Overcoming our mental energy drainers

[Evening program at Houston, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Thanks to all of you for coming here today evening. I am very grateful to be here in Houston for the first time. and I’ll be speaking today on the topic of what your phone can teach you about your mind.
So the phone is the most ubiquitous, the most omnipresent, we could say, device in especially the modern world and it is what we extensively use in the outer world and in our inner world we use our mind. So we’ll correlate between the two. Suppose say we purchase a phone in America and then we go to India and we are using the phone and then we find that I charge the phone and it works for about seven eight hours and it discharges and then we think maybe the phone is like that, it charges for eight hours only.
But then we find that someone else has a similar phone but it charges and works for 16 hours. Then we start wondering, what is going on? And we look, is their phone and our phone really different? And then we check, maybe I should get that phone, it works for much longer. But then if we find actually their phone and our phone is of the same make, same model, what’s going on here? Maybe there is something in my phone which is eating up the energy.
Sometimes there are some apps which go on in the background or some other problem in the phone which just eats up the energy and then we try to find that out and we’ll fix it so that we can use it better. So usually the devices that we have, we just use them, we don’t think about them much as long as they are functioning well. It’s like if I have spectacles.
Now I use the spectacles, the only time I think about the spectacles is if there is some dust on it. That’s the time I notice it and I take it out and I want to clean it so that I can see better. So the tools that we have, whether they be a spectacles or whether they be a phone, it’d be a phone, there’d be a glasses.
So we don’t really think about those tools as long as they’re functioning well. And only when they’re not functioning well, then do we start thinking about them. And we need some parameter to know that they are not functioning well.
With respect to specs, with respect to glasses, you can easily know. Oh, I’m not able to see clearly. But with respect to a phone, if we did not have any parameter, if you think, oh, the phone works for eight hours, that’s what it is.
But find out actually for others it works for 16 hours. Why is it working for eight hours? We’ll explore about it. So what applies for the outer tools like phones or glasses, that applies for our mind also.
The mind is an inner tool that we use constantly. The word mind has many different meanings. So for example, say if a student is looking here and there in a class, the teacher who is speaking with us, give this your full mind.
That means give this your full attention. Here the word mind means attention. If somebody tells a student and the student says that I just want to drop out of college.
Are you out of your mind? So here the word mind means intelligence. Have you lost your intelligence? Are you out of your mind? So the word mind has different meanings. So mind your head.
Sometimes there’s notice on a low door. That means be careful. So there the word mind means caution.
The Bhagavad Gita uses the word mind in a specific sense. In the Bhagavad Gita, in the sixth chapter especially, there’s a lot of talk about the mind. In 6.6, Krishna says Bandhur atmat manastasya yenatmaivaatmanajitaha anatmanas tu shatrutve vartetatmaiva shatruvat.
So Krishna says bandhu. Bandhu is the friend. Atmat manastasya.
Atma is the self. The mana is the friend. Mana is the mind.
So Krishna says the mind is the friend of that person. Yenatmaivaatmanajitaha. One who has controlled, conquered the mind for that person, the mind is a friend.
Anatmanas tu shatrutve. Anatmanas. If one has not been able to control the mind.
Shatrutve. That works like a enemy. Vartetatmaiva shatruvat.
It will be like an enemy. So the mind is a tool in the Bhagavad Gita’s language, in the Bhagavad Gita’s terminology which interfaces, the mind is a tool that interfaces between us, souls and our body. So if you compare a computer, in the computer there is the hardware, there is the software and there is the user.
Similarly, there is the body, there is the mind and there is the soul. So the soul is like the user, the body is the hardware and the mind is like the software. And just like the hardware is visible, similarly the body is visible.
Sometimes the computer may look brand new but its hardware is, its software is corrupted. They try to do something with it, nothing happens. So like that some person may be looking very young, healthy, attractive and then if you talk with them, you find that they have got chronic depression.
So looks can show only the externals. Sometimes the people are comfortably miserable. Their body is comfortable, their mind is agitated and thus they are comfortably miserable.
So the mind is the interface like the software and just as a dysfunctional software means the computer becomes dysfunctional. Similarly, when the mind is dysfunctional, at that time we can’t do much. So going back to the phone example, when Krishna says that the mind can be your friend and mind can be your enemy.
Our phone can also become our enemy. It can become an enemy in many ways. Perhaps the most debilitating way would be say if we have, we are doing mobile banking and somebody gets access to our password and our data.
That same phone which we are meant to use to use our money properly, somebody misappropriates it and just steals away our money. So that money which we have worked to earn, we just lose it because the phone is mishandled. The phone’s confidential data is taken by someone else.
So like that, the mind can be taken over. It can be taken over by desires, by cravings, by passions that are actually detrimental to our self-interests. So depression, negativity, that is one kind of mental attitude that hurts us.
There can be many different attitudes, but going back to the starting point I made, that say we find my phone is working for eight hours, but then somebody else’s phone is working for 16 hours. Many of us we see that we are sometimes physically healthy and physically energetic, but we are mentally fed up. Sometimes if things are not working well in our life, if there are just too many issues to face, then we just feel, I’m fed up of this.
And when people are just fed up of something, they just lose energy to do anything. It is not that physically they don’t have energy. Physically we have energy, but mentally we are tired.
I just don’t want to do anything now. So when we are mentally losing our energy, mentally we are sapped, at that time if we encounter some other person, they look very mentally fresh, mentally alert. And sometimes if our mind is tired, we may wake up early in the morning, or we wake up in the morning and a few hours after that, we feel just, I don’t want to do anything.
Sometimes if you’re mentally fed up, we don’t even want to wake up out of bed, because it’s a fresh morning, the body is fresh, but the mind is so fed up that I don’t want to get up. It’s completely sucking our energy. But there are other people, we may find that they’re so fresh, they’re so alert, even at the end of the day, they have so much energy, so much life.
So you wonder, how is it? You know, are these people taking some special potion? They’re eating something special. How do they have so much energy? So actually speaking, at a physical level, there’s some difference in energies that we can have. Some people may be more energetic, but that energy is largely in physical terms.
Some people can lift a large number, large amount of weight, others can lift lesser weight. Some people can jog long distances, some people can jog lesser distances. Now this energy level does not make a big difference in our routine life.
If you are in a specific profession, say somebody in athletics or somebody in weightlifting, then that energy level makes a big difference. But the energy level that makes a big difference for all of us in our daily lives is our mental energy level. And that mental energy level, if something is sapping it, something is eroding it, then it’s vital for us to know it.
