Gita 18.63 – Don’t sway others – inspire them

[Talk in Toronto, Canada]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you Bhagavad Gita 18.63 Krishna say Oh Arjuna, deliberate deeply and then decide as you want to do there are two ways in which one person can influence another person one is by swaying them and the other is by inspiring them, when we sway other people it is primarily dependent on external force just like say a tree which is standing erect may sway because of the force of the wind a bird which is floating in the ocean may sway because of the stormy winds so when something is swayed that is simply by the force of the external agent that is acting on it and like that some people are so forceful in their speaking, in their personality in their persuasion, in their charisma that they may sway others and some people of course are also diplomatic almost to the point of being cunning where they manipulate others emotionally to get them to do the things which they want them to do sometimes swaying others especially if one has the ability to do that is an easy way to get what one wants done but swaying depends on the existence and continuance of the external force a tree, it will sway as long as the wind is there as soon as the wind stops it will come back to the vertical position like that sometimes we may sway others into doing things but as soon as our influence on them ceases then they return to their earlier ways and that’s why whatever change is there even if there is a positive change that will not last Krishna on the other hand here demonstrates not, although he is God and he can sway anyone if he wants Krishna doesn’t try to sway Arjuna he tries to inspire Arjuna the word inspire, it has in within it that means that it is from inside that one feels like doing something yes, this is what I should do the key difference between swaying someone and inspiring someone is in swaying basically often the person’s thinking is the recipient person’s thinking is stopped or rather the thinking is stimulated only in one particular way it involves suspension of independent thinking ability and subordination of one’s thinking power to the thinking power of the swayer on the other hand in inspiration in inspiration there is no such subordination rather there is no suspension of the thinking power rather there is activation of the thinking power till that thinking power attains its culmination and it is at that culmination that one feels inspired this is what I should do Krishna he doesn’t use his Godhood although he displays his Godhood in an astonishingly awesome way in the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita when he exhibits the Virat Rupa still he does not use the power or the fear drawn from his Godhood to influence Arjuna to submit to him rather he encourages Arjuna to think deeply Vimrishchaita dasheshena Krishna Krishna tells Arjuna deliberate deeply and then do as you desire the best form of parenting it is said is when the parent awakens the parent within the child that means the child is by nature childish doesn’t see the long term and the parents have to guide instruct more in the child but if the parents can help the child to think and instead of just telling the child do this, don’t do this the parents explain to the child that doing this how is this good, doing this how is this bad then that capacity for thinking and seeing long term that is like awakening the parent within the child and once the parent within the child is awakened then the child will as they grow up will act more and more responsibly even when there is no monitoring or supervision by the parents similarly when the most sustainable way to attract others, to influence others to transform others is not by swaying them but by inspiring them it is by helping them to internalize whatever is being communicated, taught so that they do it not because someone else is telling them to do it they do it because they see with their own intelligence they see in their own heart how this is the best for me the word inspiration is used to convey not only insight but also energy now when we get an inspiration we get a certain idea, a certain understanding of things, a certain certain creative conception of how things could be done but inspiration in general is not just in terms of cognition it is also in terms of action, when we are inspired we feel like doing something so in that sense inspiration integrates the power of both our emotional faculty and our rational faculty because when we get inspiration we feel we get a certain insight we get a particular way of seeing things which we had not seen earlier so that triggers our intelligence, our rational faculty and at the same time we feel strongly driven to do it in that particular way which is akin to the activation of our emotional faculty and if in any activity our intellectual and rational faculties are both both brought together harmoniously then there is tremendous capacity for change, for transformation for effective action that manifests over there and that is ultimately what we want, what Krishna wants of Arjuna offer both your mind and your intelligence offer both your rational and emotional faculties and with that Krishna says if you offer both these to me then without doubt Arjuna, you will attain me so while sharing this spiritual message or any valuable teaching you can try to follow in Krishna’s footsteps, not try to sway people but try to inspire people don’t try to put them to a particular thing by just making them think in a particular way or stopping their suspending their thinking capability but by activating and taking their thinking capacity to the zenith where both their rational and emotional faculties inspire them to act for their best interests Thank you Hare Krishna