QA session with Dallas congregation

[Evening session at ISKCON, Dallas]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
know your temper.
… … … … … … … … … … … … So, if somebody is spending too much time daydreaming, how can we encourage them to do something practical instead of just wasting their time or spending too much time in that. So, first thing is that we have to know that our control on other people is limited. So sometimes we are able to influence others, sometimes we may not be able to influence others.
And for some people dreaming is a substitute for acting. For others dreaming is a spur for acting. So in general if a person is habituated to doing just dreaming, then if that is the way they are, then it may be very difficult to change them.
And then they are never going to achieve their potential. And our trying to point out things to them again and again, that may simply come off as nitpicking for them. So sometimes some people are not changeable or at least not immediately changeable.
So we may just have to accept them for the way they are and leave it at that. But that is not always the case. Usually people who have some dreams, they also would like to implement those dreams.
So if we can connect, if they tell that, yes, no, we can do this, we can do that, we can appreciate them and then we can tell you, we can bring the, with appreciative encouragement, bring the discussion down to a practical level. Okay, yes, this is wonderful. How can we implement it practically? Or what are you trying to do practically? And we can offer some suggestions.
Maybe you could do this, maybe you could do that also. But the point is by appreciative redirection, that means we appreciate the idea, but after that we bring it down to the practical level. Then they will also be forced to think about the practicals.
So the, you see, Prabhupada about him it is said that his head was in the clouds, but his feet were firmly on the ground. He was thinking when he was just, he had no money at all, he wanted to live in India, he was thinking of going to America. So many people thought of it as utopia.
But then Prabhupada did practical things, meeting this person, trying to get a contact here, trying to get a contact there. So in general, if we appreciatively redirect people’s thoughts towards practicalities, then that is the best thing we can do to help them, help them get things done. And more importantly, if we ourselves are also both having a vision and also doing whatever it takes to implement the vision, then people will see, it’s usually that actions speak louder than words.
So they will see that, you know, I’m just thinking, talking big, big things and nothing I’m doing. But here is someone who is also doing something, they’re talking and they’re also doing practical things. So that way, by first acknowledging that we may not have unlimited control, we may not be able to control some people or change some people, then by appreciative redirection and then by practical example, we can help people to move from the phase of dreaming to the phase of acting.
Hare Krishna. Any other questions? Yes, bro. Can you go back to the daydreamer? Some of the things that we do on the internet are very similar also to daydreamer.
Like Facebook, hearing other people’s idle comments about this and that, and making sure they were the things that don’t get taken in by us. So many things like that. That’s also just kind of like daydreaming, also just hearing everybody else’s daydreams.
Right? Yeah. Yeah. It’s like, because of the internet, we spend so much idle time when we don’t need to, doing other things, you know what I mean, other than hearing and chatting about Krishna.
So it’s some of those things I consider to be dreaming also. Yeah, that’s true. Whether it’s daydreaming, nightdreams, or dreaming, because it has nothing to do with goals or it’s just idle talk.
I mean, that’s my problem. Yeah, thank you. Yeah.
Hare Krishna. So, Praveen, can you share how you organise your days, your weeks to keep progressing? And also to follow up, right now, how do you organise your days? Okay. So when I was introduced to bhakti, how did I start organising my days and how do I organise them now? Well, the first thing we learn about organising is that we are not organisers.
You know, Krishna is the organiser. So we do have to, we make plans. But there is a plan making that is in a mood of controllership, and there is plan making which is in a mood of service.
That means, sometimes we make plans and we think, this is the way things should happen. And if they don’t happen, then we just get completely frustrated. Nothing works and we just give up everything.
But the other is, we plan in a mood of service to Krishna. Because this is an important thing for me, and I’ll show Krishna my seriousness by planning. Okay, I’ll do like this, like this, like this.
And if we see planning as a service, then we will not get too disturbed when our plan doesn’t work. Because we’ll see, anyway I was serving Krishna. So I can serve Krishna in a way that I planned, or I will serve Krishna in a way that is unplanned.
My point is not that my plan has to work. My point is that I have to serve Krishna. And planning we see as a way to serve Krishna, not as the indispensable necessity for serving Krishna.
So that’s first thing. Second thing is, with respect to my life, generally when we come initially to spiritual life, then we are guided by our seniors. Senior devotees tell us, do this service, do that service.
And we do whatever they tell us to do. And while doing the services that we are told to do, we keep observing ourselves. Which service? Two things.
