And the mother is in the same room because the mother does not have the desire to enjoy that movie. So the mother is not experiencing any of those emotions.
So by a chain of cause and effect, something is happening on the TV screen. But the child experiences happiness and distress because of wanting to watch the movie. The mother doesn’t want to watch the movie, mother doesn’t feel anything.
So like that, kare karana kartrutve hetu prakritruchate. Cause and effect is going to happen in the material world. But that chain of cause and effect, it will cause us pleasure and distress to the extent we have the desire to enjoy.
And the same point is elaborated in the next verse, purusha prakriti sthohe, bhunkte prakriti janmanam, karanam gunasangurse, sadasar yoni janmasu. That this is not just sukha and dukha short term, but even sadasar yoni janmasu, even birth in one species and another species. All this happens because the soul, purusha prakriti sthohe, the soul has become situated in material nature.
And how has it become situated? Bhunkte prakriti janmanam. Because of the desire to enjoy the products of material nature, the products of matter in the form of the modes and their manifestations. So now, the sanskrit says that when the jiva wants to enjoy the material world, this desire to enjoy is actually a burden.
Maya sukhaya bharam udvahato vimudhan. Lord Maharaj in his prayer in the 9th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam says that the desire to seek material happiness, worldly enjoyment is a bhar, it’s a burden. So, when we talk about whether there is, whether God is in control of this world, whether God actually cares for this world, there is a fundamental misunderstanding in terms of expectation.
So, our emotion is always a function of our expectation. When I go into a particular situation, if I have expectation, if I have particular expectation, say, if I go to a hotel, I expect to eat a lot of delicious food. If I go to a hospital, I expect to be treated.
And while I am being treated, I may be given some simple fare to eat. So, each place we go to, we have a particular set of expectations when we go there. If we go to an airport, you know, we expect to be comfortably attended to and we fly.
If we go to a crowded railway station where we are travelling by ordinary class, then we understand there is going to be a crowd over here. So, depending on different situations, we instinctively modulate our expectations, moderate our expectations, adjust them accordingly. But unfortunately, with respect to the material world itself, we often don’t moderate our expectations.
We presume that this world is a place for our enjoyment or that it will soon become a place for my enjoyment. It is not right now. I am not enjoying right now.
But if I just adjust this, if I just adjust that, if I just do this, if I just do that, then it will become a place for my enjoyment. And the whole process of spiritual growth is a process of learning to moderate our expectations. In one sense, this is the process of even growth in normal life.
When a child, actually when a child is born, the child has to do nothing except cry. And as soon as the child cries, the mother provides breast milk, the mother provides comfort, the mother provides toys. And in one sense, naturally when we grow or naturally when we are born and in the early days of our life, we all learn the language of expectation.
You know, I cry, I don’t have to do anything. I just cry and I expect to be comforted. I expect to be nourished.
I expect to be provided whatever I am getting, whatever I want. As the child starts growing up, then the child starts recognising that just by expecting and demanding, I am not getting everything. And parents who pamper to every expectation and demand of the child, often do a disservice to the child because when the child eventually grows up and faces life, life is not going to hand things on a platter.
So to a large extent, growing up physically is just a natural biological phenomenon. But growing up emotionally, growing up internally, a large part of it is learning to take no for an answer gracefully. To the extent we learn to accept, okay, I want something, but things don’t work according to my plan.
We learn to take no for an answer gracefully to that extent we are actually growing up. And this of course is not meant to say that, you know, a child who grows up is always going to be frustrated and life is always going to give a no. But the point is that to expect in infancy, the child gets a yes for everything.
As they grow up, many of the things which we want, we may have to accept no for an answer. Now this, in a normal child-parent relationship, we understand it because the parents are often not able to provide. A child may say, you know, I want this new bicycle.
And the parents may say, no. And the mother may say, we don’t have that much money right now. Maybe next year we’ll give.
The child, what happens here is that because the child also recognises my parents can’t provide. So the child may resent, but the child accepts. And in this way, by accepting no, the child grows up.
In our relationship with God, however, we understand that God is omnipotent. And therefore, we expect also many things from him. With respect to our parents, when we get no for an answer, we accept it over a period of time.
But with respect to God, because he’s omnipotent, so we expect that he can do things. And if he’s not doing it, that means he doesn’t care for me. He doesn’t care for me.
So when Bhakti Sahasrat Thakur is saying that, actually, when somebody wants to reform the world, that means the person is thinking that the problem is out there. And I need to and God needs to do something to fix that problem. And if God doesn’t do it, then I will do it.
