Go beyond testing Krishna to tasting Krishna

[House Program at Portland, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. So I welcome all of you, today evening, for this. Ok, I thank you for coming here.
And, so, Yoshita and Anuruddha, they asked me to speak on the Mahabharata today. So, some stories from the Mahabharata, and something which we can apply, some lessons which we can learn. So I will speak on the topic of, go beyond testing Krishna to tasting Krishna.
So, what they mean by these two words, and how we can, how does that relate to the Mahabharata and to our practical life. Now, testing Krishna means, normally, say if we are alone in our house, and somebody knocks on the door. Now, we, if you open the door also, we will maybe have a latch on.
So, maybe just first look out of the peephole, or open the door a little bit. And then, see who is this person, is this person familiar? What is their intention? And if they seem trustworthy, if we recognise them, then we open the door fully. And then we let them inside.
Now what applies to the door of our house, also applies to the door of our heart. When we relate with someone, at that time, we may open a little bit of our heart and reveal something private from our lives, something confidential. And then see how do they react? If they react with empathy, then we may open the door further.
If they react with judgement, then we may shut the door. So, when we are relating with someone, we actually test that person to understand how they are. What is their nature? What is their personality? What is their attitude? What is their understanding? All this, we basically test through every interaction that we are having with someone, we are actually testing them.
And initially, when people test each other, then if the other person passes the test and the first person passes the other person’s test, then a trustworthy relationship develops. The same applies in our relationship with God. We may have certain… We may have certain cultural conceptions of God.
That’s enough. So, I’ll talk about the relationship with God or faith in God at three levels. Cultural, philosophical and devotional.
Or we could say spiritual. So, cultural relationship with God or cultural faith in God. Our relationship with God is primarily a relationship of faith.
So, culturally, we may hear some stories of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata in our childhood. And we may see some images of Ram and Krishna or other devta, other gods, other images of God. And then we may… our parents, our relatives, our friends, we may just go to a temple on some holy days.
And then we may sometimes pray to God, asking him for help if we are in trouble. So, at this level, our faith in God is primarily cultural. It’s a part of the culture to go to a temple, go to a church, go to a mosque.
I think some of you can come up. At the cultural level, when we have faith in God, actually, God is just one part of many things in our life. We may have interest in sports, in movies, in hobbies.
And like that, religion is also one part of life. But when we are in danger, when we are in trouble, and especially trouble of the kind which we are not able to solve on our own, at that time, we know that we call out to God. We beg to God, please help me.
So, in India, usually the annual exams for students are usually in April or May. So, the population of students visiting temples explodes in April. It is not that April is the month of devotion.
It is the month of examination. And examination induces, oh God, please help me. Please help me pass this exam.
Please help me do well in this exam. At one level, this is good. Anyway, we connect with God, that is good.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, Chatur Vidha Bhajante Ma Janah Sukrutna Arjuna Arto Jijnasur Artharthi Jnani Chibhartar Shiva It is in 7.16 in the Gita that, actually, four kinds of people come to me and he calls all of them Sukrutina. They are good people. Sukruti, they are doing good.
And he appreciates them for coming thus to him. Now, at the cultural level, when we have faith in God, we pray to God. We primarily go to God.
Our relationship with Him is primarily a relationship of praying. I was giving a class in Cambridge last year. And after that, one person asked a question that, we say that we should be purely devoted to God.
We should not go to God for asking for things for ourselves. He says, why should it be like that? If a child needs something, the child will naturally go to the parents. So why is it that we are told that we should not ask God for material things? Why is that considered bad? It’s not bad.
It is, I explained that, suppose the child goes to parents only when they need something. Say if the children are staying in a hostel somewhere and the only time they call their parents is when they need money. And then they are treating their parents simply as a free money provider.
Now that, the parents will naturally provide for their children. But if the children’s relationship with the parents is reduced only for the taking of money, then that is not a very healthy relationship. So similarly, the parents may provide also.
But then that is not a very loving relationship. When we go to some person only when we need something from them. And then, suppose the parents sometimes say, no, no, I give you enough money, I cannot give you anymore.
I’ll give you at the start of next month. Then the parents say, no, you don’t love me. You don’t care for me.
I need this, you are not giving it to me. So what happens? The whole relationship of the teenage with the parents get reduced to the receiving of money or not receiving of money. And similarly, if we go to God only when we are in trouble, it’s good at least then we are going.
But it is a very self-centred relationship. Where we are going to God, I have this problem, please solve it. And then, at this level, we are often testing God.
We say, who are we to test God? The person who tests is somebody superior. The teacher tests the student. But it’s not necessarily like that.
Even if we are working in an office, at that time we may have a boss. And then we are also testing the boss. Testing not in a superior position.
If I do some mistake, how does the boss respond? If I do some good work, does the boss appreciate? We are just testing the ground to understand how the person is. So when we are testing Krishna, that means, we are thinking that, okay, if I pray, does God fulfil the prayer or not? If he fulfils, then God is good. If he doesn’t fulfil, then God doesn’t care or God doesn’t exist also.
We may veer towards atheism. So, when we are at the level of testing God, at one level, testing is natural. Because if we are going to God for something and the prayer is not fulfilled, or the prayer is fulfilled, in that relationship, at that level, there is some expectation.
And the relationship will develop or not develop based on whether that expectation is fulfilled or not. But, at this level of testing God, we reduce our relationship with God to something very small. Now, once, some devotee’s, devotee’s child was there.
And he just, in India there is a big rivalry between India and Pakistan. Most of you know that. So, what happened was, this devotee’s child, his son, small, maybe 7-8 year old boy, he was praying to God, chanting Krishna’s names and he stopped chanting.
So then, when he stopped chanting, at that time the parents took him to their spiritual guide and he said, you know, you were chanting, why you stopped chanting? He said that, he said, you know, there was this India-Pakistan cricket match. I prayed to Krishna so sincerely that India should win the match. But India lost the match.
So, I stopped chanting. So then, this devotee told him, actually, you prayed sincerely to Krishna that India should win. But there was a boy like you in Pakistan who prayed more intensely that Pakistan should win.
So, the nature of material things is that the material things in this world are limited. The material resources are limited and the desires far outnumber the resources. So, by the very nature of this world, because the desires far outnumber the resources, everybody’s desires can’t be fulfilled.
And further, actually, everything that is there here is temporary. So, therefore, even if we pray to God, even if God arranges something, still nothing material can give us lasting happiness. So, when we reduce our relationship with God, to the fulfilment of our prayers, then we set ourselves up for frustration in that relationship.
It is not that God cannot or will not fulfil our prayers. God can and will also fulfil our prayers. But the point is, if we reduce our relationship with God to the fulfilment of the prayers, then we set ourselves up for frustration.
Because things in this world are temporary, things in this world are limited, the desires are far more than the things available in this world. So, sooner or later, something that we want, we may not get. Now, at a cultural level, we think of God primarily as a provider of things.
Basically, provider of the things which I cannot get. But beyond that, there is a philosophical level of understanding. See, at the philosophical level, when we come, we understand that actually, I am at my core spiritual, and I need material things for functioning in life.
But material things alone don’t provide happiness. Money is important, money is vital for living in this world. But money is something which we live with, not something which we live for.
Money is the means to living, it is not the purpose for living. Similarly, with all material things, we often make them the goals of our life. Yes, I want this house, I want this car, I want this job, I want this spouse.
Now, yes, we need material things and we can strive to get them. But the problem is not seeking material things. The problem is thinking that these things will make me happy.