Do I feel comfortable doing? And which service? I am competent to do it. So Krishna says that the principle of Varanashram is guna-karma-vibhagasha. In Varanashram, people were engaged according to their qualities and their activities.
So in contemporary language, we could say that what we have qualities for, that we are comfortable doing it. And what we have qualities for, we are also competent at doing that. So comfort is like guna and karma is like competence.
So while doing whatever services we are told to do, we keep observing which service I feel comfortable and competent doing. So I discovered for myself that writing, editing and speaking. These were the three services which I found that I was, I felt comfortable doing and I was, by Krishna’s mercy, fairly good at doing that.
And while doing whatever services others told me, senior devotees told me to do, I started focussing on this. And then my seniors also saw that, okay, I am able to make some contribution in these services. Then they guided me to focus more and more on those services.
So essentially, we have to find out how we can serve Krishna in a way that will be sustainable for us. Initially, we surrender and do whatever service we are told to do. But it is not that always there will be someone instructing us, do this, don’t do this.
Even if today no one is there to tell us what to do, still we should have some service that inspires us so much that we will do it even if nobody is there to tell us what to do. So if we can find that service, it’s a matter of great inspiration. It’s a matter of great sustainability to our service, to our relationship with Krishna.
So basically now, I prioritise my life around these three services. So writing, speaking, editing. And as we keep doing services, in one sense, life is like entering into a black hole.
We don’t know what lies ahead. It’s dark. But we know that Krishna is our Lord and we are His servants.
So based on our intelligence, based on our inclinations, we try to serve Him. As we keep serving, Krishna reveals plans. Okay, this door is opening, we have to take that door.
If some door closes, then we look for some other door. So basically, we keep serving Krishna. At the same time, we keep looking for ways in which we can serve Krishna better.
So there is surrender on one side, I’ll do whatever I’m told to do. But there is also vigilance to find out how we can serve best. And by that, gradually we become situated in a way that we can sustainably serve Krishna.
Does that answer your question? Sure. Does anyone else have questions? Okay, sure. How important is archanam in one’s daily activities? Yeah, archanam is praying.
And there is praying at the activity and there is prayerfulness as an attitude. So our goal is prayerfulness as an attitude. The devotee tries to be always prayerful in whatever service they are doing.
Once Prabhupada was asked by a lady, Swamiji, will you please pray for me? And Prabhupada replied, I’m always praying for you. Otherwise, what reason did I have to come so far away across so many oceans? So here Prabhupada is not talking about activity or praying as an activity. Prabhupada is meeting that lady for the first time.
So when you are saying I’m always praying for you, it is the attitude of prayerfulness that he wanted the best for everyone and he was praying to Krishna for the spiritual elevation of everyone. So for us as sadhakas, for us as spiritual seekers, we want prayerfulness as an attitude. But prayerfulness as an attitude is quite elevated.
And praying as an activity is very helpful in moving towards that attitude. Now exactly how much we pray, when we pray and what we pray, that will vary according to time, place, circumstance. It will vary according to individual nature.
But the important thing is we see prayer as a service to Krishna. There is a big difference between praying as is conceived in pious religion, in religious piety and praying as is conceived in bhakti. Normally in pious religiosity, praying is conveyed as a means or praying is conceived as a means of petitioning God for something.
I can’t do this to God. Please do it for me. That is of course one mode of praying.
But if you see in the Bhagavatam, praying is talked as one limb of bhakti. śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇu smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam archanam vandanam dāsyaṁ sākhyam ātmaṁ vedam Hearing about Krishna is one limb of bhakti. Speaking about Krishna is one limb of bhakti.
Similarly praying about Krishna is also one limb of bhakti. And all these limbs of bhakti, what is the result? It is said, iti puṁsārpita-viṣṇu bhakti-ścena-navalakṣaṇa kriyeta bhagavaty-addhātmanye nita-muktam That these nine activities are the characteristics of devotion. And when these are done, attraction to the Lord increases.
So here it is very significant that prayer is not conceived of as an activity to get God to do something for us. Prayer is seen as an activity to increase our bonding with Krishna. To increase our relationship with Krishna.
So if we conceive prayer this way, that means, when I have a problem, I can pray to Krishna for solving the problem. But we don’t reduce praying to simply an activity to ask God to do things for us. We see praying simply as a means of sharing our heart with Krishna.
Just like sometimes when we are burdened by a problem and we go and unburden our heart to somebody. Now that person may not be able to solve the problem. But just the fact that we shared our heart, that unburdens us.
