Akrura Katha 3 – Understanding cultural bhakti philosophical bhakti spiritual bhakti and Vraja bhakti
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna, I am grateful to be here amongst all of you today on the occasion of Janmashtami and I discuss on a transition in Krishna Leela, Krishna's coming out of Vrindavan to go to Mathura. I had taken two earlier classes on Akrura's arrival into Vrindavan and then departure from Vrindavan. How many of you were there for those two classes? Okay, about 30-40%.
So, this is a separate class in itself, but I will briefly give a background. Krishna is having distinct moods in which he functions. Vraja is characterized by an extraordinary sweetness and Akrura is the person who takes Krishna out of Vraja.
So, when he comes into Vraja, he comes in a very devotional, prayerful mood and when he departs, when he sees the intense devotion of the Vrajavasis, his devotion is even more enhanced. And we will try to look at the dynamics of how Krishna manifests in different forms, in different moods rather, in different places. We will see how that understanding can enrich our devotion.
Akrura yāne yaduvaṁ śanātham samagacchānāṁ matrāṁ praviśaḥ ucchūra-yogād kila-gopa-bālā govinda-dāmodara-mādhaveti So, Akrura yāne, as Krishna climbed aboard the chariot of Akrura, yaduvaṁ śanātham, he who was yaduvaṁ śanātham, but who was always thought of as Prajendrananda. Krishna, he was seen differently by different people and the Vrajavasis never really accepted Krishna as yaduvaṁ śanātham. They did not think of him as a member of the Yadu dynasty.
They thought of him as our own community's member. They saw him as… The Gopis, in their Gopi Gita, the songs which they composed, the prayers which they offered in separation from Krishna, when they had come to perform the Ras Neela and Krishna left them and went away. And they were desperately begging to Krishna, Krishna please come, please come.
At that time they offered this prayer. They say, they remember how Krishna has protected them on so many different occasions. He says, oh Krishna, you protected us from the storm demon, from Trnavarta, you protected us from Indra's rains, you protected us from so many demons, from so many dangers.
But now, there is a demon of separation that is devouring us. Now also we are dying. We cannot live alone without you.
Why are you not reappearing therefore? And as they started contemplating, how could Krishna have lifted the govardhana? How could a small baby have killed a giant demon? At that time, thinking like this, the understanding dawns within their heart. They say, oh Krishna, we thought of you as Gopika Nandan. Gopika Nandan refers, they are referring to Yashodamayi.
We thought of you as the child of Yashoda. But now we understand, actually you are not. You are certainly not the child of Yashoda.
Then who indeed are you? You are the indwelling seer who resides in the hearts of all living beings. All living beings, in the heart, in the soul you reside. Druk, you are the seer.
If that lord who resides in the heart of all living beings, then why has he come here now? Why is he here? So, he says, Vikhanas refers to Brahmaji. It is because Brahma appealed to you to come, that is why you have come, oh lord. You have come here to protect the universe.
Now the Gopis at one level understand that Krishna is very special. That Krishna is God himself. But still their mood of love is so great.
Vikhanasarthito Vishwaguptaye Sakaudeivaan Sattvatam Kule Thus you have appeared in the Sattva dynasty. Sattva dynasty refers to the Yadu dynasty. So this indicates that the Gopis know everything about Krishna.
So what are the three facts about him they are telling over here. First fact is you are the indwelling super soul of all living beings who knows everything. Second is long ago Brahma had gone and prayed to Vishnu.
There are so many demons over here that are tormenting the earth. The earth had gone with the Devatas to besiege Brahma for help. But Brahma had besieged Vishnu for help.
So the Gopis are aware of this also. Vikhanasarthito Vishwaguptaye And therefore they are saying the lord has appeared in the Yadu dynasty. Sattvatam Kule Therefore you have appeared in the Yadu dynasty.
Now this indicates, therefore they are saying Nakhalu Gopika Nandano Bhavan Therefore you are not Gopika Nandan. So there is this knowledge. But still even when they are asverting Krishna's divine position In that very verse the natural disposition of their heart comes out.
And they refer to that lord as Sakha. Sakha means oh friend. So Sakha Uptayeevan Sattvatam Kule That you oh lord who are our Sakha, who are our friend.
You are, it's almost like they are saying You are not Gopika Nandan. So therefore you cannot be our friend. You are God himself.
You were prayed to by Brahma. You appeared in the Yadu dynasty. And yet even while telling that you are our friend.
So what happens, for the Gopis the love of Krishna is so great for them. That they, the knowledge of Krishna's greatness Just doesn't register in their heart. See there are two kinds of forgetfulness of Krishna's position.
There is forgetfulness of Krishna's position because of illusion. That is what we are all suffering from. Sometimes we may say that Okay, the Brajwasis don't think of Krishna to be God.
The Madrasi people also don't think Krishna to be God. Isn't it? They are also like that. There is a big difference.
The Madrasi people, they are in ignorance. The Gopis, they are in transcendence. They are not in ignorance.
They are in the highest transcendence. And the love of Raja which Akrura appreciates on coming to Vrindavan is so special that Krishna is in a very special mood where his divinity is concealed. In the same Rasa Leela at the start it is described that the Lord desires to perform pastimes.
Yogamaya Mupasthitaha He takes shelter of Yogamaya. Now the word Yogamaya itself is an oxymoron. Oxymoron is an English word which means two opposite words are brought together.
So for example, somebody says suicide is an act of courageous cowardice. Suicide is an act of courageous cowardice. And we say XYZ is a brilliant fool.
Either somebody is brilliant or they are foolish. How can somebody be a brilliant fool? So if two opposite ideas are brought together what does that mean? There is some deeper meaning to be conveyed over there. So if you say somebody is a brilliant fool that means what? That person has brilliance, the capacity to analyze and process is brilliant but the path, the choice that the person is made right now is foolish.
Or we say suicide is an act of courageous cowardice. What does courageous cowardice mean? Either you can be courageous or you can be cowardly. How can there be courageous cowardice? So courageous cowardice means that actually to lay down one's life it's not so easy.
Just a few months ago I was in America. So I was at a mental health clinic in New Jersey. I was giving a talk over there.
And many of the patients who get admitted over there they are suicidal. And the World Health Organization statistics say that about 1 million people commit suicide every year. That means it's almost like one suicide every 40 seconds.
So that means since I started this talk almost 50 people have committed suicide. It's a very scary statistic, very alarming. But the point which I was making is that, so statistics show that for every successful suicide actually there is no such thing as a successful suicide because suicide itself is failure.
But successful suicide means somebody decides to end their life and they actually end their life. So for every successful suicide there are 10 to 20 attempted suicides. And when people attempt suicide it is sometimes they take poison and they don't die.
Or somebody finds it and they rush to the hospital. But more often than not when people attempt suicide they themselves lose their nerve. Just like somebody may go and lie on a railway track.
But then when they hear the railway whistle blowing and the railway wheels, they get up next time. They get up and move. So actually even to end one's life for any reason, to end one's life requires courage.
But when one is ending one's life because of frustration, because of inability to face life's problems, because of fearfulness about the magnitude of life's problems which one is encountering then that is cowardly. So the act of ending one's life is courageous. The act of being fearful of life's problems that is cowardly.
That's why suicide is said to be an act of courageous cowardice. So courageous cowardice means two opposite ideas are brought together and this is in English a figure of speech which is called as oxymoron. So you bring two opposite words together.
So Yogamaya is also actually an oxymoron. Maya is that which disconnects us from Krishna. That which makes us forget Krishna.
Whereas Yoga is that which connects us with Krishna. So now the two are opposite. Yoga is that which connects us with Krishna.
Maya is that which disconnects us from Krishna. Then what is Yogamaya? So Maya is illusion. Yoga is connection.
So normally we talk about Maya is the illusion that interrupts our connection with Krishna. That stops, obstructs our connection with Krishna. But Yogamaya is the divine illusion that intensifies our connection with Krishna.
Yogamaya is what? It's an illusion. But it's an illusion that intensifies our connection with Krishna. So normally Maya prevents Yoga.
But there is a kind of Maya which intensifies Yoga. And the Maya that intensifies Yoga, that is Yogamaya. So when the Vrajavasis, they don't know that Krishna is God.
That doesn't mean they are like all materialistic people who are completely ignorant about God. No, they are at such a high level of devotion that they no longer can think of Krishna as God. Their affection for Him is so great that because of that affection, an understanding of His position is no longer there.
So actually the Gopis are at that summit among all the Vrajavasis. So on Akrura's chariot, when they saw Krishna going, they just couldn't digest it. Kila Gop, Bala, Vyoga, out of separation from Krishna, Govinda, Damodara, Madhaveti.
They started chanting. Govinda, Damodara, Madhaveti. And calling out, O Govinda, O Damodara, O Madhava, how can we live without you? Please come back.
So here, they are seeing Krishna as just their lovable Lord. But they are not seeing Him as the Supreme Lord. It's not that they are not aware of it.
They know it. It's not that they are ignorant. But it's that they don't focus on it.
Our consciousness is a multi-level energy. That means, say right now, all of you are sitting here and you are hearing me speak. I am speaking to you.
So right now I am conscious that I am speaking to you. I am thinking what is the next point I should be speaking. How should I be speaking this? Which verses I can quote? So my focus of consciousness is in what I am going to speak.
And your focus of consciousness is in what you are hearing. At the same time, I am also aware. I am sitting on a seat.
The seat is soft. The weather today is hot. All of you will also be aware.
You are cramped in a room. The fan is not big enough. Maybe you want the fan to be bigger.
Maybe you are fasting. The stomach is making all kinds of protesting noises. So now all this is also there in our awareness.
So our consciousness is a multi-level energy. There is something which is in the foreground of our consciousness. And there are many things which are in the background of our consciousness.
So in the background of my consciousness says that I am in Mumbai here. Tomorrow I am going somewhere else. Tomorrow I am going to Belgaum.
Then I am going here. I am going there. So there is much that we know but we don't focus on.
So there is the foreground awareness of consciousness. And there is the background awareness of consciousness. And psychologists have found that the background affects the foreground.
Although what is in the background may not be… We may not even be aware of it right now. But that shapes what is in the foreground. So for example, in a third world country in Africa, children were asked to draw a penny.
A penny is like a paisa or a rupee coin. And children in the first world were asked to draw a penny. Now both of them drew.
Even children from the third world, say Africa, after that they immigrated to America also. So they were seeing pennies constantly. They were asked to draw the penny.
But curiously, when the children of well-to-do parents drew a penny, they drew it of the normal size as it is. But if poor children drew a penny, they drew it of bigger size than normal. Why was that? Because for them money was such an acute existential necessity.
It was something which was so scarce for them that it loomed larger in their consciousness. For well-to-do parents, they have always seen, their parents have money in their locker, they have it in their pocket, it's always there. But for children, a penny would mean good food.
Absence of a penny would mean that they will not get good food. So now, they are drawing something. What is happening is, what is in their consciousness, what looms large in their consciousness, gets depicted bigger in their painting.
So what is the point which I am making over here? That we all have certain background conceptions. So for the children, the background conception is, we don't have enough money, for the poor children. And therefore, money looms larger in their consciousness.
Now, this is a normal feature of human psychology. Another simpler example could be, a child who is sometimes starved, who has not got enough food. The child will not just throw away food.
A child who has always had abundant food, I don't like it, I don't want it. A child will eat something and neglect it. So what has happened? The value of that, how a child treats food, is determined not just by what the food is.
It is determined by what the background conceptions. So to put it in more succinct terms, our view is determined by our worldview. Our view is specifically what I see right now.
Our view is determined by our worldview. Our worldview is, what is our conception of life? So all of us have certain conceptions of life. And based on those conceptions, we look at specific things.
And the fundamental difference in Bhakti is not so much in view. It is in worldview. Yes, our view will also change.
But for the view to change, our worldview needs to change. So, for example, different people may come to the temple at different times. And those who are devotees, when they come to the temple, and they behold the deities, this is my worship to the Lord.
This is the person who is my ultimate goal, who is my protector, who is my maintainer. He is the person for whom I am living. By the Lord, you are my be-all and my end-all.
And it is you for whom I am living. So, this is the philosophical understanding which we have got that Krishna is God. And therefore, You can come ahead a little bit.
There are devotees outside also. You can come closer. So then, when we see Krishna, what do we see? We don't see just an attractive image.
We see the Supreme Person. We see the worship of the Lord. Why are we seeing like this? Because we have a worldview.
There are many people who go to a temple and they see God not as the purpose of life. They see God as the provider for life. God is the purpose of life means, it is you who I am to attain ultimately.
But the provider for life means, I need good marks in my exams, I need good health, I need this, I need that. And therefore, God, you please provide this to me. This is also good.
At least people are coming to their temples. In the biblical tradition, there is a prayer, O father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, give us our daily bread. Now, if Prabhupada would say this is good, at least people are going to God and asking for bread.
But then, there is a problem here. The problem is, this prayer may well reveal love for bread, not love for God. We are interested in bread.
Many times, in India especially, because Hinduism is often thought of as polytheistic, there are many different Gods. Sometimes people go to a temple and they very reverentially close their eyes, pray so sincerely. And then they go back and throughout it all, they haven't even noticed who was there on the altar.
Isn't it? They may go to any place which looks like a temple and there would be some Baba, some person who has been just made into God. There is God, there is demigods and there are semi-gods. Semi-gods means, say me God.
I am God. Understand that I am God. So, there are many people who are like that.
And for most people who are just driven by some religious sentiments, they just don't care who is there being worshipped. For them, it's going to a temple, fold their hands, pray and come out. So, what has happened, they have, for all practical purposes, no interest in God.
Their interest is only in what God can provide. And if this person can provide me that, then he is God for me. So, such an unphilosophical conception of Bhakti is not very sustainable.
So, I will talk about four levels of Bhakti. There is cultural Bhakti, there is philosophical Bhakti, there is spiritual Bhakti and then there is Vraja Bhakti. Cultural Bhakti means, as a part of culture, people go to temples.
So, for example, Janmashtami, hundreds, thousands, millions of people come to temples. They say, it's a part of our culture. You know, Krishna is our God and on His appearance, we should go to temples.
It's good. That at least then people are coming to the temples. And Krishna also says, such people are Sukhrtina.
In 7.6 he says, they have done some good deeds because of which they are approaching me at least. So, cultural Bhakti is good. The problem, however, with it is that if the culture changes, then the Bhakti also changes.