And I will become a reformer. I will become the reformer who will solve that, who will solve that problem. Now, of course, this does not mean that the problem is not out there.
There are many situations in which the problem is indeed out there. But often before we can effectively solve the problem out there, we need to make some change in our consciousness in here. And what does that mean? That means that if we consider external situations, we could see that the external situations fall in three broad categories.
How to deal with a problematic external situation that can fall in three broad categories. One is we change the situation itself. That is what reformers want to do.
Change the situation. The problem is out there, change the situation. The second is that we change our sex, which is, OK, learn to tolerate, learn to grow up, accept the world as it is.
And the third is we just, we just go away from there. Means instead of changing the situation, we change our position. We go somewhere else and hope that in that circumstance things will be better.
Now, it’s not that any of these approaches is necessarily wrong or right. It is the intention with which it is done that is important. Generally, in spiritual circles, we are expected to tolerate as the things are wrong.
And we will see that this approach of tolerance is also exhibited. If you consider the Mahabharata, at different situations, we will see different approaches used by the same characters. If you consider the Pandavas, initially the Kauravas tried to have them assassinated, Bhima.
They tried to poison Bhima. They tried to have them burned in Varnavat. And what did the Pandavas do? They simply tolerated.
Tolerated means they did not complain. They did not attack. They did not accuse.
They did not try to fight back. Musicians said, just stay calm. So they tolerated.
Eventually, however, when Draupadi was disrobed and they were exiled, so after that a limit was crossed and then eventually the war took place. The war was, so at one level when the Pandavas tolerated, they were just adjusting themselves. Later on when they fought a war, that was for changing the circumstances.
And eventually when the Lord departed from the world, then the Pandavas also left. They just changed the situation. That means they walked out of the situation.
Now walking away from a situation is different from running away from a situation. When we run away from a situation, our primary consciousness is, I’m just scared of this. I can’t deal with this.
That’s why I just run away from it. And when we are running away, our focus is more on what we are running away from than what we are running towards. I just want to get away from here.
Because when we walk away, at that time we understand, okay, this is some problem and I don’t want to get involved in this. I have more important things to do in my life. I have other things to do in my life.
And we may walk away from the situation. So in different times, different approaches may be used. And if you see, Bhaktisiddhanta Sri Thakur, he himself did a lot of preaching activities.
And preaching activities also, we could say, they are about reform, isn’t it? He is reforming not just the consciousness of people. Yes, he was reforming consciousness of people. But he was also doing practical activities.
He was doing theistic exhibitions. And at that time, the theistic exhibition which he would have in Kolkata was a mega event. It was, at that time, they would have hundreds and hundreds of metres of exhibition.
And interestingly, Bhaktisiddhanta Sri Thakur usually did not position material progress and spiritual progress as competitive or contradictory. He did not exhort Indians that you have to give up material progress to have spiritual progress. In fact, half of the theistic exhibition would be the achievements of science and technology that would be displayed.
And that’s how the government sponsored, government supported it at that time. And many of the eminent people of Kolkata would come for that. The students from the schools would come for that.
And then, along with that, along with the exhibits of the progress of science and technology, there will be a whole many dioramas. At that time, dioramas were cutting edge. So, now we may say it’s so simple.
Now we have got multimedia and all sorts of things. But I tell you, diorama being used for depicting spiritual themes was quite cutting edge at that time. So, he used that and he depicted spiritual themes over there.
So, that was all. That was activity that was done practically in this world. So, it is not that when we say that the focus should be on consciousness, it is not that we are not meant to do anything practical in this world.
Yes, we are meant to do practical things also. But the process is what comes first? The question is what comes first? That in general, the difference between goodness and passion is that in Rajoguna, the action comes first, the contemplation comes afterwards. In Satvaguna, the contemplation comes first and the action comes after that.
So, generally speaking, our instinctive response, whenever we see something going wrong, is that, you know, oh, why is that happening? Why? That’s wrong over there. That’s wrong over there. And yes, there may be many things wrong in this world.
Now, going to the third point or third quote of Bhakti Sanskrit Thakur where he says that the only reason why we see faults in others is because we ourselves are honeycombed by thousands of faults. That’s interesting. He is saying we see faults in others.
The question is not whether others have faults or not. The question is our obsession with others’ faults. That we focus too much on others’ faults.
Why is he doing like this? Why is she speaking like this? Why are they doing like that? You know, that obsession with others and we focus on what we feel are their faults, that is because we ourselves have faults. It’s not that others don’t have faults. That’s not the point.