When we equate happiness with the things of this world, which all of us may have certain specific things, if only I get this, if this works out, everything will be fine in my life, I’ll be happy. We all have certain set of things which we conceive, if just this works out, I’ll be happy. But if we consider from a mature philosophical perspective, in many ways, whatever it is that is captivating our imagination, if only I get this, everything will be fine.
Actually, it is not much different from a child thinking, I just want this toy. If I get this toy, oh, I’ll be so happy. Now, we may say, no, if I need a job, I need good health, I need stability in my relationship, how can you compare with a toy? The point is not that these things are frivolous like toys.
The point is that yes, these things are much more important than toys in our life. But the point is our conception of those things. When we think that these things will be the source of my happiness, that conception is similar to a child’s conception that this toy will make me happy.
Yes, the toy will make the child happy, but for how long? After some time, the appeal of the toy decreases, and the child starts looking for some other toy. So like that, we may think right now, I just need this thing, I just need it, I absolutely need it. Yes, from a functional perspective, we need certain things.
But from an emotional perspective, when we get invested in those things, we think this will make me happy. Then that, you can look back at our lives also. We’ll see that there are many things which we wanted, some of them we got, some of them we didn’t get.
But if you look back at the thing that we did get, how many of them really lived up to our dreams? Yes, if I got it, I thought, oh, it will be so wonderful. But after we get it, most of the things that we can think of, which we get them, after we get them, they turn out to be anti-climaxes. We come to a climax, I have achieved it, and then, it just doesn’t live up to the expectation.
For me, since childhood, my goal was, I wanted to be an academic achiever. I wanted to be the number one. And I was always, by Krishna’s mercy, a good student, so I was among the toppers.
But then, I was never the first. So I wanted to be, I was joined first many times, I was second, I was third, but never the first. So that was always the dream of my life.
And in my third year of engineering, I gave GRE. And at that time, one of my hobbies since childhood was that I would just pick up a dictionary and memorise words. So my English was quite good.
So I did well. I got 2350 out of 2400, as was mentioned in the introduction. So I was not just first in my class, I was not just first in my college, I was first in the history of my college.
I was first in the whole state of Maharashtra. I thought now, all my dreams have come true. Now I am going to be happy.
And I was happy for a few days. But after that, I realised that actually, whenever I would meet some friends, the first thing I would expect is, they should congratulate me. And if some friend forgot to congratulate, why are you not congratulating me? Don’t you know what I have achieved? So I just, at one particular point, when this happened with 2-3 friends, and the third friend which happened, it was almost like, I felt as if I was looking at myself from above.
I said, hey, come on. You thought this will make you happy. But this has actually made you more dependent on happiness on others.
If they don’t congratulate you, not only you are not happy, you are unhappy. So where is the happiness? So at that time, I started thinking, okay, I may give another exam. I might come as a topper.
But I might get a great job. I might achieve a lot of things. But where is happiness? It is not that there is anything wrong in topping in an exam.
It is thinking that this will make me happy. That is the problem. So at that time, I felt there must be some source of happiness that does not depend on external things.
And by Krishna’s mercy, it was that time that I was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita. I knew about the Bhagavad Gita, but I started reading it. A friend came to my hostel and gave me a book.
I started reading it. And then things started clicking. They started falling into place.
They started making sense. I started chanting Hare Krishna, studying the Bhagavad Gita. Then I could start feeling more inner contentment in my life.
So, we all have certain conceptions of what it is that will make us happy. And it is not that that thing is bad. It is not that that thing is to be avoided.
But to invest all our desires, all our emotions, to invest our entire future in that alone. And we are giving disproportionate importance to one thing. So at a philosophical level, I’ll talk about a philosophical level in three parts.
First is, through philosophy, we understand philosophy. The word means philo, philein is love. So, force is truth.
Philosophy means love of truth. So, through philosophy, we understand, the first thing is that things of this world are not all that they are made out to be. They are made out to be far, far better than what they actually are.
Okay, this is important. But I don’t have to make it all important in my life. And we can make many things all important.
We can make our job all important. We can make a particular relationship all important. We can make a particular position all important.
Whatever it is. Anything which we make all important, that will cause us enormous dissatisfaction, enormous frustration. So, at a philosophical level, we understand, the next step is, that we understand that actually I am a spiritual being.
So I need spiritual fulfilment. The success at one level in life cannot substitute for failure in another. Just like say, somebody may be doing very well in their career, but if they are neglecting their family, if their spouse is on the verge of divorcing them, if their children have become derelicts, if they are falling for bad habits, then, you know, where is the happiness? No matter how well they do well in one aspect of life, success in professional life cannot compensate for failure in family life.
These are two distinct aspects of life and we need to work in a balanced way towards both. So what applies for professional and family life, it also applies for material life and spiritual life. Success in material life cannot compensate for failure in spiritual life.
Failure in spiritual life means, if we are not internally spiritually fulfilled, we are souls and the soul has a spiritual need, that spiritual need is for connection with the supreme spiritual reality, that is God, who is known by different names in different traditions. Bhagavad Gita knows him by the name Krishna. So the soul needs a connection with God.
Without that connection, no matter whatever we achieve, we stay dissatisfied. We are gnawed, an existential sense of emptiness gnaws within us without that connection with Krishna and success in material life cannot compensate for, cannot replace this fulfilment in spiritual life, which we need. So if I understand that I am a soul, the soul needs a connection with God and this connection is best established through the process of Bhakti Yoga.
Now Bhakti Yoga does not stress on rejection, it stresses on connection. So the worldly things, we may all have certain goals in our life. I want a big house, I want a big car, I want a big job.
It’s not that Bhakti Yoga tells us give up these things. It simply tells us that put God first in your life. If these things come, it’s wonderful.
If these things come, it’s great. If these things don’t come, still we will have God and that will give us satisfaction. So the philosophy tells us that we should not let anything other than Krishna have the first place in our life.
So when you say, what does it mean to put Krishna first? At one level, at a practical level it means that we have certain spiritual activities that we do, devotional practises that we do. We come to association of devotees, we chant the holy names, we give due priority to them. That’s at a practical level.
But at an emotional level, what it means is that we don’t invest ourselves in anything more than we invest ourselves in Krishna. It is not that we have to become apathetic towards other things. But we put Krishna first.
Now, when we put Krishna first, what does it mean? See, when we are testing Krishna, and our faith is at the cultural level, at that time we are testing Krishna. That means we are actually evaluating Krishna’s existence, evaluating Krishna’s benevolence by whether he provides a particular thing for us or not. So for us, that particular thing which, that particular object for which we are praying, that is central.
And actually God is incidental. If he provides for this, God is good. If he doesn’t provide for this, God doesn’t care, God doesn’t exist.
So we are putting that thing first and we are making God as a tool to that thing. But to put God first means that we focus on God. And whether we get it or not, we stay focused on God.
And that is where we need to, the process of Bhakti Yoga enables us to taste Krishna. Taste Krishna means that actually if our consciousness becomes absorbed in Krishna, in loving remembrance of him, the satisfaction that comes from that remembrance is far greater than the pleasure that we may get from anything else. There is a great saint, Kulshekhar Maharaj, he says in one of his verses in the Mukund Mala Stotra, he says, Sukha Taram Aparam Na Ja Tu Jaane, Hari Charana Smarana Amrute Na Tulyam.
So he says, Sukha Taram Aparam Na Ja Tu Jaane. I do not know any happiness that compares with the happiness of Hari Charana Smarana. The remembrance of the lotus feet of Lord Hari.