That means that if going to Krishna temple is no longer culturally fashionable, then people say, nobody is going, why should I go? If some other Devata, some other Baba, some other that starts getting worshipped and going there becomes trendy, then people will go there. So, culture itself cannot be the sole decider of how we should act. Broadly speaking, people act based on four criteria.
One is culture. Culture means everyone is doing this, so we will do it. The second is tradition.
We have always done it, so I will do it. We have always done it. Say, there are many rituals that are performed at the time of marriage or at the time of the birth of a new child or birth of a child or whatever.
Why do we do it? Nobody knows the meaning of it. But our parents did it, our grandparents did it, our great-grandparents did it, so we will do it. It's tradition.
The third is mood. I feel like doing it. When I do this, it feels so good, that's why I go there.
I feel like doing it. The fourth is logic. It makes sense.
I do this because it makes sense. Now, we can look at our own life and we can look at the decisions that we make. There can be various reasons why we do this.
We come to a temple because it may be our culture, it may be our tradition, maybe it makes us feel good. Life is so stressful and then I just come to a temple, I hear some kirtans, I take a bath. I feel some peace over here, that's why I come here.
Or maybe I hear some classes, I understand some philosophy. It makes sense, that's why I come here. Now, all of these are good.
In the sense that any way we come to Krishna, it's good. But the problem is, among these four, the first three are fickle. The culture may change.
And the culture changes, then people may no longer feel like coming to me. Or culture may go to some other temple or some other form of worship. Now, tradition.
Different people also have different traditions. And it's not necessary that everything that is done in a tradition is necessarily good. So, for example, there may be many parts of tradition.
Say, in India, there is a caste system. The caste system is a very deep-rooted tradition. And in many ways, the caste system that exists today is extremely discriminatory.
And that is evil. But this tradition has not come from scripture. And just adherence to tradition is not something which is desirable.
So, I gave a class in Princeton University a couple of months ago. And after that, one professor was asking, he says, you know, I have heard that you people are trying to establish Varanashram. So, that discriminatory caste system that was there in India, are you trying to re-establish that? I said, not at all.
In fact, if you look at the history of the Bhakti tradition, many of the Bhakti saints have come from what we consider the lower castes. And often they were persecuted by the higher castes. So, what happens is sometimes some people they have a blanket worldview where they think that anything that has come from India, that means it must be discriminatory.
It must be part of the discriminatory caste system. And many times some people think that Hinduism is so discriminatory, therefore, you convert to some other religion or just become atheistic. There are many people, especially from the lower castes, they become aggressively anti-Hindu.
Why? Because they feel Hinduism is so discriminatory. But actually, you know, within the tradition itself, if you consider tradition to be a broad thing that has come from the past, within the tradition itself there has been reform. And the Bhakti movement is an internal reform within the tradition.
Many of the Bhakti saints, they strongly stood against caste discrimination. In the Gaudiya Vishnu tradition, we have a Hridas Thakur. He was born in a Mleccha family, but he was such a great saint that everybody accepted him as a saint.
But then those who were Brahmins, they felt that their position was being compromised. Their interests were being undermined by him. And therefore, they tried to persecute him.
In Maharashtra itself, we have Tukaram Maharaj. When he wrote his Abhangas, some of the scholars, the Brahmins, thought that he was undermining their authority by making the Vedic wisdom available in the local Marathi language. And they ordered that his Abhangas be thrown into the river.
And Chandrabhaga, personified, actually brought all those Abhangas back to him. So, at that time, that miracle happened and people accepted, oh, he is no ordinary person. So, what happens is, some people say, oh, Indian tradition, caste system, so bad, just give it up.
But okay, in the name of giving up caste system, what happens is, people just reject everything. But the Indian tradition is not one thing. There are many things in it.
And yes, the caste system was one part of it. But there was the Bhakti tradition within India also, which was actually a reform from within, which rejected the discrimination of the caste system. And this also comes from Krishna himself.
Krishna says, Bhakti is above any caste discrimination. Krishna says, Krishna says, even if somebody is considered low born, but if they become my devotees, they can also attain the supreme destination. So, Krishna is saying that these worldly designations of lower and higher, they don't matter in Bhakti.
What matters is one's devotion, one's intention to connect with Krishna. So, the point I am making, the broader point is, different levels of Bhakti. We are trying to understand how Vraja Bhakti is the highest.
And we are trying to appreciate what Akrura appreciated when he saw the Vrajavasi. So, in that I was making the point that normally, we may act at different levels. So, cultural Bhakti was what I was talking about.
So, our actions may be because of culture, may be because of tradition. Tradition, everybody did it, so we are doing it. But that may not be necessarily the right thing.
Just because past generations of people have discriminated against the lower caste, that doesn't mean we should discriminate against the lower caste. We have to use our God given intelligence. So, tradition can also mislead us sometimes.
Of course, then third is moods. And our moods are notoriously fickle. Our moods are extremely, they just don't change, but they go from one opposite to the other opposite.
One extreme to the other extreme. So, for example, now people, especially seeing Bollywood movies, reading romance novels, people want to, they want to have their own relationship, they want to date and court. And they want to have relationships like that.
So, sometimes a boy and a girl see each other, and when they see each other, they feel, as soon as I saw this person, I felt like an electric current went through my body. And they say, you know, I love you. And this is love at first sight.
And they fight against the whole world. And that's what movies are all about. How the boy and the girl, they see each other and they fight against the whole world.
And they say, I cannot live without you. I cannot live without you and I am ready to give up the whole world for it. But often the movies end when they get united.
But if the movie shows something 2-3 years later, what will happen is the same two people who said, I cannot live without you, they say to each other, I cannot live with you. What has happened? The mind is very fickle. Now, it is possible that sometimes two people may get attracted to each other.
And they may form a sustainable relationship also. But that sustainable relationship has to be formed that has to be at a level not of sentiment. It has to be at the level of commitment.
So, there may be love at first sight. But for a relationship to be sustainable, what is important is not what happens at first sight. What is important is what happens after many sights.
So, without that, the mind will just be so fickle. Today, I just love this. I cannot live without this.
Tomorrow, I cannot live with this. That's why people who go through just based on their sentiments, they just are not at all stable. When we interact with college students in America, the devotees who preach over there, they told me one thing that it is considered impolite to ask people who their parents are.
Normally, we ask, what does your father do? What does your mother do? That's how we get to know people. But what happens is most children, most children means youth, they have two mothers and three fathers. Their parents have gone through so many different marriages that to talk about their parents is often a painful memory for them.
It's very sad. It's very sad and unless they talk about it, it's best not to talk about it. So, the point is that when there is no commitment, when it's only sentiment, it's moods, it may appear very attractive at that time when the attraction is forming, it may seem overwhelming.
But our moods are not reliable. Sometimes the mood may come and we may do something. But then, if it is a serious relationship we are entering into, if it is a serious endeavour that we are getting into, then we can't let it be dependent only on our mood.
There has to be something higher. So, we may feel. Sometimes we wake up and we feel like, I want to chant, I want to have darshan of the Lord, I want to do japa.
Sometimes we do japa and we feel so good, we feel connected with Krishna. We feel there is Hare Krishna, Mahamantra has some special power in it. Just feel like, I want to keep chanting, I want to keep chanting.
Sometimes we feel japa should never end, I should just keep chanting. And some other days, we feel japa is never ending only. I am just chanting, chanting.
Sometimes we take out the beads from the bag. Has somebody changed the beads? Instead of 108, has somebody put 1008 beads over here? So, what has happened is, our mind is very moody. And because the mind is moody, we cannot have serious aspects of our life dependent on the mind's moods.
And last is logic. Now, logic is important. Logic is where we use our head, use our intelligence.
And with our intelligence, if we study the philosophy, then we will appreciate. This makes sense. Your life is temporary.
And there must be something eternal in our life. There must be something enduring, which we are looking for. I just wrote a book on reincarnation.
Some people say that, actually you are just afraid of death. So, you believe. To overcome the fear of death, you believe that you will continue to live on after death.
That's just a feel-good belief that you have. Actually, when you talk about feel-good belief, you can always turn the logic around. We could say that, you are afraid that after death, you will have to face the consequences of all your actions that you have done.
And to get rid of that fear and to feel good of yourself, you disbelieve that there is anything after death. So, psychoanalysing something can be done both ways. But the important thing is, it's universal.
Nobody wants to die. Where did this longing to live on and on come from? Suppose, there is a child who is living in some remote place in, say, Africa. A tribal village in Africa.
He has never heard anything about western culture. And one day, suddenly the child goes to his mother and says, Mommy, I want to eat pizza. Pizza? When did you hear about a pizza? If there is nothing in the surroundings of the child which would give the information about a pizza, then the question would come, where did the desire for a pizza come from? Isn't it? Similarly, if we are simply materialistic creatures, if there is nothing apart from our existence, apart from our body, if we are simply made of matter and the material world is all that exists.
Now, nothing in the material world is eternal. Nothing lasts forever. No one lasts forever.
Nothing lasts forever. So, if nothing in our surroundings lasts forever, where would we get the desire to live forever from? Our desire has to come from somewhere. And if matter is all that existed, then that desire should not have come at all.
Because there is no experience in the world around us of anything that lasts forever. So, our desire to live forever does not come from our externals. It comes from our internal.
It is because we at our core are eternal beings. That is why we have a desire for eternal life. And not only do we have a desire for eternal life, we also have a desire for eternal love.
Eternal love means we want to have an enduring loving relationship. Most of the movies are about romance and most romance movies end with H.E. Day. Happily ever after.
Now, actually, we all know that there is no ever after. There is. We are all going to die.
But still, there is a longing for happily ever after. You see, the movies say happily ever after. The Bhagavad Gita says this world is Dukhaalem Ashashvatam.
Exactly opposite. Happily ever after, Dukhaalem, Ashashvatam. Happily and Dukhaalem are opposite.
Ever after and Ashashvatam is opposite. Now, which is the reality? The reality is that nothing is permanent in this life. So then, why do we have this desire to live forever and a desire to love forever? And people watch these movies, they read these novels and not just one or two, millions and millions of novels are written, thousands and thousands of movies are made and people watch it.
Why? It's because there is a a longing to live forever and a longing to love forever. That longing to live forever comes from our soul. And that longing for love forever comes from the whole of whom the soul is a part.
There is a whole whose parts we are. Krishna says that we are his eternal part. So we are meant to love and serve Krishna eternally.
And therein is our lasting happiness. Presently somehow we have forgotten that. And having forgotten that, we are trying to find objects of love in this world.
And we are trying to get some pleasure from such objects of love. So, while we are living like this, what happens? If we look deeper, we can understand that there must be something eternal. And that eternal object of love is Krishna.
So I was talking about cultural bhakti and philosophical bhakti. Philosophical bhakti means, we understand, I am not practicing bhakti just because it's a part of my culture. I practice it because it is based on the deepest reality of who I am and what I aspire for.
There is a question-answer website online called KORA where people ask questions and people answer questions. So I answer questions over there. So I answer several questions about reincarnation.
So then, because I have written this book also, so one person asks a question that, one boy asks a question, he says, I love a girl and we want to marry each other. But our parents are not agreeing. They tried their best, but it's not working out.
So can you please tell me, what karma can I do now so that I can marry her in my next life? So, what has happened is that, reincarnation and soul is a serious spiritual truth. But it has become, when God is approached at a cultural level, we see God simply as a provider. And we don't care who God is.
We simply care, is this person going to provide me something? So reincarnation is also approached in India at a cultural level. There are many Bollywood movies which talk about reincarnation. But then, it is, what they depict is actually not reincarnation actually.
It is more of romanticization of reincarnation. So, that means what happens, there is a hero and a heroine and somehow because there is some very terrible villain who kills both of them. Or he kills one of them and the other also commits suicide and dies.
And then they cannot be united. So then what happens? Both of them reincarnate. And then in the next life, they unite.
Now when they reincarnate, what happens is, both the hero and the heroine, they come back in the same form. So, both the hero and the heroine play a double role. And, so what has happened here, people are not understanding that there is something separate from the body which is reincarnating.
So, the word reincarnation means to come back again in flesh. Karna is flesh, like in carnivorous animals. Re is again, in is inside.
So, to come again in flesh. So, we are in a body right now and then we come again in another body. That is reincarnation.
But, what happens is, it is not reincarnation in the Bollywood, it is simply duplication of the same body. So, it's not that the soul has come back, it's like the body has come back. The same body has come back.
And, this is romanticization of reincarnation. And because of that, so just as sometimes in movies people show ghosts, people show vampires, people show all kinds of unbelievable things. So, then just to create excitement, create drama, just make the plot more lively.
So, reincarnation also becomes another tool for making the story more exciting. So, actually this is, we are approaching the truth of reincarnation, not at a philosophical level, but at a cultural level. And then it becomes a problem.
So, we need to rise from the cultural to the philosophical. So, when we understand the philosophical level of reality, so I explained to this boy, when he asked this question, that actually as souls in this world, we, while going through a journey of life, we will be attracted to different people at different times. And, by our past karma, some relationships work out, some relationships don't work out.
It's like we all try different projects in our life. We try different careers, we try different avenues, different hobbies. Some things work out, some things don't work out.
So, relationships are also like that. Some may work out, some may not work out. But we have to understand that whatever it is, that is attracting us to someone, that attractiveness, where is it coming from? Ultimately, the Bhagavad Gita says that everything attractive is a spark of Krishna's supreme attractiveness.
In 10.41 it says that śrīmadhūrjitaṁ eva vā tattva-nevāpa-tac-chatraṁ mama tejo amśa-sambhavaḥ mama tejo amśa-sambhavaḥ So, if there is some very attractive person, that person's attractiveness is actually coming from Krishna. That person may have done some makeup to look attractive, but there is some attractiveness in the body itself. And where did that come from? It was not that when the child was in the womb, the child was making the body look very attractive.
No, by past karma, some people are given very attractive looks. So, that attractiveness is a gift coming from Krishna. And that attractiveness is a spark of Krishna's supreme attractiveness.
So, rather than getting passionate, infatuated, maddened by chasing after a spark, we can pursue the body. If some relationship doesn't work out, instead of trying to think of how I can make it work in the next life, we can focus on that relationship which is already going on for many lifetimes, but which we are neglecting. And we may get some pleasure in forming some relationship with someone, we may get some love, we may get some joy, but whatever pleasure, whatever love we get in any relationship, we will get that, we will get all that and billions of times more in our relationship with Krishna.
