Cultivate aggressive gratitude
Hare Krishna Thank all of you for coming here Today afternoon I am grateful to be here And I will be speaking today On the topic of Cultivating Aggressive Gratitude Cultivating Aggressive Gratitude I will take this in three parts What is the role of gratitude in our life? How we can be grateful In the routine course of our life And how we can be grateful While pursuing a spiritual purpose in our life In the Bhagavad Gita In the 16th verse Krishna talks about The austerity of the mind He says that One of the austerities of the mind One of the austerities of the mind Is Manah Prasad Is satisfaction Normally When we use the word austerity It's something which is difficult to do But we choose to do It's difficult but we choose to do it And Krishna is using that Satisfaction is the austerity of the mind Normally we think of Satisfaction as an emotion I am feeling satisfied I am feeling dissatisfied We think of satisfaction as a state of mind As an emotion that comes upon us But Krishna is saying Satisfaction as an austerity of the mind That means he is saying Satisfaction is not just an emotion Satisfaction can also be a decision I can decide to be satisfied And for satisfaction What is necessary is gratitude Now satisfaction and gratitude are related In the sense that When we are thankful For things in our life We look at the things and feel This is nice, this is right Then it's easier to be satisfied When we are fretful about things in our life This went wrong, that is going wrong What will happen about that Then it's very difficult to be satisfied We will be dissatisfied So gratitude creates A stability For any relationship Even if there are things In any situation in life There are things which are right and wrong If we go home after a hard day's work And as soon as we reach home Our family members start telling us This is wrong, that is wrong We feel irritated Yes we know there are things to be done at home But the whole idea of home is that We should feel comfortable and relaxed Then we can get on with doing things So actually Similarly When we don't have the virtue of gratitude Then we constantly feel Uncomfortable with life We consider the world itself to be a place Where we are staying right now And constantly there is a voice within us This is wrong, you don't have this, you don't have that You should get that And that way we always stay dissatisfied In any situation as I said There are things which are right and wrong There is Optimism and pessimism When we see a glass that is half empty If we say it is half full We can say that this person is optimistic If a person sees a glass that is half empty That person is pessimistic Now in general The whole process of inner growth The sign of a healthy mind Is that it is capable Of seeing good in everything and everyone One of the qualities Of the Godly Is to be averse to finding faults Aversion to fault finding This means that It is not that faults are not there It is not that we are blind and not see the problems It is that we are not eager to see the problems We are not Habituated to see the problems Problems are there There are two kinds of people Some people bring joy where they go And other people bring joy when they go So People who are constantly Complaining about things What happens? They go away People feel a sigh of relief So they bring joy when they go So now everybody Has problems in their life But those who constantly keep talking about the problems in their life Or problems in whatever they see around them They just become radiators of negativity And then we all have our own burdens to carry And further burdens are added by others Radiators of negativity Then we just feel disheartened We want to keep a distance from such people The whole process of spiritual growth Is actually a Process of training the mind To see that which is right It's not that we are blind to that which is wrong But we focus on that which is right Now if we consider Some of us My stomach is upset My digestive system is not working properly It's true, we may be in pain, we may be in discomfort We may be irritated because of an upset stomach Actually if you think about it The only time when we think about our digestion Is when it doesn't work Most of the time we eat food and we forget When it doesn't work Then we start complaining why it's not working So somebody may say that there are so many things wrong in my life What is there to be grateful for This is wrong, that is wrong Actually speaking when I use the word aggressive gratitude Cultivating aggressive gratitude When there is aggression Then that person is going beyond their normal territory To some other territory Say a few decades ago Iraq attacked Kuwait So Iraq went beyond its territory to attack Kuwait So aggression means going beyond the normal territory To some other territory So aggressive gratitude means That there are some things Which when they work out we will naturally feel grateful But aggressive gratitude means Going beyond that natural territory Where we feel grateful And seeking gratitude beyond that territory Suppose there is a small child And the child wants a toy And the parents give that toy to the child The child is very happy, thank you mummy, thank you daddy Now that is, the child wanted something The child got that, at that time gratitude is natural So sometimes our mind is also like a child And the mind gets attached