Now normally, when we find that our phone is getting discharged, there’s an indicator which comes. Oh, now your battery is low, you should charge the phone. Maybe some alarm signal pops up or some red light comes up and then we know that I have to put this phone in a socket using this charger and it starts charging.
When we, when our mental energy level gets low, what is the indicator that comes up? When we are physically tired, the indicator is that we just feel sleepy, we feel I can’t physically move about. When the mental energy level goes down, at that time, there is no direct indicator that comes up. It’s like there is, there is hunger and there is pseudo-hunger.
What is the meaning of hunger and pseudo-hunger? There is hunger as a biological need. When we, our body has whatever food we have eaten, it has been used and now the body needs food. But there is also pseudo-hunger, which is not a biological need, it is a psychological need.
Now people often overeat because something is eating them. There is some anxiety, some irritation, some fear, which is eating them. And then to just cover up that emotion, what they do is they reach for food.
So at that time, the hunger is actually not there. The hunger is not a biological hunger. It’s a pseudo-hunger.
So quite often when there’s too much obesity in people, the reason is that they are not able to differentiate between pseudo-hunger and hunger. And the body gives this natural indication, okay, this much food is enough. Now I need food.
But when pseudo-hunger is there, then we feel hungry. But that hunger is not a biological need for food. It is a psychological need for comfort.
It is, we are feeling disturbed and we need comfort somewhere and we seek comfort in food. Now if somebody wants to lose weight or gain control over their diet, this differentiating between the biological need for food and the psychological need for comfort, that is very important. And how does one differentiate? Say, if we consider the body to be like a machine.
The body, or say, going back to the phone or computer example, we know that if I have fuelled my car, say, I have fuelled, say, 10 litres and my average is, say, whatever, 10, 20 miles. So if I have fuelled 10 litres, then it should go for 200 miles, if it’s a 20 litre average, 20 miles average, so whatever. But then if I find that I just covered 70 miles and it is giving a low level, fuel low level, there are two possibilities here.
One is that maybe there is some leakage in the tank because of which the fuel is leaking out. The other is the indicator is wrong, the indicator is wrong. So if we know for sure there is no leakage in the fuel tank, then that would mean the indicator is wrong.
And how do we get the indication that the indicator is wrong? Because we have an expectation. We know it should have gone this much distance, but how is it, how am I feeling, how is this indicator coming so quickly? Then something is wrong over here. So like that, we all know, okay, this is my diet and if I have eaten this much, then for the next six hours, I should be okay.
But if after two, three hours, I suddenly start feeling hungry and I have not done anything extraordinarily energetic activity, energy draining activity, then that hunger which I feel is not necessarily the hunger of the body, it is the hunger of the mind. So in terms of differentiating between hunger and pseudo hunger, the way to differentiate is by, first point is its untimeliness, untimeliness. The second is its specificness.
If we are hungry, then the body needs food. If somebody says, I am hungry for a gulab jamun, that is not hunger, that is not the biological need for food. There is nothing wrong in eating gulab jamuns.
They are delicious and those who cook them, they put a lot of effort to cook them. It is a wonderful food. But the point is that if our hunger is specific for something, then that is not the body’s need for that food.
It is not that just because it is the mind’s need, that doesn’t mean it has to be denied all the time. But it is just that anything, any craving for a specific food, that is not, usually not a biological need. It can be in some specific situations.
But usually, if it is untimely and if it is extremely specific in terms of obsessively specific, then we can know this is not biological hunger. This is psychological hunger. So this differentiation helps us to know how to, which of the hunger pangs to fulfil and which to resist.
If we resist the genuine hunger pangs, then we become weak. We feel tormented. We feel deprived.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, that, He says that those who eat too much and eat too little, neither of them can become yogis. Neither of them can progress in the spiritual path. So, I was talking about the phone.
In the phone, when the energy is getting discharged, we get a clear indicator. But when our energy is getting discharged, at that time, the indicator can also sometimes get fuzzy. So, we need our intelligence to discern.
So, for example, sometimes a class is going on and then we feel sleepy. Now, there are two possibilities. One is that we are tired.
That’s why we’re feeling sleepy. The other is we are bored. We are not interested.
We are bored. And because if a class is going on, we have to pay attention and we don’t want to expend that energy. So, we feel bored and just nod off.
In both cases, externally it appears to be the same thing, falling asleep. But in one case, it is because of physical exhaustion. In another case, it is because of mental boredom.
So, now how do we know if I am feeling sleepy? Is it because of physical exhaustion or is it because of mental boredom? The test is that if it’s physical exhaustion, then nothing will allure us out of it. If it simply was a mental boredom, sometimes a class is going on and people go to sleep. Then suddenly some joke happens.
They cry, what was the joke? Tell me the joke. I also want to laugh. So, what happens at that time? It is more out of boredom.
So, the mind simply wants some titillation, some pleasure. So, it doesn’t get any pleasure, it wanders off to dreamland. But then if it finds out there’s some joke over here, it wants to come back there and try to enjoy that also.
So, the mind is something which is meant to be a channel for our energy. Channel for our energy means whatever energy we have, it is channelled through the mind to the outer world by which we can function. But sometimes there are blockages in the channel.
Just like I’ve charged the phone and the phone is meant to work when I want to function with it. But if there are some apps which are sucking the energy of the phone, then that’s like a blockage. So, for all of us, there are blockages in our mental energy.
And to the extent we can find out these blockages and fix those blockages, we will see that our energy level will shoot up. Especially in youth, when we have a lot of energy, we may not notice the mental energy blockages. Because in youth there is a lot of passion also.
I want to achieve this. I want to achieve that. And we just run around doing whatever we want to do.
But as we start ageing, then when our physical energy levels start going down, at that time, finding out if there are mental blockages, that becomes all the more important. It’s always important. But especially when our physical energy levels go down, then finding out the mental blockages and dealing with them becomes especially important.
Now, in the phone, when there is an energy blockage, when there is something which is depleting the energy unnecessarily. So, for example, if we find out, if we have some app or there’s some setting, we go, okay, where did the battery get consumed? Okay, you know, this app is consuming so much power. This app is connecting with the internet.
This app is doing this. And then we look at it. Actually, I don’t use that app at all.
It’s just there in the background, sucking my energy. I don’t use it at all. But it is using the energy which I am meant to use.
So similarly, in our mind, there are different kinds of desires and attitudes that may deplete our energy. So Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita in But he says in the mode of ignorance. So he’s talking about determination in ignorance.
This sounds a little peculiar. Normally, we would think of determination as something very good. But what is determination in ignorance? That is if we are determined to hold on to something that is not worth holding on to.