So, that's why we focus on our relationship with Krishna. Not that we neglect or reject other relationships, but we don't become obsessed by any relationship. We focus on our relationship with Krishna.
And with that focus, when we move on, even if there are ups and downs in our life, we can face those ups and downs gracefully. When I first went to America in 2015, I gave a class in Ohio State University. After that one boy came and he told me that just before the class he was about to commit suicide.
He had been in a relationship and that girl had left him to go with some other boy. And he was completely shattered. But as he was thinking about suicide and going along, then he had just seen a poster of this program, Regulating Our Mental Diet.
It's a vegetarian society program. So, I had hopped on that. I had chosen that topic.
So, when he came for the program, he said, now I understand that actually it is not I who wanted to commit suicide, it was my mind which was planting that idea in me. And my mind is different from you. So, he said, I am feeling much calmer.
I told him that his understanding is good, but you have to more philosophically clearly understand that you are different from your mind. I told him to read the Bhagavad Gita. I have a website also called Gita Daily, where I write on the Gita every day.
I told him to read that every day. And he said, can I come into the program over there? And then, this year, two years later, I had gone. And he told me, again I met him.
And he said that something similar happened in his life again. He had formed a relationship with some other girl, and again she also left him. And he said, again I was shattered.
But this time, because I had been practicing Krishna Bhakti, because I knew the philosophy, he said, he is good at music, he plays the violin. So, what he did was, when this happened, he was shattered. But, he just went into his room, and he locked the door, and he just started calling out to Krishna, singing the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
He said, I just did Kirtan continuously for six hours, alone. Just I, calling out Krishna's name. And he said, that period, which could have been the most distressful, devastating period of my life, that turned out to be the most blissful experience of my life.
Because as I just called out to Krishna, chanted his name, and absorbed myself in him, I could feel Krishna's presence. I could feel Krishna's love for me. I could feel myself protected by Krishna.
And, instead of being shaken and shattered, I felt strengthened. So, this is actually the experience of shelter that Krishna can provide us. Now, for all of us, we may or may not go through such traumatic experiences.
Now, in India, because their culture of deity is not so much there. It is there, but not so much there. It is coming more and more.
So, often there is a fascination. And you know, India's culture is so conservative, boys and girls cannot mix with each other, and we cannot have our own relationships. Yes, we may feel deprived because of that.
But you know, that's only one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is, there is so much insecurity, so much anxiety. You know, when a boy and girl want to form their relationship with each other, they want to court, they want to date, it's always so much fear.
Is this the right person? Should I be forming a relationship with this person or some other person? What if this person leaves me? And eventually, most relationships don't last for long. People feel so traumatized by that. So, rather than craving for horizontal relationships, yes, in due course, we form whatever relationships are required in our life.
But rather than dreaming and fantasizing and thinking that this is what will make me complete. Without thinking like that, what will make us complete is not a horizontal relationship with someone else in the world. What will make us complete is our vertical relationship with Krishna.
And this understanding that we have, then we can become very determined in our own life. So, I am talking about moving from the cultural level of bhakti to the philosophical level of bhakti. Philosophical level of bhakti means that I understand that Krishna is my be-all and end-all.
And that is why I relate with him. And through the practice of philosophy, we rise to the spiritual level of consciousness. Then we come to spiritual bhakti.
Spiritual bhakti means the bhakti which is based not just on intellectual understanding, but the bhakti that is based on the spiritual experiences that we ourselves have had. The spiritual experiences we ourselves have had means what? That if we start practicing bhakti, we ourselves experience some special taste, some special joy, some divine peace. And most importantly, we experience this, sometimes we may experience it in intensely spiritual association.
When, say, Janmashtami is there, the wonderful kirtans are being performed, and we feel some special joy, we behold the darshan of Krishna, it's so beautiful. Yes, these are experiences of higher spiritual reality that we are having. But along with that, we can get spiritual experiences also when we face material difficulties.
So, when we face material difficulties, often what we expect is Krishna, I am having this problem, you please solve this problem. And if the problem doesn't get solved, why is this problem not being solved? We practice bhakti, but while we are practicing bhakti also, we are not Krishna conscious. We are problem conscious.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, please solve this problem. Krishna, Krishna, Hare Ram. Krishna, why are we not solving this problem? Hare Ram, Hare Ram.
Krishna, how long? Ram, Ram. So, we are chanting, but we are not Krishna conscious. We are problem conscious.
Now, we may say, yes, but I have this problem in my life. And this problem needs to be solved. Yes, the problems are there.
And problems need to be dealt with. But, we have to understand one characteristic of problems. Problems are as much real physical things as they are mental constructs.
What does that mean? Problems are real things which are out there, which exist in reality. But problems are also mental constructs. So, I will give you an example for this.
Say, you are with a group of friends who are going to go for some outing, some picnic, some new nice beautiful place. We will be planning that for a long time. And just before you go for that picnic, you get flu.
You get flu and you are bed ridden with fever. And, although the fever, you take some treatment, the fever is gone. You are so weak that you just can't go out anywhere.
And then, all our other friends go for a picnic. And nowadays, in social media, people say, oh, I am in this hill station, I am swimming over here, I am this bored. We just start feeling so resentful.
No, they are all enjoying. Why am I not enjoying? Why did this happen to me? So, when we start thinking like this, the resentment of reality hurts more than reality. Resentment of reality means, why could I not go for the picnic? That thought, thinking about this again and again, that hurts us more than the reality.
The reality is what? I had flu. Now, if I have fever, if I have weakness, yes, maybe I am immobilized because of that. I can't move around much.
But the flu itself is not very painful. It's a manageable pain. So, the flu is a problem.
It's a problem that is out there. It's a real thing. But as I said, problems are also mental constructs.
Mental constructs means, the more I think about it, oh, why could I not go there? Why could I not go there? What happens? I increase my misery. So, many times, when we are problem conscious, yes, we need to be conscious of the problem so that we can deal with it. But many times, when we are conscious of the problem, we don't deal with the problem.
The problem deals with us. That means, the more we think about it, the problem starts seeming to become bigger and bigger and bigger and we become more and more miserable. So, yes, if my friends are in a picnic, okay, I am in the bed.
I can do something here also. I can read something. I can hear something.
While I am in bed, I can find some constructive engagement. But if I am simply lamenting and resenting why I could not go there, then I am making myself more miserable than what I need to be. So, that means, there are two ways we can deal with the problem.
One is, I have a problem and the problem is solved. So, we often think of, when we ask Krishna's help, we expect the solution of the problem. And the solution of the problem does not come if Krishna is not helping.
Why is Krishna not helping? Does Krishna even care? I am practicing Bhakti so much. Why is Krishna not helping? However, Krishna can give us help in another way. And that way is not release from the problem but relief amidst the problem.
Relief from the problem means the problem ends. Relief amidst the problem means that the problem is there but we will find that we are no longer burdened by the problem. Actually, if there is a problematic situation, we just turn our thoughts from the problem to Krishna.
And we focus on Krishna. We can experience relief. We can say, I was so troubled when this problem was there and as soon as I turn my thoughts towards Krishna, the problem doesn't go away but the problem doesn't burden me so much.
The problem doesn't torment me so much. I feel relief. And when we get that relief, we get strength, we get calmness, we get clarity and then we can practically deal with the problem also.
Sometimes you feel, I have so many problems in my life. What is this Krishna Bhakti going to do? I want some practical solution. Very often, the most practical solution to a problem is to stop thinking about the problem.
Because what happens, as long as we keep thinking about the problem, it's like, the problem is here, I am here. The more I think about the problem, my thinking empowers the problem. And the problem seems to become bigger and bigger.
And I feel, I am so tiny, what can I do? So, the more we think about the problem, the more the problem becomes bigger and the more we feel ourselves powerless. So, when we are faced with a problem, sometimes the most empowering thing that we can do is to stop thinking about the problem. But, to not think about problems is not so easy.
When problems come in our life, problems seem to come with a mental glue attached to them. That means, I am sitting here, and somebody has put glue on this seat. After the class, I try to get up, and I find, I am fixed over here.
I just can't get up. So, like that, when problems come in our life, they seem to come with a mental glue. Our mind gets stuck to the problem.
Recently, there was this champions trophy, and India-Pakistan match was there in the finals. And everybody expected India to win. But then, India lost and lost very badly.
So, there was one devotee, he came and told me, that after the India-Pakistan final, for three nights, I just could not sleep. I said, how could India play so badly? It's one thing to lose, but how did India lose so badly? So, now that match is gone and over. But, what has happened? That problem, that India lost the match, that came with a mental glue.
And it just got stuck to the mind. You want to think about other things, but you can't think. Now, sleep is a basic bodily need.
But, when the mind gets stuck to something, it doesn't allow anything to be done. So, yes, sports is for entertainment. And yes, sometimes in entertainment, we get pleasure, sometimes we get pain, but it's a game after all.
But, what happens is that, if we are obsessively attached to something, then the mind just gets hooked onto it, and we just suffer much more than we need to. So, the process of Bhakti is actually meant to increase our attachment to Krishna. So, when we start to practice Bhakti, it is not just to come to a temple, to chant the holy names, or to take darshan, that's all good.
But, what should happen by all this is, our mind should become attached to Krishna. Krishna says in 12.9, अभ्यास्योगेविद्धतो मामिच्छातुं देनेंजयया By Abhyas, by systematic practice, make your mind attached to me. When we do that, then what happens? Even when the problem comes, even when some misery comes, some distress comes, because we have developed our attachment to Krishna, we can direct our thoughts towards Him.
When we direct our thoughts towards Him, then the problem will no longer torment us. With the connection with Krishna, we get relief, we get strength, we get calmness. About 6 years ago, here itself in Juhu, I had come for some classes, and once in the morning when I was chanting, there was some water which had spilled, I just slipped and fell on the water.
Just a small fall it was, but my leg got badly fractured. My left leg already had polio and osteoporosis, so a small fall caused very bad damage. And at that time, it was pain like I had never experienced in my life.
And somehow I love Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata verses. So at that time I started chanting Bhagavad Gita verses. And as soon as I started chanting Bhagavad Gita verses, I just…the pain disappeared.
And I was astonished. And I stopped chanting and immediately the pain came back. So I started chanting and the pain went away.
So from that time, that happened around 6 o'clock or 6.30 in the morning, then we did an X-ray and then we went to a hospital, and the operation was done at around afternoon 1.32, when I was given anesthesia. Till that time I was continuously chanting Bhagavad Gita verses. And I was not chanting out of bhakti, and I was not chanting out of devotion, out of love for Bhagavad Gita, I was chanting out of fear of the pain.
But at our level, somehow or the other I will think of Krishna. It's good. So now after that, one of my friends, an old friend of yours, he is right now an atheist, so he wrote a letter to me.
And he said, you know, you have devoted your life to God, and you were chanting God's name in God's temple, and still God could not protect you from an accident. What is the use of worshiping such a God? So, there is a whole article on my website about this. He asked me, do you still believe in God? So I told him, I don't just believe in God, my belief has become stronger.
I explained the same point that actually, yes, because of whatever past karma or whatever, you know, I have faced this fracture. I had the pain because of that. But through that pain, I had one of the most intense spiritual experiences of my life.
I could see that this fracture was there, it was very painful, but by absorbing myself in remembrance of Krishna, I could feel myself lifted above the pain. And I actually went to the hospital. We told that I got a fracture.
So the doctor said, we have to do an X-ray. He said, no, we have already done the X-ray over here, and we are going to Bhaktivedanta Hospital, Indira Road. He said, okay, show the X-ray.
The doctor saw the X-ray. He said, is this your X-ray? I said, yes. He said, what happened? He said, you know, if this much fracture is there, the patient will be screaming in pain.
He said, I can't believe this is your X-ray. He said, okay, let me do another X-ray. He said, this cannot be your X-ray.
And they did an X-ray and they found out it was… It's not that I am a very advanced devotee and I have many of my attachments. That is not the point which I am making over here. I have many times my own senses and my mind drag me down.
But the point which I was emphasizing through this is that actually when we have proper philosophical understanding, when we don't have philosophical understanding and problems come, we feel God doesn't help me and we give up our Bhakti. But when we have philosophical understanding, then we don't demand release from problems. We try to take shelter of Krishna even amidst the problems and we experience relief amidst the problems.
And when we experience relief amidst the problems, then actually that can deepen our conviction in Krishna Bhakti like nothing else. Because ultimately in life, problems will come, problems will go. And if we are to rise to a spiritual level of consciousness, we need to get the conviction that the spiritual level of reality is actually a reality.
So when at the material level we are facing problems and yet internally we don't feel so troubled because our consciousness is at some other level, then we get the conviction that there is some other level of reality. And that conviction is what will enable us to practice Bhakti enthusiastically. So if we consider there is a two-story building and a flood has come at the ground floor.
Now we may say, oh let this flood go away, let this flood go away, we may try to get the flood to go away. But the flood is there and it is not going away. Now if we rise to the first floor and there is no water over here.
We look down, the water is there in the ground floor. But we come to the first floor, there is no water. We are still concerned because the water is downstairs and we would like the water to go away.
But we don't feel personally threatened, we don't feel I will be drowned. Because we are safe. So we can consider our existence to be like this two-story building.
The body is the ground floor, the soul is the first floor. Normally we live at the ground floor. Now when problems come at the ground floor, it is like the flood has come.
And we want Krishna, please let this flood go away. And the flood is not going away only. Well, what do we do at that time? Sometimes if we rise to the first floor, that means we come to spiritual consciousness and we see that yes, this problem is there in my life and normally I would be so troubled, shocked, shattered by this problem.
But now by remembering Krishna, by taking shelter of Krishna, I am able to deal with this problem. And that gives us the conviction that actually there is a first floor, there is a higher floor. This higher floor is not just sentiment, it is not just imagination, it is a reality.
Because I can experience, I am at this higher floor and I am experiencing it. So then our conviction in Krishna Bhakti becomes very strong. So I also wrote a Hindi poem, आये संकट तो हुआ साक्षात कार, बिना भक्ति के कैसा करता है निर्भार? That, yes, problems will come in everyone's life.
But when amidst problems we don't feel so much trouble. We will be troubled. After all we are all human beings.
But the magnitude of the trouble will be much much lesser when we take shelter of Krishna. And that conviction in the reality of spiritual level of existence, that is the greatest blessing that we can get. With that blessing we can face any problem that we get in our life.