So in bhakti, we see praying as a means of linking our heart with Krishna. So when we have that attitude, then praying is something which we can do much more regularly. Because we don’t conceive prayer.
Just as when we hear, now if we are hearing about Krishna, we are not expecting a tangible result, measurable, quantifiable result. It’s a deepening of understanding, it’s a deepening of attraction towards Krishna that happens through the process of hearing. Similarly, if we see praying as an activity of bonding with Krishna more, then that whole uncertainty that comes when we conceive of prayer as a means of asking God to do something.
Because when we conceive of prayer that way, then the whole prayer becomes very uncertain. Will God fulfil my prayer or will God not fulfil my prayer? And then if God doesn’t fulfil my prayer, then we start thinking, you know, does God care? Or does God even exist? We go into that whole zone. But if we see prayer as a means of connecting with Krishna, then irrespective of whether the particular petition we have made is fulfilled or not, we will see that by connecting with Krishna, we are going closer to Him.
It’s like we are unburdening our heart and we will become more attracted towards Krishna. So that’s how praying is actually very important in bhakti. But we have to understand the conception of praying in bhakti as different from what it is normally conceived.
Then that praying can help us to grow in our bhakti very nicely. Does that answer your question? Yes, I do. Actually, there is one question that is very polite to ask, but I can’t understand this idea as we think of it.
So from yesterday to today, what is it actually that we think of it? What is that idea that is changing? Is it that we cannot really understand it because time is Krishna and we don’t understand what time is, or we can understand right now what it is? Or do we need to understand it at all? So what exactly is time? For example, from yesterday to today, what exactly has changed? Or is it that because time is Krishna, we can never understand it? We don’t even need to understand it. We can look at it three ways. Time as a functional reality.
Time as a philosophical reality. And time as a devotional reality. Time as a functional object or functional reality means time is something which we need to know so that we can function in this way.
Okay, I have to do this at this time, I have to do this at this time. So most of us approach time functionally. Okay, I have to do this at this time, I have to do this at this time, I have to get here at this time.
Now, that is a functional or operational way. And for most people, that itself may be enough. Now, beyond that, for those who are philosophically minded, we see that, okay, I am approaching time functionally, but what is time actually, philosophically? So, when we talk about it philosophically, Bhagavad Gita tells us that time is Krishna.
So God is depicted in the Vedic literature as having many manifestations. So, God manifests as Krishna, He manifests as Ram, He manifests as the Paramatma in the heart. He manifests also as the all-pervading Brahman effulgence.
So, similarly, one manifestation of God is time. Kunti Maharaj says, mannetam kalam nishanam anadindham vibhu samam charantham sarvatra bhutanam anitham karunam. In 1.8.28 in the Bhagavatam she says that I consider you to be time.
Which is beginningless and endless. Anadindham vibhu. So now, what does this mean when you say that Krishna is time? It simply means that, actually, that we generally conceive of God as supreme.
God is supreme, He is all-powerful. Nobody can fight against God and men. So we will see in this world, time is supreme.
That nobody can fight against God and men. Nobody can fight against time and men. Now, when time is always in control, even the person who becomes the most powerful person in the world, the person becomes the emperor of the world, when the time is over, that person will also have to die.
That person will also fall to time. So, we can say that time in this world manifests God’s supremacy. So time is God, as is manifested in this world, in the sense of His supremacy is seen through time.
Now, at another level, when we talk about time, time is the agency through which God brings about change in this world. So, the ultimate change of things in this world is that they are destroyed. So our body it is destroyed.
But time is the agency through which change happens. So, there is creation, there is maintenance, there is destruction. These are changes that happen.
So all these changes happen through time. So time in that sense is the energy or the manifestation of God through which changes happen in this world. So time is God but in a special manifestation which brings about change and destruction.
So that is the manifestation of supremacy of God. Now from the devotional perspective, this is from the philosophical perspective, understand. Time is a special manifestation of God.
From a devotional perspective, we see time as, firstly, we see time as a resource for serving God. We don’t just see time functionally, what is I have to get here at this time, I have to get there at that time. We see time as an invaluable resource for serving Krishna.
Every moment is an opportunity to serve Krishna. That is initially, if you value time like that, that is a very positive way of looking at time. Value time as a resource for serving Krishna.
And eventually, if we keep practising bhakti, we start realising that we have been given a life span by Krishna. We have a particular life span in which we can serve Krishna. And the time which we have in this life, that is also actually Krishna.