That remembrance, Amruta, it is like nectar. There is no happiness that compares with it. Now Kulshekhar Maharaj was a king and later on he just became an ecstatic devotee.
So as a king, he enjoyed material pleasures far more than what any of us can have enjoyed or any of us can hope to enjoy also. Profuse and almost far more than what we can get or even imagine. But still he is saying, none of these things give pleasure the way I get in remembrance of Krishna.
So if the basis of our relationship with Krishna is tasting Krishna. Tasting Krishna means connecting with Krishna, becoming absorbed in his remembrance. Then that relationship will have stability.
So at the philosophical level we understand, I have to put Krishna first. And then the devotional level, the spiritual level when we practise bhakti, we put Krishna first, then we become absorbed in Krishna. When we are absorbed in Krishna, no matter what happens at the material level, we are not so shaken by it.
It is not that it is unimportant for us. Now bhakti yoga, when we are absorbed in Krishna, then we can be concerned about things without being disturbed by things. To be concerned means, yes this is important for me, this matters for me and I will do my best to make sure that this gives a good result, that a good result comes out in this.
But to be disturbed by things means that we feel personally threatened by that. And when our inner sense of self-security comes from the world, then worldly ups and downs threaten us. But if our sense of security comes from God, from Krishna, whatever happens, Krishna is always there in my heart.
Whatever happens, Krishna always loves me. Whatever happens, I can always absorb myself in the remembrance of Krishna. Then that frees us from the sense of personal threat that we feel when worldly things go up and down.
And then when we are not disturbed, it is not that we are apathetic, we are concerned. We want things to work out properly and we do the needful. But with lesser agitation, lesser trepidation, lesser fear, and then we can actually act more maturely.
So, coming to the Mahabharata, perhaps the incident which illustrates in the Mahabharata this difference of how a devotee has to rise from the level of testing Krishna to tasting Krishna. The example comes in the incident where the Pandavas are constrained to gamble and then Yudhishthir gambles Draupadi. He gambles all their property, he gambles all his brothers, he gambles himself and he gambles Draupadi.
Now, there are many complicated things happening. I won’t go into the full past time, but it’s a little background that Yudhishthir Maharaj, when he performed the Rajasuya Yajna, at that time it was a phenomenal celebration and Vyasadev told him, O King, you will not enjoy this kingdom for long. Soon in the future, a big war will be fought and after that war is fought, then you will be enthroned as king, then your reign will be stable.
But in that war, many people will be killed. So, now Yudhishthir started thinking, you know, I will do my best to avoid this war. How can I avoid this war? He says, war is caused by dissension.
When there is conflict, then it leads to war. So, he says, one way I can avoid war, I can avoid dissension, is through obedience. So, he says, whatever my elders tell me, I will obey it.
He took a vow like that. He had no idea what his elders would tell him to do. So, in the meanwhile, Duryodhana was burning with envy when he saw the prosperity of the Pandavas and then he, Shakuni gave him the idea, you can call them and gamble.
And he pressurised Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra sent Vidura. When Vidura first heard it, he said, no, if you gamble, you will fight.
The whole Kuru dynasty will be destroyed. He tried to make Dhritarashtra see sense, but Dhritarashtra was so attached, he just didn’t accept it. And then, when Yudhishthir heard for the first time, Yudhishthir was delighted to see Vidura, but Vidura’s face was drawn out, filled with lines of anxiety.
He said, what happened? Oh, uncle, he said that you have been called for gambling. And Yudhishthir said, no, if we gamble, we will fight. Gambling will cause disaster.
Vidura said, that’s what I have told Dhritarashtra, but he is not ready to listen. Yudhishthir always treated Dhritarashtra like his father. His father had passed away, and he was like a father figure for him.
So, normally he was deferential, he would be obedient, and now he had taken a further vow of obedience. So, when Yudhishthir and the Pandavas came to the assembly, at that time, Dhritarashtra welcomed them and said, let us have a gambling match and Shakuni will play on my behalf. Yudhishthir said, wait, wait.
It’s like say, you know, there is a friendly wrestling match between two kids. They come for a playing, and then, on the wrestling match day, instead of one kid, there is a professional wrestler who is brought over there. He says, hey, this is not fair.
If it is a match between two princes, it should be a match between two princes, not between a professional gamester and a prince. So, Yudhishthir said, this is against the rules. Now, Durdhana said, oh Yudhishthir, if you are afraid to play, you need not play.
Yudhishthir, he was caught in the bind over here. Look at Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra should have intervened over here.
Dhritarashtra should have pointed out that, this is not fair. But Dhritarashtra was also a colluder in the scheme. And then, as they started gambling one after another after another, Yudhishthir started losing everything.
And Yudhishthir started becoming frantic. He was saying that, Krishna, if the whole kingdom is lost, where will we live? He started thinking, maybe I can gamble one thing and get everything back. That’s how he gambled Nakula, he gambled Sahadev.
Then he gambled Arjuna, he gambled Bhima, he gambled himself. And all along, at one level, he was just praying, Krishna, please. He was caught in the frenzy of gambling.
Now, at one time, Arjuna signalled to Yudhishthir, stop, enough now. But Yudhishthir was caught in the frenzy. He was thinking that, my family members, I am meant to protect them.
I am their elder brother, I am like their father. I have lost everything. I have to get it back.
Somehow, I have to get it back. And then finally, when Shakuni suggested that he gambles Ropadi, at that time, Yudhishthir was mortified. The whole assembly was outraged.
But Yudhishthir started thinking that what will happen to her now that we have all been enslaved. She will be without any protector. If I gamble her, I might just get everything back.
And then he put her on the stake. It’s significant that he did not put her on stake before himself. He lost himself and then he put her on the stake.
And then when he put her on the stake, at that time, he lost again. And then it was Karna who suggested the idea. Ropadi, she is now your slave.
Let’s drag her into the assembly and let’s disrobe her. Dushasan was sent into the… Actually, first, a court messenger, Pratikamin was sent. And Ropadi, she came to know about it.
She was horrified. She said, how could Yudhishthir have gambled me? Didn’t he have anything else to gamble? Pratikamin said, he lost everything. He lost even himself.
Now, Ropadi was a Kshatriya lady. She is also very resourceful. She could have crumbled in tears.
Oh, what has happened to me? You see, there is a… When we talk about surrender to God, surrender has two distinct aspects to it. Now, once we were told that when I first started giving classes 15-20 years ago, so we had some public speaking guidelines. And the last guideline was depend on Krishna.
But in bracket was, after you have prepared. So, we have to depend on Krishna. We have to have faith in God.
So, Ropadi, she was a resourceful Kshatriya lady. Somehow or other, when a person is drowning, they hold on to straws, whatever is there. She immediately came up with the idea.
She was trying to delay things. Okay, if Yudhishthir had gambled himself, how could he have gambled me? If he had gambled himself, he is not his own master, then how can he be my master? And then, Pratikamin went and told this. He says, tell her that she can come and ask this question to her husband.
So, she said that, no, I am not in a condition to appear in public right now. That’s why I am asking this question first. He sent the Pratikamin back.
And then that messenger, when he saw this, he said, go and get her. What should I tell her? So then, he saw that she was trembling. Duryodhana saw that.
He said, he is a coward. He is afraid of Bhima’s anger. Dushyasana, you are not afraid.
You go. And Dushyasana went and dragged Draupadi out. And when Draupadi came there, she was screaming for help.
But none of her husbands could help her. They were all helpless at that time. And then she flung on the ground by Dushyasana.