So when problems come in our life, rather than demanding Krishna please solve this problem. Yes, the problem will come, the problem will go in due course. But what we can do is, we can see the problem as an opportunity to discover how tough Krishna Bhakti can make us.
The problems are hitting us at the material level of reality. But by remembering Krishna, we ascend to the spiritual level of reality and then even tough problems, we can endure them. And that is a great great blessing.
So this is spiritual Bhakti. Spiritual Bhakti means, no matter how many problems we face, we just stay determined to practice Bhakti. Tomorrow is Srila Prabhupada's appearance day.
And if you look at Srila Prabhupada's life, the kind of problems that he faced, it's unbelievable. He wrote a whole Bhagavad Gita and he wanted to get some sponsorship to get the Bhagavad Gita published. And finally after a great effort, he found somebody to sponsor the Bhagavad Gita and he came back to his home and somebody at his home had sold out the Bhagavad Gita as ragdi.
It was trash. He started an organization in Jhansi League of Devotees and then the same people that supported him, they conspired against him and the place which was going to be the international headquarters, they practically evicted him from there. He started running back to Godhead magazine and he was trying to, he was single-handedly getting the money for running the magazine, printing it, typing it, getting it published, distributing it.
And he was doing it on the streets of Delhi. Just a few days ago I was in Delhi. And even now it's so hot.
Prabhupada in the hot streets was walking along when he got a sun stroke and he fainted. Prabhupada tried to run his own business and somehow people conspired against him and cheated him. Every single thing that he tried, it just didn't work.
He could just have given up. If you consider the kind of problem that he faced. Most people, they have big dreams when they start off their life.
But as they start experiencing life, their dreams start becoming smaller and smaller. A child is maybe 7, 8, 10 years old, he thinks that now I am going to become the next Prime Minister of India. Then the child goes into school and the child goes into college.
And then life is so difficult. By the time the child graduates, he thinks, if I just get a job, it's good. So what happens is, when life's reversals come, our ambitions initially are big, they start becoming smaller and smaller.
Actually Prabhupada, he tried for 40 years to preach in India. And he had got practically no success. And yet, what was his vision? He said, I want to go to America.
You know, people were astounded. Swami, what will you do in America? One of the ladies whom Prabhupada approached, she was a businessman, businesswoman. She told Swami, Swamiji, you are so old, and America is so cold.
How will you live there? He said, Swamiji, if you want to speak Bhagavatam, you come to my house, I will everyday hear Bhagavatam from you. Prabhupada was not interested in that cultural recitation of Bhagavatam. He wanted transformational recitation of Bhagavatam.
So he just practically begged her. He went to America, and in America, along the way, he got heart attacks. Not one, but two heart attacks.
Oh, and heart attack is devastating, actually. A few years ago, my father had got a heart attack. And you know, when that happens, it's just, so many people come together, and somehow the person has to be saved.
And Prabhupada was all alone, not even a single doctor, not even a medical staff. Prabhupada managed to reach America. He came to America, and he was living in a room in New York.
And he had no possessions, just a typewriter and a tape recorder. They were his most precious possessions. And the janitor, the watchman of the building where he was staying, that watchman only stole his property.
Then Prabhupada went to another place where he was living with a young man, and he was hoping that that will become his temple, and that young man will become a devotee. And that young man took a heavy dose of drugs, and he came and attacked Prabhupada. And when this David attacked, Prabhupada had to leave, had to run away from there.
And he was on the streets, in the Bowery of New York, homeless, helpless. This was the same person who in India had met the Prime Minister of India who had recommended his books, publicly had met the President of India who had recommended his books. Those books were there in many of the libraries in India.
This is the same person who was respected as a learned and dedicated sanyasi in Vrindavan. But that person was helpless, hopeless on the streets of America. But Prabhupada was not helpless and hopeless because he had faith in Krishna.
His conviction was that he was not looking for release from problems. He was looking to share Krishna's message with others. And because of that, practically he was disturbed, what should I do now? But internally he was understood, he was fixed in his mission.
So Prabhupada's life demonstrates there can be hundreds of problems in one's life but if one has absorbed Krishna, one is above those problems. Although Prabhupada faced so many sufferings in his life, so many reversals, Prabhupada was always cheerful, always focused in serving Krishna, always kind, always cordial, always loving. And that's how he interacted with people.
So actually, this is the gift of Krishna Bhakti. The gift of Krishna Bhakti is not just a life free from problems. Yes, there are many problems which may come in our life and Krishna may free us from those problems also.
But more important gift of Krishna Bhakti is that we gain the consciousness by which we rise above problems. And if we come to Krishna to get relief from problems, we may get frustrated because the problems may still be there. But if we come to Krishna to become Krishna conscious, then we'll find that Krishna consciousness always works.
That by focusing on Krishna we do get relief from its problems. And then once we get that relief, when that mental burden is no longer there, the calmness is there, clarity is there, then we can practically find out, what should I do with this problem? Maybe I should do like this, maybe I should do like this. We can practically plan and practically deal with the problem.
It's not that we neglect the problem at a practical level. But we understand that the most practical thing to deal with a problem practically is to not deal with it practically. The most practical way to deal with a problem practically is to not deal with it practically.
Why? Because say, if somebody has spoken very harshly to me and I'm feeling very angry and when I speak in anger back to that person, what happens? I simply worsen the situation. So the most practical way to deal with it is to not think about that person, not to think about how that person insulted me, how that person has been so cruel to me. Just keep the mind off.
Calm down and then, yes, this person has spoken unreasonably, I have to deal with that. How to deal with that? If I'm calmer, I'm going to deal with it better. So this is spiritual bhakti.
So if we have philosophical understanding, then problems will make us better, not bitter. When problems come in our life, we become bitter. Why is this happening like this? Why is that happening like this? Some people, they are filled with so much negativity, so much resentment, so much hate towards the world.
But devotees are not like that. We are aware that this world is a place of misery, but devotees also have hope, have energy, because they know beyond this world, which is a distressful place, is the Lord, who is the source of supreme relief, supreme joy. And our eyes are fixed on Him.
So the problems can make us bitter if we are not philosophically astute, if we are not philosophically grounded in our understanding. But the problems can make us better, because we will take deeper shelter of Krishna, we will get greater realization of the glory of Krishna. So now, what happened is, the prajavasis, they are at the spiritual level of bhakti, but at the topmost spiritual.
So they don't take shelter of Krishna to get relief from problems. They are absorbed in Krishna. Sometimes some people think that they look at Gopi's love for Krishna, and they think this is just like an ordinary boy's-girl's love.
Sometimes a young couple comes to a temple, and they look at Radha Krishna on the altar, and they think there is a couple there, and we are a couple here. So, they may think that this is just like that, but it is entirely different, because this is at the material level of reality, and this is at the spiritual level of reality. And what does that mean? How does it make a difference? The difference is that, actually, when we form relationships in the world, we actually form relationships based on superficial.
We form relationships based on what I get from Radha Krishna. A person looks very attractive, then I get pleasure looking at somebody's beauty, or somebody is very wealthy, then I get pleasure, and now this person will provide me so much. So, our relationship is based on largely on selfishness.
And that's why, whatever I am getting for my pleasure, stops from the other person, and there is no need for this relationship. So, now, the relationship of Krishna with the Gopis is at an entirely different level. The Gopis are not going to Krishna because they have problems and they want relief from Krishna's problems.
They want relief from the problem. What they are going to Krishna for is to serve Krishna. And this is most beautifully demonstrated in the past time, when Narada Muni is told by Krishna, Krishna says, I have got a headache.
Narada Muni is surprised, Krishna, you have a headache? What can I do for you? Actually, Krishna can never get a headache. His head is transcendental. So, it cannot get any disease.
But this is a Leela that Krishna is performing so that he can reveal something. So, Krishna is God, but often Vrindavan, Krishna does not act like God. So, Leela means, I was talking about Yoga Maya, Yoga Maya means, the devotees are no longer, it's illusion which intensifies devotion.
And that illusion is both ways. The devotees forget that Krishna is God, and Krishna also doesn't act as if he is God. That is also because of Yoga Maya.
So, Krishna sometimes performs Leela, and Krishna says that, I want, the only medicine that will remove me of my headache is what? The dust of my devotee's lotus feet. And Narada Muni goes to various devotees, and when they hear that Krishna is having a headache, they are very distressed. But when Krishna says, can you give me the dust of your lotus feet? They are horrified.
He says, we are going to take the dust of Krishna's feet on our head? Normally, if we are worshipping the deity also, even if, say, we are in a room where there is some picture of Krishna, we don't want our feet to touch a picture of Krishna also. It's an offense. So, it's not to speak of taking the dust from somebody's feet and having it applied to Krishna's head.
It's sacrilegious. We can't even think about it. So, they say, we can't do it.
Then they go to the Gopis. Finally, Narada Muni goes to the Gopis. And he tells the Gopis, Krishna is having a headache.
The Gopis say, what? Krishna is having a headache? What can we do for him? He says, Krishna needs the dust of his devotee's lotus feet. So, the Gopis immediately run to Jamuna. They put their legs in the Jamuna, and they take their legs out, and they put their leg in the Vraja, and they take their own Jadhar, and they take all the dust and put it in a big, big bag.
They take this. And Narada Muni thinks that, maybe these Gopis, they don't understand what they are doing. They don't understand Krishna.
They don't understand the consequences of what they are doing. Do you understand? That actually, the dust of your feet touches Krishna's head. It's a great offense.
You'll go to hell. So, the Gopis say, of course. We know we'll go to hell.
But, we are not afraid of going to hell. For us, the thought that Krishna is having a headache, that itself is the worst hell. We can't tolerate Krishna having a headache.
Whatever it takes to give Krishna relief from the headache, we'll do that. Now, don't waste time. Go immediately.
The Gopis love for Krishna so great, that they are not going to get Krishna to get relief from problems. They think that the purpose of their existence is to relieve Krishna of problems. And if for that purpose, they have to take a problem, they are ready to take that up.
So, they are aware that Krishna is God, but that is not in the forefront of their awareness. That is the background. So, sometimes, our view is shaped by our world view.
So, from that point, I went to the four levels of bhakti. The point is, the Gopis, they see Krishna, even when they know that Krishna is God, they say, Sakha, O Dei, You are our Sakha, You are our friend, O Krishna. And they want to serve Him.
Even the Gopis are saying, Krishna, we are dying in separation from You, please come back. It is not that they are concerned for themselves. They know that, not only do they love Krishna, Krishna loves them.
And Krishna wants to perform pastimes with them. So, when they want Krishna to come, it is not for their pleasure. It is for Krishna's pleasure.
They want to serve Krishna. Such is the exalted love of the Gopis for Krishna. Such is the exalted level of vraja bhakti.
And when Krishna is leaving Vrindavan and going, at that time, what does Krishna do? Akrura sees the intense love of the Vrajavasis for Krishna. He is moved profoundly. But then they come to the banks of Yamuna.
And there Krishna says, I will go and sip water. I will cleanse myself. So, then Krishna and Balram go and then Akrura says, let me go and take bath over there.
So, Akrura goes to take bath. And Akrura also wants to do his Gayatri. Krishna and Balram at this point are not initiated.
They are small children at this point. So, he goes into the water to take bath. And then he says Krishna and Balram are over there.
He is surprised. He comes out and he says Krishna and Balram are in the chair. So, how are they here? And he says Krishna and Balram are here also.
He is surprised and confused. He goes inside and he sees again. He is wondering whether Krishna and Balram will be there.
And what does he see over there? He sees Shesha Nag. He says Ananda. Shesha is there.
Huge fog. White like snow. White like the moon.
And on that bed of Shesha, who is lying is not Vishnu but Krishna. He says Vishnu, this is Krishna. And he says there are the many Gandharvas, the Charas, the Devatas.
They are all offering prayers. And then Akrura realizes. Akrura knows that Krishna is God.
But then he is seeing Krishna in the mood of devotion. Mood of Raja. Where he is seen just as a lovable person.
So, then he offers profound prayers to Krishna. Krishna says nobody can know you. Even Brahmaji can't know you.
You have appeared in so many incarnations for delivering the world. Please O Lord, deliver me. And Krishna smiles and blesses him.
And Akrura comes out. And he says again Krishna and Balram are lying there on the chair. And they act as if they are not sea-moon.
As if nothing happened underwater. But he understands it is their Meena. So, what is happening? Krishna has given Akrura a glimpse of the sweetness of Vrindavan.
But then again he gives him a glimpse of the greatness of God. So, right now when we are developing our relationship with Krishna. I will conclude with this point.
This is how it was very relevant for us in our Sadhana Bhakti. There are two aspects of God that we need to know. That is God's sweetness and God's greatness.
Understanding God's greatness brings submission. Yes, God is great. And I should serve him.
He is my master. I am his servant. So, we understand God's greatness and that brings submission.
Along with that we also have to understand God's sweetness. And appreciating God's sweetness brings affection. Affection.
Affection means we feel attracted when we hear about Krishna's Vrindavan pastimes. How Krishna is God himself. But he cries in fear when he sees Mother Yashoda about to beat him.
He is tied up by Mother Yashoda. These beautiful moving pastimes of Krishna. They actually fill our heart with affection.
And when this combination is there. Then what happens? When we understand Krishna's greatness and his sweetness. There is a combination of submission and affection.
And when there is a combination of submission and affection then there is dedication. Dedication means we practice bhakti in a committed way, in a dedicated way. I was in Washington where I attended a conference.
It was the 10th conference of the Christian Vaishnav Interfaith Dialogue. And there were many very thoughtful, spiritually evolved Christians were also there. And we had very nice discussions.
One of the Christians, he was telling that in our tradition, we stress a lot on how much God loves us. That God loves us so much that he gave his self-regarding son Jesus. Who was crucified for, who died for our sins.
And we focus on God's love for us. But he says, what I have learned by associating with Vaishnavas. Is that not just how much God loves us.
But how much we love God. That means in the Christian tradition they don't have the kind of systematic, clearly defined sadhana that we have. Sadhana means we come and hear about Krishna, we chant his holy names, we worship the deities.
This sadhana is a means by which we in a dedicated way connect with Krishna. And we become purified by the connection with Krishna. And then our sublime spiritual attraction to Krishna will awaken.
So we need to have both sides of understanding. That Krishna does love us and his love for us is that he is always present in our hearts. No matter what we do, he is never going to abandon us.