So Krishna as Kala will help us to go to Krishna as Shyama Sundara. If we use Krishna as Kala properly, then that use of time properly will help us to go to Krishna as the Shyama Sundara. So we see life in that sense, in the bhakti sense, in the devotional sense as Krishna manifesting his time to help us to go towards Krishna, manifesting in his self existential form as the bluish black lord.
So that way we can have a very devotional conception of time. Does it answer your question? Hare Krishna. Any other questions? Thank you so much for coming here and asking all the questions.
I have been having this question. Like we all know, if we remember Krishna at the time of death, before Krishna, there are Muslims, there are Christians, they also claim they might be very religious and very sincere devotees of Allah. If they also pray sincerely to Allah, it’s actually Krishna, they all.
In the bhakti and dharati we all know that God is one. Will they really go to Krishna or will they go to Allah? And if they go to Allah, who is Allah? Second thing, in the same question, if their devotion does not happen to them, will they have to come back for the ultimate liberation going back to Krishna and become Krishna-devotees? And remember Krishna at the time of death and then Guru. Okay.
So is it that people who remember God in other traditions, will they go to their God or will they have to come back and then they go to Krishna? See the characteristic, the requirement for attaining Krishna, attaining God, any of His manifestation is that we should love Him. So different religions are like different universities. The point is that whether I go to this university or that university, the point is whether I get the knowledge that I am into at all.
If the knowledge is God, then we get graduated from that degree. We get that particular graduate degree. So like that the point is that we are meant to develop love for God.
So from whichever tradition we want, we can develop love for God. And there have been exalted saints in the Islamic tradition or the Christian tradition who have developed, who have manifested characteristics, they have expressed prayers and sentiments of just pure love for God. So in principle, God is not the monopoly of any tradition.
God is bigger than the religions that are meant to attain. See religions, religion is meant for God. God is not meant for religion.
That is the import of sarva-dharmaan pratyajya maham ekam sarvam. Go beyond religion to God, to surrender to God. So in principle, God can be attained through any tradition.
In practise, we have to see how much love for God people of a particular tradition have developed. So if somebody from a particular tradition remembers, say somebody from Islamic tradition remembers Allah, now we have to understand that the remembrance is not, simply utterance is not remembrance. Remembrance is a state of consciousness.
Utterance is simply a verbal, verbalisation. That we say, somebody may say that I will just live materialistically throughout my life and at the end of my life or when I have enough enjoyment, then I will place a gun in front of my head. I will say Hare Krishna, I will shoot myself.
Will I go to Krishna at that time? No, because it’s not just the utterance, it’s the remembrance. And I may think that oh I will speak Krishna’s name but if we are attached to worldly, if we have throughout our life enjoyed worldly things, then even if we utter somehow, manage to utter the word Krishna, we will not be able to remember Krishna at that time. So we will not attain Krishna.
So just as this cannot happen in our own tradition, just the utterance of Krishna is not enough for remembrance, because remembrance is not simply an activity. When Krishna is talking about remember me at the time of death, what does he say after that? Therefore, try to cultivate remembrance of me throughout our life. So there when he is talking about recollection, it is not simply an action.
It is actually a disposition. Our heart has to be disposed towards Krishna. And that will happen through lifelong practise.
So there will be terrorists who are suicide bombers and before they blow up their suicide bomb, they may say Allah o Akbar. They are not going to go to Allah by that. They may think that they are doing something great, but they are actually acting in the lowest mode of ignorance.
They are killing themselves, they are killing innocent people. So it’s not simply an utterance. It is actually a disposition of the heart that has to be cultivated.
So if that disposition of the heart is cultivated, whichever tradition one may be in, one will attain God. And if one has not attained that disposition, then depending on what conception one has, Allah is just a name. Krishna is a name.
Of course, Krishna is God. But there are different people who may conceive Krishna differently. Even within the Vedic tradition, some people may think of Krishna as a manifestation of the impersonal Brahman.
Some people may conceive of Krishna as a supreme person. They can conceive differently. So it’s not so much that Allah as a name is chanted, but what is the conception of God that people have? Some people’s conception of God is simply a projection of their false ego.
That means what? God hates the people whom I hate. So I am Muslim, so I hate Hindus. Or I am Muslim, I hate Jews.
And then I believe God also hates those people. And God has told me to kill those people. Or whatever.
So it’s a complex thing when you say we should attain Krishna. I talk of three things over here. First is you have to develop love for God.