That if you are holding on to something, if somebody is holding on to a branch of a tree, and that branch of a tree is filled with thorns, and they’re bleeding because of that, but still they hold on to it. Why are you holding on to this? That’s it. Holding on to anything requires determination.
But if somebody is holding on to something that is hurting them, then that is not determination. That is what we call as obstinacy, stubbornness. So in the Mahabharata, the example is of Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra.
They were holding on to the Kuru kingdom. All of that caused ultimately their destruction. So normally, if somebody physically holds on to something which is hurting them, we say, why are you doing this? It’s very easily visible.
But when we mentally hold on to some attitudes which hurt us, we don’t notice it. And that’s why again, introspection is required. It’s like a person, normal user of a phone, they just use it, it’s discharged, go and charge it.
But a more careful user, why is it getting discharged so quickly? So like that, we may feel, okay, my energy level is over. Now I just need to rest. I could do so much more.
Why am I feeling so tired? Where is my energy going? So Krishna says here, this is often energy, a lot of energy goes in daydreaming. I will do this, I will do that, I will do that, I will do that. I will do that.
It’s dreaming and dreaming and dreaming. And actually, they’re doing nothing. Dreaming is not necessarily bad.
In fact, dreams are the basis of ambition, and ambitions are the foundation for achievement. But dreaming should be the spur for acting, not the substitute for acting. So when there is daydreaming, then there is only dreaming, I will do this, I will do that, I will do that, I will do that.
So Krishna talks about his attitudes, he talks about two negative attitudes, two unhealthy attitudes about the future, and two unhealthy attitudes about the past. So we are right now in the present, and ahead of us stretches the future, which we don’t know what is going to happen over there. We hope that wonderful things will happen in the future.
And we also hope that nothing terrible will happen. The two negative attitudes about the future are Swapna and Bhaya. If I just keep dreaming, I’ll do this, I’ll do that, I’ll do that, I’ll do that, but we don’t do anything.
Then all the thinking, daydreaming, fantasising, it drains our energy, it drains and depletes our energy. Conversely, another sucker of the energy is fear, Bhayam, worry. If you ask someone, what is your daily worry time? What do you mean worry time? Nobody has a daily worry time.
But worry often goes on all the time, worrying about this, worrying about that, worrying about that. Worry is the interest that we pay on loans that we haven’t yet taken. Most of the time, we are worrying about problems that have not occurred at all.
And if you look back at our worries, more than 95% of the things we worry about, they never happen. But we just keep worrying, what if this goes wrong? What if that goes? What if that goes wrong? What if this, that, that? Now, in a sense, many things can go wrong in life. But there is possibility and there is probability.
Possibility means right now we are sitting here, the roof may cave in and we may all die at this next moment. That’s a possibility. But is that a probability? You know, if the house is well constructed, it has many people have stayed in the house for a long time.
We have also come here maybe earlier. So, it’s not a probability. So, if we are driving a car, an accident is a possibility.
But millions of people drive cars and there is no need to be fearful every time a person is driving a car. But if I’m driving a car and my brakes are not working, then an accident is not a possibility. It is a probability.
So, if we start worrying about all possibilities, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong, then we will just paralyse ourselves with fear. We’ll paralyse ourselves with fear. So, worry is something which often sucks a lot of our mental energy.
It goes here, goes there, goes there. What if this goes wrong? What if that happens? What if that happens? So, with respect to the future, we may just imagine too rosy a future without doing anything constructive about it. Or we may agonise over too scary a future without considering whether it is realistic, likely or not.
And both these suck our energy, suck our mental energy. When we imagine too rosy a future and then we find, oh, actually nothing is there like that in my life right now. I imagine, I’ll be a millionaire, I’ll be this, I’ll be that, I’ll be that.
Sometimes people, if say, whatever it is, they imagine, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that. And they find, I have nothing right now. And then when there’s such a big gap between the dream and the reality, we just become deflated.
Oh, my dreams will never come true. And then we lose our heart, we don’t do anything. Or sometimes there’s so much fear, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong.
In worrying about what all may go wrong, we go wrong. We just become paralysed by it. So, yaya swapnam bhayam.
And then Krishna talks about two more. Yaya swapnam bhayam shokam vishadam evacha. With respect to the past, shoka is lamentation.
Lamentation means that if we look back at our past, all of us will see that the things that have gone wrong in our life. It may be because somebody else hurt us, or sometimes we ourselves did some things which hurt us. Either way, there are things which have gone wrong in our life.
And if we look back at that, we start lamenting. Why did I do that? Why did I speak like that? Why did they do like that? Why did she do like that? Why did he do like that? Now, what has happened has happened. What’s done is done.
What’s gone wrong has gone wrong. It is unchangeable. The consequences of the past can be changed.
But the past can’t be changed. By acting in the present, even if some mistakes have been done in the past, we can minimise or even mitigate its consequences. But we can’t change what has happened.
When we lament about the past, then we live locked in the past. The present is meant to be like a bridge from the past to the future. But when we are lamenting, then the present becomes like a wall that locks us in the past.
Our thoughts are always, why did this happen? Why did that happen? Why did that happen? And we just make no progress at all. And lamenting in the Mahabharata, when Abhimanyu is killed on the 13th day, at that time Yudhishthir is shattered. Because the plan was that on the 10th day when Bhishma falls, at that time everybody expects that Karna had not been fighting for the first 10 days.
So Karna is going to enter. And everybody expects that Karna will be made the commander by Duryodhana. And Duryodhana goes to Karna.
And Karna says, actually, Drona is your teacher and he is still there and he fought diligently. You should make him the commander. And when Drona gets the commandership, Drona is very pleased.
He says, for this honour that you have bestowed on me, I would like to do something. I would offer some special gift to you. What do you want? Duryodhana is also a politician.
If you give some favour, you can immediately extract something. It is already planned. He says, oh Grandsire, oh teacher, I would like to have you arrest Yudhishthir alive and bring him in front of you.
So Drona’s eyes open wide. He says, oh, Yudhishthir is such an ajata shatru that even you don’t want him dead. You want him alive.
So Duryodhana shakes his head. He says, if we kill Yudhishthir, Bhima and Arjuna will go mad and they will destroy us. My plan is, if we can get Yudhishthir arrested alive, I will challenge him to another gambling match.
And in that gambling match, again, I’ll send him off to the forest for another 13 years. Drona starts thinking, this guy is never going to learn. And then Drona says that, actually, Drona says that, I will arrest him.
But Arjuna, although he is my student, he has subsequently performed austerities. He has gone to the heavens and he has acquired celestial weapons. So, I will not be able, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to defeat him.