to certain things And if we get that We feel grateful At other times, say the parents may have provided Hundred other things for the child But the child doesn't see that As long as my parents have not given me that toy My parents don't love Doesn't see everything else that is the symptom The parents love for them So like that, we will have certain things When they happen we will feel grateful But actually beyond those particular things It's like beyond that toy, the parents are doing a lot more for the child Like that there are many other things that are right in our life And if we focus on those things We will have A foundation of positivity in our life So for example As I said about digestion So most of the time our digestion works That's why when it doesn't work, we complain So actually for our functioning in life At a subconscious level Hundreds of things have to work out right So now those things We don't even notice We only notice them when they go wrong So for example, right now I am speaking For me to speak, I have to have a healthy throat I have to have a healthy body so that I can come and speak I have to have, say, the devotee will draw me here And they have to drive me safely so that I come and die So many things have to work out right Which we often don't even notice And if we consider, each of those things could have gone wrong So if we look at our life, definitely there are things which are wrong And then you need to be set right But at the same time there are things which are right So we all have to be Intelligent in using our mental resources Our mental energy Now suppose if you have your phone Actually I am just coming from Seattle There I am giving a series of talks on what your phone Can teach you about your mind So one of the topics which I am going to speak on is that In our phone there are certain apps which are energy drainers They are just present there and you just suck the battery Even when you are not using them, they are sucking the battery Then we have to close them, sometimes we have to disable them Sometimes we have to delete the app Otherwise they will suck up the energy which is meant to be used by other apps Which we are using for some constructive purposes So The lack of gratitude At one level, absence of gratitude Can be just dissatisfaction When that becomes expressed The absence of gratitude comes out as a complaining attitude This is wrong, that is wrong You are not like this, you are like that Now both ways actually As long as there is that irritation, dissatisfaction Annoyance, negativity That is like If you consider a mind to a computer, a phone Then that is like an app which is draining our energy And we can see that If we are having a negative attitude Even sometimes we wake up in the morning and think This is wrong, that is wrong And then by the time we come out of bed And half an hour, one hour has passed, by that time we feel so tired We just want to go back to bed again I don't want to do anything So actually physically we have not done much to exert ourselves But our mind has exerted us The negative attitude The irritated feeling The complaining attitude that is there That just sucks our energy And when we verbalise it When we speak this to others, we suck others energy also So we have to know that Just as our physical energy is limited Similarly our mental energy is also limited Our mind can only function up to a particular limit And if certain attitudes Are going to waste our mental energy Then we need to change those attitudes So gratitude is an attitude Which actually conserves our mental energy From being dissipated away Otherwise that irritability It just eats us up from within This is wrong, that is wrong This irritability, when it goes to extreme As I said, gratitude is a positive thing We are happy about what is right in our life Lack of gratitude means we are not seeing what is right But the further opposite when it goes is When it goes to resentment Resentment means We are just seeing something wrong in our life And our mind gets hooked to that So our mind gets obsessed with that Why did she do like that? Why did he speak like that? Why did this happen? Why? So that resentment is like a Complete mental energy blocker Our mind just gets paralysed by that one thing Why? Why did they do like that? Why did this happen? Sometimes we become resentful of ourselves Why did I do that? Whatever has happened has happened So when this mental energy gets Choked like this in resentment Then we just become dysfunctional Become totally paralysed Physically we just can't do anything Even if we do something, we are not able to do it intelligently So that's why even from a practical perspective Gratitude is An attitude which is vital for us For using whatever resources we have And even in daily material life We can look at the things That are right in our life We live in a materialistic society Where comparison is inevitable But this comparison Is aggravated in today's world Because of the whole industry of promotion Of advertisement In today's world advertisements are so ubiquitous That most of us may not even think that Before 200-300 years there were no advertisements at all Practically the only advertisement was If some vendor was going along the road The vendor would shout about the wares And the reach of the advertisement was As long as the voice reached It's only after the industrialisation That a mass