Others may have faults. Others’ faults may need to be correct. But it all is a matter of priority.
What are we beginning with? In the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, when Parikshit Maharaj is going around, inspecting the law and order situation in his kingdom, at that time he sees a man impersonating as a king, dressed in black, harassing a cow and a bull and he immediately puts a stop to it. And then the discussion that happens after that is quite peculiar. He asks the bull, what is the cause of your suffering? We may say, this is a dumb question.
If I see someone beating someone else, A is beating B and then I ask B, why are you suffering? A beat me, that’s why I’m suffering. Isn’t it obvious? Don’t you have eyes to see it? In fact, not only eyes, Parikshit has stopped Kali also. So, it is obvious that Kali was beating him.
So, the question itself seems at one level dumb. But we see the profundity of the question based on the profundity of the answer. You know, the bull is actually dharma personified.
The bull says, actually identifying the cause of suffering is very difficult. Some philosophers say that suffering is caused by nature. Some say it is caused by karma.
Some say it is caused by planets. Ultimately, the cause of suffering is very difficult to accept. And then what is Parikshit Maharaj’s reply? He actually kudos, he appreciates.
He says, your consciousness is excellent, says the bull. And he says that the person who blames another for their suffering goes to the same destination as the cause of the suffering. As the person who is causing the suffering.
Now, what does this mean? It’s quite a blanket statement we could say that. Say, one person has abused another, one person has beaten another. And the second person says, you bet me, he may bet me.
Is it that both of them are going to get to the same destination? See, the whole question, whole conversation, you have to understand, it’s very philosophical going on over there. So, the point is, yes, everybody has their own karma. And by their karma, they will get suffering.
But here the point is, at a philosophical level, when one sees that other person as an independent source of action, and this person is the cause of my suffering, then that is ignorance. And in that sense, that person is doing something based on their ignorant ego. You know, I am going to punish this person, I am going to hurt this person, whatever.
And we are responding based on our ignorant ego, you know, that person hurt me. So, in that sense, when they say both will go to the same destination, that means both will stay at the same level of ignorance. Ignorance of higher spiritual reality.
So, as devotees, we need to begin first with our own consciousness. And speaking of all this, when circumstances come provocative, I also react in an instinctive way. I also blame others.
I hope that by speaking, I can slowly start practising whatever I am trying to analyse over here. But the point is that actually when we start practising, when we respond to a certain situation, we can respond because of arrogance, because of ego, because of feeling hurt, because of all these motivations, which will be genuine. We may be feeling hurt, we may be feeling angry, but they are often in material consciousness.
Or we can respond in spiritual consciousness. Spiritual consciousness means that we deliberate and we cultivate a service attitude. And with that service attitude, consider how best can I serve in the situation.
And eventually, the action we may do may be the same. Okay, this person is creating trouble and I want to, and something needs to be done for fixing it. So in both cases, the action externally may be the same.
But one may be done simply based on material consciousness. Oh, this person hurt me so much. The other could be with a service attitude.
Yes, this person hurt me, but this person is also a devotee and we are in a devotee community. We don’t want people to be hurt. So let us do what we can to deal with the problem.
So when we have a service attitude, then we basically moderate our expectations. That means, whenever we do a particular activity, often we have certain expectations. Okay, I have done this, now this should happen, this should happen, this should happen.
And when that doesn’t happen, what is the point of my having done it? I did so much, nothing happened. But when we are doing things with a service attitude, then we understand that doing this is my service. Now what result comes, that’s up to Krishna.
And sometimes our service will produce a result, sometimes the service may not produce a result. Or sometimes the service may be producing a result that may not be manifested immediately. V.C. Shila Prabhupada’s own life, for so many years he was preaching, and quite tirelessly preaching in India.
He was doing a service to his spiritual master, but no result manifested throughout all that time. Now, when we practise Bhakti without having a proper service attitude, then we can’t connect with Krishna. We may chant Krishna’s name, we may pray to Krishna, we may study Shastra also, we may hear classes, but because we have a particular very strong desire, plan, intention, expectation, so our whole perception of reality is restricted by that expectation.
And therefore, we can’t stay open to Krishna’s plan. And thus, there can be Bhakti which can be performed with a service attitude, and there can be Bhakti also which can be performed with a controlling mentality. We may say that even my controlling mentality is for the service of Krishna.
Now I want to control things so that Krishna’s service can be done wonderfully. And that is good at one level. You want Krishna’s service to be done well.