So if you can keep him out of the way, then I will have Yudhishthir arrested. So in the 11th and 12th days, Drona tries to the best of his capacity. And still, Arjuna, somehow, he comes in time and he saves Yudhishthir.
And then on the 12th night, Duryodhana starts goading Drona. He says, oh Acharya, to the best of my capacity, I have pleased you. And yet, you do not render service to me.
He says, out of affection for the Pandavas, you do not fight wholeheartedly. And thus you injure my cause. I cannot believe that with you exerting your full power, Yudhishthir cannot be arrested.
He says, if you do not have the heart to fight, then please step down and let Karna become the commander. Now this is actually a great insight. Now if, say, India has a cricket captain, you know, and say India does not win one match, and they go, if you cannot win the match, you please step down.
You know, if a captain has played for the country, has served well the country, then there has to be a graceful way of transition. It is not a public way, you cannot do it, so you step down. So for Drona, and for Drona who is like one generation elder, it is a great matter of insight.
Drona is furious. He says, right now you can see on my body the wounds from the arrows that have been shot at me only because I am fighting for you. I have extended myself to the fullest of my capacity.
What more do you think Karna can do than what I have done? He says, I have endeavoured to the fullest of my capacity, but the results are ultimately determined by destiny. Endeavour alone is in the hands of humans, destiny is what determines the results, and the lord of destiny is on the chariot of Arjuna. So what can we do? But still he is feeling the sting of the words of Drona.
Drona says, okay, tomorrow I will form the Chakravyuha, and we will have Yudhishthira trapped in it. The Chakravyuha march forward and we aim straight for Yudhishthira. If you can get Arjuna out of the way, then tomorrow either Yudhishthira will be arrested or some great warrior from the Pandava side will be fed.
So they have Susharma. So they have Susharma, who is the king of the Trigartas. He challenges Arjuna and he sidetracks Arjuna.
As the Chakravyuha is marching forward, at that time it appears as if that one Chakravyuha will devour the whole army. So at that time Yudhishthira starts thinking what to do and then he remembers that Abhimanyu knows how to break the Chakravyuha and he approaches Abhimanyu. And Abhimanyu is initially hesitant.
He says, oh uncle, I will do whatever you tell me to do, but I have learned only how to penetrate the Chakravyuha. I do not know how to come out. So if I go inside, I’ll be trapped like an insect in a spider’s net.
So at that time Bhima is also there. Bhima is extremely powerful, but sometimes strength is no match to strategy. Strength is important.
Suppose a person is a very big powerful warrior, but if somebody is shooting with machine guns, what can the strength do at that time? So it’s like that. Bhima feels at that time, in front of the Chakravyuha, his strength is useless. So he can’t do it.
He’s seeing his enemy, his army being attacked and devastated. He’s feeling furious. So he jumps into the fray and he says, oh Abhimanyu, don’t worry.
If you can just break through into the Chakravyuha, we will follow you inside and we will devastate it from inside. You just show us how to break this. So then Abhimanyu feels bolstered and he says, I will break into the Chakravyuha today and I’ll fight in a way that history will remember for all time.
And he charges in and the Pandavas follow him closely behind him. But at the critical moment when he’s broken in, Jaidrath comes in the way. And Jaidrath has got a benediction that one day he will be able to stop all the Pandavas except Arjuna and he uses that benediction.
So Bhima is furious. He’s fighting to his fullest extent and actually Jaidrath is no match to him. But still he’s not able to break through Jaidrath’s defences.
He’s seething with fury, attacking and still Jaidrath is defending. And right in front of the Pandavas’ horrified eyes, the Chakravyuha closes. They know that Abhimanyu is trapped.
From that moment, Yudhishthira starts dreading what is going to happen. And eventually, several hours later, when they hear the huge sounds of victory coming from the Kaurava camps, at that time, Yudhishthira breaks down. He feels guilty that I sent a 16-year-old boy, Abhimanyu, to his death, just so that I could protect my life.
He was my nephew. It is I who should be protecting his life, not that I should be sacrificing his life for my sake. And for a person who is sensitive, who is compassionate, who doesn’t want to cause any suffering to others, to have the thought that the death of someone is in my hands, it’s an unbearable thought.
And he feels that, you know, how can I live? Yudhishthira gets so overwhelmed by grief, he tells his charioteer, charge into the Kaurava army. He says, I will kill the Kauravas today or I will die myself. This charging towards the Kaurava army, this is just the evening is coming up now.
The day’s fight, Abhimanyu has been fighting for the whole day. At that time, suddenly Vyasadeva comes in between. And as soon as he sees Vyasadeva, although he is so grief-struck, he is still cultured.
So he immediately gets off his chariot and offers his respects to Vyasadeva. He tells Vyas, you know, the great son of Arjuna, Abhimanyu has been killed by the Kauravas. At this point, they do not know how he has been killed.
Just know he has gone inside and he has been killed. Later on, they get the report of our six warriors together killed. And when they get that report, at that time, Arjuna’s fury explodes.
At this time, it is primarily grief. So at this point, when Yudhishthira vents his grief, at that time, Vyasadeva calms him down. And Vyasadeva tells him three, many things he tells him, but relevant for others, three things.
He says, O king, wise people do not indulge in grief. Because they know that grief achieves nothing except to sap the energy of the griever. They understand that grief achieves nothing.
And he is calling to Yudhishthira, you are a wise person. So less intelligent people may grieve, may lament, but you should not grieve. The second thing he says is that the inscrutable will of the Lord is surely for the good of all living beings.
This God’s will, we can’t know it. It’s inscrutable. But what we can know is that God is always our well-wisher.
So it is for our well-being. It’s interesting that here he, Vyasadeva completely changes the frame of the discussion. He doesn’t say that, oh, it is your mistake because of which he went in.
It’s ultimately God’s will. Even if it is our mistake, because of which something has happened, still we should know that Krishna can bring good even out of the bad. Yudhishthira doesn’t tell, Vyasadeva doesn’t tell Yudhishthira that actually whatever happened is good.
Sometimes people say, sometimes people put some Gita Sar on their homes and the Gita Sar says, jo hua, wo achcha hua. Jo ho raha hai, wo achcha ho raha hai. Jo hone wala hai, wo bhi achcha hi hoga.
Now, this sounds nice, but actually if somebody has gone through some terrible calamity in their life, you tell them, if a loved one has passed away, jo hua, wo achcha hua. It’s monstrously insensitive. And not only is it insensitive, but actually it is not even the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.
I mean, I have read the Bhagavad Gita hundreds of times, but I have never found any words which says anything like this. Jo hua, wo achcha hua, jo ho raha hai, wo achcha ho raha hai. Jo hone wala hai, wo achcha hai.