In fact, one of the most hope-giving verses of the Bhagavad Gita is अपिचे सुद्धिराचारो भजिते मानने भाग साधुरेवसं अन्तर्वियसं ने परसिपोरिसार। Krishna says in 9.13 of the Bhagavad Gita that No matter how sinful an activity my devotee may perform, still I consider him saintly. Now what does this mean? That does not mean that I do any sinful activity and still I should consider him saintly. It's not like that.
It is Krishna who is showing his magnanimity. He is telling that there is nothing that we can ever do that can make Krishna stop loving us. There is no sin, no offense, no atrocity, nothing that we can do which will make Krishna stop loving us.
Krishna's love for us is unflinching and unfailing. He will always be there with us no matter how badly we fall, how terribly we fall, still he will be there. But that is his love for us.
What is our love for him? That is also important. Krishna's love for us is unconditional. It does not depend on whether we love him or not.
But Krishna's love for us is unconditional. But our experience of his love is conditional. What does that mean? The sun always gives light.
But whether I see the light or not depends on whether my eyes are open or not. So like that, if my love is caught in worldly things, then I will not experience Krishna's love. If I am too attached to things, then what happens? Because I am so attached to things that if I get that particular thing, then I think God loves me.
If I don't get that thing, I say God doesn't love me. So our experience of Krishna's love is conditional to our consciousness. So we may not feel loved right now because we are too attached to other things.
And our whole conception of life of God is also centered through those things. But Krishna always loves us. And the whole process of sadhana bhakti is meant to raise us from the level of cultural bhakti to philosophical bhakti to spiritual bhakti.
And ultimately we all will come to the level of raja bhakti. Srila Prabhupada was at that level of raja bhakti. He was in Vrindavan.
And when he left Vrindavan to go to the west, he carried Vrindavan with him in his heart. And he manifested Vrindavan wherever he went. Prabhupada's raja bhakti was what? He was not constantly talking about Krishna's Vrindavan pastimes.
He was not talking about esoteric past stories about Krishna which no one has heard. Nowadays what has happened? Krishna has become a fairly attractive cultural commodity also. There are many…I had gone to one bookstore.
My books have been published by one mainstream publisher. So I had gone for a book launch. So in that bookstore I saw one whole section on bhajans.
It's a whole one section just on bhajans. Wow! I didn't know this bhajans. It's good that people are hearing bhajans, singing bhajans.
But then what happens? It's simply culture. So sometimes I like to hear some Anup Joloda bhajans about Krishna. And sometimes I like to hear Bollywood songs.
So there is no understanding of the difference between material and spiritual. Of course, hearing some bhajans is better than hearing some mundane romantic songs. But the point is there is a qualitative difference between the two.
And if we don't understand that, then our bhakti is still very unstable. So when we get this philosophical understanding, then we understand devotion is seen primarily through dedication. So how much are we dedicated to the practice of bhakti? Chanting the holy names, doing services to Krishna, trying to understand the philosophy, trying to attract other people to Krishna.
That is our dedication. And that is the evidence of our devotion. So Prabhupada's devotion was in his dedication.
At the age of 70, when Krishna played a flute and called the Gopis, what did the Gopis do? Sarva dharman parityajya maanekam sharanam vraja The Gopis gave up all their duties. They had their family members. They had their duties to family members.
For a woman to go to leave one's home at night and to go to see some other man, that's considered, especially in a conservative society, it's considered a great shame. Such a woman might be rejected. If she is married, her husband may reject her.
If she is unmarried, she may never get married after that. So for a woman, her chastity is considered to be her greatest treasure. And the Gopis, what are they demonstrating? When they give up everything for Krishna and they go to Krishna, they are actually demonstrating this force.
For the sake of God, we need to give up the bad. But for the sake of God, if required, we need to give up the good also. The Gopis demonstrate sarva dharman parityajya.
They give up everything for Krishna. So, that was an act of great courage for the Gopis to go to Krishna. But for Srila Prabhupada also, at the age of 70, to leave Vrindavan and go to the western world, to go from the capital of devotion, which is Vrindavan, to the lower east side, the Bowery in America, which is like the capital of degradation.
So, Prabhupada went from the capital of devotion to the capital of degradation. He was also exhibiting sarva dharman parityajya. He was giving up the dharma, normally thought of as a person who should live in Vrindavan and should just die in Vrindavan.
A person who is a sanyasi should not go outside the holy land of India because that person may get contaminated. A person who is in the last stages of life should just focus on staying in the spiritual environment. These are all very valuable dharmas.
But Prabhupada was concerned, what will please Krishna the most? Sharing Krishna's message with the world is what will please him. So, when we follow Srila Prabhupada, when we try to practice Krishna Bhakti in the mood of dedication, then we will find a profound enrichment guiding us. We will find an enormous transformation happening in our life.
So, once Prabhupada in a lecture said, what is Krishna Consciousness? He said, always chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, that is Krishna Consciousness. Always think of Krishna, that is Krishna Consciousness. Remembering Krishna's Vrindavan pastime, that is Krishna Consciousness.
All this is true. But Prabhupada gave a definition of Krishna Consciousness that applies at our level. Prabhupada said, when we go into the temple, we look at the deities, and if we feel, or looking at the deities, that Krishna is asking us, Krishna is asking us, what are you doing for me? If we feel that we are meant to do something for Krishna, and Krishna is asking us, what are you doing for me? If we have that feeling, then we are Krishna Conscious.
So, if you have that mood, Krishna, I am your servant. Sometimes there will be problems, sometimes there will be no problems. Sometimes life will be comfortable, sometimes life will be uncomfortable.
But whatever happens, Krishna, I am your servant. Then we will confidently move forward in bhakti. Krishna das, ei vishwas, korle to aara dukkha nahi.
If I identify myself as a student, and I don't get good marks in my exam, I will be shattered. But if I identify myself as a servant of Krishna, who is doing the service of study, if I want to do the studies well, because it is service to Krishna. But my primary identity is not as a student.
My primary identity is, I am a servant of Krishna. Then I do my studies responsibly, diligently, I do it as a service. Somehow something goes wrong, I won't be shattered by that.
Because I am rooted in something higher. I am not living at the ground floor of reality, where if I don't get marks in my exam, if I fail in my exam, if I don't get a job, I think my life is over and I become suicidal. No.
We live at the first level, first floor of reality. I am a servant of Krishna. And whatever responsibilities we have, we do them diligently.
But we don't get overpowered by them. We don't get bogged down by them. We do them in a mood of service to Krishna.
So by situating ourselves in the mood of service to Krishna, not only direct service to Krishna, which we do in the temple, but also redefining our whole life in service to Krishna. By that we can get a level of steadiness and strength that can help us to go through even the toughest storms that life may send our way. This is the night Krishna appeared 5000 years ago.
It is the midnight, the darkest of dark times. That is the time when Krishna appeared. So like that sometimes in our life when there are difficulties, in the darkest of dark times, we just ask Krishna, when will this darkness end, when will the sun come? Yes, the sun will come in due course.
But in the darkest of dark times if you take shelter of Krishna, just as Krishna appeared in that cellar at midnight, like that Krishna will appear in our heart. And Krishna will elevate us and Krishna will motivate us. So I will summarize.
I spoke today about how Krishna when he came to Uddhava, he came to Krishna and he left Krishna. So he left with Krishna. The gopis were so terribly devastated by separation from Krishna.
I am talking about Vraja Bhakti. I talk about various levels of Bhakti. So Vraja Bhakti is at such a high level that at that level they are in illusion.
Normal Maya is which disconnects us from Krishna. But the Vraja Vasis are in Yoga Maya. It is the illusion that intensifies the connection with Krishna.
Yoga Maya is an oxymoron like courageous coward or brilliant fool. So I talk about suicide being an act of courageous cowardice. Then what is this Vraja Bhakti actually? And Akrodha was so astonished by that everybody in the Bhagavatam admires this Bhakti.
Vraja Bhakti is the mood where because of their devotion to God, they know that Krishna is God but that goes to the background. So they know that Krishna is present in the super soul in their hearts. Krishna is the Lord Vishnu whom Brahma had prayed to.
Krishna is the person who was born in the Yadu dynasty. But you are our Sakha. So that love is in the forefront of their consciousness.
Our view is shaped by our world view. Our consciousness exists at multiple levels. And we can be aware of many different things.
So Bhakti is not just about changing our view. Don't look at the sense objects, look at Krishna. That's true but Bhakti is more about changing our world view.
And when that happens then automatically our view will change. Even when we look at the world, we look at the world spiritually. If our world view is not changed, even if we look at Krishna, we look at Krishna material.
In that connection I talked about four levels. Do you remember the four levels of Bhakti? Cultural Bhakti, Philosophical Bhakti, Spiritual Bhakti and then Rajya Bhakti. So Cultural Bhakti means everybody goes to temple so I am going to temple.
Like Janmashtami people come to temple. The problem with that is when the culture changes, we stop doing it. That's why people who think of God simply as a provider and it's a culture to go and ask him for help, they don't even see who is the worshipper of the deity, just they pray.
And if the culture becomes to worship some semi-god, some person who claims to be god, then people start worshipping that also. So normally our actions are determined by four factors. One is culture, the other is tradition.
We have always done it, so we are doing it. Now tradition can sometimes guide us properly, sometimes it can misguide us. I give the example of the caste system.
How the caste system is discriminatory and although it has come from the tradition, it is a deviation within the tradition. And within that same tradition, there is a tradition of reform also. That is Bhakti.
Many of the Bhakti saints were persecuted by the upper caste people and the Bhakti saints worked against the persecution and they made the spiritual wisdom available to everyone irrespective of whatever caste they belong to. That is the university of Bhakti. Krishna says that everybody can come to me and they can attain your supreme destination.
Then I talked about, third is mood. So, mood means I feel like it, so I do it. And our mind's moods are notoriously fickle.
I talked about how people want to marry based on initial attraction, which they call a love marriage. But often what they call as love is simply infatuation. The same person, they say that I cannot live without you initially.
After a few years, what happens? I can't live with you. They fight and they just can't stay together. So, what happens at first sight is not as important as what happens after many sights.
So, for a love, for a loving relationship to be there, we need not just sentiment, but we need commitment. And our mind's moodiness can make us tossed here and there. I talked about how in India we may feel that things are very restrictive.
We cannot have free mixing among boys and girls. But the flip side of that is so much anxiety, so many breakups, so much turmoil that happens. So, I talked about how this boy was suicidal because of a breakup.
But when he somehow came to Krishna, then again when there was a breakup, he took shelter of Krishna. And that which could have been the most shattering experience of his life became the most sublimating experience of his life. Because he was absorbed in Krishna.
So, that's why I talked about how problems when they come, if we have proper philosophical understanding, then problems will help us rise upwards in spiritual level. Otherwise when problems come and it seems Krishna is not solving the problems, it will go down to the mundane level of reality again. So, logical is good.
We use our logic to understand the basic principles of Bhakti and practice Bhakti. We can come to the level of philosophy. And philosophy helps us to understand that we are not practicing Bhakti just because many other people are doing it, because it's our culture, because it's our tradition.
It's because that's who we really are. Why do we have a longing to live forever? It's because the soul is meant to live forever. It's like a child of an African tribal family wanting pizza.
That desire does not come from the circumstance. Our desire that we want to live forever cannot come from our circumstance. Because nothing in our circumstance lasts forever.
We have desire to live forever and we have desire to love forever. The romance movies, the romance novels talk about happily ever after. Although there is no ever after.
We all want to die. So, why do we have this desire to love forever? Because the soul is a part of Krishna whom we are meant to love forever. And yes, in this world, there may be some people who may attract us.
We should see that their attractiveness is a spark of Krishna's attractiveness. And some horizontal relationships may work out by our past karma. Some may not work out.
But whatever love, whatever joy we may get in any horizontal relationship, that and much more we will get in a vertical relationship with Krishna. So, we focus on that vertical relationship. And rather than demanding that Krishna solve our problems, instead of expecting release from problems, Bhakti gives us what? Relief amidst problems.
So, with that relief amidst problems, we can gain conviction that there is a higher level of reality. At the ground floor, there is flood. But at the first floor, there is no flood.
So, like that, there will be problems in our life. But if we can become absorbed in Krishna, we will feel relief amidst the problems also. I'll give you an example.
When I had a fracture, by reciting Gita verses, I felt myself protected. So, we all can have these experiences. And rather than being problem conscious, often, we say, I have a practical problem, I have to deal with it practically.
But if you just keep thinking about the problem, the problem keeps becoming bigger and bigger. And resentment of reality hurts more than reality. I have flu and I cannot go for a picnic.
Yes, having a flu is a difficult thing. But it's not constantly painful. If my mind is dwelling, why can't I go to the picnic? Then I become constantly miserable.
So, the best way to solve a problem, the first step to solving any problem is to stop thinking about the problem. And to stop thinking about the problem, problems come with a mental glue. And it's not so easy to stop thinking about them.
Like this boy who kept thinking about India losing to Pakistan for three days. So, we need to change our attachment. What we are attached to, we'll think about.
So, the process of bhakti is meant to make us attached to Krishna. So, by regular practice of sadhana bhakti, as you become attached to Krishna, then even when problems come, rather than thinking about the problems, we'll be able to direct our thoughts towards Krishna. And relief from problems is Krishna's blessing.
But problems will come, problems will go. A far greater blessing is relief amidst problems. It will convince us that the spiritual level of reality is for real.
And that conviction is what will help us to practice bhakti wholeheartedly. Spiritual bhakti means the bhakti which is based on spiritual understanding, which is based on spiritual experiences. And we talk about vajra bhakti, which is normally people go to God to get relief from problems or relief amidst problems.
The vrajavasis, they are ready to take up problems for Krishna's sake. So, the gopis, to relieve Krishna's headache, they are ready to go to hell. In fact, the information that Krishna has headache is like help for them.
And that is the exalted level of their love for Krishna. And it is that Krishna, He wants to offer that love for all of us. And so, when Krishna is going back to Akrura, He has given him the glimpse of His sweetness in Vrindavan.
And then He gives a glimpse of His greatness, when He shows Himself as Vishnu and Krishna. So, knowing God's greatness brings submission. Knowing God's sweetness brings affection.
And the combination of affection and submission brings dedication. So, Prabhupada, He demonstrated this kind of dedication. So many problems, normally problems cause a decline in our ambitions.