production of goods started That promoting those goods became vital And now till the start of the 20th century Most of the advertisements They focused on the virtues of the product Now how good this product is This car is so good Or this particular machine is so good It does this, this, this But at the start of the 20th century Sigmund Freud was one of the prominent psychologists And he came up with the insight That people function not so much based on their reason They function much more based on their emotion So his idea was that our rationality Is like a tiny cannon on top of an ocean Of our emotions Which are like a stormy wave of turbulence So he said if people's emotions can be triggered Then they can be made to act Much more forcefully than just by Appealing to their reason So Nabe's insights were taken by the advertising industry And most advertisements thereafter They don't focus on how good the product is They focus on how good the product will make you feel And the result of this Is that there is a converse also If the product will make you feel good That means not having the product will make you feel bad So actually not having things Certain things which are glamorised in society That creates insecurity That creates a feeling that I am lacking something That I am deficient in something And that creates dissatisfaction When we don't have that particular thing So this way We are often emotionally maniculated Once in an airport in India I saw an advertisement Of a young man who was just walking along the street And some young girls were walking along the other side And none of them noticed this boy And then suddenly a Bollywood star came along And all those girls just squealed out his name Rushed to him, hugged him and started kissing him And then this boy was feeling sorry for himself And then that Bollywood star comes to him You want to know my secret? What is it? Some hair shampoo And he said that apply this hair shampoo And then this boy goes home, gets the hair shampoo And then again the same scene He is walking along the road and then the girls see him And they squeal out his name And this boy is in ecstasy Now the idea is that such an advertisement Is actually an insult to both male and female intelligence Why? Because the idea that women will fall for a man Just because he has applied some shampoo That is an insult to female intelligence And that males will believe such fairy tales That is an insult to male intelligence But actually there is so much insecurity in today's world That anything that promises some security Relationships are so unstable Everybody wants to be more and more appealing to others So anything that promises something like that That just makes people say let me get this So we are in a world which actually Manipulates us so that Its own purposes can be served So to some extent in a materialistic civilisation Dissatisfaction of the customer Is the fuel for the economy to go on If people are satisfied People will not purchase luxury products And then what will happen to the economy? So what happens? If something is needed, something is important for us We can purchase it But if we uncritically expose ourselves To the materialistic propaganda We will always see the many things That are wrong in our life Because what the advertisements do is That they pit us against the best in the world I look at myself and I look at Some person who looks like a Hollywood star or a Bollywood star I don't look good at all Whatever it is that we have We are exposed to comparison with the best in that field And then naturally we will be dissatisfied So I was once in a college programme And there One boy had written on his t-shirt He said that 90% of the world's women are beautiful The remaining 10% are in my college Now what this means is Actually has he done a survey Of 90% of the world's women to know that they are beautiful? The whole idea is So when we are focused on When our perception of the world Is determined by what we see in the media And we think everything out there is so wonderful But what I have here in my life is so beautiful So this is an artificially created state of dissatisfaction If we are uncritical Then we will just stay forever dissatisfied So what we need to know is that In such a situation Where we are constantly being shown the things Which we don't have Then dissatisfaction Will be our default state And that's why we need to be not just grateful But aggressively grateful The reasons to be dissatisfied will be shown to us All around the world for us to see But the reasons to be grateful To see what is right in my life We will have to aggressively search for it Because that will not be shown by the world around us Now if we compare our life There are millions of people even from material perspective There are people who are in war torn areas Where their life itself is threatened There are people who are starving There are people who are terribly diseased There are people who have lost their loved ones to some terrible disease There are so many ways in which We can easily think of situations Where people are in circumstances far worse than what we are So if you think about that My situation may be bad But there are people who are in far worse situation The nature of the mind is that The mind which is very self centred Either it delights in how great I am Or it goes into a negative obsession Negative perversion of that