FEAR acronym – Learning to deal with our fears

[Congregation program at Columbus, USA]  

Classes with you. Hare Krishna. Grateful to be here amongst all of you.

Thank all of you for coming. And the Kuti Sweet Kirtan is one of my brightest memories of Columbus. The first time I came to a congregation programme, she was singing.

So, when I heard it downstairs, I could identify it was her voice. So, it's wonderful to see our devoted children also blossoming in bhakti. And not just blossoming bhakti, but bhakti helping them blossom also.

So, it works both ways. So, today I'll speak on what our fears can tell us about us. I just, I was in Florida a few days ago, and there was a big hurricane Irma over there.

So, enormous amount of panic. And we all have our particular fears. So, I'll talk about fear using an acronym.

F-E-A-R. So, faith, education, attachment, and rectification. Fear is an unavoidable and even essential human condition.

If I'm looking down from a hundred-story building, if I don't feel fear, some children are very reckless, if they don't feel fear, and their mothers become fearful, hey, don't come back, come back, don't go so close. So, fear itself is not bad. Fear is an emotional protector from hurt, just as pain is a physical protector from hurt.

Now, if I'm sitting on this, say, this seat, and there is a nail over here, I feel pain, it protects me. Oh, I should not sit, I should move somewhere else. So, pain is a protector.

It's not a pleasurable protector, but it's a protector. So, similarly, fear also serves as a protective function. Whenever there is fear associated with that, there is some danger, and the sensation of fear guards us from that danger.

However, sometimes the mind imagines fear even when there is no danger. So, if there is danger, and I'm protected from that by fear, that is good. But if there is no danger, and still I feel fear, that is bad.

So, much of the anxiety that we face, much of the fear that we face, is not just because of the danger, it is because of the imagination that comes up. So, it's said that when fear accelerates your imagination, let faith be the brake. So, a vehicle is going suddenly very fast.

What do you do? You want to slow it down, it's going towards the brake. So, the faith can be the brake. Now, when we talk about faith, some people will say, I don't have faith.

Actually, nobody can say, I don't have faith. Faith is basically an essential condition for existence. Even now, when we are sitting, we have faith that the roof will not cave on us.

Right from our birth, when we are born, and we start suckling our mother's breast, at that time, we don't know what it is, and what is going to come from there. If instead of a mother, some malicious woman is there, like Putana was there for Krishna, we may die. But we, at that time, we just have faith.

So, faith is the beginning. It marks, right from the beginning of our existence, our first steps into existence. The food that we need to survive, we would not be able to eat that food if we did not have faith.

So, faith can be a general condition. And faith can also be a specific disposition. General condition, faith can mean many things.

For example, if I go to a doctor, I have faith that the doctor will treat me, the doctor's medicine will cure me. If there's a crime and somebody's robbed me, I go to the police, I have faith that the police will take some actions. So, faith can be many broad things.

So, when we talk about what our fear can tell us about us. So, first thing is, our fears tell us something about our faith. What do we have faith in? What do we not have faith in? So, if I'm very fearful, what if a criminal breaks into my house and robs me? What if a terrorist bomb explodes and I die? These fears, they indicate to some extent, my lack of faith in the police or in the national security.

Now, faith itself is not always a virtue. Sometimes doubt is also required. Doubt also helps us to be cautious.

But I'll come back to the spiritual direction of all these once again. But right now, I'm simply analysing this point that our fear can tell us about these things. So, our fear tells us where our faith is and where our faith is not.

So, if I'm investing my money in the bank, and that gives me security. Oh, I have this much money in the bank, and if things go wrong, I can fall back on that money. That means I have faith in the banking system.

It'll protect my money, it'll increase my money. So, our faith is one factor connected with our fears. And where we don't have faith, that is where our fear becomes especially strong.

The second is education. Often, we get fear where there is no knowledge. Education acts like a light which helps us see things.

If I'm in a dark room, and I suddenly hear some noise, I become fearful. Is there some intruder here? What is over here? But then if the light turns on, and I see it was just a curtain rustling in the wind, there's nothing to fear. So, just as when light turns on, whatever was the cause of the fear, that goes away.

Similarly, education offers light. So, say I get some swelling on my face, on my neck, and I start thinking, what if this is cancerous? What if I have a cancerous terminal? What if I have only a few months to live? Just a little swelling on my neck can cause me tremendous paranoia. But then I go to a doctor.

Doctor has the education. Doctor says, no problem. So, the doctor tells us that, actually, this is just a swelling that has come because of some ordinary reason.

Apply this ointment and go away. So, education helps us to deal with many of our fears. If I have fear, or what if some germs infect me? And I get the education, always wash your hands, keep your clothes clean, keep your environment clean.

Germs are unlikely to infect. That education helps me to deal with fear. Education offers light.

And light is what removes the unknown, removes the unknown element of the situation around us. And that helps us to deal with some of the fears. So, our fear also reflects our level of education.

So, if I'm fearful, that is somebody who is living, say, in a village, a rural place, where they have no knowledge of, they don't have any newspapers, they don't have any internet connectivity, then they may not know, okay, you know, there is a, there is our friend in North Korea, who is threatening the world with nuclear weapons. Many people may be fearful, but those who don't know. So, the lack of education can save us from some fears, but not all fears are bad.

There are healthy fears and unhealthy fears. So, if there's an epidemic all around, and a person doesn't know about the epidemic, there's a hurricane, and they say somebody doesn't know anything about how to get the weather alerts. And then that lack of education is there again, there's even danger.

So, our fears reflect our level of education also. Now, lack of education can increase some fears, make us more vulnerable to some dangers. And education can remove this.

A third is, F-E-A-R-A is attachments. Our fears reflect our attachments. Krishna says that chinta, anxiety, fear, this is a concomitant, this accompaniment is a factor whenever there is material attachment.

If we think that worldly objects are the source of my pleasure, we strongly attach to something as the source of our pleasure, then the fear comes that what if I lose it. And depending on our attachments, we can have different kinds of fears. So, somebody may be very attached to some sports, somebody is very attached to say cricket, and then the fear is what if my favourite team loses a match.

So, somebody is attached to say drinking, then their fear is, oh, what if I don't get my next drink. Whatever it is that we are attached to, that is the cause of our fear. And say, if we are not attached, say India loses a match against Pakistan, if we are not attached to cricket, there is no emotion only, at all.

Okay, you lost, so what is the big deal about it? But somebody who is very attached, there are people, every ball, you know, if India gets lost, starts losing, you know, it's almost like they start getting a heart attack. What is happening? So, the emotion is there and the fear is also there. And lastly, R is rectification.

Whenever there is fear, we all try to rectify that fear in particular ways. So, if I have fear, okay, what if my health gets spoilt? What if I get some terrible disease? So, the rectification may be that I go and do a health checkup, or I go and do a health insurance, or I may decide to adopt more healthy habits of eating, exercising, whatever. So, we all deal with our fear by seeking rectification in particular ways.

Some people, they may deal with their fear. What if I lose my job? What if this happens? What if that happens? And they may say, there is no problem that cannot be solved by a bottle of liquor. Drink and forget.

That is the way they are rectifying their fears. But actually, they are not rectifying their fears. They are actually aggravating their fears.

So, how we rectify the fear is vital for us to be able to become better situated. Now, according to different surveys, people search what are the top fears of people. So, there are different kinds of fears.

Some people have fears of spiders. They are phobias, basically. Some fear is an emotion that just comes upon us.

So, when there is phobia, then it is an overwhelming emotion on which we do not seem to have much conscious control. Of course, there are ways in which it can be treated. But some people have fear of mosquitoes or fear of insects in general.