In fact, the whole focus of the Gita is not on what happens. The focus of the Gita is on how we respond. On how we respond.
It’s all about the choices that Arjuna is going to make. Arjuna asks, what choice should I make? Prachami Tvam Dharma Samud Chetaha. I ask you, what is Dharma? What is the right thing for me to do? What should I choose? And Krishna’s guidance is about what Arjuna should choose.
So, the point is, by knowledge of God, by knowledge of God’s benevolence, we can know that even if things have gone wrong in our life, still Krishna can set them right. Krishna can bring good even out of the bad. So, the inscrutable will of the Lord is surely for the good of all living beings.
This is, means Vyasa Dev tells, as a matter of faith. Have faith in this. And the third thing he says is, how it is so, how the will of the Lord is for the good of everyone, how it is so, you will understand in due course if you do His will.
Right now, you will not be able to understand it. But you just continue to do His will. Do your duty.
You are a warrior. You are king of this army. You are meant to fight in an intelligent way.
You are meant to lead the army. Keep doing your duty. In due course, you will understand how His will was for your ultimate good.
So, we can counter, we can resist this tendency to lament by knowing that first, whatever has happened is unchangeable. But even if the bad has happened, still we can bring good out that Krishna can bring good out of it. What is important is, are we making good choices right now in the present? And just lamenting about the past is a bad choice.
And the last thing Krishna says is, the unhealthy attitude that may suck our mental energy. Mother is intoxication, which is actually physical. But Vishada is last among the mental.
He says, what is it? It is moroseness. See, lamenting is about the past. Moroseness is habitual pessimism.
Always being depressed. Always being negative. Some people, whatever situation you tell them about, whatever proposal you give them, whatever idea you give them, they immediately find all the faults with you.
This will not work because of this, this, this, this, this. This, it will not work because of this, this, this, this, this. Actually, it is good to be realistic.
But it is not good to be pessimistic. I have to be aware of problems if they are there. But there are some people who just do not see problems at all.
They are unrealistic optimists. In English, they are called Pollyannas. Pollyannas means they are just rosy-eyed.
They just have rose-tinted glasses. They don’t see the reality at all. That is bad.
To not see problems is bad. But to see only problems is worse. If you keep saying, this will go wrong, this will go wrong, this will go wrong, this will go wrong, then habitual moroseness doesn’t lead to any good.
So, when Krishna talks about bhaya, bhaya is the future possible, this may go wrong, this may go wrong, this may go wrong. But vishada is actually habitual tendency to always look for the negative in everything. And there are few things as disempowering as that.
You are always looking, you know, all the things that can go wrong. It is just so much wastage of the mental energy. And Krishna says, durmedha, those people who do not give up these attitudes, na vimunchati, and durmedha, medha means intelligence, durmedha means misdirected intelligence.
Those people with misdirected intelligence, they don’t give up these attitudes. They have determination in the mood of ignorance. Some people say, I don’t have any determination.
You know, some people are lazy and just spend a lot of time sleeping. Come on, wake up. No, I have no determination to wake up.
Actually, you just turn the point around, that means you have determination to keep sleeping. Isn’t it? Actually, nobody can say that I don’t have any determination. Actually, everybody has determination.
It’s like if somebody is very lazy and just keep sleeping all the time, then people don’t respect a very lazy person. People mock them, people deride them. They themselves are not able to achieve things in their life.
And in spite of all this, they continue to be lazy. That requires determination. Isn’t it? It’s like sometimes in some movies, we may see that there is a hero and a villain are fighting.
And the villain hits a blow and they are fighting at the edge of a cliff. And the hero falls off the cliff. And the hero is holding on to the edge of the cliff.
And then the villain starts stamping his hands on the finger of the hero so that to make him let go. And at that time, the hero somehow holds on. In spite of all that pain, that means that he has the immunity to pain, capacity to tolerate pain.
That is determination. So similarly, when somebody is constantly lazy, you know, people’s barbs, people’s taunts, they are like hitting on the finger. But still they hold on to it.
That is determination. So nobody can say that I don’t have determination. It is just that our determination is misdirected.
If you consider addiction, people who are alcoholics say addiction, we will say addicts have no determination. You know, I want to give up alcohol, but I am not able to give it up. So I don’t have determination.
Well, that means you have determination to hold on to alcohol. Addiction is also a perverted form of determination. So nobody can say that I don’t have determination.
What we can say is our determination is misdirected. And bhakti yoga is the process for redirecting our determination. When we start practising bhakti, what are we doing? Through the Yudhishthira story, I talk about how the attitude of shoka.
Now grieving or lamenting, we can avoid that by knowing that there is God’s plan in action. Similarly, all the other negative things that may happen. Worry.
How do we give up worry? How do we deal with worry? Actually, when we worry, essentially what is happening? There are certain things which are in our control and certain things which are not in our control. See, if I’m driving a car and I’m worrying what if there is an accident? Well, to drive carefully is in my hands. How, who else is going to drive or what is going to happen on the road, that is not in my hands.
So when we worry, what we are doing is, we are, instead of thinking about what is in our hands, we are thinking of all the things that are not in our hands and we are imagining how they may go wrong. But when we have spiritual understanding, we understand that what is not in my control is not out of control. When we have a materialistic worldview, when we think about the two options, either things are in control or things are out of control.
But the bhakti worldview helps us to understand that it’s not like that. Even if things are not in my control, they are still in God’s control. So what is not in my control is in God’s control.
So let me do my part and let me leave the rest to God. So when we have faith, faith is the best counter to worry. So when, if you consider, now if somebody is, if we have a teenager’s child and they’re driving a car very fast, now then they have the accelerator, they’re driving the car very fast, we’re sitting next to them, we may press the brake, now don’t drive so fast, isn’t it? So like that, sometimes worry, when worry accelerates our imagination, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong.
When worry accelerates our imagination, faith is the brake that will bring us back to reality. Okay, yes, many things can go wrong, but Krishna is in control. Krishna will take care of things.
Let me do what I can. This way, by that faith, we can break the imagination which we need to worry. And similarly, Vishahada and Madhava, all the negative mental patterns that are there, mental attitudes that are there, which deplete our energy, they can all be corrected by the practise of bhakti.
Now the purpose of bhakti primarily is to develop love for Krishna. We want to love Krishna and we want to attain Krishna. And that’s what bhakti yoga will ultimately give us.