Self pity There are so many things wrong with me That is actually simply Self pity is actually simply the other side Of the coin of self centredness One side of self centredness is self centred megalomania Where I am so great I have done this, I have done that That is self centredness The other side of that self centredness is I am such a terrible fix I am suffering so much Either way the focus is on me Now when the focus is on us Then what happens inevitably We feel dissatisfied Because There is always something or the other Which is going to be wrong with us So even from the material perspective We can find out many things that are right in our life We often see many Nice quotes which people talk about I complained I had no shoes Till I saw someone who had no feet I complained I had no jacket Till I found someone who had no clothes So there are always people who are worse than us And we can look at them and we can feel grateful But this, although at a practical level we can do it We need a spiritual understanding of life To be able to do it better Because what will happen, the mind will say There are people who are worse off than you But there are people who are better than you also Why are they better than me? I want to be like them So if we are just at the material level of consciousness Although we can try to look at people who are Lesser off than us, the mind will gravitate towards those Who are better off than us and will make us feel dissatisfied So to get beyond this We have to understand the purpose of life That life is ultimately meant To raise us to spiritual consciousness We are souls, we are parts of Krishna And we are meant to attain eternal life And eternal happiness by becoming Krishna conscious By raising our consciousness to the spiritual level So this world is like a hospital And we are all here for treatment Now in this world we are not here for enjoyment If enjoyment comes, that's fine But the primary purpose of life in this world is treatment So saying that we are in a hospital And there are different people in different beds And if we in a hospital expect A 5 course, maybe 15 course feast Well, a hospital is not a hotel We will get simple food in the hospital As being the food that is Suited for our health, for our recovery Now in a hospital, we may have a particular disease Somebody else may have some other disease Somebody's disease may not have much to do with digestion So they can eat nice food Somebody else's disease may limit the diet so severely That their diet may be very sparse Maybe ours is somewhere in between Now we are not getting a feast in the hospital But the purpose of the hospital is not to eat a feast The purpose of the hospital is to take the treatment To take the treatment and get cured So it's only when we keep That higher purpose of life in mind Then we can minimise this comparative mentality Some people will be better off materially than us Some people will be lesser off than us materially And this comparison can consume our mental energy But if you understand the purpose How long are they going to be better off? Life is temporary for me, life is temporary for them also And things may be good for them But everybody goes through ups and downs The important thing is not exactly What kind of food I am having in the hospital The important thing is whether I am getting treated properly And whether I am getting cured So if you keep that purpose in mind Then other things become incidental They are not that important Now imagine there are two people in a hospital Both of them are sick, both of them are in pain One of them however Has not been diagnosed Their disease is such that it has not been diagnosed What is wrong with them? And so no treatment has been prescribed The other person The disease has been diagnosed and the treatment has been prescribed Now at present Both of them are in pain But in future For the first one, the pain is going to stay on The pain is going to get aggravated Because there is no treatment which is prescribed The disease itself has not been diagnosed On the other hand, for the second patient Because the treatment has been prescribed And the treatment is going on, the patient is going to be cured The future is bright So if both of them just get caught in the present situation We are in pain, we are miserable But the second patient has got much to be grateful for Because the pre-treatment has been prescribed And things will get better Similarly, sometimes In the routine course of our life We may feel that we are practising some spiritual life We are coming to the temple, we are chanting the holy names We are doing some devotional activities But still we also have problems in our life What is the difference? The difference is that People who are not spiritually active They are people who have not understood their problem The disease has not been diagnosed And the treatment has not been prescribed So whatever situation they are in That is going to get worse On the other hand, for us, as we are practising bhakti We are learning to come back to spiritual life And from the perspective of the future We are in a far better situation Although from the perspective of the present it may appear That both are in a similar situation But from the perspective of the future Actually we are in a much better situation So when we see this purpose of life The purpose of life is not just To have a comfortable life