But when we do service with a controlling mentality, then we may get the thing done in a very high level of perfection externally. But because of that expectation created by that controlling mentality, we may ourselves not connect with Krishna. Because our focus is, okay, is this happening right? Is this happening right? Is this happening right? Is this happening right? But in the process, we are not connecting with Krishna.
There has to be this balance between recognising that we have a part to do and recognising that ultimately we are doing this part in Krishna’s service. So Krishna is the ultimate doer. And that’s why the extent to which we have this service attitude, that means Krishna, I am your servant.
And whatever happens, I am going to serve you. With that attitude when you work, then even when results come or results don’t come, our consciousness stays fixed in Krishna. We stay connected with Krishna.
But if we are doing services with expectation, very strong expectations, this is the way things have to work out. And if they don’t work out that way, then everything is collapsing. Then we can’t connect with Krishna.
When Krishna said, He says, do not be attached to the fruits of work. Now there is a difference between goals and results. Goals are what we set before we start doing an activity.
And right after the Bhagavad Gita was spoken, we see Arjuna set goals. The Kauravas in the war, every day they had goals. Today we are going to do this, today we are going to do this.
And most famously on the 14th day, Arjuna set a goal that I will kill Jaidrath before sunset. Now Krishna didn’t tell Arjuna, what happened, you forgot that? Krishna did not say that over there. So there is a difference between setting goals and being attached to results.
The difference is that when we set goals, that is before the activity we do, and that is for increasing our focus, increasing our absorption, increasing our commitment into that activity. So the setting of goals helps us to bring out our best. Because when we don’t have a goal, then say if we are driving, and we don’t have any place where we are urgently to go, we say, okay, let me look at this, let me go here, let me see this, let me see that.
Instead of travelling, we are doing sightseeing and just fooling around. But when we have a goal, we become more focused, we become more purposeful. So setting goals helps us to bring our focus.
So it helps us to bring out our best. Whereas attachment to results actually shifts our focus away from what we are doing to what is going to happen. Because the results are not really in our hands.
The efforts are in our hands. So there is basically, you know, whenever you get phala, there are three factors. The Padma Purana explains that there is karma, daiva, kala and phala.
So karma plus daiva plus kala leads to phala. So when we do an activity, our activity is karma. And after we do the activity, destiny has to be favourable.
When a farmer sows the seeds, that is the karma. But after that rains have to come at the right time and right quantity, that is daiva. And even when the daiva is right, time has to pass.
The harvest will not come immediately. So kala. So karma, daiva and kala, all these three, when they come together, that leads to phala.
So when Krishna is saying, karmanye vadhikaras te ma phaleshu kadachana, He is saying, you have a right to do work, karmanye vadhikaras. That means, focus on your part. Our part is to do the karma.
But when we get phala asakti, then what is happening? We are not acknowledging the role of daiva and kala. We are thinking, now I have done the karma, the phala has to come. And when we don’t acknowledge daiva or kala, or rather, we expect daiva and kala to mould themselves according to our plan.
And when they don’t do that, then we become resentful, we become frustrated, we become disheartened, we may even lose faith in Krishna. But you have to understand, our place in the broader scheme of things. So service attitude actually enables us to focus on karma.
Whereas expectation shifts our vision to phala. And sometimes when our vision is too much focused on phala, we may not even do the karma properly. Sometimes we may be so eager to do a particular activity that we may not prepare ourselves properly for the activity.
So if somebody has to give a very important talk, important class, and they are eager to give the class, but they don’t prepare for the class. And they expect, oh, everybody will applaud me after the class. Well, without the karma you expect the phala, it’s not going to come.
So the idea is that when we practise bhakti with a controlling attitude, then our focus is too much on the phala. Things have to work out like this. And when we practise bhakti with a service attitude, our focus is on the karma.
Yes, I will do the best that I can to make things work out properly. But I know that there are certain things in my control and there are many things beyond my control. And in a practical sense, of course, all this we are talking about at the level of consciousness.
So in the practical is actually at the level of psychological. In a psychological sense, if we want to shift our consciousness from expectation to the service attitude. Now, one way to do that is by changing the question that is driving our thoughts.
Instead of letting the question why, we can shift the question to how. Why means, why is it happening like this? You know, why are they doing like this? Why are things happening like this? Why, why, why? Often the question why is the express way to the dead end of resentment and frustration. When we ask why, many times we just don’t have the answer.
You know, I did this, this, this so well and why did things go wrong? Asking the question why, it leads simply to resentment, leads to frustration. It leads to mental choking. Like water is flowing, say in a bathroom, water is flowing and if the pipe gets choked, then what happens? All the water gets accumulated and all the dirty water comes over there.