Some people have fear of heights. Some people have fear of crowded places. So, different people have different fears.

And public speaking is one of the biggest fears of people. So, it is called stage fright. Somebody comes in front of people.

What will I speak at that time? How will I speak? So, here, in most of our fears, how does actually fear work? There is some perception that happens. Associated with that perception, some imagination happens. And based on that imagination, we either become fearful or we become fear-free.

So, now, if I am going on the road and I see a big truck just charging towards me, that is a danger. There is a perception that is there. And I have to do something about it.

So, rectification would be I just move my vehicle in some other direction. So, if I do that, then the fear will go off. Then I will protect myself.

So, now here, what has happened is that I saw something. And in this case, we have something called reflex actions. So, when the danger is physical, more often than not, our biological reflex actions creep in.

And they guide us to the right direction. So, if a vehicle is coming, immediately, instinctively, most people would move their vehicle in a separate direction so that they can avoid the collision. If, say, I put my hand here and suppose there is some fire over here, immediately my hand will move.

I don't have to think at that time. There is the fear, oh, my hand will get burned. But in many cases, when there is physical danger, when the perception is very in front of us and we can see something happening, we often take the rectification.

And many times it is right. Sometimes it may be wrong also. Say, if a fire occurs in a crowded theatre or a crowded stadium, and everybody runs to the same exit, that may cause a stampede.

So, basically, whenever there is fear, there is some perception that appears dangerous. And from that perception, there is imagination. Oh, this will happen, this will happen, this will happen.

And then we do something to deal with that. Now, dealing with that danger is essential. But it is what happens in our imagination that is important.

What we imagine will determine the extent of our fear. So, if our imagination goes wild, then we will become wild with fear. Or sometimes our mind is going wild and physically we become paralysed.

So, basically, dealing with fear is largely about managing the imagination. Dealing with the danger requires some practical action. But say, consider the fear that, you know, what if the US government having a little more stricter immigration policies? What if I lose my job? What if I lose my visa? What if I have to leave the country? It is a fear.

Now, that is a fear. It is not something like a vehicle coming upon us. So, when there is no immediate rectification possible, then that leaves for the mind a lot to imagine.

And when the mind starts imagining like this, then we get caught. Krishna talks in the Bhagavad Gita in the 18th chapter about determination in the mode of ignorance. He says that, This is a characteristic of the mode of ignorance.

Bhayam is constant fearfulness. Oh, this went wrong. That went wrong.

Vishadam is moroseness, habitual negativity. Some people, you know, whatever suggestion you give, they always find problems with it. Everything, whatever is presented to them, they only see problems with that.

So that is, Krishna says Vishadam, moroseness. And some people just take intoxication and try to forget it all. One that does not give this up.

Normally, if something hurts us, we will let go of it. We will go away from it. But the mind in the mode of ignorance thinks thoughts that actually hurt us.

But still we keep thinking about them. So when we become fearful, at that time, we may sometimes tell a person who is very anxious, worried about this going wrong, that going wrong, that going wrong. Don't worry so much.

Now, sometimes it may work. Don't worry. Think about something else.

But sometimes if the worry has become a habit, then simply telling don't worry is not going to work. What do you mean don't worry? I am worried. So what happens is, if we consider a floor.

Now, if this floor were inclined like this, then water will naturally flow in that direction. Why is the water flowing in this direction? Well, the floor is inclined. And say, if in my house, say, if you have a house, I have a house, in your house, the floor is inclined.

In my house, the floor is not inclined. So water falls, it will not spill. It will not flow in that direction.

But in your house, water is inclined, the floor is inclined, the water will naturally flow in that direction. So actually, we also, we use the word inclination for a physical slope. And we use the word inclination also for a mental tilt.

Now, I am inclined towards this. So based on our thoughts, based on our, not just thoughts, but our thought patterns, our habits, our mind has become inclined in particular ways. So for some people, their mind has become inclined towards being fearful.

So the same thought may come in two people's minds. Oh, you know, what if I lose my job? Then you come to know that your company is going to retrench. And two people are working in the same company.

And one of them becomes very fearful, the other is not so affected. Why is that? Because for the person who is affected, that person's mental floor is inclined in a particular way. So as soon as the water falls over there, the water will move.

So the water here represents consciousness. So as soon as that perception enters into the consciousness, what if I lose my job? Oh, if I lose my job, then how will I pay my mortgage? If I can't pay my mortgage, where will I live? Oh no, if I don't know where to live, I'll be on the streets. It's so cold in winter, what will I do in the cold? So I'm in AC right now.

And my mind is thinking, oh, if I was in the streets, it's cold, what will happen to me? So here, because the mind's mental floor has become inclined in a particular way, so at that time, the thoughts will naturally go in that direction. So for some people whose mental floor is not very much inclined, that way, they don't worry, things will be alright, that may help. But for others, it may not help so much.

So in this case, they need to actually change the inclination of the mental floor. I'll come to how to do that a little later. But the point is, we should not see worrying too much as a character flaw.

It doesn't necessarily indicate that a person is weak. It just indicates that the person's mind is shaped in a particular way. And some people may be physically weak.

Some people cannot lift weights too much. Some people have back problems. So we don't see their inability to lift weights as a character flaw.

Similarly, some people cannot bear anxiety much. Now, they have to manage their life in such a way that they're not exposed to too much fear. And of course, they have to, just as if somebody can't lift weights, then they may have to take some exercise, take some medicine and try to strengthen their back.

So like that, we can also do that to overcome our fearfulness. But if somebody is fearful, then it's understood that their mental floor is inclined in a particular way. And at that time, the fear is going to happen.

They may be very worried about some small thing also. So this is where faith comes into the picture. So faith means that when we are talking now about faith, so I'm going to go over FEAR now again from a spiritual perspective or how to deal with our fears.

So faith, when we have faith in Krishna, when we have faith in God, that He is the ultimate controller and He is the ultimate benefactor. That whatever He does is ultimately for our good. So He will bring good out of the bad.

Bad things may happen, dangers are there, things may also go wrong. But He will bring good out of the bad. So here, when we talk about fear, in any situation in our life, there is something which is in our control and something which is not in our control.

So that which is not in our control, that we can deal with through faith in Krishna. Normally, in material consciousness, we have only two options. We think something is in my control, things are in control or things are out of control.

But when we have spiritual consciousness, then we understand that things which are out of my control are not actually out of control. They are in Krishna's control. So the more we develop faith in Krishna, the more we can leave things that are not in our control to Him.

This does not mean becoming neglectful or irresponsible or pathetic, because there is something in our control and we do need to take care of that. But fear can sometimes paralyse us so much that, say, if I see a truck rushing towards me, I become paralysed. I have the power to move my vehicle away, but I don't move it away because I'm paralysed.

Or there is something in my control which I need to do. I'll talk about this more when I talk about the last part, rectify. But faith means that, okay, there are things which are not in my control and I will leave them to Krishna.

Now, faith is not just, again, is it something that some people have and some people don't have? It is, faith is basically like a muscle. Some people may be born with very good muscles, some people may not be born with good muscles, but just as exercise can strengthen the muscles, similarly, our faith muscles can also be strengthened. And the exercise for strengthening our faith is the practise of Bhakti Yoga.

So when we hear about Krishna, we philosophically study the Bhagavad Gita, that itself strengthens our faith. Then when we chant the holy names, when we worship Krishna, all these help us to strengthen our faith in Krishna. So that's why we will see that if we practise Bhakti diligently, our fears and our worries will go down substantially.

Some of the things, some of the worries which we have, they just go away subconsciously. You stop worrying about things. Some of the worries, they go away gradually.