She got up and she folded her hands in respect to the elders and she said, she repeated her question. And she said that, in this assembly, Dharma has never been lost. Therefore, I ask you of Dharma, how is it that an honourable lady is being dishonoured like this? So then, she repeated her question.
And everybody remained silent. She repeated her question again. Then Bhishma spoke.
Bhishma was the eldest. Actually, the onus was on the king to speak. But the king remained silent.
So then Bhishma was mortified. He said, oh Draupadi, your question is very difficult to answer. He said that, actually, a woman is always under the care of her husband.
But then if the husband is not his own master, then what happens to the woman? She says, I am unable to resolve this. Actually, what happens over here is, there is a mistake of judgement which is called as Niyamagraha. Niyamagraha means getting so much caught in the letter of the law that we forget the spirit of the law.
Well, whether a woman belongs to a man or not, that is not as important as the point that a woman should be protected. Both ways, the point was protection of women. So here, a woman is being publicly dishonoured and the whole assembly is lost in confusion.
And then, the whole series of incidents happened. Vikarna, he was one of Kauravas’ brothers. He was somewhat virtuous.
He said, nobody is ready to answer Draupadi’s question. He said, nobody is ready to answer, I’ll answer. And then he gave three reasons.
He said, this gambling match was rigged. That it was Shakuni who was playing against Pandavas. He said, Yudhishthira had no desire to play.
He was forced to play because of the instruction of his elders. And he said that when one gets caught in the frenzy of gambling, he talks about his four regulatory principles we talk about. BTT, intoxication, sexual infatuation, and gambling.
When people get caught under the spell of these four things, they lose their intelligence. And therefore, what they do under such a situation should not be taken seriously. And he lastly said that Draupadi has gambled after Yudhishthira had gambled himself.
So therefore, I suggest that this whole gambling match be declared null and void. And everything be returned back to the Pandavas. Everybody cheered at this point.
But then, Karna got up. And actually, this whole incident, if we see, we often focus on the how Krishna will come and protect. That’s true.
But it is actually Draupadi who emerges as the heroine in this. She acts with most dharmic integrity. And it’s Karna who emerges as the darkest character.
Karna says that, you know, he just waves his formula. Silence! Silence! Everybody is cheering. He says, you know, Vikarna, you are a small child.
And he says, all these elders are silent and how do you have the audacity to speak? He says that nobody forced Yudhishthira to gamble. He chose to gamble on his own. And as far as his playing against Shakuni is concerned, it was his choice.
Nobody forced him to do that. He could have chosen not to play. And then he talked about, he said, Draupadi, you know, as far as a woman who already has five husbands, now what is dishonourable for her? She is like a prostitute.
Now, actually speaking, this is a grievous insult. Outrageous. Because it is not that Draupadi, she, a prostitute is one who gives herself up for money.
Now, Draupadi did not in any way try to do anything like that. She did not even solicit five husbands. She simply, obediently, as per her father’s arrangement, she participated in the Swayamvar.
And then by something higher going on, she got five husbands. She did not do anything to seek it at all. And her union with the Pandavas was sanctioned by Vyasadev, was from a previous lifetime arranged by Mahadev.
There was absolutely nothing wrong. And Karna, to his credit, regrets this bitterly afterwards. Duryodhana never regrets what he did.
Karna is a classic example, tragic example actually, of a good person becoming bad by bad association. The desire to please Duryodhana, that made him do such things, suggest such things. So anyway, so here, eventually again when Karna was silenced, then Dushyasana tried to attack Draupadi and tried to disrobe her.
So then Draupadi tried to her best of her capacity to protect herself. But when everything was helpless, she just surrendered to Krishna. And at a material level, if you see, it was a total disaster.
She was a queen, she had five protectors and still nobody was ready to protect her. Now at this point, she could have said, you know, why is God doing this to me? But rather than doing that, what she did was, she raised her hand and surrendered. Krishna, please save me.
Now actually, what was she doing? At that time, she was simply absorbing and tasting Krishna. She was just, okay, what happens to me physically, I don’t care. I can’t do anything about it, so I won’t, just close her eyes, absorb herself in Krishna.
And she’s lost, that complete absorption in Krishna. And actually, sometimes in Mahabharata movies, we see Krishna coming and giving sorry. It was not like that.
All that happened was, Dushasan was pulling her sari and the sari seemed endless. And nobody actually saw Krishna over there. And Dushasan was pulling and pulling and pulling and nothing happened.
And then finally Dushasan got exhausted. And then everybody in the assembly lauded, Hyderabad is so virtuous that because of her virtue, her sari became inexhaustible. And then, the incident goes on.
But eventually when the Pandavas are exiled, they go to the forest. Krishna comes to meet over there. Krishna is furious at what has happened.
At that time, when he comes and meets Draupadi, consoles her. And Draupadi has a natural human reaction that says, Krishna, I begged you, I prayed to you. She says, I am your relative, I am your friend, I am your devotee.
I begged to you, when she asked this question, Krishna doesn’t say, I am God, my will is perfect. Krishna actually says, I am sorry Draupadi, I didn’t know what was happening. Otherwise I would have come and stopped the gambling man.
He said, actually there was a demon named Shalya who was attacking Dwaraka and he had devastated Dwaraka. I had to fight off that demon and I had to protect the citizens of Dwaraka. So that’s why I was caught over there.
As soon as I came to know about this, I have come immediately. So now here from Krishna’s perspective, Krishna consoles Draupadi. He tells her, the wrong that has been done for you, that will not go unpunished.
Because your virtue has shown through even in this terrible incident. Draupadi was dishonoured but she remained honourable. And in this case, there are many things happening.
See, when things go wrong in our life, we can analyse them at various levels. In between, when Draupadi is actually beseeching to the assembly, she says, you know, how can a honourable lady be treated like this? If Yudhishthira was not my master, how could I gamble? So Duryodhana, he tries to pit wife against husband. He says, oh Draupadi, if you say that Dharmaraj Yudhishthira committed adharma by gambling you, then I will release you and I will release all the Pandavas also.
So at that time, Draupadi says, he says, Yudhishthira is always Dharmara. He says, the same assembly that instructed him to fight, to play this gambling match, that should decide whether he acted rightly or wrongly. He acted against his will simply out of deference for instructions.
Later on in the exile, Draupadi is furious with Yudhishthira. She says, how could you gamble like this? But there in public, she does not show dissension. She actually comes out as extremely honourable throughout.
So at one level, we could say that, why did this happen? How did this happen? One level, it was Dhritharashtra’s scheming, greed and evil nature. Another level, we could say, the cause of this was Yudhishthira’s attachment to gambling. Another level, we could say, it was Yudhishthira’s misdirected sense of deference to his elders.
Another level, we could say, it was the weakness of Dhritharashtra. Another level, we could say, it was the indecisiveness of the elders in the Kuru assembly. You know, when things go wrong, we can find multiple causes at work.
And if we get caught in these causes, so usually see, whenever things go wrong, our mind goes into a blaming mode. And the blame can go in three directions. One is inwards.
Why was I so stupid? Why did I do such a thing? And the second is outwards. Very fine. Because of you this happened.
Because of you that happened. Third is upwards. Because of God it happened.
So now, actually speaking, in all these three, there is damage that happens. Damage that is possible. At one level, if we start blaming ourselves, we need to take responsibility for our actions.
There are times when our mistake might be very small. But the complication that happens is so huge. We wonder what’s happening over here.
And the important thing in life is that even if we have committed a mistake, the important thing is that we should never become discouraged. Because once we become discouraged, then we lose the capacity to do the right thing. So a mistake is something that we do.