It’s just not moving forward. So like that sometimes we get mentally choked. And why do we get mentally choked? Because we expected things to go a particular way and they just didn’t go that way.
And then what happened? Why, why, why? Why did they speak like this? Why did they do like that? Why did this happen? Why did that happen? And that mental choking, that mental clogging that happens, we become paralysed by that. We can’t do anything and that time often we may snap out in ugly ways. You know, we may speak and do things which we would normally never do.
That’s because the choking has happened and somehow all that anger and frustration has to be vented. So when we change that question from why to how, how means how can I serve you now Krishna? Krishna, I am your servant, you are my master. Whatever happens, I am going to serve you.
How can I serve you? That question actually removes the choking of the mental energy. Because when we want to serve in a particular way and then service is not working out in that particular way, we get frustrated. But if our attachment is simply to service, I want to serve, we can always find some way to serve.
Okay, this didn’t work out, I can do this. This didn’t work out, I can do this. And we can keep moving onwards.
So, and Dr. Sanjay Dacora says that the world requires reformation. Those who think the world requires reformation, they require reformation. So what does that mean? That means they are thinking that the problem is out there and we have to fix the problem.
Yes, if there is a choking in the bathroom, the choking has to be removed. But then, while that is there, there is no need to get frustrated over that. It’s very simple and practical to do it.
So we have to work at the level of our mind, change our consciousness from the controlling attitude to service attitude. And then we will be able to come up with creative solutions. We will be able to make constructive contributions, whatever be the circumstance.
And sometimes the circumstances which we may face are so terrible that just our brain stops working. Just this doesn’t make any sense. How could anyone do like this? And in fact, for most of us, if we read the Bhagavatam and the Bhagavatam actually skims over, it indirectly refers to the narrative of how the Yadus fought among themselves.
If you read the Mahabharata, it is heart-wrenching and it can be very disturbing for one’s faith. Yadus get drunk and after getting drunk, they start quarrelling with each other and they are accusing each other of immorality or cowardice in the Kurukshetra war. And they are accusing each other, asking aspersions on each other’s character.
And as they keep shouting at each other, accusing each other, they get more and more drunk and just keep fighting. And then that fighting turns brutal and Krishna, he is also there involved. And he tries to stop the fighting initially.
But when Krishna’s son gets killed, Pradyumna is killed, at that time Krishna gets angry. Krishna also starts fighting over there. And eventually everybody is destroyed.
So, we say these are associates of the law. How can this happen? What is going on over here? So, that means if we are going to question God’s controllership, you know, okay, maybe God is in His abode and things are going terribly wrong. But here the Bhagavatam gives an example that God is present over there and still things are going terribly wrong.
They are going terribly wrong from our perspective. And we need the eyes of Guru Sadhu Shastra to understand what is happening. So, here we have in the purport from different Acharyas, three different levels of reasons given.
Bhaktiswami Sri Thakur gives the reason that actually the Yadus had become negligent of the law. They had become contemptuous. They had become drunk with their power.
And that’s why they were acting wilfully. And that’s why the Lord decided to remove them. Jiva Goswami says that actually the Yadus are eternal associates of the Lord.
And they are never irreligious. But the Lord planned to remove them thus. And he gives the reason that he was planning to leave the world.
And after he left the world, the Yadus, it was not out of irreligion that they would become burden for the world. It was out of their desperation. Not seeing the Lord anywhere, they would feel so desperate that in their desperation and the anger and the agony that would come from that, they would just break havoc on the earth because of that separation from the Lord.
It’s like sometimes some people in grief, some loud one passes away. We may see in movies, you know. They are just not able to accept it.
They may tear down things, break things, throw things. They can’t accept it that something like this has happened. So that is, at one level, they are just going out of control.
But at another level, it’s also how intense love was there. Jiva Goswami says that out of their loving devastation within, they would cause devastation without. Because they would be devastated within from separation from the Lord, they would cause devastation without.
And that’s why the Lord decided to remove them. And the third reason is given is that actually the Lord wanted to demonstrate that nothing in this world is permanent. That even when he is there and his associates are there and his abode is manifested in this world.
So even then, even that opulence is not permanent. And thus, we conditioned souls will not be so infatuated with creating permanent arrangements in this world. But we will be ready to focus our consciousness on Krishna.
We will work in this world to do wonderful things for Krishna’s service. But we keep our consciousness, our heart focused on Krishna. So now the first and the second reason, third is philosophical.