They go away gradually. We have to consciously analyse and deal with them, which will come to a little E and A part. But the important thing is that just strengthening our faith in Krishna through the practises of Bhakti, that can help us to substantially decrease our fears.

And when we talk about taking shelter of Krishna to deal with our fears, that is not the purpose. We want to develop love for Krishna. But fear can also become an impetus for us to understand Krishna, take shelter of Krishna and develop faith in Him.

Different people can deal with fears in different ways and they may have faith in different things. And when I talk about, say, if I have some sickness, then I can have faith in Krishna and with faith in Krishna, I can also go to a doctor. The practical rectification part, I'll come to later.

But faith in Krishna is foundational for us to be able to deal with that which is not in our control. This brings us to the second point now, education. So one way faith itself increases is through education.

But another point is that when we become educated, say, for example, we study the Bhagavad Gita, we will understand the nature of the material world. The nature of the material world is that reality is never as rosy as our dreams. To maybe through movies and through so many advertisements, we start imagining everything will be so great.

I just get this new house, I just get this car, if I just get this latest iPhone, everything, oh, you know, my life will be happy. There's so much imagination that comes up. So reality is not as rosy as our dreams, but neither is it as scary as our nightmares.

So the Bhagavad Gita tells us that the distress and problems are a part of life in this world. So education has several aspects to it. One is that if you just understand that this world is a place of problems, just like some parts of the world are prone to certain natural calamities.

So say Japan is prone to earthquakes. Some parts of America are prone to hurricanes. Some parts of the world may be prone to floods.

So when it is when we know in advance, okay, this is likely to happen. Then when there is education, then along with education comes preparation. Okay, this is what I can do, this is what I can do.

So education helps us to deal with our fears. So similarly, there will be specific understanding, okay, this area of the world is prone to this natural disaster or this natural upheaval. But the Bhagavad Gita tells us this whole material existence itself is prone to distresses.

So now, is this meant to, if this world is, Krishna says this world is dukkhaalaya, there are distresses in this world. It's a place of misery. Now this is not meant to make us, make us fearful.

It is not meant to make us paranoid or pessimistic. It is meant to make us prepare for reality. If we look at the Bhagavad Gita, it tells us the world is dukkhaalaya.

But when we see Arjuna, at the start of the Bhagavad Gita, he is very dukkhi. He is crying in tears. Because just imagine how much distress Arjuna must have been in.

See, most people, especially when they grow adults, they don't cry in public. And especially Kshatriyas like Arjuna, who pride themselves in their virility and masculinity. They don't cry in public.

And what to speak of public, Arjuna was right in the middle of a battlefield. No, you cannot have a more public view than that, isn't it? And there he was crying. So he must have been in great distress at that.

Now, does Krishna come to the point in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says this world is dukkhaalaya. Arjuna, you are dukkhi. So now you realise the nature of the world.

Abhi dukkhi. That's not the message of the Bhagavad Gita. If you see, by the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna has become calm.

I have become well situated. I have become calm. So that Arjuna who was in distress, his distress was removed by hearing the Bhagavad Gita.

So when Krishna says this world is dukkhaalaya, it is not meant, it is not a statement of condemnation. It is a statement for preparation. We are going to expect distresses in life.

Sometimes if we are going along a road and there may be a war and this road is bumpy ahead, then that doesn't mean that we have to meet with an accident. It is to prepare us. So if we understand that life in this world is going to be a bumpy ride, it is not going to be a smooth ride.

Then that education leads to preparation. So if I am not educated, sometimes when we are flying in a plane, they tell there is turbulence ahead. And they fasten your seatbelts or whatever.

If you are told there is turbulence ahead, then what happens? Even then the plane starts shaking a little bit. And then we don't become so fearful. If we did not know, we think, oh, plane is wonderful ride, you know, I am high up in the sky, I am above the whole world.

And suddenly boom, we just get shaken. What happened? We think when the plane is going to crash now, I am going to burn and die. My body will also not be recognised.

We just become paranoid. But it is preparation. This is, we are going to a turbulent zone.

So there will be some turbulence to prepare for it. So like that, when we understand that this world is a place of distress, so when distress comes, we don't get overwhelmed by it. Distress is going to come, it comes and it goes.

So one of the things which Bhagavad Gita tells repeatedly is that life in this world is temporary. Now one aspect of it is that pleasures are temporary. But another aspect of it is also that troubles are also temporary.

So nothing in this world lasts forever. So education means that we understand philosophically that no matter how big the problem seems to be now, how much great the danger is, it is actually temporary. So this understanding can calm us down.

So Krishna says, Tolerate. How do you tolerate? Tolerate by knowing that, there is a beginning, there is an end and it is not permanent. So when the problem comes, see the problem of today is always manageable today.

The problems of today are always manageable today. But when we add on top of the problems of today, the problems of yesterday and the problems of tomorrow, then it becomes unbearable. So if I have to carry, say, a 10 kg weight, I can do it.

But if somebody takes a 10 kg and puts 10 10 kg weights over there, I can't even budge it. So today's problem is like a 10 kg weight. But the mind's imagination, this will go wrong, that will go wrong, that will go wrong.

It's like piling 10 kg weights on top of a weight, one after another, after another. And then I just can't do anything at all. So education means we understand, okay, this 10 kg weight is there.

I have to carry it for some distance. After that, I'll get to my car. After I get to work, I want to carry it after.

So like that problems come in our life, we have to deal with them. So this tolerance of problems comes through education, through knowledge. There are some leeches, which sometimes bite people.

And when those leeches bite, at that time, it can be very scary. You can actually feel the tubules going into your skin and pulling the blood out. So when that happens, we just get scared.

We just want to pull off the leech. Some leeches are so strong, that their grip on the skin is so tight. We try to pull out the leech, they'll rip out the whole skin.

The whole skin may come off. But if we just wait, the leeches don't have infinite capacity to suck blood. They have their tubules.

And once the tubule gets filled, what will happen? The leech will no longer suck any blood. In fact, after that, you just flip, the leech will fall off. So similarly, problems that come in our life, they are like leeches.

And when it's sucking the blood, it's very painful. And the tendency is, you know, you did this to me, I'll do this to you. And we may overreact and that just, it's pulling out the leech as we pull out the skin.

So what if we just, okay, this problem has come, nothing in life is perfect. Nothing in life is perfect. So let me just tolerate it.

So education helps us to see that no matter how big the problem is, first is education tells us, expect problems. And so then it's not a sudden panic. Where did this come from? Life is not going to be a rosy.

But education also tells us, don't do it's not going to be as scary as your nightmares. It's not that lifelong, you won't be stuck with this. We may not right now see how things are going to be resolved.

But everything is temporary. So that education can help us to calm down. Okay, this is then it will go.

So whatever is the fear that we have? What if I lose my job? What if I have lost my job? What if my health has gone down? Okay, we'll deal with it. Nothing is perfect. And third is we go to attachments.

Now whatever, as I said earlier, what we are attached to, that determines what causes fear to us. The process of bhakti is meant to make us attached to Krishna. Mayi asakta manaha.

In 7.1 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says the purpose of yoga practise is to make the mind attached to him. Mayi asakta manaha pārtha yogaṁ yuñjanma dāśrayaṁ asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ mām yathā jñāsasitaśrono. Hear from Arjuna by practising yoga, how you can make your mind attached to him.

So mayi asakta manaha. Now, if we are attached to Krishna. See, faith in Krishna is one thing, which is good.

But attachment is much higher. In the Bhakti Rasāmṛta-sindhu, nine stages of bhakti are talked about. So one of the first stages is shraddha.

We begin with some faith. Yeah, maybe God exists. I want to know a little bit about God.

