How can we understand the ideal without becoming impractical and fanatical?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Okay. So the question is that say, with our intelligence we may understand a certain thing is the best thing to do. But when we are not able to do it, then we may frustrate ourselves by that.
So how can we be intelligent at the same time be not fanatical, be realistic? See, actually in the Uddhava Gita Krishna says sve sve dhikare ya nishtha. Basically the verse says that Uddhava is asking many questions to Krishna. And one of the questions he asks is what is dharma? So he says there the answer he uses, dharma is determined by one’s adhikar.
Adhikar means authority or level. sve sve adhikare ya nishtha. So one’s faith is based on one’s adhikar.
And then Krishna talks about how there is karma yoga for some people, there is gyan yoga for some people, there is bhakti yoga. Uddhava Gita is quite clear that the bhakti yoga is the best. But Krishna also says you cannot practice bhakti yoga, practice some other yoga.
Practice some other yoga, just stay connected in the path of transcendence. So as far as say living in a particular ashram or choosing an ashram is concerned, we have to be intelligent. Ashram is one consideration, but anything else it’s like anything, if I’m eating food, how much should I eat? I may see somebody else eating very less, but if I start eating like them and I find that I’m constantly starving.
They may eat a little food and they go on with their life, I eat a little food and throughout the day I’m thinking of food. What is the use? I need to eat more and then I move on with my life. So when we say that spiritual life means to discover yourself, we need to know who we are.
Knowing who we are is not just knowing we are the souls, that’s most important, but that I’m a soul at the same time I’m a soul in a particular kind of body. I’m a soul with a particular kind of mind. We may say the mind is the enemy, but then the mind is what I have to live with.
I cannot kill the mind, I cannot get rid of the mind. This is the mind I have. It’s like sometimes some parents they may have a child who is very naughty.
Okay, you can try to discipline the child, but if the child is by nature very restless, that’s how the child is. The parents have to learn to live with that child and try to make the best with that child. So Krishna uses the word chanchala for describing the mind.
Mind is restless. Chanchala is also used to describe children. So the mind is like a child, and we have that mind with us.
So we want it to grow, but the mind is what it is. And we need to know that we can’t just change it overnight. The body is what it is.
We can’t change it overnight. So knowing ourselves means knowing who we are, but also means knowing what are the tools I have with me. So when we say knowing, know yourself, at a spiritual level means that, okay, I’m a soul and I’m meant to attain Krishna’s abode.
It’s like, say, I understand that, okay, so suppose, you know, say somebody is kidnapped, and that person runs away, but after they find out okay, now, or they were drugged and they were kidnapped, they come out of their drug haze, where am I now? Which place is this? Where am I to go back? So that first level of understanding is, okay, this is where I have to go back now. This is where I am here, this is where I have to go back. But after that, okay, how am I to go back? Do I have enough money to go by a plane? Or should I go by a car? Or should I go by a bus? Or do I have to hitchhike? That will depend on how much money I have.
So like that, we could say that we all have a particular kind of body and mind. So at one level, know yourself means know that I’m a soul, and the soul has to come connect with Krishna. But another level, what are the tools that I have to connect with Krishna? That is very important to know.
And then I have to connect with Krishna according to the tools that I have. So, some people, Varnashram, nowadays there is a lot of talk in our movement about establishing Varnashram. The essence of Varnashram is not simply dividing society into four Varnas.
The essence of Varnashram is to help people live their material life in a way that is harmonious with their spiritual life. So material life means we have to pursue our material needs, we have to gain material necessities. But we do that in a way that is spiritually harmonious.
So the expertise of Varnashram was that in this world, everyone has to face problems. But Varnashram allocates people the kind of problems that they like to face. That means a Brahmana likes to study Shravastra.
So if you tell a Brahmana, in the Bhagavatam, there is a verse which says that sometimes for a good purpose, we may have to lie. Can you find that verse? Yes, a Brahmana will do the research quickly and find the verse and get it back. But if somebody is a Vaishya, and you tell that person, you know, please find this verse.
He says, thousands of verses in the Bhagavatam, where will I find one verse? Just pick the class without the verse. What is the problem? Who is going to notice? So that same thing which looks like a relishable thing for a Brahmana, becomes like a burden for a Vaishya. On the other hand, somebody is a Vaishya.
We tell them, we have to build a temple and we have to raise a million dollars. Yeah, now I have something to do. I’ll meet this person.
I’ll develop this contact. I’ll establish this. And if we tell a Brahmana, you know, we have to build a temple.
We have to raise a million dollars. After building a million dollar temple, you are going to study Shastra only. Study Shastra now.
Why do you need to raise all that money? So what happens is that both get the opportunity to serve Krishna. Both get opportunity to practice Dharma. But they can practice Dharma happily when it is according to their nature.
So in today’s world, we don’t have Varanashram. So it is our responsibility in consultation with our spiritual guides to find out our nature, to find out our capacity and then serve accordingly. So intelligence means, I’ll conclude with this, three parts.
Intelligence means first is to understand the ideal and why it is the ideal. That I am a soul. I am meant to love Krishna.
And why is this true? That intelligence I understand philosophically. Intelligence means to understand the ideal and why it is the ideal. Then intelligence also means to understand what is practical and why it is practical.
This is what I can do. It is good to fast Nirjaronikadashi. But that’s not practical for me.
Why is it not like that? I use my intelligence. Maybe I have a body which cannot fast or whatever. But then we cannot just stay at the practical level for the rest of our life.
So then intelligence means to find out how the practical can be adjusted so that I can progress towards the ideal also. So we all have to eat but then we eat prasad. We all have to eat.
We all have to do various activities. So an intellectual will want to study. But there are so many subjects that can be studied.
But I study Shastra. Because that helps me to go closer towards Krishna. So intelligence means to understand the ideal, understand the practical and understand the way by which the practical can lead to the ideal.
So that way when we live, we will live harmoniously. Harmoniously with who we are and harmonious with the broader society also. Does that answer your question?