It is for the rest of us to be instructed about the temporality of the material world. Or the temporary, the ephemerality of the material world. So it’s interesting that the Bhagavatam itself demonstrates this narrative.
Say if there was a movie, which started with a person getting a diagnosis that you have got cancer. And you are going to die. And then there are many things which happen in the movie.
But at the end of the movie, the person dies. What is this here? Maybe they should have some miraculous breakthrough, medical breakthrough, some miraculous way by the person got cured. What is the point of the movie? The movie which just shows a person at the start getting a curse like diagnosis and at the end dying.
You say what is the point? There is no happily ever after over here in this movie. What’s going on? So in a sense, the Bhagavatam is like that. It starts with Parikshit getting cursed to die.
And at the end of the Bhagavatam, what happens? He dies. So you may say what is so great about it? What happened? So the point of the Bhagavatam is that it is demonstrating not a dramatic change at the material level. The scriptures are demonstrated changing things at the material level through the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
There are adharmic rulers and the adharmic rulers were destroyed by very powerful wars that were fought by the protectors of Dharma. That is also a lesson important for us while we are living in this world. But along with that, there is another lesson that is the lesson that ultimately the amount of changes that we can do in this world, even with the best intention, even with the greatest amount of purity, even with God’s blessing, the amount of changes that we can do are finite and temporary.
So ultimately what we need to do is the greatest change that we can do is change our consciousness, focussing on Krishna. So both are principles of Dharma. One is working in this world in whatever position that we have to make changes in this world.
That’s also Dharma. And focussing our consciousness on Krishna and just transcending this world. That is also Dharma.
The Bhagavatam’s narrative’s focus is on the second Dharma. That, okay, something bad has happened. Parikshit was cursed.
Completely disproportionate curse. Minor transgression and a massive utterly unfair retribution for that. So, in fact, the Brahmana here, Vishnu, the Brahmana boy, he acts like a, what in today’s world we might call a distorted version of a dictator.
You know, some dictator is driving along the road and somebody just comes in the way of the road. And the dictator gets so angry, you know, sentence him to death. Some dictators do like that.
So this Shringi, he does something like that. So you could say it’s so unfair. Now Parikshit does not, Parikshit Maharaj does not dwell on the unfairness of it all.
He just focusses on seeing that as an opportunity to cultivate transcendental consciousness. And that is the central theme of the Bhagavatam. So here also, when we see that the Bhagavatam is the third reason that when we observe things in this world, there may be wonderful things.
Big, big things. Last year I was in New York and I was going for a programme. We passed by the Twin Towers, where the Twin Towers were actually.
So there they have made a museum. And the whole idea is that that was, so there’s a, what is it called, epigram, something like epigram. It’s a plaque where it was written basically that actually the fall of the Twin Towers was not just the fall of a building.
The building represented something. The building actually, that majestic tower. In fact, the Twin Towers and American Twin Towers, they have been replicated in many parts of the world.
When I was in Dubai, they said they have a tower, which they call the Dubai Tower. And that is constructed almost identical to the American Twin Towers. So that tall, majestic building, which was the economic hub, which is also so tall and majestic, that symbolised, in a sense, the prosperity, the security, the success, that whole bubble of material prosperity, material security, material success.
All that was symbolised by that building. And when that building fell, it was not just an architectural crash. You know, it was, it was a psychological trauma.
The American psyche was, it’s written over there, American psyche was permanently scarred by that incident. So at one level, now we can go look at circumstantially, oh, there were terrorists. Or some people say there’s conspiracy theories, whatever.
Circumstantially, we can look at it in different ways. But ultimately, something that was considered to be so, so powerfully demonstrative of the success of humanity, that just came crashing down within a matter of hours. So nothing in this world is permanent, ultimately.
And we need to focus our consciousness on cultivating transcendence. That’s one lesson. And that’s what Bhakti Sanyasi Thakur is saying, that we will be focused on, when we think that the world needs reformation, that means we are thinking that things are wrong and I have to set them right.
Our focus is primarily that we have to set ourselves right. And when we have set ourselves right, when we have cultivated a service attitude, as a service, we may try to set things right. And if things are set right, that’s wonderful.
If things are not set right, still, we have done our service in a mood of service to Krishna and we will go closer to Krishna. And regarding the other two reasons that are given over here, at one level, they may seem contradictory, that the Yadus were the irreligious, that’s what an Acharya, Bhakti Sanyasi Thakur is saying. And then, there’s another, Jiva Goswami is saying, actually they can never be irreligious.