So at that stage, shraddha is almost like positive curiosity, favourable curiosity. I want to know about God. But as we keep practising bhakti, then we come to the stage of nishtha.

Nishtha is strong faith, very deep faith. So at the stage of shraddha, the faith is like a banana tree. It is shaken.

But at the stage of nishtha, the faith is like a banyan tree. It is not so easily shaken. But then after nishtha, further it comes as ruchi, āsakti, bhāva and prema.

So āsakti is attachment. So if we become attached to Krishna, then naturally we'll think about it. Whatever we are attached to, we think about that.

And thinking about Krishna can offer us immense relief. When we are facing some problems, you tell someone, don't think about it. If say, we have had some problem and doctor says, maybe you have cancer, you know, we have got to do some test.

And the test results are going to come after one week. And it was one week, you know, what if I have cancer? What if I have cancer? What if I have cancer? So much uncertainty causes so much anxiety. So the more I think about it, the more I become miserable.

Now, earlier I said about the floor being inclined in a particular way. The process of bhakti yoga, when we keep chanting Hare Krishna, when we keep practising bhakti, it changes the inclination of our mental floor. So whereas earlier habitually our thoughts may have gone to money or to some whatever it is that we are attached to, by the practise of bhakti yoga, our thoughts will habitually start going towards Krishna.

And when that happens, when our thoughts habitually go towards Krishna, then that attachment to Krishna saves us from fears. Actually, attachment to anything other than Krishna causes fear. Because that thing can go away anytime.

And not only can go away anytime, it will go away sometime. But Krishna will never go away. He says, I'm always there next to you in your heart.

So attachment to Krishna can take our thoughts towards him. And then whatever it is, we have the fear. Ultimately all fear is about losing something.

The fear of heights is the fear, oh, I may lose my limbs, I may lose my life. Fear of spiders, that fear is what, oh, actually spiders cannot harm us much. But somehow we imagine what if this spider will do something to me and I will be injured.

So I lose my health, I lose whatever it is. So fear, whatever fear is there, that fear is because of the fear of loss of something. But when we become attached to Krishna, Krishna is someone who is always going to be with us.

So attachment to Krishna, faith in Krishna is good, but attachment to Krishna is even better. When there's attachment to Krishna, then naturally there may be fear around us, but a devotee is not fearful. Actually Prabhupada, when he came to America for the first time in 1965, he first came to Butler, Pennsylvania and then he came to New York and from New York he went to the Lower East Side and he went to the Bowery.

Now when he was staying there in the Bowery, at that time he would just go around for walks. Prabhupada actually used to walk for many reasons. One was of course, he saw that as an exercise for health, but there's a more, another reason.

For him, he had at that time no money to do any kind of promotion, to any publicity, make any pamphlets, make any announcement, put any advertisement, nothing he could do. So in fact, one of the Prabhupada's disciples, Hayagriva Prabhu, he writes that Prabhupada, when he said, can I help you Swamiji? He says, yes, you can type something for me. He said, I know typing.

Can I type your books? He said, yes. Then he saw that Prabhupada, he had like piles and piles of notes which he had written and he said, Swamiji, this is a lifetime of work. Prabhupada said, many lifetimes.

But the point was, as he looked at those pages, Prabhupada had written from the left top of the page to the right bottom of the page. He had not kept any margins because he wanted to use every single, every single writable space that was there. And many of the pages that were there, they were actually the backs of envelopes.

He had taken the envelope and he had taken the back, opened it and then stuck it and made it into a page and written over there. So he had acute shortage of money at that time. And so for Prabhupada, he would walk about because for him, walking about was publicity.

You see, in New York at that time to see a strange old man wearing ochre robes, what is this? People would come and talk with him. And in fact, some of the most… High Guru Prabhupada himself, he met Prabhupada when Prabhupada was walking along. So the point was, Prabhupada would just walk along and later on some people… in this Bhauri, there are many sharp shooters.

There are just people with guns and they just like to shoot. There are drugs, they don't even know what they are doing. So Prabhupada said, you know, I just depend on Krishna.

I just depend on Krishna. Prabhupada was thinking about Krishna, thinking about how to get people to come to Krishna and how to connect them. And he was fearless.

So just to come to America at age of 70 all alone, it requires a lot of fearlessness. And that was not just faith in Krishna, there was attachment to Krishna. Attachment to Krishna, attachment to share Krishna with others.

So when he came to America, he was an old man with no money, with no contacts. But his prayer was not, Krishna, please keep me safe. His prayer was, Krishna, please make me dance, make me dance.

So he was free from fear because he was attached to Krishna. He was attached to sharing Krishna's message, Krishna's love with others. So attachment is actually the strongest insurance from fear.

Then the last part is R, rectification. So now we all try to rectify whatever fearful situation we are in. And even as devotees, if we start practising bhakti, that does not mean that we do not have to do something practical to rectify.

Yes, it is very important. So there is faith in Krishna that is not meant to make us inactive. Faith in Krishna is meant to make us devotionally active.

So when I started doing public, when I started giving classes about 20-25 years ago first time, so some senior devotees gave me some guidelines of how to give classes. And the last guideline was depend on Krishna. But in bracket, but only after you have prepared.

If I come to give a class and I am completely blank, I don't prepare anything, I say I am dependent on Krishna. That is not dependence on Krishna, that is actually simply irresponsibility. Because when you talk about depending on Krishna, what does it mean? There are some things in our control and some things are not in our control.

So dependence on Krishna is for the things that are not in our control. But there is also dependence on Krishna is one thing, but diligence for Krishna is another thing. I have to be diligent in my service to Krishna.

So Arjuna, he was dependent on Krishna, but he was diligent. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, he took up his bow and he was ready to fight. So rectification means that there is dependence on Krishna, but there is also diligence for Krishna.

So we do that which is in our power to do. Now our mental energy can either go towards the things that are not in our control and that makes us fearful, that makes us paralysed, that makes us miserable. All our mental energy can focus on that which is in our control.

And we can focus on that which is in our control more if we have that faith that, okay what is not in my control, Krishna will take care of that. But rectification means we do see that which is in our control. So if I have fear that, oh what if my car meets with an accident, then, hell, if my car's brakes are not working, then I can't just say I have faith in Krishna.

You have to actually do the practical thing, repair, get the brakes repaired. So we all have to do something practical to deal with our fears. And what that particular practical thing may be, that will vary according to time and place and circumstance.

But there is always something that we can do. And we are not the supreme controllers, but we are also controllers because we are parts of Krishna. So Krishna is the supreme controller and as his parts, we are also controllers.

That controlling tendency which is controlling nature which is there in Krishna, that is there within us also. So now this controlling nature, if it makes us imagine that I will be the supreme controller or I alone am the controller, then that is problematic. But if we use the control that we have in a mood of service to the supreme controller, then that usage of controllership is positive.

So when we have to do anything in our life, if we have a sense of control, we can act with confidence. Say, if we are going to give a talk, if we are reasonably prepared, still some anxiety will be there. But if you are reasonably prepared, the anxiety will be lesser.

So whenever any fear comes up, at that time, the imagination starts, this will go wrong, that will go wrong, that will go wrong. So at that time, the way to deal with it is, what can I do now? It's asked oneself, what can I do now? You cannot do anything. In some cases, it may be true that about that particular fear, I can't do anything.

So my company is going to say, train some people and I can't do anything about it. It may seem like I can't do anything. Whoever they fire, they fire.

But still I can do something. What I can do is, I can decide what I am going to think about. If I am only going to think about what if I lose my job, what if I lose my job, then that is only going to make me more paralysed.