But simultaneously, the practise of bhakti cleanses us of unhealthy mental attitudes. And when we are practising bhakti, sometimes we need energy. Say for example, what does practising bhakti mean? Practising bhakti means we chant the holy names, we come in the association of devotees, hear Krishna katha, we worship the deities, study scripture.
These activities require energy also. But this is the energy investment that will actually block, that will remove the energy blockages that are there within us. So we start saying that if we start practising bhakti diligently and understand the philosophy, then we will catch ourselves.
You know, I am worrying unnecessarily. We may tend to worry, but we’ll catch ourselves. There’s no need to worry.
I’ll conclude with this point and we can have question answers. Sometimes you may say, I’m chanting, still I feel so worried. Sometimes some devotees chant and they’re so pessimistic.
So why is that happening? Is it the chanting is not working? Still chanting is working, but we also have to let it work. What that means is that the mind has its default tendencies and those default tendencies will take time to change because it’s a default setting. I sometimes, I’m a writer, one of my services is writing, so when I want to proofread some text, I write it and then I have a text-to-speech software, read it out aloud.
So that when you’re reading, you can catch the and them, say to the, I look similar, but when they’re read out, the sound is very different. You can catch the spelling. So once I wrote, the soul is Sat Chitanand and the software read it out as the soul is Saturday Chitanand.
So the computer identified SAT as Saturday. In its dictionary, the concept of Sat was not there. So here what has happened? There’s a default setting which was wrong.
It is, I had put in Sat only, but it translated it Saturday. So what happens is we all have certain default settings within us and those default settings, to change them will take time. But when the default setting is at fault, is a faulty setting, we need to correct it.
And if you’re vigilant, if it goes wrong, we’ll correct it at that time. So like that, we all have certain unhealthy attitudes. Some of us, because of our upbringing, past experiences, whatever, some of us may be worrying too much.
Some of us may have daydreaming tendency too much. Some of us may have lamenting tendency too much. So whatever it is, by the practise of bhakti, gradually this will go.
But intermediately, that purification may take time. In the intermediate process, by the process of bhakti, we will become more alert. Sometimes somebody would say, I chant, but I can’t concentrate on that.
My mind wanders here and there. Now, actually, to recognise that the mind is wandering, is a step above wandering with the mind. Earlier, whatever the mind thought, do this, do that, we just run along with that.
Now at least I’m recognising, okay, the mind is wandering. So even if, say, when we are chanting, even if we are not able to concentrate, we just become aware, oh, my mind is wandering, and we try to bring it back. Actually, Krishna doesn’t tell us that the first day we start focussing the mind on Him, we’ll be able to focus.
He tells us a very realistic plan of action. This is, It says in 6.26 that, wherever and whenever the mind wanders, bring it back under the control of the self. He doesn’t say the mind will not wander, or he does not say the mind should not wander.
You see, the mind will wander. His expectation is not that we should have full concentration. His expectation is that we have determination to get the mind back.
So the mind may wander, we get it back. Mind may wander, we get it back. Sometimes it may appear every day I’m doing the same thing.
The mind is wandering, I’m getting it back. Is there any advancement happening? Actually, the advancement is happening. The purification is happening.
But at a practical level also, if we chant Hare Krishna, and we observe the mind is wandering, or it’s come back. So what will happen is, by this process of trying to get the mind to focus, we will become more alert to the movements of our mind. And then in the rest of, if we try to chant attentively, we become more alert to the movements of the mind.
And then in the daytime, when we start worrying, hey, the mind is worrying now. It’s wandering in this direction, let me get it back. So the practise of becoming aware of the movements of the mind, which we do during meditation, that will help us to become aware of the unhealthy movements of the mind during the course of the day.
And we will be able to do course correction better. So awareness is the beginning of change. If I don’t even realise that I’m doing something wrong, I can’t change it.
Sometimes I’m doing kirtan, some new people come, and they pick a kartal, and they start playing it, but they have no sense of tune. And they’re playing it, and somehow they have no sense of tune. They are just banging the kartal, and they’re happy, and everybody around them is miserable.
So what is happening? They’re not even aware that something is wrong. So now we may say, our awareness that, oh, I just started worrying. What happens sometimes? We just get caught in worrying, and then we start sweating, and our heart starts palpitating, our stress levels shoot up, and then it just becomes too much.
We may have a panic attack, we may break down. But initially only when we recognise, oh, I started worrying now. There’s no need to worry.
I can pull myself back, and pull myself back. So the process of bhakti, it will purify us eventually. But in the intermediate stage, in fact, in the immediate stage also, it will make us more aware, more aware of ourselves, more aware of the direction of our thoughts.
And then we can redirect our thoughts. So Prabhupada told us, chant Hare Krishna and be happy. Now, is this one instruction, or are these two instructions? Is it chant Hare Krishna, and by that you will become happy? Or chant Hare Krishna, and while chanting Hare Krishna be happy? It is both actually.
It is both a causal instruction and a parallel instruction. That means by chanting Hare Krishna, eventually we will become happy. But in the intermediate process, we have to cultivate a happy attitude.
Yes, I have got it. The Bhagavatam says in 1.2.23, that therefore the great sages, they joyfully practise the process of bhakti by which they attain the supreme joy. This seems strange.
They joyfully practise the process by which they attain supreme joy. Well, if joy is going to come at the end, how can they be joyful now? The idea is, suppose we have been very sick for a long time, and now finally we have found a treatment that works. We are not yet cured, but we can see this is working.
So, we are joyful that I am going to become healthy. So, bhakti is like that. The process of bhakti will eventually make us fully happy, become fully joyful.
But in the process, we can be joyful that we are on the path to joyfulness. We can be happy that my mind is not, my mind’s attitudes are not changed, but at least I know the process by which I can change the mind’s attitudes. And in that way, we can march ahead joyfully.
So, I’ll summarise, and then we can have some questions. So, I spoke today on the topic of what a phone can teach us about the mind. And I focused on one main theme with respect to the phone metaphor, that the phone may have some energy leakages, energy suckers, some apps may just be sucking the energy.
And to know that, we should know the, how say some standard phone is expected to work, only then just like we’ll realise something is wrong. Just like the main time we come to know that a device is not working well, the main time we pay attention to a device is when it is not working well. And when we know it is not working, if I can’t see with my specs, then I know it’s not working.
So, if I know this phone is meant to be this much energy, this much charge, this much time charge is going to last, it is not lasting, then we investigate. And then, so, there is the, does anyone remember three level, body, mind and soul, they are like what? Yeah, the hardware, software. Software is what? The mind and the user.
So, if the software is spoiled, when the computer is new, it cannot do anything. Like that people are young, healthy, good looking, but their mind is sick, then they will be comfortably miserable. And I discussed it especially about, now, when a phone is getting discharged, there is a clear indicator, it is discharged, its energy is going off.