And he quotes from Bhagwat Mahabhuta, they were always absorbed in thoughts of Krishna. So, here we have to understand that when the activities of great characters, they can be seen at multiple levels. They can be seen at multiple levels.
So, that means, when we are looking from the principle of Dharma, from the principle of practical morality and ethics, this action was wrong, and this action has to be set right. And we are looking from transcendence, we understand that ultimately the associates of the Lord are orchestrated only by the Lord. And when they are orchestrated by the Lord, then whatever they do, is a part of the Lord’s plan, is ultimately for the Lord’s pleasure.
So, we see this in as extraordinary a Leela as the Rast Leela. In the Rast Leela, we normally say that when did Krishna leave the Gopis? Krishna left the Gopis because Prabhupada says in Sparpada also that the Gopis became proud that Krishna is with us. And therefore, Krishna doesn’t like pride in the world, it’s Krishna left.
When Anand Vrindavan Champu, Kavi Padukur says that actually the Gopis, they are very happy to be with Krishna, but all the Gopis knew that Radharani’s love for Krishna is far greater than our love. And they wanted Radharani’s special love to be demonstrated for the world. And just so that that love would be demonstrated, they acted as if they are proud.
And Krishna left them and Krishna left them to be with Radharani. So, at one level, now the same pastime, two acharyas interpret, explain it differently. It is not a question of right or wrong.
It is a question of in what context are we seeing it. If we are seeing the pastime simply for the purpose of relishing, then you can say, oh, we can look from the way Anand Vrindavan Champu is talking about it. The Gopis are also motivated by selfless love for Krishna.
But if we are looking at the pastime in terms of how we can learn to make sound decisions in our life, we can say, okay, you know, if Krishna, we become proud, Krishna will leave us. So what happens is that we all need to recognise that the Lord’s activities, the activities of the Lord’s associates also happen at multiple levels. And this inability to see the same thing at multiple levels is often the cause of fanaticism.
Cause of fanaticism. I wrote an article in Back to Godhead, Krishna can bring out good even out of our mistakes. And I gave two examples over there.
One was of Draupadi. Of how she apparently left a little bit morsel of food over there. And Krishna used that to satisfy his anger and satisfy the raw simile also.
And then I gave another example that Arjuna, he was on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. And then when he was on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, at that time, he desired to see the enemies. And he came in the middle and he saw.
And after he saw, before he was seeing, he was asking, you know, Who are those people who want to assist this evil minded son of Dhritarashtra? And as soon as he sees them, All these are my people. So what happens, Arjuna sees and gets into illusion. So then I gave this also as an example that when we focus too much on seeing with our eyes, then that puts us in illusion.
And then some devotee wrote a big complaint mail to Bhakta Gaudiya. Saying that this particular devotee, this particular author has blasphemed Arjuna. Because he has said Arjuna has committed a mistake.
Arjuna is a pure devotee. Arjuna cannot commit any mistake. And then he quoted many verses from Prabhupada’s first chapter purport saying that Arjuna is a pure devotee.
Arjuna is this, Arjuna is that. And all those points saying that actually, so this is saying that how could Bhakta Gaudiya publish blasphemy of a pure devotee like Arjuna? So then I just looked at Bhagavad Gita second chapter. And second chapter Prabhupada is only strongly speaking against, criticising Arjuna.
The second chapter first sentence is Arjuna is crying. And Prabhupada says tears are all signs of material attachment. And they are signs of ignorance.
So there are 7-8 purports in the second chapter where Prabhupada is treating Arjuna as if he is a conditioned, as if he is a conditioned soul who is attached and he has to be enlightened. So what happens is, if we, in scripture when we study there are multiple explanations that are available. So if you focus only on one explanation, then what happens? We feel that anyone who does not accept this explanation, that person is wrong.
But sometimes say, there may be different explanations which apply in different context at different levels. So of course in my article itself later I had said this point. That ultimately all the characters are transcendental and they are acting for the pleasure of the Lord.
So we should not judge them. We should simply learn lessons from them. But that part he had overlooked.
So now the point which I was making from this is, what applies in our study of scripture can also apply in our day to day life. That we may do things, we may expect that things should be done in a particular way and somebody else does it in another way. This is so insensitive, this is so wrong, this is so terrible.
But we are approaching it from one perspective, they are approaching it from another perspective. And that’s why the same thing which seems so wrong from one level may be right from another level. So rather than judging in terms of right and wrong, we can focus on what is uncool and what is pretty cool.