With all the best material things in life If we get that, that's fine But having that alone is not going to give us happiness It may give us a little happiness for the time being But the mind will start craving for something better And eventually whatever we have It's temporary, it's going to be lost The purpose of life is actually to raise our consciousness Towards Krishna And if we keep that purpose in mind Then we can be grateful for the fact That at least we know the purpose of life And we are pursuing that purpose We may be on a bumpy road But if we know we are going home We are happy that we are going home On the other hand, somebody may be on a smooth road But they are lost And the road is smooth But what is the use of being on a smooth road if you are lost Just keep riding here, riding there, riding there And you stay lost always So even if our ride is bumpy We are on the ride home We are on the journey back to Krishna We are on the path to spiritual health, lasting happiness And that's why if we keep the purpose of life in mind That is ultimately rising in spiritual consciousness Then gratitude becomes much easier to cultivate Because gratitude at the material level It largely comes from comparison And if I compare with those lesser of than me I may feel grateful But if I compare with those better of than me I will feel ungrateful But if we understand the ultimate purpose of life Actually I have the opportunity to pursue that purpose Then that itself becomes the pivot Of our gratitude And we need to remind ourselves of this When I talk about aggressive gratitude The aggression that is required is primarily Intellectual aggression Intellectual means we have to remind ourselves of philosophical truths By studying scripture By hearing spiritual wisdom We remind ourselves of the realities of life And then whatever we see at the material level That may cause us dissatisfaction But if we remember life's spiritual truths If we remember life's spiritual purpose Then we can say there are things wrong in our life But ultimately I am on the right path And I have much to be grateful for And once we consider this point I am on the right path I am being healed What does it mean I am being healed? Actually by the practise of bhakti We connect with Krishna internally And that connection with Krishna purifies us Purifies us of negativity Purifies us of the impurities That make us dissatisfied That make us irritated And that way just the process of bhakti itself Will bring satisfaction Krishna says when you practise bhakti yoga The modes of passion will subside And lust, greed, all these decrease And then when you are situated in the mode of goodness We become joyful And what Krishna has told earlier I started with this verse To feel satisfied, to be cheerful That will naturally come when we start practising bhakti Because the forces that are there within us Which make us dissatisfied Those forces will decrease Those forces will decrease In their capacity to control us And that way satisfaction will come organically But at the same time While the process is working We can also consciously calculate satisfaction I will conclude with two points We can have one or two questions after that From the spiritual perspective we can be grateful But what about the material perspective? We may say material is temporary But still I want to live for 30, 40, 50, 60 years It's a long time What happens in this period also matters to me Yes it does matter But actually if we are spiritually rooted If we understand our spiritual identity Then that gives us a basic sense of security Yes, I am a part of God God loves me, God cares for me And God values me With that security we can function in the world With much greater maturity So in our present situation Whether it is internally or externally Some of us may feel ungrateful Because we feel I don't look good enough I don't speak well enough I am not talented in this way I am not talented in that way And these feelings may cause us dissatisfaction However, with a spiritual perspective Our life has a higher plan And we are simply meant to be The best that we can be We don't have to become someone else In the materialistic conception Whoever is glamorising society We think I have to become like that But spiritual understanding means I simply have to become the best me And wherever I am If I just go deeper inside Understand what are my interests What are my talents And simply become the best me So that way we will find We also have been given some strengths We also have been given some abilities We also can make a contribution It is not that there are people Who are endowed a lot and other people are not endowed at all We all have some endowments Whatever it means for us to grow through life We just have to discover it Some people's gifts and talents May be very easily visible Others may not be so easily visible Because they are not glamorised in the social mirror And because they are not glamorised in the social mirror Their presence is not even noticed But actually if we look deep within We will find in the virtues The gifts that we have been given So it's like once we have spiritual self-understanding Then our vision Is not directed simply by comparison Is not directed simply by comparison I don't have this, I don't have that Our vision focusses on what we have It's like after this programme There is a feast Now all of us are going to get