Now, when we get physically tired, and we get mentally tired. Now, which tiredness it is, it is not so easy to know. Is my energy depleted because of, I am physically exhausted or just mentally bored.
So, to discern that, I took the example of hunger and pseudo-hunger. Hunger is biological need for food. Pseudo-hunger is psychological need for comfort.
And the differentiation between the two is two criteria. Does anyone remember? Specificity and some specificness and untimeliness. If after one hour after eating a full meal, I suddenly start feeling hungry, then that is not the body, it is the mind saying that.
Similarly, so just as we need to carefully differentiate between what is the body and need and what is the mind, so like that, with respect to tiredness also, sometimes just mentally fed up of things. And we think I am physically tired, but it is something mentally has drained our energy. And we need to find that, that energy suckers and correct them.
Just like if there are some apps just sucking energy, we need to find them and stop them, uninstall them. So, we discussed about determination in the mode of ignorance, in the Bhagavad Gita. That means, we hold on to that which hurts us.
And physically you rarely lose a thing, but mentally we have attitudes. I discussed four such attitudes, two about the future and two about the past. Which are the two about the future? Yeah, Sapna and Bhaya, daydreaming and worrying.
So, dreaming should be a spur for action, not a substitute for action. Otherwise, we just waste our energy doing nothing practically. And worrying is like the interest we pay on loans, we have not yet taken.
That means we keep worrying about things which mostly do not happen at all. So, we can worry about probabilities, not about possibilities. So, that way we use our intelligence and we minimise the worrying tendency.
And further, I also discussed about how worry is caused because we focus on things which are not in our control. But that which is not in our control is not out of control, it is in God’s control. So, we do that which is in our hands and leave the rest to God’s hands.
So, that way we can deal with Bhaya and Sapna. And then which are the two negative tendencies about the past? Shoka and Vishada. Shoka is lamenting about that which has gone wrong or that which we may have done wrong also.
In that connection, I discussed elaborately a story from the Mahabharata, which was that Abhimanyu’s response to Abhimanyu’s being killed. So, Vyasadev told him that grief, wise men, wise people do not indulge in grief because grief achieves nothing except to sap the energy of the griever. So, therefore, it is like our, the present is meant to be like a bridge to the future from the past.
But when we are lamenting, then the present becomes like a lock which makes us live in the past and do nothing constructive. And then I discussed about Vishada is habitual moroseness. So, to never see problems in any proposal that is utopian, that is unrealistically optimistic.
But to see only problem that is unduly pessimistic, that will paralyse us. So, we need a balance. And so, these are all unhealthy attitudes which we need to correct.
The process of Bhakti will eventually purify us of all these attitudes because we connect with Krishna. Intermediately or even immediately, if we start practising Bhakti, we learn intellectually. These are the wrong attitudes which I am getting caught in.
And not only intellectually we learn, but by the practise of meditation, we become more introspective. And by noticing during meditation when the mind runs off and exerting to get it back, we can notice also during the rest of the day when the mind is running off and we can get it back and track. And in that way, we can minimise these energy drainers.
Eventually, we will be able to eliminate their energy drainers. But right now, we can minimise these energy drainers. So, concluded by talking about how chant Hare Krishna and be happy.
It is like take the medicine and eventually you will be cured. But right now, we take the medicine, we are happy that at least I have the medicine which is working. And that way, we cultivate happiness as an attitude.
Even if I have the attitude of worrying or lamenting or being morose, cultivate happiness as an attitude. And then we can powerfully march onwards towards Krishna. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? Hare Krishna Prabhuji. Very nice class.
Welcome to Houston. Thank you. Hopefully, we will see more of you in the days to come.
I am reading a quote by Srila Prabhupada. I just got it like last week. I think it is coincidence that I got it so recently.
So, here Prabhupada says, he must be very much pessimistic. Not at all optimistic of this world. Unless you become pessimistic, you will not be able to go back to home.
If you have little attraction for this world, it is good. Then you have to remain here. Yes, Krishna is so strict.
So, in this context, can you explain why Prabhupada is saying like that? That we should be pessimistic and not at all optimistic? Yeah. So, Srila Prabhupada says that we should be pessimistic about this world so that we can attain Krishna’s abode. Otherwise, if you are optimistic, then we will have to stay here.
Yes, there are in scripture multiple levels at which discussions are made. So, for example, we see in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about Karma Yoga. Then he talks about Gyan Yoga.
Then he talks about Bhakti Yoga. So, say a parent has two children. And one of them is a brilliant child, gets 90% marks.
The other is a mediocre child, barely, sometimes gets 30%. Today, both of them have come and both of them got 60%. So, now the 30% child, the parent will say, very good, shabash.
And the 90% child, badmash, what did you do? The child will say, both of us got 60%. Why are you praising him and chastising me? For you from 90% is down to 60%. That is bad.
For 30% to 60% is up. So, like that, you know, what applies, the instruction that applies at one level may not apply at another level. So, in general, in this world, there are people with different attitudes.
So, if a person is too enamoured by hopes and fantasies of enjoying life in this world, then it is to be pessimistic. What is there ultimately? We are all going to go old. We are all going to get diseased.
We are going to die. Nothing is going to stay with us. So, if a person is too infatuated with hopes of enjoying the world, at that time, pessimism is, then we have to give a new dose of pessimism at that time.
It’s actually not pessimism. It’s realism. It’s a reality.
We just have to make people aware of reality. By the same time, when somebody is too fearful all the time, that fearfulness can be paralysing. And at that time, a person has to, you know, don’t live in fear like this.
You know, come out and live intelligently. Live intelligently. A person who is constantly fearful, if we tell them about all the problems that are there in this world, it’s like, I’ll give a simple example.
You know, if somebody has, if say, we go to meet someone, in their family somebody has passed away. Now, at that time, what is the message that we give them? We should tell them, actually, the soul is eternal. Your loved one is there somewhere else.
And then, you know, by doing spiritual activities, you can still benefit them. There’s no need to grieve. Because it’s not that they are destroyed.
They exist somewhere else. We have to give a message of hope at that time. And that’s what Arjuna does to Abhimanyu.
Krishna does to Arjuna when Abhimanyu passes away. Suppose, at that time, somebody is grieving and their relative has passed away. Tell them, actually, you know, all your relatives are going to die.
And all relations are temporary. You’re grieving about one person. The same grief is going to come again and again and again to you.