The mistake may affect us, but the mistake does not define who we are. We are still parts of God. We are still potentially godly.
We can still act virtuously. So blaming oneself can be psychologically damaging. We need to take responsibility, but taking responsibility means, okay, in this situation I did this wrong, and now I have to become wiser, and I’ll do the right thing in future.
But if we let that thing beat us up constantly, I’m simply like this, I’m useless, I’m good for nothing, I’m foolish, I’m this, I’m that, then that is self-pity, or self-loathing. And that is very damaging for oneself psychologically. So blaming oneself should be simply for taking responsibility so that we can act wiser in future.
If blaming oneself becomes like a sense of continuously beating oneself, you should know, okay, this is over, I did something wrong, I’m not going to think about it anymore. That incident has happened, I will not let it control my life. So blaming oneself can be bad if it is not done properly.
Blaming others is actually equally disempowering. Because when we blame others, most often people have a very different take on what happened. Dhrudhana later on says that, he says, although I have done great introspection, I don’t see any fault in what I have done.
Can you imagine Dhrudhana saying, I don’t see any fault in what I have done. So why is that? Because he has a completely different perspective. And sometimes we may feel, because of you this happened.
And that person may just not accept the responsibility. And we start blaming others. Now, when we start pointing out faults with others, what happens is, we just disempower ourselves.
Because we feel, oh, I have become a victim. This person did like this because of which they victimised me. It may be true that in that particular situation, we may be victimised by others.
So others can victimise us, but we make ourselves victims. Victimisation is an incident. Sometimes somebody may lump some blame on us for which we are not actually responsible.
That’s a victimisation and that’s bad when it happens. But it is we who make ourselves victims. That means by repeatedly feeling sorry for ourselves, oh, this person is so bad, this person did like this to me, this person did like that to me.
By such thinking we disempower ourselves. And most damaging is if we blame God. When we blame God, actually, whenever there are problems in life, the purpose, ultimately, there are specific causes for the problems.
But the ultimate purpose that problems can serve is that they can push us to raise our consciousness upwards. From the material level to the spiritual level. To become absorbed in Krishna.
From the cultural to the philosophical to the spiritual, to the devotional. The purpose of any problem is, ultimately, there is a specific problem, specific solution, all that is true. But the purpose ultimately, purpose of everything in this world is to help us raise our consciousness towards God.
To help us develop love for God. To help us take shelter of God. But when we blame God for the problem, then we close the very door that is our escape way.
So blaming God means that we were meant to raise our consciousness towards God but we close that very door. And that can be very damaging. So we need to understand that Krishna is not the cause of our problems.
Krishna is the cure for our problems. Whenever any problem comes in our life, at a specific level, we may try to find the cause. Even if we can’t find the cause at a specific level, we may attribute it to some unknown cause, maybe some past karma.
But it is not Krishna who is causing the problem. It is Krishna who is going to help us to solve the problem. So, I’ll conclude with two examples and then you can have question answers.
That Draupadi, throughout the Mahabharata, she never blames Krishna for what happened. Many bad things happened to her. She takes shelter of Krishna, she doesn’t blame Krishna.
So in the Bhakti tradition, an example is given that suppose there is a child who is supposed to do some homework and the child has not done the homework. And the child is going to go to school and the mother knows that the teacher is very strict. The teacher is going to punish the child.
So the teacher has a stick. Have you done your homework? No. Show your hand.
You want to be beaten with the stick. So then the mother doesn’t want the child to be beaten. At the same time, the mother doesn’t want the child to be irresponsible also.
So when the child is going to school that day, what the mother does is, the mother puts a nice thick glow in the hand of the child. And when the child goes to school, that time the teacher asks, have you done the homework? No. Come here.
Show your hand. The stick beats. Now when the stick hits the glow, it makes a big noise.
But although the noise is there, the pain is not there. Why? Because the glow is protecting. Similar, so like that, material nature is like the teacher.
Krishna is like the mother. We are like that child. So, by our own past karma, some suffering is going to come in our life.
Krishna knows that. And Krishna gives us the glow. The glow is his remembrance.
It’s tasting Krishna. machittah sarva durgaani madhprasadah tarisyasi Krishna says in 18.58 in the Bhagavad Gita, If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace. Krishna is not saying obstacles will go away.
Obstacles will come, but he will pass over them by my grace. So when the problems come, if we pray to Krishna, we become absorbed in Krishna. At external level, it may appear as if we are suffering.
The world will say, oh, we are going through such a bad situation. But internally, we will have gone closer to Krishna than ever before. And in that closeness to Krishna, there will be security.
Not only security, there will be serenity. There will be a deep sense of peace. And that way, we will actually grow spiritually through that situation.
So we will be, at the world’s level, it seems we are going through a big test. But at our internal level, we are tasting Krishna. We will experience that this bhakti is something very special.
If I had not been practising bhakti, this problem would have crushed me completely. But now that I am practising, I am still alive, I am still active, I am still moving on with life. It’s not easy.
It’s difficult. No doubt. But still, we are able to go through it.
So we will see that it is not that life’s problems will go away because of the practise of bhakti. By the practise of bhakti, our inner toughness will increase. So, you know, there is a boxing match.
There is a big boxer who is coming and beating. Now, if this other boxer has got a very good helmet or a very good armour, then although the blows are coming, the blows are not hurting. So our Krishna consciousness, our remembrance of Krishna, our absorption in Krishna, our tasting Krishna, that is like a armour.
Life’s blows will hit, but we will not be hurt. The blows will hit us, but we will not be hurt. Because internally we will be absorbed.
And over a period of time, so the problems will come, but we will be able to live through them. If you are focussing on tasting Krishna, and over a period of time, we will find out that Krishna will bring good out of everything. It’s not that everything that happens is good.
Sometimes bad things happen. It is not that because we are a devotee, we are meant to think that everything that happened is good. Nobody tells Draupadi, oh your disrobing was good actually.
Nobody does that. Bad things happen in life. But, whatever has happened, Krishna can bring good out of it.
And when will He bring good out of it? If we act properly. If we become resentful, if we become pessimistic, if we become negative, if we become faithless, then Krishna cannot bring the good out of it. He wants to bring the good out, but He needs our cooperation.
When our cooperation is there, then He will use us, use the circumstances around us, and He will bring the good out of us. God works through us and beyond us. And ultimately for us.
He is working for our good. Whatever is happening. Sometimes we get caught in a particular set of expectations.
Let me say that, say a child is hungry. And child goes and sees a mango tree. Shakes the mango tree, shakes, shakes, shakes.
And is waiting for the mango to fall. The mango doesn’t fall, mango doesn’t fall. Child gets disheartened.
But in the meanwhile, while the child is there, from the neighbouring apple tree, an apple falls. And child’s primary need is hunger, food. Now whether it is a mango or whether it is an apple, it doesn’t matter.
But if the child is too caught in the mango, why is this mango not falling? Why is this mango not falling? And the apple has already fallen, eat it. So like that, we will find that, when we are at the level of testing Krishna, testing Krishna means, we have a problem and we feel this is the solution to the problem. And we are only expecting that solution.
And if that solution is not coming, we are thinking, Krishna doesn’t care, Krishna doesn’t exist only. But if we have gone through this philosophical understanding, we have come to the level of tasting Krishna, then we are not so internally threatened. We are internally calm.
Our vision is not locked in the one thing that we think matters. We are open. This apple has fallen off.