separate feasts Assume So you are going to get something in your plate I am going to get something in my plate He is going to get something in her plate He is going to get something in his plate And all of us are going to get different items Now if I look at my plate It's a feast over there Many savouries, many delicacies there But instead of savouring what I have I started looking at what is in their plate What is in her plate What is in his plate What is in their plate What will happen? I don't have that, I don't have that I don't have that I will become dissatisfied But if I look at what I have in my plate That's also a feast So if I have a spiritual self understanding We can minimise the comparison Instead of seeing what others have We can see what we have And by that understanding We can actually become Yes, what I have also is good It may not be considered great by the world But it is good I can make a positive contribution even with this So we can discover our abilities Develop our abilities Whatever gifts we have With the security that comes from a spiritual self understanding And secondly In our relationships We can always find People who just Just make life miserable for us Everybody has that kind of people in their life Now again If we have a spiritual perspective to life We understand That our relationships Are not just for our material gratification Our relationships are ultimately For our spiritual evolution So people who are creating trouble in our life They are there in our life for some purpose Now what exactly that purpose How to learn that How to respond to that That is something Individual time and circumstance will decide that But once we just modulate our expectation If we have the expectation that This person should act in a way that will give me pleasure That will not happen But if we just modulate our expectation We understand This person is in my life And there is a purpose over it Purpose is ultimately my spiritual growth Then maybe that person is there to teach us patience To teach us tolerance To help us To see that actually They may have a very different take on life Maybe we learn empathy by that There are so many things We will find many avenues opening for us If we just have the inner security When we are habitually dissatisfied We are habitually complaining Then whatever positivity is there in our life We just don't learn that So that way Both individually and interpersonally When we have a spiritual self-understanding We can approach life much more positively Shrila Prabhupada The founder of ISKCON He would say that Chant Hare Krishna and be happy Now Is this one instruction Or is this two instructions? Is it that by chanting Hare Krishna We will become happy? Yes, that is true We chant Hare Krishna We purify our consciousness We raise our consciousness upwards And by that we will actually become happy But it is not just one instruction It is not just causal It is also parallel That means That While we are chanting Hare Krishna While we are practising Vasudha Bhakti There will be reasons to be unhappy If we give in to those reasons We will stay dissatisfied But if we cultivate happiness as austerity Manah Prasad Samyatvam Then we will find that Actually there are reasons to be happy In the Bhagavatam In 1.2.23 It is said that आत्वई कवयो नित्तं भक्तिन् परमयामुदा वारसु देवे भगवति कुरुवन्त्यात्मप्रसादनिं So it is said that In this way the wise people Joyfully practise The process of Bhakti Which brings ultimate joy It seems paradoxical They joyfully practise the process Which brings ultimate joy So the process is going to bring Joy in future How can you be joyful right now? They are joyful Because they know that They are on the way to joy Others are lost Not knowing what is the way to happiness We are happy because we are on the way to happiness So whatever situation we are in If we cultivate That positive attitude based on Spiritual self understanding Then we will find that there is much We can be grateful for And thus we can be joyfully Progressive in our life I will summarise I spoke about the topic of Cultivating aggressive Gratitude In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says Satisfaction of the mind Satisfaction is an austerity Of the mind That means satisfaction is not just emotion that we feel It is also a decision that we make And If we look at the things that Are right in our life we will be satisfied We will feel satisfied If we look at the things that are wrong in our life We feel dissatisfied And finding for Being averse to finding fault That is the characteristic of the godly And If we constantly keep looking for Things that are wrong in our life We simply de-energise ourselves It is like an app that sucks Our phone's Battery power Like that The complaining attitude The Irritable attitude Which comes from seeing things that are wrong It just saps our energy And such people internally They become de-energised by constant Negativity And when they speak they become radiators of negativity So instead of bringing joy where they go They end up bringing joy When they go So How do we Cultivate gratitude Gratitude comes by Looking at what is right in our life Instead of what is wrong And looking at what is right in our life Becomes very difficult in today's world Because there is so much Promotion The whole materialistic economy Runs on creating dissatisfaction In the customer If you get our product it