There is preparing for the future and there is worrying about the future, fearing the future. What is the difference between the two? The primary difference is, who is in control? When I am worrying about the future, my mind is in control. So basically, the mind shows us a free horror movie.

And in this horror movie, we are the victims. This will happen, that will happen, that will happen. So when we are worrying, we keep thinking, thinking, thinking and every thought that we have, it only makes us more powerless.

So the mind is basically taking us on a ride to a horror show. But preparing for the future means that we are in control. That means, okay, if this happens, I can do this.

Then basically, when we are fearful and the mind is leading us, we just don't think about solutions. This can go wrong, this can go wrong, this can go wrong, this can go wrong. So then we just can't think about solutions.

But when we are in control, and we take our mind for it, okay, if this happens, I can do 1, 2, 3, I can do this. If this happens, I can do 1, 2, 3, I can do this. Then as we look at the possibilities, and we look at what we can do, then we get a sense of control.

We can never control the future, because what the future will bring, we don't know. But preparation also gives us a sense of control. So the rectification, what I do to deal with my fears, that will have three broad parts to it.

With this, I will conclude that, I will go back to the initial example of the floor. The floor is inclined in a particular way. And the water is flowing in this direction.

Now I don't want the water to flow in that direction. So what do I have to do? First is restriction. If I don't want the water to flow there, create some kind of bun, create some small wall, or create some closure where the water doesn't come there only.

So then the water will not flow. So some restriction has to be created first. Second is redirection.

I push. If the water is going in this direction, I consciously push it in some other direction. And third is reconstruction.

So restriction, redirection, and reconstruction. Reconstruction means change the inclination of the floor. So first is, if there is fear coming within us, so restriction.

Restriction means, what is it that is causing me fear? It is that. Now what if I lose my job? That's my fear. Then it's not that, I decide, I'll have to think about it.

But I'll think about it, I'll not just constantly read, oh this person lost a job here, that person lost a job there, this person had to go out of the country, or this person will become homeless. You just keep reading news indiscriminately like that, then that will make me more and more fearful. So I may decide, if I have to prepare for this, I may need some information, I can't just stay disconnected.

But I will make sure that I'll read about this only when I'm a little calm, I'm a little balanced, and then I can read about it. And it's not my mind taking me to a horror show, I can prepare. Okay, this is what happened in this person's case.

Is it likely in my case? Not very likely. It's possible, then I should do this, this, this. So basically, we don't let, we don't expose ourselves to the sources of our fear indiscriminately.

We all know what are our fears, and we have to face them sometime. But we have to face them at our time, especially when it's not in our control, what is going to happen. So then we decide, when I want to think about it, we create some restriction.

So the mind may still imagine, but often the external perception becomes a stimulus that aggravates the mind's imagination. So we cut down the external stimulus, then the fear goes down. That's first thing, restriction.

Second is redirection. Redirection is, water is going this way, I push the water in that direction. So when the mind starts becoming fearful, the mind starts thinking, this, what about this, what about that? Okay, we consciously push the thoughts in some other direction.

And the best way to push our thoughts is to have something positive that we are attached to. If within Krishna Bhakti, we have something that we are attached to, then we may like kirtans very much, or we may like to hear some class, we may like to hear philosophy, we may like to do some practical seva. So we do something practical, which redirects our thoughts.

And this isn't, this is not meant to be ritualistic. Oh, whenever I feel fearful, I start chanting Hare Krishna. Yes, that is good.

But the point is not just to chant, the point is to direct our mind. So we have to find out which devotional activity can redirect our mind towards Krishna. And when we find out, so pushing the water in another direction, in the other direction is not going to be easy.

But it can become easy, pushing our consciousness, pushing our thoughts away from the path of imagination and fear, that can be easier if we have some positive attachments. So especially attachments to Krishna is a very positive attachment. And we connect ourselves with Krishna, we have to put in some effort to push the thoughts in that direction.

But if we do that, then we find ourselves calming down, the fears will decrease, the fears will decrease. And then when there's, we talk about reconstruction, reconstruction is going to take some time. That is gradually going to happen by the practise of bhakti.

But in our case, once we have calmed ourselves down, once you're connected with Krishna, calmed ourselves down, then after that, we can deal with the particular situation. So what happens with us is that many times, when we face problems, we try to deal with the problems, and when nothing works, then we go to Krishna. It's good, at least then we go to Krishna.

I saw one advertisement in India of an insurance company said, you know, if you have not, if you're not insured with us, it is time to say your prayers. So actually, their idea is when nothing works, then you go to God. No, but actually, it is God who makes everything work.

Instead of waiting till nothing works to go to God, what we do is we first go to God. That means that whenever a fear comes, do this, do this, do this, no, first pray to Krishna. First try to connect with Krishna.

That will calm us down. Once we calm down, then we can deal with the practical situation in a more effective way. So often the danger is there, then the fear comes.

Now fear, as I said, is simply an alerter of danger. But from fear to fearfulness happens because of the imagination. So danger is here, fear is here, fearfulness is here.

So the perception of danger is blinding ourselves to that perception. That is not the solution. I have to be aware if there is danger, and fear is also not bad.

It can be a protector. But from fear to fearfulness happens when our imagination takes control. So instead of letting our imagination take control, we let our devotion take control.

That means when fear comes, rather than imagination than devotion, we try to think of Krishna. And we pray to Krishna. We connect ourselves with Krishna.

That will calm us down. And once we are calmed, then we can deal with the problem in a practical way. And dealing with the practicals is vital whenever there are problems.

But when fear takes over our imagination, then whatever we are meant to do practically, we are also not able to do it well. Because we are half-hearted, we are distracted. We can't do it properly.

So the spiritual and the material, they are not competitors. They are not substitutes. The spiritual and the material are complementary.

That means Krishna gave Arjuna the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita. And after that Arjuna fought the war. And he won the war.

Now did Arjuna win the war because of the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita? Or was it because of the knowledge of archery that he had learned throughout his life? Both. Yes. The knowledge of archery was the way he executed his skills practically.

But the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita gave him direction. It gave him shelter. It gave him wisdom.

It gave him inspiration. So the spiritual and the material are complementary. And so when we connect with Krishna, we get directed properly.

And with that direction, whatever it is that we need to do, we can do it. So Jiva Goswami, he says that, he analyses the Bhagavad Gita and he says how do we understand the essential message of the Bhagavad Gita? He says any book we can understand by its bracketing statements. What comes in the beginning and what comes in the end.

So the Bhagavad Gita begins with अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्तम् प्रज्ञावादामश्यभाज्यसे He says don't lament. शोच, it can also refer to grief, fear, lamentation, negative emotion basically. Don't lament.

Don't fear. And the Bhagavad Gita ends with सर्वधर्मान्प्रतिज्यमामेकंशर्णवज्य अहंत्वां सर्पापेब्यो मोक्षेशामि माशुजः Do not fear. So he says the Bhagavad Gita is essentially a message of fearlessness.

It begins with do not fear, it ends with do not fear. And it gives us a whole philosophical worldview by which we can actually implement the do not fear. So by studying the Bhagavad Gita, we can bring about the rectification both in the spiritual and material way.

Internally, we will be calm and practically, we will do whatever is required effectively. And thus, we can deal with our fears. So I'll summarise what I spoke today.

I talked about what our fears can tell us about us. I took the acronym FEAR. What was F? Faith.

E? Education. A? Attachment. Attachment.

Thank you. So I talked about faith. All of us have faith.

When we are born, we have faith that the breasts that are feeding us are not tainted with poison. We don't even have the knowledge to not have faith. It's instinctive for us.

So education is like the light which removes darkness. And therefore, whenever there is fear of the unknown that can go away when the light of knowledge comes. Whatever we are attached to, that is the cause of our fear.