And that, the moment of death is not just one passing memory. It’s a disposition of the heart that has to be cultivated. And the disposition of the heart, you also have to have the right conception of God.
And depending on each person from various traditions, whichever tradition they believe in, based on what disposition of the heart they have cultivated, what conception of God they have, according they will get elevated. So in principle, anybody by loving God can attain God. In practise, we have to see what is their disposition of the mind, what is their conception of the absolute.
Based on that, their post-mortem destination will be determined. Okay? So what Ajam is, calling out Krishna, was it a remembrance or an utterance? Actually, Vishwanath Chakraborty explains that it was an utterance which became a remembrance. That means he was attached to his child.
And initially when he saw the Yama Dutas, he simply called out to his child, Narayana. But as he was uttering the words, he started thinking, Oh no, this small child Narayana, what can he help me? This is the time when I have to remember the Lord Narayana. So initially when he was chanting, he was referring to his child.
So utterance was with reference to his child. But the very utterance led to the remembrance of Narayana. But because he had not chanted it with devotion, so he was not liberated by that chanting.
He was given a second chance. And he took that second chance very earnestly, practised the process of purification rigidly, and then he was liberated. Let me see if I understand your question.
You are saying that there is a particular ladder which is given in the Bhagavad Gita. So sometimes it is said that from karma to jnana to yoga to bhakti. But there are other places where this particular sequence is not maintained.
Sometimes karma yoga is considered to be higher than other yoga. So why is that? See there is a technical question. I will try to answer it as simply as I can.
The point is that there is a particular conception that action in this world is a source of bondage. Whereas rejection of this world or disconnection from this world that is a source of liberation. That is the operating paradigm with which Arjuna’s questions begin.
He thinks if I fight this war I will be bound. If I renounce this war, renounce the world then I will not be doing bad karma. I will be liberated.
Krishna in the Gita challenges this fundamental conception. He says that actually yes action leads to bondage. Renunciation can save you from bondage.
But then he says things are not that simple. Action can also lead to liberation. And renunciation if it is done without purification that will also lead to bondage.
This is Mithyachara Sochi. Such a person can become hypocritical. So essentially Krishna says that spiritual growth is a matter of changing our intention.
When the intention is changed whether one acts in the world or renounces the world. That is secondary. It is the intention that has to change.
And the whole principle of yoga ladder is the gradual elevation of the intention. So initially I want to enjoy the world. That is my intention.
As we move onwards the idea is that this world is going to cause me a lot of trouble. I want to get out of trouble. So therefore I will stay away from the world.
The yoga of action, Karma Yoga is basically I want to enjoy the world. That is Karma Kanda. Karma Yoga is basically that I want to live in a way by which I will not suffer in this world.
Gyan Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga is I will not act in this world so that I will not suffer. But all these yogas to large extent are still eye centric. Whether I am getting enjoyment or whether I am saving myself of trouble.
Bhakti Yoga focusses on Krishna. How can I best serve Krishna? So if I can serve Krishna better by acting in this world, I will act in this world. If I can serve Krishna better by renouncing the world, I will renounce the world.
So now if we consider this Bhakti perspective. In the Bhakti perspective it may well work out that a person who is in this world is having a purer intention to serve Krishna than a person who has renounced the world. The person who has renounced the world is from the material perspective less entangled in the world.
But that person is still entangled in self obsession. In oneself you know. I don’t want to suffer in this world.
What about? Does selflessness still come over there? So that’s why the Bhagavad Gita gives us a normal hierarchy. There is action, there is renunciation, there is devotion. That’s one hierarchy.
Within renunciation there can be Ashtanga Yoga, there can be Dhyana Yoga. But then the Bhagavad Gita gives us another hierarchy that is what it recommends for Arjuna. So in Karma there is action.
In Jnana there is no action. In Bhakti also there is action. So Krishna says in Jnana there is more of intellection, analysis.
Krishna says from the Karma to Jnana to Bhakti is one hierarchy. First one renounces the world. First one engages in the world.
In 18.40 to 18.45 Krishna talks about 47-48. Krishna talks about Daivivalan Ashram. Then from 18.49 to 18.53 Krishna talks about Jnana Yoga, renouncing the world.
Sanyasamapastu Taha, parasitic sanyas. And then 18.54-18.55 says that person who attains the summit of Jnana realisation, that is Brahman realisation, that person will attain Bhakti. That’s what it tells in 18.54. So here he is giving this hierarchy.