This also works. Okay, this thing didn’t work out, but this thing has worked out. When one door closes in our life, Krishna will open some other door.
But if we are caught in the blame game, we are blaming ourselves, blaming others or blaming God, then that is like, we are just glaring at the closed door. And we don’t notice the door that has opened. So if we are practising Bhakti, what happens is, what has happened, it’s not that we have to think it is good.
Bad things happen in life. But Krishna can bring good even out of the bad things. We will be able to have the clarity, the maturity to see things from a broader perspective.
Okay, this is not working out, this will work out. And in that way, when we are talking about tasting Krishna, it’s not just we think that, okay, I will just chant, I will pray and everything else I don’t care about. No, actually by our chanting, by our taking shelter of Krishna, internally we become calmer.
And then when we come out and we face the problems of life, we can face them with greater maturity. We will find that there are options which I never thought about. We will be able to see those options.
We will see all those doors which are opening and we can walk through those doors. And eventually, whatever problem which is big, threatening us, crushing us. In life, many problems come.
Problems stay for some time, they go after some time. But through the problem, we will have grown spiritually. We will have grown closer to Krishna and that will be our lasting asset.
An asset that will stand us in good stead no matter what problems life sends in future. That enduring growth towards Krishna is our greatest asset. Far greater than what we might have achieved if we had just gone through that situation without any problem.
So when we come to the level of tasting Krishna, then that taste for Krishna, that absorption in Krishna becomes our lasting asset. Bhagavata says, Once having gained this, there is nothing more to gain. And once having attained this taste for Krishna, this absorption in Krishna, even if great misery comes, it will not disturb us.
It will not disturb us because we will be internally sheltered. So this is actually life’s greatest achievement. All of us may have a different definition of greatest achievement.
I want to become the CEO of my company. I want to have the biggest house in my block. I want to have this.
I want to have that. These are good achievements. We can pursue them.
But can any achievement make us feel there is nothing more to achieve in life? No. Whatever there is, there is more. Nothing will make us contented.
And can we say that any achievement in life, after I achieve, nothing will disturb me. Actually the more we achieve, the more there is the fear of losing. So the internal taste for Krishna we get, that is an achievement.
We get it, we are contented and then we will be internally sheltered. So that every time a problem comes in our life, instead of just seeing that as a problem, why is this coming in my life? Why is God not helping me? Instead of testing God in that situation, we can try to taste God. Krishna, let me become absorbed in you.
You are what matters most in my life. I will put you first. Give me your shelter.
Let me become absorbed in you. And with that absorption, we will see that a way will emerge for us to move on. We will grow internally and we will find externally also a way to move forward.
I will summarise. I spoke about rise from testing Krishna to tasting Krishna. When somebody comes at our door, we open a little bit.
We test that person to decide how much we can let them inside. Similarly, when we relate with someone, we open our heart a little bit to test how much we can let them inside. Like that, when we start approaching God also, we test Him.
If I pray to Him, does He fulfil my prayer or not? And that is a level where our faith is. I talk about three levels of faith. Does anyone remember three levels? Cultural, philosophical and spiritual.
Cultural faith means our parents have told, our elders have told, our society tells us so. We go to the temple, we pray to God. That is good.
But at the cultural level, the problem is that things in material world are temporary and they are limited. So, no one’s prayers can always be fulfilled. So, if we base our relationship with God only on the fulfilment of our prayers, we set firstly that relationship will be self-centred like a child going to parents only when they need money from them.
Or, and secondly, it sets us up for frustration because materially nobody can have all their desires or prayers fulfilled. So, we rise to a philosophical level. That means we understand, philosophical understanding has two aspects.
First is that we understand that material things are not all that they are made out to be. If we need material things in life, money is vital. But it is a means for living, it is not a purpose for living.
So, when we get infatuated with things, if only this thing works out, then I’ll be happy in my life. Then that is like a child thinking, if I just have this toy, I’ll become happy. So, we need to go outgrow that.
So, philosophical study of scripture helps us understand that, okay, this thing is important, but let me not make it all important. Let nothing take the place of God in my life. God is number one.
Let nothing else become number one. That’s the second aspect of philosophical understanding. We understand we are souls and the soul has spiritual needs.
So, just as success in professional life cannot compensate for failure in family life, similarly, success in material life cannot compensate for failure in spiritual life. Our spiritual needs need to be separately fulfilled and that need is to connect in love with God. And Bhakti Yoga offers us that connection with God.
And then process of Bhakti Yoga is meant to give us a taste for Krishna. We experience sublime joy, sublime serenity in the remembrance of Krishna. And then when problems come, at that time, we can either go down to the cultural level and test Krishna or we can rise to the spiritual level and taste Krishna.
Their connection, I discussed in the past time of Indraupadi and her attempted disrobing. Yudhishthira was actually compelled by his own vow, by his natural deferential attitude towards his elders and by the manipulation by the Kauravas. And Indraupadi actually remained very honourable throughout.
She tried to stave off the disaster. Dhritarashtra was attached, Bhishma was caught in anyamagraha, caught in the technicalities and Karna emerged as a villain. Eventually, Krishna protected Dhritarashtra.
But later on when Dhritarashtra asked, why did you not protect me? Krishna did not hold that against her. And Dhritarashtra at that moment, he just asked it. But Dhritarashtra did not hold that against Krishna also.
She stayed absorbed in Krishna. So, she could have tested Krishna and she could have said, Krishna, you are not protecting me. What is this? But she tasted Krishna.
Externally it was a disaster but she was absorbed in Krishna. And Krishna intervened and protected her at that time. And so when things go wrong, we may, is this at fault? This person is at fault.
This person is at fault. We can blame many people. But quite often, especially when the problem is hurting us, at that time, trying to find the blame is very difficult because we ourselves are not calm and clear.
And trying to find who is at blame only makes things worse. If we blame ourselves, we become discouraged. We may get a guilt complex, we may start beating ourselves up.
So, we need to be responsible for our actions but we don’t have to beat ourselves down for our mistakes. We blame others, that is also disempowering. Because others may not accept the blame and then we feel, oh this person is so bad, they are victimising me.
Others can victimise us but we alone make ourselves victims. Victimisation is an incident but victim is a mentality which we can avoid. And if we blame God, then actually the whole purpose of the problem is defeated.
The purpose of everything in the material world including its problems is to help us rise up to God, to raise to God consciousness. But if we blame God, then that which is our escape way, we shut the door on it. So, God is not the cause of our problems.
He is the cure for our problems. And I give two examples in that connection. First is of a glow.
You know, the teacher, the child has not done the homework, so the child is going to beat. The teacher is going to beat. Mother protects by providing a glow.
So like that, based on some such karma, we have to go through some problems. Krishna offers us the glow. Krishna is the mother.
The glow is remembrance of Krishna. When we are tasting Krishna, externally problems will hit us but internally they will not hurt us that much. Like a boxer who is being beaten but has a armour which protects.
And when we talk about tasting Krishna, it is not just being neglectful or irresponsible about the outer situation. Rather, we are concerned but not disturbed. And then with the clarity that comes, the calmness that comes by tasting Krishna, we can come outwards and face the problem.
And when we are devotionally conscious, then we will be looking for a mango. But we are also open to the falling of an apple. Like that, we may expect a particular solution but if some other solution comes, we are open to that also.
If we are too caught in tasting Krishna, our relationship with Krishna is conditioned, this problem has to be solved in this way. Then we can’t see that okay, one door is closing, Krishna is opening some other door. By the process of bhakti yoga, by taking shelter of Krishna, by tasting Krishna, no matter how big a problem we are facing, no matter how powerless we feel amidst the problem, we should know that Krishna is there.