But Prabhupada, no matter how many problems faced, His ambition to serve Krishna kept growing bigger and bigger. Because He was not functioning at this level of reality. He was in spiritual reality and He was serving Krishna in this world.
So, Prabhupada, just as the gopis left everything when Krishna played a flute and called them. So, Prabhupada left Vrindavan to go to the west. Because he wanted to fulfill Krishna's mission of sharing spiritual wisdom with the world.
So, we need to be aware of how much Krishna loves us. As Christianity often talks a lot about. So, there is nothing that we can ever do that can stop Krishna from loving us.
At the same time, we also need to love Krishna in a dedicated way. That is the process of sadhana bhakti. Whether I feel like it or not, I do the activities of bhakti diligently.
And our Krishna consciousness is, when we go in front of Krishna, Krishna is asking, What are you doing for me? So, that means, our direct devotional activities and whatever roles we have in our life, we do them in a role of service. We study, but we don't identify ourselves as students. If we identify ourselves as students, if we get bad marks, we will feel so shattered that we may become depressed, we may become suicidal.
But if we identify ourselves as servants of Krishna, this is my service, I will do it well. But if that doesn't work out, I am still a servant of Krishna and I will find some other way to keep serving Krishna. So, we can have, we can have commitment without entanglement by our connection with Krishna.
And thus, on Janmashtami day, as Prabhupada said, we can pray to Krishna, Krishna please let my life become an offering of service to you. Let me serve you to the best of my capacity. And when we have this mode of service, we will find Krishna is always there with us to help us go through whatever life sends our way.
Thank you very much. Shri Krishna Bhagwan ki Jai Shri Krishna Janmashtami Maha Mahotsav ki Jai Shri Prabhupada ki Jai Gaur Bhakta Vrinda ki Jai Itai Gaur Premanande Do you have, does anyone have questions? Anybody have a question? Okay. Shri Krishna Bhagwan, you explained that the cultural bhakti, philosophical bhakti, so when we stay in a Christ atmosphere, so we have set of gurus, set of sadhana, so we don't try to go out, we try to build up only.
So, our cultural bhakti or… Oh, okay. So, when we practice bhakti in our youth centers, we have a set of practices which are the culture. So, are we practicing cultural bhakti or are we practicing spiritual bhakti? See, the spiritual and the cultural are not opposite.
At a spiritual level also there is culture. We are not saying rejecting the culture. We are saying that we understand the culture, we don't practice bhakti only because it is a culture.
See, there is, there is what you could say, there is a pious or religious culture and there is spiritual culture. When there is a pious culture, that means that yes, Bhaktivinoda Thakur talks about this in his Chaitanya Shiksha Manjas, the people who are pious, they think, there are many enjoyable things in life and religion is also one of them. There are many good things we do, we have sports, we have movies, we have hiking, we have this, we have that, and religion is also one of them.
So, culture can also be a good, this is religious culture. Spiritual culture means that culture which helps us to spiritualize our consciousness. Now, some practices may be similar.
If you see generally, a major difference between Hinduism as it exists in the broader Indian country and Krishna Bhakti as we practice within the bhakti tradition is that for most people, most Hindus, bhakti is a part of their life. But for us, bhakti is our life. Bhakti is our life means whatever we do, we see that in a mood of bhakti.
Our families, our jobs, our studies, everything. So, it's not that we have to give up the culture. Rather, the culture is important.
But I am talking about what is the intention with which we are practicing bhakti. If I am staying in youth center and I wake up in the morning because everybody else is waking up, and tomorrow I am not staying in the youth center, then I am staying alone, nobody is waking up, why should I wake up? No, I am waking up, not just because everybody else is waking up, I am waking up because I want to go closer to Krishna, and morning time is a very important time for coming closer to Krishna. So, if I have that understanding, then there is individual practice of bhakti.
We have to have individual conviction for practicing bhakti. But at the same time, the individual conviction alone cannot sustain us always. We need community.
Prabhupada offered not just Krishna consciousness, he offered a society for Krishna consciousness. Because to be Krishna conscious alone is very difficult. So, there could be different kinds of cultures.
There could be the materialistic culture, which is godless, which is sensual, which is sinful. That is definitely against bhakti. There is pious culture, which is favorable to bhakti, but they say, don't do too much bhakti.
Little bit you can do. You don't have to do 16 rounds. Just wake up and chant a few names of God.
That is enough. That is favorable, but that is not spiritual bhakti. Spiritual culture would mean that that cultural environment, which inspires us to practice spiritual life seriously.
So, what Prabhupada offers through the temples and through the centers associated with the temples, is culture that is at the spiritual level. So, there is sensual culture, there is pious culture, there is spiritual culture. So, we definitely want spiritual culture.
What I was talking about cultural bhakti means, bhakti at the level of cultural piety. That is not a sustainable level. We want to rise from that to spiritual level.
But at the spiritual level also there is culture and we practice that. Culture is something which is present for everyone. Even people who are very materialistic, people who are very godless.
Say, when people have birthdays, they blow candles. That is their culture. So, culture is there everywhere.
We are not rejecting culture. We are saying that culture is not the sole motivation for our practice of bhakti. It is our personal conviction, it is our personal intention, which can be inspired by the culture or which can be obstructed by the culture.
So, bhakti is an individual process which is best practiced collectively. But it is an individual process. Does it answer your question? Hare Krishna.
Thank you for a nice class. One question is that you were mentioning that how one should be philosophically convinced so that we get relief from problems. Relief from its problems.
When we get stuck in a problem, if we are convinced philosophically, then we get some relief. But sometimes it is observed that we have to do services also. Okay.
So, in practicing with sadhana bhakti, we have to balance service and also philosophical understanding. Initially, we don't have that much taste for services and our conviction in the process. So, we lean to the gaining knowledge and gaining philosophical understanding.
So, how we can initially balance this whole thing through the services also and simultaneously convincing in the philosophy. Krishna consciousness philosophy. Yeah, good question.
So, when we practice bhakti, how can we balance the many services that we have to do with cultivating philosophical understanding. Generally, it is not so easy to study philosophy constantly. Unless a person is very intellectual, which we may fancy ourselves to be, but most of us are not.
But actually, the mind always grumbles. No, I don't get enough time to study philosophy. But then, if you are told next one week you have nothing to do.
Just study philosophy. You may study for one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, then you will say what else can I do. You will not be able to study.
So, when we are talking about philosophical understanding, it does not necessarily have to mean huge quantity of time. It is more of the quality of time which we put in. Yes, we do here classes regularly, we read books regularly, we have some sadhana program.
And we should get proper understanding through those channels itself. And the important thing is that we not neglect this. Bhakti is just about bhav, bhavna.
There is emotion. No, I don't care about this much. No, we should hear the classes so that we get clear understanding.
So, it is usually not so easy to study constantly. So, services are also very important part of our spiritual growth. In fact, our primary connection with Krishna is through service.
And over a period of time, we should also be able to see our shastric study also as a service. So, I am studying shastra as a service to Krishna. In 18.17, Bhagwanita Krishna says that अधिष्यते चयेमां धर्म्यं सम्वादमामयो ज्यान यज्ञेन तेनाः इष्टस्यामिति मेमतिः Krishna says that those who worship, those who study the sacred conversation of ours, they are worshipping only with their intentions.
That means, study is not just an intellectual activity. It is involving our intelligence. Just as we perform aarti with a diya, with flowers, with incense.
Like that Krishna says, when we are studying shastra, we are performing aarti with our intelligence. So, even our study of shastra, our philosophical understanding can also be done in the mood of service. But sometimes when we study, we feel that I know so much, that I create a sense of intellectual superiority over others.
So, it's not so easy to see study as a service. And that's why we do other services also. Now, over a period of time, initially, we try to follow whatever guidelines devotees provide us.
Okay, you do this much service, you do this time you do service, this time you do studies. And we move on. But over a period of time, we also understand our inclinations, we understand our capacities.
And if we find that studying is what gives us most conviction, and through studying also we can do good services. So, through studying we can share Krishna's message, we can write articles, we can give deeper understanding of different issues. Then study itself may become a major service for us.
And that is also good. So, we shouldn't see study and service as two separate things. Study is also a part of service.
And service also gives us deeper realization of what we study. And this knowledge is not just intellectual. Intellectual is important, but the intellectual understanding has to seep within.
So, when we hear, at that time things enter our ears. When we contemplate, things enter our head. When we apply, things enter our heart.
And applying essentially means serving. Because the essential message of Krishna is that we are servants of Krishna. We are meant to serve.
So, we can see study as a service, and we can see service also as a part of study. Because served by serving, the knowledge that we have got which has come to our head will enter into our heart. So, just as when we eat food, the food is not just to be eaten, it needs to be digested so that it becomes usable energy for us.
So, like that, for digesting that food, we need the proper digestive enzymes in the stomach. So, similarly, when we hear, when we contemplate, it's like food entering the stomach. The knowledge enters our head.
But our service attitude is the enzyme that digests spiritual knowledge. And that takes that knowledge from the head to the heart. That transforms that knowledge from just intellectual understanding to spiritual determination.
What we need for growing in our spiritual life is spiritual determination. Yes, this is Maya, and I'm going to say no to it. This is Krishna, and I'm going to say yes to it.
This can come by intellectual understanding, but it doesn't come by intellectual understanding alone. When we apply what we know and try to serve, then through that service, we move towards Krishna. So, in that way, we can initially do whatever services we are told to do, and whatever time we get for studying and hearing, we do that diligently.
And over a period of time, if our nature is very intellectual, and we want to study more, and that becomes our service, then we can study more also. So, this is not just intellectual accumulation of information. It is the intellectual assimilation that will lead to spiritual conviction.
That is what we are talking about when we say practicing philosophical bhakti to rise to the spiritual level of bhakti. Does that answer the question? Yes. Okay, repeat the question.
I'll repeat it. Hare Krishna, Guruji. Hare Krishna.
Where is the mic? Please raise your hand. Okay. Hare Krishna, you said that we have to, when we are on the spiritual platform, we have to see our, besides Catholic studies, our talent is also a service.
So, how we can execute that? To some degree, we have to identify that I am a student. You said that when we are on spiritual platform, we don't identify ourselves that we are just student, otherwise we will be frustrated. We identify ourselves as servant of unspirit soul, and we have to execute material duties also as a service.
How we can practically execute that? Okay. So, if your study is doing our service of studying to Krishna, how can we not identify ourselves as students, and still do our service, still do our studies well? So, when I say I don't identify as a student, that means that that is not our foundational identity. See, there is the foundational identity and there is functional identity.
Functional identity means we have to perform various functions in the world. And for that purpose, we have identities. In Bhagavad Gita itself, 2.13, Krishna tells Arjuna that, देहिनोस्मिने था देहे कौमारं यवनंजरः था देहां तरप्राप्ति धीरस्तत्रनमोहियते Krishna says that you are not the body, you are the soul.
The wise person who understands this is not disturbed. And Krishna in the very next verse, 2.14, what does he say? मात्रास्परिशास्तु कौंतेय शिन्दोष्टु सुखदुखड़ा भागमापायि नौनिक्त्यस्ताम्सि तिक्षस्वभारता So, Krishna is identifying Arjuna with two names, Kaunteya and Bharata. Kaunteya is the son of Kunti.
If Arjuna is not the body, then how is he the son of Kunti? If Arjuna is not the body, then how is he the descendant of Bharata dynasty? So, it is not that the functional identity is to be rejected. The functional identity is an identity. You have to accept that.
But, we don't consider that our only identity. So, we have our foundational identity, which is our soul. But, as a soul, we may be doing various things in our life.
And, if I am going to apply for a passport to go abroad, and if somebody asks, what is your name? I am not saying I am a spirit soul. I am in a particular country. I am known by a particular name as a citizen.
So, I leave the functional identity over there. So, our functional identity is not to be rejected. But, it is to be subordinated and integrated with our fundamental identity.
So, while doing activities, we do remember our functional identity. And, we have to act appropriately according to the functional identity also. So, as students, when I say don't identify, that means that doesn't become our primary identity.
See, primary identity means that by which we define ourselves. So, for example, say if a boy-girl have a relationship with each other. And, a man-woman have a relationship with each other as a husband-wife.
So, if a person defines oneself, if a man defines, I am the husband of this wife, of this woman. Or, if the wife defines herself, I am the husband of this man. And, suppose there is some problem in the relationship.
And, then what happens is, it's not just that the relationship is broken, but people themselves feel unworthy. People feel rejected. People feel as if their self-esteem has been shattered.
So, we all get our sense of self-worth and self-identity from our relationships. So, if my primary, if my sense of self-identity and self-worth is coming from, say, I am born in a Brahmin family. And, then I come to know, actually my parents had adopted me and I was born in a Shudra family.
Who am I? So, I get totally disoriented. So, what happens is, all of us, we get our sense of self-identity and self-worth from some family. We are relational creatures.
So, we get our sense of self-identity and self-worth from our relationships. So, if somebody rejects us in a relationship, then it's not just that the relationship is broken, but our sense of self-worth and self-identity also gets taken away. So, if we identify ourselves first and foremost as servants of Krishna, then that means, my sense of self-worth and self-identity comes not because this person loves me, not because this person respects me, not because this person thinks so good about me.
My sense of self-worth and self-identity comes because Krishna loves me, because I am a part of Krishna. So, that is our defining relationship. But, as far as functioning in this world, we have to act according to whatever function we are performing.
So, yes, I am this person's son, I am this person's brother, I am this person's relative, I am a citizen of this country. These are also roles which we are playing. We have functional identities.
So, if I am a student, I do identify myself as a student, but that is my functional identity. So, if sometimes we may study well, but still we don't get good marks in the exam, okay, we see that this is a service which I was meant to do, and somehow this service didn't work out well. But that doesn't mean that I am worthless.
Yes, as a student, studying at a particular phase in my life, yes, I did not do so well. But I am much bigger than this particular event. I am an eternal being.
And therefore, I can see myself, see the big picture beyond this particular event. So, when I say don't identify as a student, it means that our defining identity, the identity that brings us our self-worth and self-esteem, that should not be any contextual identity. That should be our central identity, that is I am a soul who is a part of Krishna.
Okay. In your lecture, you mentioned that when we will understand the greatness of Krishna, we will be submissive. And when we will understand the sweetness of Krishna, we will be affectionate.
So, how we can understand this? Greatness and sweetness, how we can take this? So, how does understanding greatness lead to submission? And how does understanding sweetness lead to affection? See, submission comes when we feel that somebody is worth submitting to. Say, if somebody is playing cricket. And another player comes along and says, you know, you are batting like this, don't stand like this.