You first do Karma, you renounce the world, then you come to Bhakti. But then 18.56 he says you don’t have to go through all this. Arjuna says wherever you are, whatever level you are at, from there you start practising Bhakti and become liberated.
Eventually. So the point there is that there is the whole process of going from here to here, from action to renunciation to devotion. But if the action itself is done with devotional intention, then that person is higher than the person who has renounced the world.
So when Krishna sometimes seems to say that Karma is higher than Jnana or Yoga, he is not talking about Karma simply as action. He is talking about Karma done with the yogic intention, the devotional intention. So the action which is done with the devotional intention is higher than renunciation of the world without a devotional intention.
So if we see devotion as the criteria for moving upwards, as the primary criteria for one’s spiritual advancement, then the normal hierarchy can be suspended or it can even become inverted. Normally a renounced person is considered more advanced than a person engaged in the world. But a person engaged in the world, if they are engaged for Krishna’s sake, then they can be higher.
So if we keep the devotional intention in mind, and the growth of devotional intention as the basic parameter of spiritual advancement, then we can make sense whenever the Bhagavad Gita seems to invert the normal hierarchy. Any other questions? I have a question. Some people believe that I can create my own destiny.
Now on the other hand, some people believe everything is in God’s hands. But in our life, things happen, sometimes we get actions, we get some results. Sometimes good or bad things happen to us when we believe in God.
So my question is, how do we understand this in our life? I understand we have some free will, but how does destiny play in our life? So how does free will and destiny act out in our life? Yes, in fact, tomorrow in SMU, I have a talk on this topic. Are we the makers of our destiny? So I will just quickly describe this, that and briefly here. See, karma plus daiva plus kaala leads to phala.
This is one equation that can be summarised. Karma is our endeavour, our action. Daiva is destiny.
Kaala is time. So our endeavour, along with destiny, along with time, these three together will produce the result. So for example, consider agriculture.
When a person, when a farmer wants harvest, the karma of the farmer is to sow the seeds and plough the land. Now after doing this, the daiva, the role of destiny is that rains have to come. At the right time, right quantity.
And then even when both of these occur, the harvest doesn’t come immediately. The time has to pass. And then the harvesting season comes, then the farmer gets the harvest.
So karma plus daiva plus kaala leads to phala. Now there are some times in our life when we may do our endeavour, but the destiny does not work out. So we may study very well for an exam, but somehow in that exam questions come, you have not studied well.
So sometimes factors beyond our control shape the results. So this is just something which we all have to acknowledge. By living in the life, we see that everything is not in my control.
But to go to the other extreme and say that nothing is in my control. Well, at least to say that nothing is in my control is in your control. Isn’t it? We are saying that.
So actually we always have some free will. Now by our circumstances, by our destiny, the scope of our free will may be less or more at different times. But if we keep practising, if we keep doing what we can, the scope can also increase.
So when we are functioning in the world, we say that we focus on that which is in our control and do that wholeheartedly. And after we have done that, then we leave the rest to God. If the destiny is favourable, the result will come.
If the destiny is not favourable, the result may not come in the immediate sense. But because we have done our karma, we have in a sense created a future positive destiny for us. So destiny is not just some arbitrary thing.
Destiny is also the stockpile of our own past karma that is coming to us. So for us, doing our duty diligently is never a loss. Sometimes the gain from it will be manifest immediately.
Sometimes the gain may not be manifest immediately. It will be manifest eventually. And when we practise bhakti, then what happens? We work to please Krishna.
And then our dependence on the follower decreases substantially. Because when we don’t have the Krishna element in our life, then we feel my success depends on whether I get the result or not. But when we have the Krishna element in our life, we understand that if I am pleasing Krishna by my endeavours, then Krishna will reciprocate and reward me with purification, with devotion, with ultimate satisfaction.
That satisfaction can also help us to make better contribution in life. But that’s secondary for us. So in that sense, for a devotee, also destiny will play a role in terms of whether the external result comes or not.
But for a devotee, the inner satisfaction does not depend on destiny. And thus actually bhakti is supremely empowering. Because in this world, we may endeavour but the result is not in our control.
So when the result doesn’t come, we feel powerless. But in bhakti, if we endeavour, Krishna will be pleased and Krishna will give us the result of satisfaction. So in that sense, bhakti is supremely empowering and bhakti takes us in terms of our inner satisfaction above the limitations of destiny.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful questions. Shri Prabhupada ki Jai! Gaura Bhakta Vindaki Jai! Jai Gaura Prema! Kids under the age of 15 up to 20 years old, is there something there?