He is there in our hearts waiting to guide us, waiting to help us not only go through the problem but to grow through it, to become stronger, to achieve that which will be the supreme achievement of our life. The inner fulfilment that will give us lasting contentment, that will enable us to become so tough that life’s problems will not shake us. So every adversity by the process of bhakti, we can see as an opportunity to go closer to Krishna and to grow closer to the ultimate happiness that comes by tasting Krishna.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? Okay, I got the question.
So sometimes when we face some problems, we may attribute it to some situation. Once I was driving for a programme and the devotee was driving me for the programme and suddenly the car got punctured. Oh Prabhu, I didn’t chant Hare Krishna attentively today morning, so the car got punctured.
Now, we have to be very careful. We have to know first of all that Krishna is not a vindictive God. That it is not that because we didn’t do this practical activity of bhakti, so Krishna is punishing us.
The whole idea of punishment is primarily within the realm of karma. In karma, there is good karma and bad karma. For good karma, there is good reaction.
For bad karma, there is bad reaction. When we are in practising bhakti, Krishna simply acts out of love. So Krishna is first and foremost a very understanding God.
Krishna, he sees that we are trying our best. In the Vishnu Sahasranam, there are thousand names of Vishnu. So two of the names are Nimisho, Nimisha, Swagri, Vachaspati Rudharathi.
So Nimisha means one who blinks his eyes or Nimisha means one who never blinks his eyes. They are two opposite names, two opposite attributes actually. So Baldevidya Bhushan in his commentary there explains that actually when a devotee is trying to serve Krishna and somehow the devotee commits a mistake, then Krishna blinks his eyes and overlooks the mistake.
And if a devotee is trying to serve Krishna and then even the smallest service that the devotee renders, Krishna unblinkingly notes that service. He notes that service and in due course of time rewards that service. And the example is given of when Putana came to kill Krishna, Krishna closed his eyes.
Krishna, what did he do? Because she had come with that malicious mentality, Krishna killed her. But Krishna didn’t simply kill her. He delivered her.
He saw that she has a maternal mood towards me. Krishna focused on that and elevated her to the level of a nurse. So Krishna closed his eyes to the fault in her and saw the good in her.
Similarly, once when Krishna was with the Pandavas, Krishna and Arjuna were talking and Draupadi came and brought some fruits for them. And she saw they were talking very intimately. So Draupadi just decided not to disturb.
She went away. And Krishna picked up a knife and was cutting the fruit. And a knife slipped from his hand and it cut his finger.
And Draupadi saw that immediately. She just ripped off a piece of her silk saree which had bandaging Krishna. And she was in anxiety but Krishna was smiling.
Krishna told Draupadi, Oh Panchali, I’ll repay you for this. And when did Krishna repay? To the unlimited saree that he gave. So Krishna unblinkingly notes every service.
So as devotees, we always would like to intensify our bhakti. So we may think of it in a positive way that, okay, you know, yes, if I had been chanting Hare Krishna properly, my mind would be calmer. If my mind had been calmer, then I might have noticed.
Okay, maybe my car needs servicing. Maybe this road is rocky. I might have made sure that I keep a spare tyre with me.
Whatever it is. So we can say that by the practise of our bhakti, we would have been more alert. We would have been able to function more competently.
But it is not that problems come because Krishna is punishing us for doing some devotional activity improperly. There is no scriptural precedent for something like this. There is of course, there are offences against specific deity forms or something like that.
That is different. But Krishna is not a God who is waiting to find faults. I write articles on the Gita every day at GitaDilly.com. So there is one article I wrote, you know, what is that? God’s purpose is not to catch us when we go wrong.
No, God’s purpose is not to catch us when we do wrong. God’s purpose is to catch us when we fall. I caught you.
Now you have done something wrong. I will punish you now. Krishna is not like that.
When we do wrong, he sees like a child. Mother sees the child is falling. Mother doesn’t, the other friends of the child, hey you fell down, everybody starts laughing.
But mother is not like that. The mother sees the child falling, she runs forward and catches the child. So Krishna is like that.
Krishna is not a fault finding God. And if at all we fall, he is there to help catch us and rise us again. So we should never attribute some bad thing that happened in our life to our inept performance of devotional activities.
We can say that, yes, if I had done the devotional activity better, I might have more clearer intelligence and I would have been able to do the situation better. But it’s not that Krishna is out there punishing me for this. Is this clear? Thank you.
Any other questions? Yeah. So chanting inattentively is an offence. So what is the consequence of that? Actually, when we talk about offence, we have to understand that, again, Krishna is an understanding God.
There is inattentiveness that is just involuntary. The mind is so turbulent that it doesn’t stay at one place. In general, we should know that, Prabhupada writes in one First Canto Purport that, when things are beyond human control, then there is nothing to regret.
Sometimes we do our best. You know, we are going for a particular programme on time, but there is a traffic jam and we get late. There is nothing for us.
We did our best. Something beyond our control went wrong. But sometimes the mind’s force of wandering is so great that we just can’t do much.
We try to focus, but the mind wanders. But when we are knowingly intentionally inattentive, let me say, somebody is chanting and they are watching TV. Now, okay, that is not… See, sometimes the mind starts a TV inside us.
It is difficult to close that. We may try to close that, but the mind just goes on here and there. But the outside TV, it is very much in our power to close that.
If we can’t close that, somebody else is watching and we can go to some other room and chant. So, when we are knowingly intentionally inattentive, then it is a problem. And anyway, there is another principle, Somehow or the other fix the mind on Krishna.
Sometimes the mind is wandering so much that we just can’t focus. So, inattentive chanting is better than no chanting. But inattentive chanting becomes a habit.
And when we stop making an effort to connect with Krishna, See, again, when we talk about the offence, we have to understand everything in its purpose. See, a purpose is that we want to develop a relationship with Krishna. Say, now, if we go to talk with someone and then, when we are talking with them, they are looking at their phone, they are checking their messages, typing something.
I am talking with you, pay some attention to me. So, then we are not really developing the relationship. So, relationship is developed through attention.
But sometimes it may be that that other person is very busy and we want to meet them, but they are walking along from one meeting to another meeting and in between we just grab and talk for 2 minutes at that time. That is a situation where they are also bound, they are helpless. So, that time we also understand.
At least, they could have said, I cannot meet you only, but that person met for 2 minutes. So, the point is, we appreciate that. You really did not have time, but still you made out 2 minutes for me.
So, like that, we should not just see inattentive chanting as an activity or chanting as an activity. Chanting is an activity, not an isolation, but it’s a part of our relationship with Krishna. So, in that sense, if sometimes it’s just, our mind is so wild, we just can’t chant, our life is so busy that we can’t really focus at one place and chant, we chant somehow or the other.
But if we have a choice, we try to reorder our schedule, we try to reorder our circumstances by which we can focus and chant. So, again, you never have this conception that Krishna is a fault-finding God, or Krishna is a vindictive God, because I chanted inattentively, Krishna is punishing me. Actually, by being inattentive in our bhakti, we are punishing ourselves.
It’s not Krishna who is punishing us. We are depriving ourselves of the shelter of Krishna. That shelter can protect us, that shelter can strengthen us and we are depriving ourselves.
So, it’s not that Krishna is punishing us, we are depriving ourselves. Does this answer your question? Is there any other question? So, how do we balance between chanting and gaining knowledge? Shaitan Charitamrita said, Some people say, I am a bhakta, I am not interested in all this philosophy stuff. Shaitan Charitamrita says, no, don’t be lazy about philosophy.