Stand like this, stretch your legs like this, raise your bat like this. Who are you to tell me? But if, say, somebody like Sachin Tendulkar comes and tells me, stand like this. You know, he is a great batsman.
He is telling me he has experience, he has expertise. There must be some reason. At least, we will be submissive.
We will ask, why are you telling me like this? How will this help? And we will be willing to learn. So, basically, submission means that we are ready to take instruction, we are ready to take guidance, we are ready to mold ourselves. According to what somebody else is telling us.
And that submission comes when we understand the greatness of that person. So, similarly, when we understand Krishna's greatness, when we understand that Krishna is the wisest of all wise people. In fact, whatever wisdom I have, whatever intelligence I have, that also has come from Krishna.
Then, if Krishna is giving us some guidance and instruction, we will be willing to take that. So, appreciating Krishna's greatness gives us reason to be submissive to him. Because we understand he is far more wiser than me.
He is far more experienced than me. He is far more expert than me. He sees much further than me.
So, therefore, this is how understanding his greatness brings submission. And as far as understanding sweetness is concerned, see, normally our emotions, the personal emotions we feel when we see somebody as a person. Say for example, we may see the Prime Minister of India.
And the Prime Minister of India is a very powerful person. And we feel he is a very powerful person. We have some veneration, some respect for that person.
But then, when we see the Prime Minister of India, he goes to his home and he bows down to his mother and he takes the blessings of his mother, then we see what? We don't see him just as a powerful entity. We see him as a loving person. And that also increases our affection.
He is also a person. So, like that, when we see Krishna not just as God. So, for example, when we understand that somebody is a judge, when people go to a judge, they say His Excellency, His Honour.
They are very respectful. Because the judge, so much power is there in the judge's hands. Judge can decide anything.
But when a person is in the court, do they feel love for the judge? Feel respect for the judge. So, by knowing the position of the judge, what happens is? Submission comes. Yes, I should be respectful.
The judge has tremendous power. What the judge decides can shape or shatter my life. I should be submissive.
But then, if we see the judge, not in the court setting, but see the judge at home, maybe, you know, playing. He has become a carrier horse for his grandchild. And he is running.
He is such a loving person. That brings some warmth to the heart. And brings affection.
So, like that, when we see Krishna in Vrindavan, you know, Krishna plays with the Gopas and sometimes in the game when he is defeated, the Gopas say, now Krishna, you have to carry us. And Krishna carries them. So, when Brahmaji, he saw that Krishna and the Gopas, they would play with each other.
And they would see what is there in each other's tiffin. So, they would see and they would eat. And Krishna would take sometimes something from the other's tiffin.
Sometimes they would take from each other's tiffin. So, once Madhuvangal had brought some chaach, which was not so good. He was from poor family.
He said, this is not really good for Krishna. So, he went to a secret place and he was drinking it all. Krishna said, hey Madhuvangal, what are you drinking alone? He came there.
And Madhuvangal was anxious. He wanted to drink it. He drank all of it in a big gulp.
And then he drank all of it in a big gulp. Then what happened? If you drink too much water, our jaws swell up. Our cheeks swell up.
So, Krishna came and what Krishna did was, he slapped his cheeks. And it all came out. And it fell on Krishna's hands.
And Krishna started picking it up and drinking it. Licking it. And when Brahmaji saw this, he got a culture shock.
He said, how can this? This is God. How can he eat this? Normally, when you offer something, we could not offer even Jhuta to God. Here, what was because something just came out of the mouth and God is drinking it.
It is good majesty. But that is Krishna's sweetness. So, we have to understand, this is how Krishna loves his devotees.
That brings affection. So, by understanding the sweetness aspect of Krishna, there is affection that comes. By understanding his greatness aspect, the submission comes.
Yes, sir. When problems come in our life, that totally destroys us. And at the same time, we have some services to render.
And in that situation, the problems go on in the background. So, we are unable to execute the services consciously. We just do it as a part of duty.
Just like material activities. So, at this time, how can we maintain our consciousness in directing the services? So, we are facing problems. At that time, the problems constantly go on in the background.
And we may do our services, but we do it mechanically. We don't do it wholeheartedly. Yes, at the very least, doing service mechanically is better than giving up the service.
So, you have to know that Krishna is not a demanding God. He is an understanding God. Krishna understands our situation.
So, if we are having problems, He also knows it. And in spite of the problems, we are trying to serve Him. See, Krishna sees not just our emotions.
Krishna sees not just our feelings. Krishna also sees our feelings about our feelings. What does that mean? Sometimes we may be chanting and just don't feel like chanting.
Now, sometimes those feelings just come upon us. But what do we do at that time? We just think, you know, Okay, how can I get rid of this chanting and move on with my life? You are so merciful, you are manifesting your holy name. But somehow I am not feeling like chanting.
Krishna, I don't want to feel like this. Now, please help me to overcome this feeling. Please help me to put my heart.
Please help me to chant nicely. So, what is happening? The feeling is there. I don't feel like chanting.
But then what is our feeling about the feeling? Are we welcoming that or are we fighting that? So, in the Bhagavad Gita, in chapter 14, verses 20 to 23, Krishna urges us to see our feelings that come in our consciousness like visitors who come in our house. Krishna says that sometimes Prakash, sometimes illumination, sometimes we feel very good, clear understanding. Pravrutti, sometimes we feel a lot of passion.
I have to do this, I have to do that. So many things I have to do. What is this? I am just sitting here doing nothing.
Moha, sometimes we feel, what is there to do so many things? Ultimately, this world is going to continue. Just relax. Sometimes we feel lazy.
So, like that we go through different emotions. This Prakash, Pravrutti and Moha refers to three modes. Goodness, passion and energy.
So, Krishna says, sometimes these feelings will come within us, sometimes they will go away from us. So, when they come, Krishna says, don't crave for them. Don't be resentful.
Why am I feeling like this today? After it goes away, don't crave for it. Why am I not feeling like this now? Krishna says, Be situated as if detached. Don't be shaken by the modes.
Rather understand. Because of the modes, I am feeling like this. Don't be shaken by it.
Understanding that you are spiritual. Just like sometimes we may be in a room and some people come who are very friendly. Some people come who are very disagreeable.
It's not that we have to just get completely affected by that. Yes, if a disagreeable person has come, we will decide, we will talk a few words, they will be very cautious about what we speak. But our life goes on.
The disagreeable person will come and go after some time. If a friendly person comes, that doesn't mean we just give up everything and just keep chit-chatting with him. We have some things to do, but we also spend some time talking with that person.
So basically, just as sometimes different people of different dispositions come in our room and we deal with them appropriately, but that doesn't mean that we let them determine our entire life. Like that, Krishna says, different emotions will come in your consciousness. Treat them like visitors.
Our response will be shaped a little bit by them, but we don't let it determine, let that determine our response. Let that alone determine our response. So for that, we need our spiritual practices.
So sometimes, yes, we may not feel like doing, but at least we keep doing. And over a period of time, if we keep doing, now we start feeling better. That is the joy of Bhakti.
Krishna says that, यत्तर अग्रिविशमिव परिणामे उद्धोऽपम् तच्चुकं सात्मिकं प्रोप्तम् आत्मगुद्धी प्रसाधिजम् That which tastes like poison in the beginning, he says in 18.37, will taste like nectar in the end. But when will it taste like nectar? If we are actually perceiving it. Means we are doing the service and trying to have a devotional attitude.
I don't have a devotional attitude right now, but I will try to have. At least if we try, Krishna will give it to us. And gradually, that poison phase that is there.
Poison phase means, the phase where we don't feel like doing it. That poison phase will end and the nectar phase will begin. Then we start feeling like doing it.
We start feeling joyful while doing it. So yes, when problems are there, we may not be able to be wholehearted in our service. So we keep doing our service and keep praying to Krishna.
Krishna, I really want to do this service. I know this problem is there and I want to deal with this problem. But I also want to do this service.
So please give me the strength to serve you. So if we keep that mood, Krishna will help us. And we don't have to feel very bad if we are not able to wholeheartedly.
Because Krishna is an understanding God. Krishna is an understanding God. He is not a demanding God.
Yes. Sorry brother. Will you please explain further that doing Udasin means sometimes we feel very nice after chanting or doing some spiritual activities.
And other times we don't feel. So we hanker for that also. So can you explain this Udasin part? So how can we be Udasi, detached? By chanting, sometimes if we feel good, then we want to feel good.
Isn't it? And if we feel bad, if we don't feel like chanting, we don't want to feel like that. See again when Krishna says Udasi, we should be detached. Detached is different from unemotional or heartless.
See, detached means not that we don't feel any emotions. Rather detached means our actions are not determined by our emotions. Detached doesn't mean not to feel any emotions.
Detached means that our actions are not determined by our emotions alone. So, naturally, as devotees, we would like to feel devotion when we are practicing Bhakti. When we are going in front of the deities, we would like to feel some sweet feeling, some devotional feeling.
But if I don't feel like it, that doesn't mean that I will not go in front of the deities. Whether I feel like it or I don't feel like it, I will go towards Krishna. So detached means that not that we have no feelings or not that we don't desire the good feelings.
But detached means that our good actions are not conditional to our good feelings. We do the right thing whether we feel like it or not. Yes.
How should we combine science and spiritual essence from starting? We used to hear that outer lining of stomach. So, just before joining Iskcon or say Krishna Consciousness, I did not believe on just fasting. But today I kept and nowadays I used to wake up at 4.50 between 4.40 to 4.30. And I take my first breakfast at 9.30 almost.
And before that, just my stomach means it just experiences the most painful time. Just most of times while chanting. So, how should I combine what science says and what is spiritual? So, no.
Science tells us that we should take food regularly. And spirituality tells us that we should fast or we should have austere lifestyle. No, I am coming to your point.
So, if at one level we want to fast, but then our body doesn't help, body obstructs us too much in fasting. So, if we keep doing this for a long time, then we get some health consequences because of that. Because of following standards of austerity or spirituality.
And then if we are medically advised that you should not do this, then what should we do? Should we follow science or should we follow spirituality? See, it's not a competition. The important thing is that we see our body as a tool for serving Krishna. And if a particular tool requires a particular facility, we can provide that.
So, yes, there are some devotees if they don't eat anything immediately after, within a few hours of waking up, then they may get too much acidity or they may get too much problems. So, then, if that is what is biologically required, it is not that, it is not a principle of bhakti that after waking up for 6 hours you cannot eat anything. That's not a principle of bhakti.
Somebody has to eat something, you know, we can have some simple food, we have some fruits, some salad, some vegetables, something which is which is not very tasty, in the sense that we should not get into sense gratification over there. We should not get distracted looking forward to when I can eat. We want to be looking forward towards Krishna when we are trying our sadhana.
But if the body needs it, we can provide it. So, we can just decide, okay, when I wake up after this, I need 5-10 minutes, I need to take some food, I go and take some food. Some people need to take medicines at that time, they take medicines.
If you need to take food, that's fine. So, there are standard practices in bhakti, but bhakti always has the facility for individual customization. If a particular person needs a particular thing, then it's not against the principles of bhakti.
We just have to focus on making sure that whatever adjustment we are doing, it is helping us in our spiritual growth. Not that we use that as a as a as the mind, that it doesn't become our mind's way to choose the path of least resistance. The mind's way to take the easy way out.
No. If we can take care of that, if we find that doing a particular thing, in a particular way, it just keeps our health so much good, it keeps ourselves clearer, it keeps us calmer, healthier, and then we are able to serve Krishna better. Then, we have to see the whole picture.
Yes, by doing this for 10 minutes in the morning, if my overall service is improving much more, my health is going to improve. That's fine. What we shouldn't do is, if we need a particular customization, we don't have to go on a campaign for it.
No, we shouldn't say that everybody has to do this. You know, I'm eating, I'm feeling so much better. You should also eat in the morning.
You'll also feel better. No, if some people's bodies can manage to do without that, they don't have to do that. So, if there's an individual customization that is required within the practice of bhakti, that can be done.
But there's no need to go on a campaign for it. There's no need to go on a campaign against it. Campaign for it means everybody should be doing this.
No, that's not required. And campaign against it, some devotee says, you know, you are so attached to your body because of Hinduism. Okay, so offer obeisances to that devotee and move on in our life.
We don't have to, if we have talked with our senior devotees, if we have explained our situation to them, and we are doing this with their guidance, and if some devotees are judgmental, it doesn't matter. We can't please everyone. In fact, the easiest way to make ourselves miserable is to try to please everyone.
Thank you. Hi Krishna, today as you have explained many verses from the Bhagavad Gita, but when I talk to my friends outside people, and I explain like Krishna said this verse in Bhagavad Gita because of this. So they are telling like what is the authorization, how we can say, why should I believe the Shastra? So the people ask the question, how it is absolute truth? Why I should believe the Shastra or how it is authorized? So people stay like that.
So if people, if you quote Shastra to people and they say, you know, why should I believe in Shastra? What is the authority of Shastra? How can we answer? Whenever we are trying to share any wisdom with others, we have to understand their level of understanding and present accordingly. What does that mean? That means that we have to present wisdom in a way that it helps them to rise up from where they are right now. So just like say, if somebody comes to a temple and you know, the first step to come to the temple is like 6 feet.
You know, somebody is practically hold their hand and pull themselves up. How many people are going to come in? No, we have to have an accessible way, you know, half a feet or one third of a feet or whatever it is. So we have to provide a way that is accessible for people.
So most people in today's world don't accept Shastric authority. So we should know that. And then we have to present spiritual wisdom in a way that makes sense to them.
So that may be logic. It's presenting logically. So for example, we can quote there are scientific studies done about how chanting calms the mind.
And even philosophy can be presented in a way that is logical and philosophy can be presented in a way that is scriptural. Ideally, we do both. But we should begin from logic.
Because things have to make sense to people. We can't expect people to believe something which they have not accepted as authority. So initially, we have to present scriptural wisdom logically.
Or we present points logically. And then when we say that these logical points are coming from scripture. Then what happens? Oh really? I didn't know Bhagavad Gita was so logical.
Then what has happened? Because we present Bhagavad Gita through logic, then they develop faith in the Bhagavad Gita. And gradually as they apply the Bhagavad Gita, their faith will deepen. And then Bhagavad Gita will become authority for them.