will make you feel so good That means if you don't get it You will feel bad So if we uncritically Give in to the Materialistic propaganda around us Then we become like Children Who are infatuated with their Favourite toys And if the toy doesn't come They just can't see everything else that is right in their lives So there may be Things wrong in our life But in every situation There are so many things that are right in our life So we complain When our digestion doesn't work But most of the time it does work So many things are right in our life And if you focus on them Then we can be grateful So the materialistic world view Will keep us ungrateful The spiritual world view on the other hand Helps us to become grateful And spiritual world view means To understand life's spiritual purpose This world is like a hospital What kind of food I get Here doesn't matter as much as Whether I am getting the right treatment So materially there will be differences There will be people who will be better off than us And there will be people who will be lesser off than us So if we focus Our vision only at the material level We may try to feel grateful By looking at people who are lesser off than us But our mind will go towards those who are better off And make us dissatisfied But if you understand This diversity is there But the important thing is Whether I am taking the treatment Then that connection with Krishna The purification through Bhakti Yoga That is going to restore us To spiritual health And that will bring lasting happiness And by knowing that We are on the path to health and happiness We can be happy Although externally Two patients, one who is undiagnosed and untreated And other who is being diagnosed and treated Both may be diseased and in pain right now But the future of the two Is very different Like that our future If you are practising Bhakti Yoga Is actually very auspicious And while practising Bhakti Yoga If we don't have An attitude of gratitude We sabotage ourselves Because the negativity within Doesn't allow us to connect with Krishna When the negativity is simply inside We become resentful And that chokes us Chokes our mental energy When it comes out, it becomes a complaining attitude But when we focus on Krishna And practise Bhakti Then we can be grateful For the opportunity to practise Bhakti And with that foundation We can look at ourselves and look at our relationships We will find that Krishna always loves us No matter how many things are going wrong And with that security We can look at the gifts that we have Rather than worrying about what we don't have Based on whatever is glamorised In the social mirror Like all of us having a feast We all have gifts Which God has given us And in our relationships If we focus not on material gratification And resenting Why we are not getting that If we focus on spiritual evolution We will see even the difficulties in our relationships Are actually meant for As opportunities for us to grow And As spiritual seekers Prabhupada taught Chant Hare Krishna and be happy This is not just causal It is also parallel We are on the process that will make us ultimately joyful But if we cultivate Joyfulness right now As austerity, as a habit Then this process will work much more efficaciously And We will be able to connect with Krishna much better Because our mental energy will be available for connecting And then spiritual Joyfulness will flood And enrich our heart So by knowing that Right now we are Well situated No matter how immediately things appear to be wrong Ultimately we are auspiciously situated God loves us God cares for us God is guiding our lives even now Rather than letting negativity Disconnect us from God We can cultivate spiritual Positivity Get connected with him And march forward towards happiness Thank you very much Hare Krishna Do we have time for any one more question? Anyone has? Yes That's aggressive gratitude in practise Your mind is filled with some other question But yeah Thank you How can we Insulate ourselves So how can we ensure That say If people around us are negative or ungrateful How can we Insulate ourselves from them Jai Gaur Chandra Bhagwan Jai Two things First is that We need to see that If we continue the metaphor That this world is like a hospital Now we all have different diseases When I am in a hospital My purpose is primarily To take the treatment and get cured But somebody else May be having some other infection And if I Too closely associate with them I might get their infection So it's not that the infected person Is a bad person It is that they are sick And I don't want to get their sickness If I am in a position where I can help them Take the treatment and get cured Then I'll do that But if I can't Then at least I have to make sure That I don't get infected So we don't judge that person as bad They may be having some difficulties in their life Because of which they have developed their attitude That is between them and God But if that negative attitude Is washing off on us Is coming on us Then we had better keep a distance from them And we may not be able to avoid them entirely But Overall We can Take a stand Especially if We are working as colleagues in an office We can say, let's talk about Work over it, let's focus on the work And if we are assertive Then people also get the message You don't want to talk about this I won't talk about it So if we don't facilitate them In their