Focus on the philosophy. Because by the strength of the philosophy, Don’t be lazy about it. Why? By the siddhanta, what will happen? Our mind will be fixed on Krishna.
What happens is, without philosophical understanding, the holy name, we can’t appreciate its value so much. Just think of it as a cultural activity. Oh, I have to chant every day.
But if we regularly study the philosophy, we remember, actually this is God. Here there is shelter, here there is strength, here there is solace for me. That without philosophical understanding, the world seems far more important than Krishna.
With philosophical understanding, we understand that Krishna is far more important than the world. The world is important, no doubt, but Krishna is more important. So that philosophical understanding actually readjusts our priorities.
And then we can focus on Krishna. There is a danger that we get into philosophy simply for the sake of intellectual stimulation and titillation. This is a nice point.
This is a good insight. If we just get caught in philosophy without remembering the purpose of taking shelter of Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 15.15 states that by all the Vedas, I am to be known. So if we lose that purpose, then philosophy can distract us from taking shelter of Krishna.
But if we remember the purpose of philosophy, then actually philosophy will remind us of the importance of Krishna. And then, whenever we are doing the activities of bhakti, we will give Krishna due priority while doing those activities. Otherwise, we will just do them as a ritual, we will do them perfunctory, just to get it over with.
So philosophy is extremely important. But again, just like in this world we can make things, somebody can make their job all important, somebody can make their career all important, somebody can make their house all important, somebody can make a particular relative all important. Like that, we can even make philosophy all important.
So if philosophy becomes a means to go closer to Krishna, it’s very favourable. But if philosophy becomes a substitute for Krishna, that means, see, we are meant to study philosophy so that we can take shelter of Krishna. But sometimes, we may study philosophy just to impress everyone, how much I know, I know this verse, I know this point, I know more than you.
Then what is happening? Instead of philosophy taking our eyes up towards God, now our philosophy, what is it doing? It is making us look down at the world, see how great I am. If that happens, that’s the problem. So we have to be careful that we just don’t get caught into the intellectual level alone.
The intellectual level is meant to take us from the cultural to the spiritual. And if we keep that in mind, then philosophy helps us in taking shelter of Krishna in a very firm and focused way. Any other questions? Yes, please.
People say, oh, you should be in high grades, you should be maintaining a high GPA. At the same time, you should be acing all your tests, be preparing for the SATs, whatever it is. And then also, you know, participating in your extracurriculars.
So how would you maintain the academic well-being? Because people say, you should be practising academics as a priority at this point of life. So you can prepare later on in life. Okay, yeah.
So we said that Krishna should be our first priority, but if we are students at an important stage in our lives, then academics has to be a priority. See, when you talk about priority, priority does not necessarily mean in terms of time. For most of us, what to speak of academics? Later on, say, if you have a job, the amount of time when we are going to do bhakti is going to be a few hours.
The job will take much more time. The family will take much more time. So priority is not in terms of time.
Priority is more in terms of understanding. So at one level, we separate. These are my bhakti activities.
And I have to give time for them. So initially, when we are practising bhakti, we need to have some amount of separation so that we have some time for practising bhakti. Okay, every day, I will chant Krishna’s name.
Every week, I will go to a spiritual programme. Regularly, I will read spiritual books. We separate.
This is my spiritual time and this is the rest of my time. And we give some reasonable amount of time for our devotional activities. But after we have done that, we don’t have to constantly be separating.
This is material and this is spiritual. No, everything is for Krishna. So even your academics, rather than seeing this is academics and this is Krishna, we see this is Krishna and everything is for Krishna.
Even my academics is for Krishna. My family is for Krishna. My job is for Krishna.
Svakarmanatam abhyarcha siddhim vindati manava In 18.46 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that by your work, worship Him. And thus, you can attain perfection. Now some people translate this as work is worship.
Now that is not the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. If work were worship, then the donkey will be the greatest worshipper. Work alone is not worship.
But work can be made into worship. And how does that happen? That is, if we worship Krishna separately, then our heart becomes devoted to Krishna. And then with our heart devoted to Krishna, that same heart we bring into our work.
And we do our work in a mood of devotion to Krishna. So if we see Arjuna, he, when he was a student, he was studying archery. He was working hard.
He became a champion archer not by playing marbles as this is. He was actually practising archery. He was so diligent that he would practise more than all the other students.
He would learn one thing and keep practising, keep practising, keep practising. And one day, or one night rather, he was taking food in the night and there was a small lamp and a gust of wind came and the lamp got extinguished. The lamp got extinguished.
He was eating food and his hand still went to the plate and he ate. And he thought, if in the dark, if I can eat, then in the dark I can shoot also. Why am I not practising at night? And he started practising at night from that time.
And he became excellent at hitting targets simply based on the sound of those targets. If a moving target is there, just by hearing the sound, he started hitting. And that proved vital in his being a champion archer.
So Arjuna worked hard and excelled in the archery by his diligence. Similarly, if we are academics, we need to do the best that we can. When we do the best and those who are non-devotees, they do their best.
The difference is not in the action. The difference is in the intention. They want to do their best so that they can prove to the world how great I am.
We want to do the best so that we can prove to the world how great Krishna is. I am a devotee of Krishna and Krishna’s devotees are also good in things. They are also the best in things.
I was in a university in India recently before I came here. So one student asked this question. College student he was.
How can I help my other students? How can I make my friends in college into devotees? I told him by studying nicely. If you study nicely, there is no guarantee that your friends will become devotees. But if you study badly, there is guarantee they will never become devotees.
Because what they will say is because of your chanting, your bhakti, you have become irresponsible. I don’t want to become like that. They will give it up.
So both at external social level, the way we act is sending messages to people. So if we are competent, if we are committed, if we are responsible, this is the kind of person I want to be like. That’s from the external perspective.
We can see our studies, our profession, whatever it is as a service. From an internal perspective, we can know that these are the resources by which I am meant to serve Krishna. Actually, I have a full class on this topic, but I just mentioned this briefly.
In the bhakti vision, what we see is what we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. What we are.
Yes, I have certain talents, I have certain abilities, I have certain interests. This is God’s gift to me. And if God has given me a gift, what am I meant to do? I have talents, they have been given to me for a purpose.
I am to make a contribution using these talents. So what I become is my gift to God. And when our eyes are fixed on God, not on the world, then what happens? We can work hard, we can achieve, but without the insecurity.
Because for worldly people, their vision is on the world. If I get this, then I am successful. If I don’t get this, oh I am a failure.
Now for us, we are doing this for Krishna’s pleasure. We do our best, the result comes, that is for Krishna’s pleasure. If the result doesn’t come, still we did our best.
So, what we are is God’s gift to us. And we don’t have to become someone else. Sometimes some other student may look better than us, some other student may have better memory than us, some other student may be better in athletics than us.
And they may become more famous in class. But we don’t have to become like them. If God had wanted us to be someone else, He would have made someone else.
He has made you, you. He has made me, me. So what God wants is that you should become the best you and I should become the best me.
So what we become is our gift to God. When we see from this devotional vision, then we will do our best. But we will do our best not for our ego’s sake, not to prove how great I am, but to show how great Krishna is, in a mood of service to Him.
So that way we can keep God first in priority in our heart. And in our execution, we give our studies, we give our job, we give our family, whatever it is our responsibility, we give them due importance. Does it answer your question? Thank you very much.
Shila Prabhupada Ki! Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki! Tai Gaur Premanandai!