I'm peacefully here in America, but if I'm attached to cricket and India is losing a match, I become fearful. So R is rectification. So we need to do something practical to deal with the situations also.

And what we do practically, sometimes it can make things worse, if it's too impulsive. From the spiritual perspective, our faith in Krishna is not just an abstract or some sentiment. Faith is like a muscle.

It can be developed by the practise of bhakti yuga. And faith means that in any situation, that which is not in my control is not out of control. It is in Krishna's control.

And even if bad things happen, he will bring good out of the bad. That faith, we can focus on that which is in our control. And E was education.

So education means we understand that life in this world is going to be a bumpy ride. So we are not thrown off when problems come, when dangers come. But at the same time, nothing in this world is permanent.

So problems are not permanent. So V is like a leech. It may bite for some time, may suck some blood, but after a little let go on its own like that.

Problems are not going to last forever. So therefore, just deal with them calmly. The problems of today can always be manageable today.

But when we pile on them the problems yesterday and tomorrow, they'll come unbearable. So 10 kg weight, we need to decrease it to 100 kg by unnecessary worrying. So education means it's temporary.

We understand that. And then attachment means that we go from faith in Krishna through the practise of bhakti to where our mind naturally moves towards Krishna, naturally gets attached to him. So like a floor, when it is inclined in a particular way, water will naturally flow that way.

So some people have, because of repeated fearing, they've developed a habit of fearfulness. So their mind naturally goes towards fearful, becoming fearful. So that is not a character flaw.

That's just the way they are. And they need to deal with it properly. So when we practise bhakti diligently, our mind becomes attached to Krishna.

And when our mind goes directly towards Krishna, then the fearfulness goes away substantially. Because ultimately all fear is about losing. And Krishna is someone who will never lose.

He's always going to be with us. And our was rectified. So we have to do something practical to deal with our situation also.

But when we have faith that that is not in my control, is in Krishna's control, then I can focus wholeheartedly on that which is in my control. And the mind often tells us this can go wrong, this can go wrong. It shows a free horror movie.

And this makes us more and more helpless. So the difference between preparing for the future and fearing the future is whether the mind is in control and taking us to one option, other option or we are in control and the mind is going according to our direction. So we rectify in that there is material, the spiritual and the material are complementary.

Internally by connecting with Krishna, by focussing on Krishna, we can become calm and then externally we can become effective. So if the water is flowing in a particular direction, first is stop restriction. So the rectification involves don't indiscriminately expose oneself to the stimuli that cause fear.

Then there is redirection. Try to find out some devotional activities you can do, some devotional activity by which we can redirect our thoughts towards Krishna and calm us down. And there is reconstruction.

Practically, eventually we want to become attached to Krishna, but practically what can I do right now? So we can calmly analyse and then take the necessary steps for dealing with the situation. So by the steady practise of bhakti and the subsequent practical execution of things within our control, we will find that our fears will become much more manageable. And the fears rather than filling us with misery will actually become impetuses for us to take shelter of Krishna and to become more devoted to him and to realise the protective power of his shelter.

So if our fears can become impetuses for us to take shelter of Krishna, then our fearful nature, we might feel that, oh, I'm so fearful. If our fears make us take shelter of Krishna, then even our fearful nature becomes positive. And somebody who has no fearful nature, they may not feel the need for Krishna.

In that sense, that may work out to be unfavourable for taking shelter of Krishna. So bhakti is so wonderful that even the negative can become positive if we just connect with Krishna. Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna. So are there any questions or comments? So how do we know that, how do we know how much control we have in any situation? Because sometimes we get carried away thinking that we try, there are unlimited options, so there is a possibility that we get carried away with those options. So is it that we have to take shelter of Krishna and at the same time, try practically together, meaning keep praying Krishna, but at the same time, So how do we know how much control do we have in this situation? And sometimes we may try unlimited options.

So is it that we pray to Krishna, we surrender to Him, and then we also do something practical? See, I would say surrendering to Him and doing something practical are not two different things. Doing something practical is also a part of surrendering to Him. Like Arjuna, he surrenders to Krishna at the end of the Bhagavad Gita.

Krishna tells Arjuna, Surrender to me. Arjuna says, I'll surrender to you. But after surrendering, what does Arjuna do? He picks up his bow and is ready to fight.

So even doing something practical can be a part of surrender. And sometimes not doing anything practical can be a way of avoiding surrender. Sometimes I may have something practical to do, but then I just keep chanting, keep chanting.

And chanting should be a way to, we are praying to Krishna, please engage me in your service. But sometimes chanting can be a way of escaping service. Oh, I'm so busy chanting.

I'm dependent on Krishna. Well, yes, you're dependent on Krishna, but it's fine. But how much are you diligent for Krishna? You do something.

So I would say that we don't have to think in the terms of these binaries. There is surrender to Krishna and there is practical action. Practical action can also be a part of surrender.

So as far as how much we, how much can we know, how much control we have? Over a period of time, we, by observing ourselves, come to know our capacities. And especially if we have a broad picture of life, every single thing can be done unlimitedly. If I had to prepare for a class, I can say, you know, if I'm not well prepared, how will I give a class? And I say, how long do you need to prepare? I need a full lifetime to prepare for a class.

I can. There are so many books to read. How much do I remember? I can just go on.

So if you see in life, how do we act? How do we act practically? You know, we decide, okay, this much time I have for doing this activity. And then as well I can do in this much time, I do it. So basically, with respect to dealing with issues also with problems, how much control do I have? I mean, how many options do I try out? We have to have a broader picture of life.

In a broad picture of my life, how important is this? It is important, but how important? So for example, if I have fear of losing my job, I have to work to get my job. But then is it that I want to stop eating, stop sleeping because of that? No, I have to do that. Yes, even if I lose my job, I'll get something after some time.

So I may decide that, okay, if I have this possibility, I will lose my job. So then every day I'll spend one hour looking for it. And in that, whatever I can work out, I work out.

So we may restrict the level of control we have to a particular level of time. This much time I can devote for dealing with this issue. Sometimes some issues become emergencies, and then we might put everything else.

But broadly speaking, if we have an overall understanding of our life, then we see where this particular thing fits in that priority. And then we can decide how much effort to put in something. So studying philosophy and especially seeing life through Shastra Chakshu helps us to get this big picture.

Shri Prabhupada writes in the 10th chapter, Buddhir Gyanam Sammoha, that purport 10.4, he says, intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective. This is more important, this is less important. This is okay.

This is to be dealt with. So that perspective, if we get by studying scripture, then we know how much to endeavour in what activity. And apart from that, the other thing is, when we want to know how much control we have, life is to some extent, it doesn't come with any guarantees.

There's no guarantee that whatever decision we are going to make is going to be the right decision. But that does not necessarily mean that we have to be committed to a wrong decision. It's often we do course correction.

If say, if I decide to go in this direction, but I find I'm going this direction, and I find out, one of my friends is a pilot, he told me that 90% of the time when a plane is flying, it's off course. But actually, it is the pilot or the aeroplane mechanism which gets it back on course. So like that, we may decide on a particular point that I'm going to make this work no matter what happens.

But then we try once, twice, thrice, and we feel this is not working. Now, sometimes stopping a particular endeavour may be quitting. And sometimes we may think of quitting as failure.

But sometimes stopping a particular endeavour might just be walking to something better. So we have to, again, do course correction. I tried this course of action.

And so I decided I'm going to make this work. I'm going to get this right. And I try once, twice, thrice, four times.

I spend a due amount of time. It's not worked out. Then let me try something else.

So there is for a devotee, there is constancy of purpose. But there is flexibility of method. So my purpose is always to serve Krishna.