negativity By our encouragement Or by our submissive hearing Or whatever Then they will eventually stop They will get that message So we don't have If we can help them correct their negative attitude Change it for the better That's great But sometimes they may not be in a receptive position At the best We have to protect ourselves And we can serve them By our prayers That They can develop a more positive attitude That they can become more spiritual By which a positive attitude will be a natural result So we can serve them by our prayers But we have to know that Protecting our Our own positivity That is important for us So only when we have our own positivity Then we can actually help others If we are infected by negativity Then what to speak of helping others We won't be able to help ourselves also Does that answer your question? Yes please Thank you So thoughts Come to our brain But how do we generalise The negative thoughts We perform So To ask To ask a certain subjectivity How can I control my emotions When I am feeling Something negative Ok How can I Flip the switch Ok good question So if we find that we are thinking negatively How can we flip the switch And start thinking positively Usually It is very difficult If we are thinking about some situation negatively To suddenly start seeing it positive What we need Is some alternative Object of thought Which will be a reservoir Of positivity for us If I am in a troubled situation In a troubling relationship Suddenly to see it positively is not easy But if I can Redirect my thought away from that situation Towards something Which is positive And therein Becomes a positive Then after that When we revisit that situation We will have some positive energy within us To take into that situation And ultimately Our meditation Meditation practises, our devotion Our bhakti practises They are meant to Train ourselves to connect with the ultimate Positive source of energy That is God, Krishna So our Religious activities that we do Some of us may just do it because it is part of our culture Go to a temple Go to a church That is fine doing it at that level But we are underutilising it tremendously At that level Actually the purpose of our Devotional practises Is to create An inner sanctuary within us By regularly Chanting the holy names of Krishna Regularly praying to Krishna Regularly studying about Krishna's message That Creates An inner sanctuary To which we can retreat So when we start feeling troubled When we start being beset by negative thoughts We withdraw our thoughts from that situation And take them towards Krishna Take them towards the manifestation of Krishna With which we can connect It may be kirtans, it may be some picture of the deities It may be some Verses from scripture that we have heard Some philosophical points which we have Found very striking So we retreat from that We withdraw We withdraw our consciousness from there And focus it on Krishna And by that Krishna connection We become Strengthened, we become rejuvenated And then after that When we revisit the external situation Because now When something is wrong in our life It is natural to feel Disturbed If at that time We Just looking at that See the nature of problems is That the more we think about a problem The bigger and the bigger Problem seems to grow The more you think about it The problem seems to grow bigger and bigger But if we just Withdraw our thoughts from the problem And turn to some bigger reality It says Don't tell God how big your Problems are Tell your problems how big God is So when we Redirect our thoughts towards Krishna Then we realise Yes I still can feel some security Some serenity Some satisfaction by my connection with Krishna So although this is wrong This is still right in my life And when that sense of security That comes by experiencing Connection with Krishna By the inner peace Then we revisit the problem We say okay this problem is there But okay I can try this I can try that So our creativity Gets channelled when we experience security Otherwise when we are just Experiencing negativity Then our creativity gets choked And when we have that positivity within us Then we will find Yes this problem I can try this I can try that Various options open up For positive solutions Krishna says If you become conscious of me You will pass over all obstacles By my grace Very significant statement Krishna is not saying You will pass over obstacles Simply by using your intelligence To find out creative solutions He says yes First when problems start troubling us Become conscious of him When we become conscious of him Then what happens He will give us the intelligence By which we can effectively Deal with the problem So now it is again Not so easy When we are facing problems To just turn our thoughts towards Krishna And that is why we need to have Focused practise of Krishna bhakti If on a daily basis We are chanting the holy names If regularly we are studying scriptures Then our mind gets habituated To becoming connected with Krishna And then when there is trouble Then we can withdraw the mind From that troubling situation Redirect it towards Krishna And it will easily connect with Krishna Because of the habit And when it is connected with Krishna When it is rooted in Krishna Then we can revisit the situation And find the positivity Within that situation Thank you very much Shlok Prabhupada ki Daura Bhakta Vrindaki Daura Bhakti.