Now what is favourable for my bhakti and what is unfavourable for my bhakti? If this particular way of doing things is not favourable, I’ll create a distance, I’ll do things in a different way. Or this is how things are happening and I will not get involved in this. Rather than judging others as right or wrong, that we can focus on how we can best nourish our consciousness and move onwards in our bhakti.
So we see faults because we see faults in others. Others may have faults, may not have faults. We see faults because we have our own conditioning.
So rather than extrapolating from our conditioning and calling others faulty, you can say, okay, this is not the way it makes sense to me. This is not the way it works for me. So I’ll keep a distance from it.
I will focus on practising my own bhakti in a way that is peaceful and nourishing for me. So even acharyas give different understandings. Some understanding may make a lot of sense to us.
Some understanding is, this doesn’t make sense to me. So we don’t have to judge that acharya is right or wrong. We can focus on, this is the understanding which nourishes my bhakti.
I’ll focus on this understanding. The same way, with some situations, we’ll just not be able to make sense. So rather than, why, why, why is this happening? Why is it like this? Why are they allowing it? Okay, this is not favourable for me.
Keep a distance. Let me focus on putting myself in a situation, finding myself a service, focussing on doing that which enables me to practise bhakti. So with this service attitude, when we do, then we’ll find, as Bhakti Nath Chakravorty says that, the burden of trying to enjoy this world will be eased from our head, from our shoulders.
And we’ll be able to practise bhakti in a way that is peaceful and joyful. I’ll summarise. I started by talking about this on Bhakti Nath Chakravorty’s appearance day.
I took three quotes of his. One who thinks that the world needs reformation, himself needs reformation. That one who sees faults in others, they themselves have faults.
And when we give up the burden of enjoying the world, we actually become peaceful and joyful. So many times things seem to go terribly wrong and it seems that God doesn’t exist or God doesn’t care. This feeling comes because we are letting our expectations filter our perceptions.
So we may practise bhakti, but if we do it in a controlling mood, thinking things have to work like this, like this, like this. We may even make things work like that, but we won’t connect with Krishna. Because our focus is too much on this world and not on Krishna.
So when things are going wrong, there are three broad responses. You know, we may change the circumstance, we may change ourselves or we may shift to a different circumstance. And all three approaches may be right and all three approaches may be wrong also.
The right or wrong thing essentially is with what attitude are we doing it. So if we are having a controlling attitude and things start going wrong, then we may do what seems to be the right thing in this form, but we may do it in a wrong way. We will not move closer towards Krishna.
So if we focus on, rather than the why question, why is this happening, the how question, how can I serve? With that attitude, how can I serve? Then that will open doors for us. The mental clogging that happens because of not getting a satisfactory answer to the why question, that gets removed. And the how question enables us to find constructive ways ahead.
So we are meant to set goals because they create focus in our service. But we are meant to be detached from results because results often distract us from our part in the activity and worry about what is not in our control. So there is karma plus daiva plus kala leads to phala.
So by setting goals, we focus on karma. By getting attached to phala, we demand that daiva and kala happen according to our way. And when it doesn’t happen, we get frustrated.
And we discussed this particular pastime of Yadu Maharaj. So terribly wrong thing happens. In the presence of Krishna, Yadus are fighting amongst each other and killing each other.
So why does this happen? We say, God, I can’t control his own family members. What is this? We think like that. We may lose faith.
But there is a deeper reason given over there. Three reasons we discussed. And then we discussed this theme of how the Bhagavatam’s mode is of demonstrating detachment.
No matter what happens in this world, we can solve things at the material level because ultimately things are temporary. The Bhagavatam’s focus is don’t try to change things, change your consciousness. And that way, whatever terrible things happen in this world, we can see them as impetus for transcending this world.
And I discussed about how the two contradictory explanations, the Yadus were irreligious and the Yadus are pure devotees. They can be understood depending on what lesson we are trying to draw. Is it, are we simply trying to relish the Leela or are we trying to draw ethical lessons for our application? So when we focus only on one explanation, we may reject the other explanation as wrong and offensive also.
But when we understand that things can be seen from different perspectives, then we can choose that which is favourable for us and put aside that which we don’t find sensible or doesn’t seem favourable for us. And the same applies in life when people act in ways or such situations work out in ways which don’t make sense to us. Rather than saying, judging that situation, condemning it, we can focus on creating for us, doing for ourselves that which is favourable for our bhakti.
And that way, when we move on with the service attitude, I want to serve Krishna, how can I serve Krishna the best? Then the burden of trying to enjoy this world will be eased and we’ll be able to practise bhakti joyfully. Thank you very much.