And my purpose is to have more resources to serve, to have better facilities which I can serve, to do more service. Whatever it may be, my job, my family, whatever it is, but it's all service to Krishna. And then we have the constancy of purpose.

But it's flexibility of method. This doesn't work out. You try something else.

Shri Prabhupada was like that. He was trying to preach in India. He tried to start a magazine.

It didn't work out. He tried to help his godbrother. That didn't work out.

He tried to run his own business and get a lot of money which he could give to his spiritual master. That didn't work out. He tried to himself go and meet people and do classes.

That didn't work out so well. He tried to go to Jhansi and start a League of Devotees. That didn't work out.

So many particular methods didn't work out. But Prabhupada's purpose remained the same. So basically, if you have that understanding that this is my purpose.

And with that, sometimes I may try this method. If it doesn't work out, I'll try some other method. So that we don't have to be attached to a method.

We have to be attached to the purpose. And then sometimes I may try a lot to control something. And then it doesn't work.

Then I move forward and I let go. Sometimes I may just let go too much. There's something which I can do in this situation.

So the example, actually this is a part of a series of seminars I have on destiny and karma. So something which is by destiny something just happened to us. We have very little control over that.

But we also have free will to act. So basically I compare in that seminar, I compare life to playing a tennis game, tennis match. When you're playing tennis, sometimes we are serving.

And sometimes we are returning. Now when the player is serving, that player has a lot of freedom. I can serve on the other player's backhand, forehand, right into the body, at a low height, at a high height, a lot of freedom is there.

And the person is returning, a very little freedom. Wherever the ball comes, that's where I have to get my racket and get the ball back into play. So now if the person is in a position of returning, and that person wants the freedom of serving, I will swing my ball, racket wherever I want.

Well, you'll just meet air over there. The ball will go somewhere else. So like that, sometimes life puts us in the position of receiving.

So we have very little control. So basically whatever comes at us, just get it back and get it back. Just keep the ball moving, stay in the game, like that.

But sometimes we are in the position of serving. So at that time, we have to take initiative. Okay, this is what I'm going to do, this is what I'm going to do.

So basically, we're practically observing our situation, how much control do I have right now. And we shouldn't see necessarily lack of control as a failure, or presence of control as a success. Even when I am serving, I have to serve well, only then I'll win the game.

Even when I'm returning, that doesn't mean I have lost. So basically, a lot of problems come when we try to return when we are meant to serve, and we try to serve when we are meant to return. So basically, if you just observe our life, sometimes in the Bhagavatam, it is said that many times, say for example, Bali Maharaj, he tells the, even Krishna himself, Vishnu himself tells the devatas, that time is not favourable for you now.

So this is not a time for you to fight, just make a truce with the demons. That means this is the time when you are not in control, when you are basically returning, just do what you can. And later on, then they fight.

So sometimes we may have to adjust what we do according to time, place, circumstance. So basically, by observing the way things are going in our life, we can all fight only, we cannot deal with unlimited number of issues also. So if there are four big problems coming in my life at the same time, then I have to decide, I'm going to deal with this one problem, this is where I'm going to focus my energy.

I'm going to execute my control, exert my control over here. Other three, I'll just defend at that time. Just deal with, do whatever little I can over there.

That way you can practically decide. Thank you. Thank you Krishna.

I saw the two hands there. Okay. Yes.

The fear is emotional or the reaction is emotional? Can you explain what you mean by that? Means are you talking about say, say rejection in a relationship, somebody letting us down, or what do you mean? Okay. So if our fear is, we are having some emotional fears. Yeah, that is, there are three fears among top ten fears, which I talked about that, they did some surveys.

So three fears that are very, they're modern fears you could say. So one of them is fear of terrorists. Another, which is a typically modern fear, is a fear of rejection.

In the past, most marriages were by arrangement. So now you go and propose to someone, what if that person rejects me? So much fear because of that. So that's a, that's a, especially among teenagers and those who are of a marriageable age, it's constant fear that is there.

So we may have relational fears, which are largely emotional. Now, when this happens, there are multiple levels at which it can be dealt with. But the most important thing is to recognise that ultimately our emotional shelter is Krishna.

In the fourth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Dhruv Maharaj's mother tells him that whatever love I can offer you, Lord Vishnu can offer you more love than millions of mothers like me. Therefore, take shelter of Lord Vishnu. So here, what does it mean? She's not saying that my love for you is false.

Sometimes you say, there's no love in this world. It's in terms of the unlimitedness of the love that is there in the spiritual world. It's very small over here.

Yes, she's saying that, yes, I offer you some love, but Vishnu, the Lord can offer you much greater love. So similarly, when we have some relationship with someone, through a relationship, we get some affection, we get some protection, we get some reciprocation. We need to see that ultimately, it is Krishna offering us love through that person.

There is that famous prayer, You are my mother. You are my father. You are my brother.

You are my friend. You are my wealth. You are my knowledge.

You, Lord, are my everything. Now, what does it mean? It doesn't literally mean that the mother is God, the father is God. It means that all these are things from which we get shelter, we get protection, we get strength from our mother, from our father, from our friends, from our wealth, from our knowledge.

So what this verse is saying is, yes, it is actually Krishna who is giving us shelter through all these things. So we acknowledge the medium, medium is important, but the medium is not the source. And sometimes in our life, we may have got love and shelter and reciprocation through one medium.

And life changes, people change, we change. Sometimes that person may not offer us that reciprocation. So if we are not able to see the connection of that person with Krishna, then we feel as if I'm going to be divested of love.

I'm going to be betrayed, I'm going to be rejected, I'm going to be lonely, I'm going to be unsheltered. But if I see that actually this is connected with Krishna, it is Krishna who is giving the shelter to me through this person. We value that person because there's a personal reciprocation with them also.

But at the same time, we don't limit that reciprocation only to that person. So then Krishna may arrange to give that love through somebody else. Or Krishna may reveal himself directly within my heart.

So if we recognise this point that whatever emotional support we get from anyone, that is ultimately Krishna giving through that person. Then the amount of insecurity because of that person's change of behaviour or the possibility that person may turn away from us or against us, that decreases substantially. Having said that, we need to first develop our relationship with Krishna.

And we can get a lot of emotional strength also through our connection with Krishna. If we become intensely devoted to him, we intensify our bhakti practises, then we do get a lot of emotional shelter in him. And then the emotional anxiety, agitation that is there, that goes down substantially.

That is, the second thing is that with respect to the anxieties, even with respect to emotions, we have to object, we have to, we are, some of us may be more emotional, some of us may be more rational. But even when we are emotional, that doesn't mean we don't have a rational faculty at all. And if somebody is very rational, that doesn't mean they don't have emotional faculty, it's just one is more.

So if we know that there are certain things about which we become emotional, then at times when we are not emotional, when we are rational, at that time, we analyse and we prepare. Okay, in this situation, I tend to become very emotional. So what can I do to deal with it? Maybe if this person speaks like this to me, I feel very, very hurt by it.

Maybe I know, I can, this is my friend, I can call and talk with this person. Now this is what I can do. Or this is a situation, this is likely to happen, then let me move away from that situation beforehand.

When the exchanges start becoming very bitter, better before somebody speaks too much, just walk out of a mirror. We basically, we use our rational side to prepare for the way our emotions function and then deal with it practically. So we need to have emotional connections with multiple people.

And they are all different ways of relating. We get some relationship with that, some support through our friends, some people support our family members, some people to our relatives. So when one problem often comes up is we have too much expectation from one person.

So especially, I'll come to you, especially in today's world, in the past, there were joint families. Now we have nuclear families. So what happens is in the joint families, we could get different kinds of emotional support from different people.