So that will be gradual. So initially we present it in logic. So if we go to say scientific audiences.
In India at least, if we prove something scientifically. Scientifically we prove that God exists. And then we go Bhagavad Gita says this about God.
Most people accept it. But when I go to America, even if I prove scientifically God exists, I can't go to Bhagavad Gita after that. They say, okay God exists but people talk about God from the Bible, they talk about from the Quran, they talk about Bhagavad Gita.
Why Bhagavad Gita alone? So there we need one more additional step over there. So that means first step is logically or scientifically establish the existence of God. Then logically establish the authority of Bhagavad Gita as the source of knowledge of God.
And then tell what is the content of Bhagavad Gita. That is a three step process. So people have faith in science, so with science we talk about the existence of God.
Then with logic, we talk about why Bhagavad Gita is the source of knowledge about God. And then we talk about Bhagavad Gita as the authority to the source of knowledge. And we teach about what Bhagavad Gita says about God.
So in India the second step is usually not required. God exists, what is the way to know about God? Bhagavad Gita. So it's easier, relatively speaking.
But the point is we always have to know what level the person is at. And if a person doesn't accept an authority then there is no use in quoting that authority. It's not that we can't quote, but that should not be our starting point.
We should start with logic, we should start with common sense. And it's not very difficult to do that. If we just observe those preachers who are preaching to new people we'll see that most of the devotees who are habitually giving classes to new people it's not that they are filling their classes with hundreds of verses.
They can do that, but they won't do that. Because it doesn't serve any purpose. In India, at least when you quote Sanskrit verses people feel impressed Oh, you know Sanskrit? They feel at least you are shastrically waste.
In American universities, if I go and quote from Sanskrit, they say we are wasting our time. Okay, there is Sanskrit. In fact, many more people are interested in studying Chinese wisdom than Sanskrit wisdom.
So they say okay, just because something is saying Sanskrit, what is the use? It has to make sense to me in my present world. And that is the expertise of the teacher. Once when Prabhupada was asked Swamiji, what is the bliss of Vaikuntha like? A drug user he asked that.
Now Prabhupada could have quoted verses He could have quoted Brahma Samhita describing how beautiful the spiritual world is. That would have made no sense to a person who is just using drugs. Prabhupada said, Vaikuntha is like an ocean of LSD.
Ocean of LSD? Wow! I want to go there. Now what is he doing? What is Prabhupada doing over here? Prabhupada is explaining spiritual concepts in a language that is understandable to the audience. That is why for preaching it is not just enough to understand Shastra.
We also need to understand our audience. When Shastra Prabhupada went to America for the first two months when he was in America his visa was only for three months. And two months he was in Butler, Pennsylvania.
And Butler, he in those two months gave only like two or three classes. And most of the time he was asking questions to people. Gopal and Sally Agarwal, the family with whom he was staying Sally Agarwal was the housewife.
She says in her memories of Prabhupada that Swamiji was so interested in learning about American ways. Prabhupada was also interested in imitating Americans. But he wanted to understand how Americans think, how Americans live.
And then he could present spiritual wisdom to Americans. So if we have to quote to our friends, most people today accept logic as an authority. So we just present spiritual wisdom logically and then we also quote scripture towards the end.
This logical point I am speaking but it is not simply logical. It is logical and it is scriptural. And what happens? They also get convinced because it is logical and because they feel, oh, scripture is talking about logical things.
And they develop faith in scripture also. So we shouldn't be in a mood of exhibiting our learning by quoting a lot of verses when we are speaking to people. We have to see what will best benefit the people.
So if we are quoting to pious people who already have some religious faith, then quoting verses is very helpful. But if not, then we do not quote verses. We just focus on the point which we have to convey and present it logically.
Does that answer your question? Thank you. Swamiji, my question is when we see outside people someone who is seeking active relationships with partners, then he can meet that person, he can talk to that person. So there is some tangible instant gratification.
And similarly for humanitarian activities, people can serve some children who are in need of food or something like that. So there is some kind of relationship where they can immediately feel that other person is satisfied or feeling happy. But if we talk about Krishna consciousness, then in Krishna consciousness, it is a long term process and at our present condition we do not have strong relationship with Krishna.
So how can we avoid the temptation to seek instant gratification and strengthen our relationship? So in worldly relationships, whether they be marital relationships or humanitarian relationships or whatever, we can see some tangible result which gives us some satisfaction. But in Krishna bhakti, it's a very gradual process. So when we don't get the tangible result, how can we avoid the temptation to seek something else which will give us tangible results? It is not that bhakti doesn't give us tangible results.
It is just that we have to be clear of how we understand tangible. If I think the tangible result should be that I should be able to see Krishna, then that is going to take a long time. We have many many lifetimes in the material world and therefore it will take time for us to become purified to the level where we come to see Krishna.
But if you want to see tangible result in terms of our own purification, we have seen that ourselves. We may have had many bad habits which we were able to give up by the practice of bhakti. And actually in the initial years of our life, the tangible results are much easier to see.
Because there are tangible changes that happen. We give up this habit, we give up that habit. But after a few years of the practice of bhakti, it becomes a little more difficult.
Because then, we feel that same lust is there, same greed is there, same anger is there. It may not be there in gross ways as it was earlier, but still it is there, it is troubling me. And it seems to just go on and on, it doesn't seem to go away.
So that's why at this stage, when our, at a gross level, transformation has happened, at a subtle level, transformation is going to take time. That's why we need some service which gives us a tangible sense of contribution. The best such service is outreach.
We try to share Krishna's message with others and then we see how people's lives are transformed. We see sometimes people's lives getting transformed right in front of our eyes. And we just speak a little bit about Krishna.
Initially they are hostile, they are not interested, but they start practicing. And then we see them transformed. Transformed doesn't mean that somebody starts wearing dhoti kurta.
But we see transformed means we see that the quality of their life improves. We see that actually they are benefited. They give up bad habits.
They start living more productive, positive lives. But they actually become more responsible and they contribute better even in this world. And we see that that gives you a lot of conviction.
For me personally, before I was introduced to Bhakti, I was associated with social service organization where I used to go and I had a lot of faith in the power of education. So, I used to teach I used to go to slums near my college and I used to teach English, History, Maths to slum children. And I was getting some fulfillment by that.
But then I found that the parents, the fathers of these families, they are all drunkards. There is domestic violence in their houses. And at that time when the parents got a little close and started telling their stories to me, I felt that when there is such a big problem in their house, how much is this going to really help? So, I was a part of an organization at that time.
And we decided to diversify into countering alcoholism. We started getting experts to conduct seminars. We started conducting de-addiction campaigns.
And one of my friends, he went to a village nearby. He used to go there. And he got almost the whole village to become dry.
And we considered that to be a big achievement for us. But then after that, the local municipality elections came and the local political candidate came with two truckloads of free alcohol for all those who would vote for him. And not only those people who were given up alcohol, they too are drunk, but even their children drank.
And then that was shattering for us. And personally, I felt how am I really helping people? So, one thing is, education opens more doors for us. If a person is not educated, they can only get low-paying jobs.
If they have a good education, they can get high-paying jobs. Yes, that's true. Education opens doors for us.
But more than opening doors, what people also need is is the self-mastery by which they can walk through the doors. I was recently in IIT. And in IIT, alcoholism and drug addiction is a big problem.
So many of the students are caught in that. I was in IIT Kharagpur. Just talking with one of the professors over there.
She said, that's a major issue. They are brilliant students. And because of their brilliance, even when they take drugs, they take alcohol, still they are able to perform.
But religiously, if they are not doing those things, they will be able to perform so much better. And some of them just get so terribly addicted, that they ruin their lives. So, I would say that we need to holistically see how we can benefit people.
So, over the years, I have seen, as I travel all over the world, many people who were into alcohol, into bad habits, they have just given it up. And their lives have become better. So, we can see ourselves, that our attempt to share Krishna message can bring tangible benefits in this world.
And we do need to see that. Tangible benefit may not be just all of us may not always be directly sharing Krishna consciousness. There will be other services that we do.
But we need to see people being transformed. And we need to feel that we are contributing to that transformation. If we don't get that sense of contribution and sense of making a change, then we will start calling for lower tastes.
I want to do this. We need, basically, when we talk about lower tastes, that is anti-devotional, sensual tastes. The higher tastes, the pure higher tastes are just the taste of hearing and chanting out Krishna.
But along with that, there can be a higher taste that also comes by doing higher activities in this world. So, when we do some practical services and we see people being benefited, we feel that we are doing something worthwhile. So, in our life, we will do various activities, but there should be some service, which gives us a sense of tangible contribution.
And that will keep us inspired in our bhakti practices. There is one paper somebody had given. This is the last question.
When we start practicing bhakti, sometimes our past bad habits make us do wrong things again and again. So, what can we do at such times? The past will not last if to Krishna we hold past. That means that our attachments may hold on to us, but we should still hold on to Krishna.
Just because my attachment is holding on to us, that does not mean I have to let go of Krishna. I'll explain what I mean. Suppose, somebody has fallen in a well and say there is somebody who wants to keep that person in the well, drag that person down.
And there is somebody above who is trying to pull them out of the well. Now, I hold on to the rope by which they will pull me out of the well. But this person from below is catching my leg and holding me down.
So, now if the person from below pulls very tightly, then I may not be able to rise up. Sometimes I may get pulled down also. But just because the person is pulling me from below, does not mean I have to let go of the rope.
If I hold on to the rope, even if I get pulled down, the rope will also come down. The rope will still be there. And then, when that person below is not pulling so forcefully, then I can pull myself up with the rope and I can move up.
So, basically, the rope which can pull us up is our bhakti practices. The person, the pole that is pulling us down, that is our bad habits. So, right now, both factors are there in our life.
And, we can't wish the lower away. If we had some bad habits, they will be there. And they may not go away immediately.
Just because we want to get out of the well, doesn't mean everybody wants us to get out of the well. There may be people who want to keep us in the well also. So, like that, our bad habits may hold on to us.
But, just because our bad habits are going to hold on to us, that doesn't mean we have to give up the practice of Krishna. Yeah, because of our bad habits, we may do some wrong thing. But wrong thing, how long am I going to do it? Okay, I will for a few minutes, a few hours.
What do I do after that? Again get up and again start practicing bhakti. So, if we don't give up the practice of bhakti, no matter what happens, then, over a period of time, that practice of bhakti will strengthen us. And we will get the strength.
Keep holding. Keep holding on to the rope. But bhakti is such a rope that we just don't hold on to it.
Holding on to the rope of bhakti doesn't actually take away our strength. Normally, holding on to a rope will take away our strength over a period of time. But holding on to the rope of bhakti gives us strength.
Because bhakti connects us with Krishna, who is the source of all strength. The connection with Krishna purifies us. That increases our intelligence.
That increases our will power. See, there are three stages in our overcoming of our bad habits. First is intelligence.
Second is will power. And third is taste. Three stages in our overcoming our bad habits.
Intelligence, will power and taste. Intelligence means, at least I understand this is bad. People actually want to do things which increase their lust, which increase their greed.
They think this is enjoyable. So, at least with our intelligence, I understand this is not good. So, by regularly hearing the philosophy, our intelligence will be strong.
Now, sometimes, I know this is bad, but still, I just don't have the strength to say no to it. So, intelligence is the first step. Second step is will power.
So, will power means, I know that this is bad, and when I feel like doing it, I say no to it. We may not be at that stage, but at least with our intelligence, we can understand this is bad, so I don't want to do it. And with my intelligence, I understand that Krishna Bhakti is good, so I will hold on to it.
And if we keep holding on to Krishna Bhakti, what will happen? That will purify us. And that will increase our will power. Purification essentially means that our impure desires become weaker, and our pure desires become stronger.
So, that's what our will power means. So, with will power, we resist back. That means, initially, with our intelligence, what happens? We are pulled down by the person below.
We can't resist the pulling down, but at least we hold on to the rope. Yes, I may do the wrong thing, but I still keep practicing Krishna Bhakti. The second stage is, if I keep practicing Krishna Bhakti, my will power becomes strong.
That person pulls me down from below, but I also have strength, so I don't let myself get pulled down. I also hold on, and I don't let myself get pulled down. That means, the desires come, but we don't do that.
The third stage is when we get taste. Taste means, we are naturally attracted to Krishna. Right now, our taste is that we are naturally attracted to sense objects.
Because of which, we fall for them. But, as we keep practicing Bhakti, over a period of time, we will get attracted to Krishna. The taste will come.
And when the taste comes, then we will be able to resist it much much better. Actually, we won't even have to resist it. Because, ultimately, why do we fall prey to any bad habit or whatever it is, any condition? Because, we need pleasure.
And we feel, that is where I will get pleasure. But, when we have developed a taste in Krishna Bhakti, then we get pleasure in devotional activities. And if our need for pleasure is satisfied in Krishna, then we won't go towards Maya.
So, therefore, we can have the confidence that we will come to the level of taste eventually. When there will not even be a struggle. That means, that person below is trying to pull us, but we have come so high up in the well, that person can't even reach us.
So, there will be some temptations, which will not even tempt us. Say, for example, some of us might have been eating meat before. But, now we start practicing Bhakti, if somebody is eating meat, we don't feel tempted by it.
Why? Because, we have got a higher taste. So, that means, it's not just that, no, I'm feeling like eating it, but I'm saying, no, I will not eat it. No, we don't even feel like eating it.
So, we will see in our life, that there are some temptations, which will just disappear. That means, we have got taste also. For some temptations, we have come to the level of taste.
For some temptations, we have come to the level of willpower. For some temptations, we are at the level of intelligence. For some temptations, we are not even at the level of intelligence.
So, we will be at different levels, with respect to the battle with different temptations. But, at the very least, we come to the level of the intelligence. Now, Jiva Goswami says in his Sandarbhas, that for the advanced devotees, it is priti, that keeps them at the spiritual level.
It's their affection for Krishna, that keeps them at the spiritual level. But, for sadhakas, it is not priti, but buddhi, that keeps them at the spiritual level. So, we need to have our buddhi, our intelligence, strong.
With the strong intelligence, we will, when the lower desires come, we will try to fight them off. And, even if we are not able to fight back, even if we fall, immediately we will rise and start practicing bhakti. And, over a minute of time, we will come to the level, from intelligence, to the level of willpower and taste.
So, thank you very much. Vishwa Prabhupada ki… Gaur Bhakti Vrndki… Tai Gaur Premam… Hare Krishna.