So, we will actually end up doing violence at that time. Isn’t it? So, preaching means, it is said that preaching means we have to afflict the comforted and comfort the afflicted. That way, if somebody is thinking, oh, life is wonderful.
Tell them, actually, what do you think is wonderful? Everything is temporary. You have to comfort the afflicted. But there, sorry, we have to afflict the comforted.
If somebody is very complacent, we tell them about the reality of life. But if somebody is already miserable, at that time, we don’t have to increase their misery. We have to comfort the afflicted.
In the Bhagavatam, as a balance of this, the third canto, it is said that, there’s a verse which says that the devotees of the Lord travel around the world reassuring people about fearlessness in the shelter of the Lord. So, people are fearful in this world. And what do the devotees do? Devotees reassure them about fearlessness.
So, now, here there’s a different perspective. A devotee’s role at different times will be different. So, at many times, we have to assure people about fearlessness.
So, pessimism is good in the sense that if it inspires us towards bhakti. But pessimism, if it discourages bhakti also. And we can’t just, as devotees, we can’t separate rigidly the material and spiritual life.
The person is very pessimistic about their job, pessimistic about their family life, pessimistic about all other things. Now, that de-energises them. And we cannot, if we have certain responsibilities, we can’t just give them up.
Srishti Prabhupada, he said that one should not be saying over him, should be pessimistic. But then Prabhupada did his family responsibilities. And he was very resourceful in doing them.
Now, when his business in Kolkata did not work out, he started another in Mumbai. When it didn’t start in Mumbai, he went to Prayag. He was doing a lot of things.
If Prabhupada had been simply pessimistic, how would he have been able to go to America? So, pessimism is, ultimately we have to see what is favourable for our bhakti and what is unfavourable for our bhakti. So, if a constant fearful attitude, we cultivate that and we find that it’s unfavourable for our bhakti. Habitual pessimism is unfavourable for our bhakti.
Then we have to give it up. Sometimes, an unrealistic optimism over material life, that can be unfavourable for our bhakti. So, we have to see what is favourable for our bhakti and cultivate the appropriate attitude.
Does that answer your question? Yes. Thank you. Great.
Any other questions? Yes, please. Thank you so much. How would you mention, do your best and leave the rest? Okay.
So, how do we understand, do your best and leave the rest in the context of Sarva Dharman Pratyajam, which is the Gita Charam Shloka? See, yes, surrender also has different modes. Normally, when we think of surrender, we think of Draupadi. Raising her hands in helplessness, surrendering to Krishna.
That is one way of surrender. But if you see in the Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, surrender to me. And Arjuna says, this is 18.66, Arjuna says 18.73, I’ll surrender to you.
But what does Arjuna do after that? 18.78, the last verse says, Arjuna has picked up his bow and is ready to fight. So, Arjuna’s way of surrendering is not Draupadi’s way of surrendering. Arjuna in the Kurukshetra water field does not raise his hand in helpless surrender.
Arjuna’s way of surrendering is raising his bow in readiness to fight. So, both can be forms of surrender, where we just are helplessly dependent on Krishna and when we are actively resourceful in the service of Krishna. So, surrender basically means we connect with Krishna.
How they connect, whether their connection will be by complete dependence or it can be by forceful action. Doesn’t mean. So, when you say that do your best and leave the rest.
In the case of Draupadi, she had already done her best. She had tried to protect her honour and Dushyasana was just too powerful for her. At that time, she could do nothing.
She just left the rest. That was all that she could do at that time. Now, Arjuna, when he was fighting the war, he did his best.
For example, when he had to kill Jayadratha, he did his best and still he was so close and yet so far. At that time, Krishna covered the sun. Krishna enabled Arjuna to get that last respite by which he could reach Jayadratha.
So, Arjuna, for most of us, in most of our life, our situation would be neither as extreme as Draupadi nor as extreme as Arjuna. We don’t have to literally take up weapons and fight. Nor do we just have to raise our hands in surrender.
We have to actually intelligently choose and that’s why if we consider the way in which surrender is to be implemented. Our Acharya has described based on the Puranas, the six elements of surrender. Six elements of surrender.
Say, accept that which is favourable. Reject that which is unfavourable. Have faith that Krishna is the protector.
Krishna is my maintainer. That Krishna, I offer my whole self to you. Without you, I am nothing.
Six things they talk about. Out of these six things, the last four are dispositions. The first two are actions.
Krishna is my protector. Krishna is my maintainer. I offer everything to Krishna.
Without Krishna, I am nothing. These are not attitudes we can immediately cultivate. We want to cultivate them, but it will take time.
So, the six elements of surrender, the first two are actions. Accept that which is favourable. Avoid that which is unfavourable.
So, surrender, here actually when talking about surrender, the initiative is being placed on us. How do we surrender? By intelligently thinking what is favourable, I’ll do that. What is unfavourable, I’ll avoid that.
So, when I said do your best and leave the rest, that means that we, in any situation that we are in, we intelligently understand my purpose is to serve Krishna. Sometimes I may serve Krishna when nothing, absolutely nothing is in my power. I may surrender like Draupadi.
Other times, I may surrender like Arjuna, fighting wholeheartedly. Now, Prabhupada did that. Now, when Prabhupada was in Mumbai and somebody wanted to steal away the temple land for the Juhu temple, Prabhupada fought in the mood of Arjuna to make sure that Krishna’s property was protected.
When Prabhupada was in Jaldoota, when he was just alone, helpless, without any money, without any contacts, not knowing what the next day was going to bring for him, what did he say? Just surrendered like Draupadi. Nachao, nachao, Prabhu, nachao se mate. Kashthera puthani jata nachao se mate.
And he thought, just make me dance, make me dance. Just as a puppeteer makes a puppet dance, make me dance. So, in different situations, surrender will be applied differently.
And that we have to intelligently choose, what is favourable to my service to Krishna and what is unfavourable to my service to Krishna. So, in the normal course of action, that which is in our hands, we need to do wholeheartedly. That is favourable to Krishna.
Anukulya sa sankalpa, do your best. That is favourable to Krishna. So, we accept that.
When I started public speaking, we were giving a seminar. We gave some guidelines for public speaking. The last of the guidelines was, depend on Krishna.
And in bracket was, but after you have prepared. So, do your best is, prepare. We have to prepare if we are to speak.
But after preparing, if you start worrying, what if I forget at that time, what if this happens, what if that happens? Depend on Krishna. So, do your best, that is Anukul and leave the rest to Krishna. That is also, worrying about that is not in our control, that is Pratik also, avoid it.
So, both are forms of surrender. Does it answer your question? Hare Krishna. Shall we stop here? Thank you very much.
Thank you very much Prabhu for enlightening.