Now it all becomes concentrated in one relationship. And that's why if we are in a devotee community, where we become a part of a family that is bigger than just our own small family, then we can get some support from others also. So if we know the situations when we tend to get agitated, and we prepare for that by also having other emotional shelters.

Krishna is our ultimate emotional shelter, but we also need shelters in this world. So if we can connect with other devotees also and share our heart with them, and we find out some devotees with whom we can connect, then the emotional anxiety can be calmed down much more. Thank you.

So if you want to become free from fear, can we replace Krishna with some other god? No. Yeah. Okay.

So the point here is that there is a cultural conception of God. There is a philosophical definition of God. And there is a spiritual revelation of God.

There are three different things. Cultural conception. So cultural conception means that we have brought up in a particular culture, and maybe in that culture there were so many different gods, and Krishna happens to be one of them.

So he's just one god among many Hindu gods which we have. So this is the conception which we have got from our culture. You go beyond that, there is a philosophical definition of God.

That philosophical definition is sarva-karana-karana, the cause of all causes, that from which everything comes. That is the definition of God. So if we look at the Bhagavad Gita, and broadly speaking, it's not just the Bhagavad Gita, if you look at the Bible, if you look at the Quran, the attributes of God that are described, the Bhagavad Gita says, I am the first letter A. The Bible letter says I am the alpha and omega of all things.

So there are many different books which may talk about God. In terms of the attributes of God that are described, they are very similar. So when we come to talk about the philosophical definition of God, there is no question of having many gods.

There is only one supreme being. So even if you say the cause of all causes, the source of everything, the source of everything has to be one. It cannot be many.

So in that sense, for the time being, put the cultural conception aside and look at the philosophical definition. The Bhagavad Gita is describing a God in terms of a philosophical definition that is universal. Beyond that, there is spiritual revelation.

So who is God actually? We are at a material level of consciousness. So at present, we can't perceive who God is. We can analyse and we can, okay, the philosophical definition of God makes sense.

But in terms of spiritual revelation, it's when we become purified, when our consciousness becomes spiritualised, then who God is, is revealed to us. So now there have been great saints in the past who have devoted themselves and they have got certain realisations. So the Vedic scriptures describe that God is a person who has six attributes.

There is wealth, fame, knowledge, strength, renunciation, beauty. Not only does he have these six attributes, he has them in his zenith, in the fullness. And there are many leelas which Krishna has performed in which he demonstrates these attributes.

So if somebody just comes into this room and says, I'm the president of America. Oh really? How do I know whether that person is the president or not? If that person is the president, that person should have the power. If they decide that the army should move, the army will move.

The US army, the US navy. So the president, you know from the power of the president. So there is an objective definition of the president.

These are the powers the president must have. And there is a particular subject, a particular person. If that person has those powers, then they say, okay, this person is the president.

So like that, the Bhagavad Gita uses the objective definition of God. And there it presents as a spiritual revelation. This is God.

And there are other scriptures in the Bhagavatam where his activities are described, where he demonstrates these powers. So if we just stick to cultural conception, we may feel that God is just an interchangeable, there can be an interchangeability in the object of worship. But if you understand the philosophical definition, there has to be one object of worship.

Now who that particular object is, that we will realise when we get the spiritual revelation. But till then, we can use our analysis. And the scriptures give us analysis.

The Bhagavad Gita gives us analysis. The Vedic scriptures give us analysis. So there is an objective criteria of what God should possess.

And Krishna possesses that. So therefore, we consider Krishna to be God. But it is not that we consider, it's based on just our feelings.

It's based on… So you are saying that, what is it in this that is unique to Krishna and Bhagavad Gita? No, the Bhagavad Gita never claims monopoly on God. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says God is not… Bhaktivinoda Thakur is one of the prominent Acharyas. He says God is not the monopoly of any religion or any tradition.

He says that religions are meant for God. God is not meant for religion. So God is greater than all the greatest religions of the world.

So we, it's like if you have to climb up a mountain. There can be different ways to climb up the mountain. So the top of the mountain like spiritual consciousness.

The bottom of the mountain is like material consciousness. So we have found this particular way to climb up that mountain as very accessible, very transformational, very beneficial. Now others may find some other ways to rise up.

So we are not here to say that this is the only way. All that we are saying is, this is what has benefited us and that's why we are sharing. And there is scriptural rationale for that.

If somebody has been sick and they've been cured by going to a particular doctor and taking a medicine and they see somebody else who is sick, they'd share that medicine. Now that does not mean that we are saying that all other medicines are false or all the doctors are false. This is how this works.

So this works, that's why we are practising it and we are wanting to share it with others. In life, we all are very practical when it comes to choices in life. But only when we come to God, we become very impractically philosophical.

What do I mean by that? If I have sickness, I don't wait to find the best doctor in the world before I treat my sickness. Start, take a medicine. If it doesn't work, go to some other doctor and in the process learn.

So similarly, when it comes to God also, it's not that we have to study all the religions of the world before we decide what path to follow. No, we follow. If it doesn't work, we go somewhere else.

So there's nothing exclusive about the Bhagavad Gita. There is much that is distinctive. I have a whole series of seminars on my website on world religions and Krishna consciousness, where I talk about different religions.

So the clarity about the knowledge of the soul, who we are, the clarity of the revelation of who God is, the systematic nature of the process by which our heart can become attracted to Krishna, all these are distinctive, the revelation that is given in the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedic tradition. So the clear knowledge of the soul, of the self, who it is, that is not so much there in the Bible. For example, the specific knowledge of who God is, the personal attributes of God, that is also not there so much.

There is a certain tradition that talks that we should develop love for God, but a systematic stage-by-stage process for explaining how love of God develops, that is also not so much there. So this is distinctive. So the principle that we are meant to connect with God, that is universal.

The process that is given for connecting with God, the specifics of that, they are much more given in the Vedic tradition. Does that answer your question now? Okay. Thank you.

Yeah? So basically what should be the ratio between those two, right? And first thing, if there are two people, one has more faith and more attachment towards God and the other person has a little bit lesser So if the material and spiritual are complementary, does this percentage vary in different people? Yes, of course. We are all at different levels of spiritual evolution and we all need to grow according to the level that we are at. In the traditional Vedic system there is Brahmacharya, there is Grahastha, there is Vanaprastha, there is Sannyasa.

There is a progression in how much one focusses on spiritual life and how one balances one's life. Now, with respect to different people having different levels of faith, that is something which is to be natural and accepted. But just because it is to be accepted doesn't mean it has to be perpetuated.

That means, yes, somebody may have more faith, somebody may have more attraction, more commitment to God, somebody may have less. But from where we are, we can take steps forward. Somebody says, this is the level of faith I have, this is the level of practise I will stay forever.

That is not very beneficial. Yes, my muscles may be right now weaker and somebody else's muscles may be stronger. But from wherever I am, I can improve, I can strengthen my muscles and I can move closer.

So this is with respect to overall disposition. But in specific situations it can vary. Even somebody who is very spiritually advanced, in some phases of their life they may have to become more materially active because at that particular time that is what is required in their life.

And in some phases of life we may be more spiritually active. So I would say that if we just study and understand the Bhagavad Gita properly, then what level we can function, that is something which we will ourselves realise. So there is no need to start off with a preconception that I have to be at this level or I have to be at this level.

We just start off spiritual life in a mood of exploration, in a mood of exploration, in a mood of understanding and as we understand, we will naturally gravitate towards the level and the rate of growth that is comfortable for us and we will move onwards from that. So there is no need to fixate with any particular level at this stage. You all of us have a relationship with Krishna and Krishna will guide us how best to advance.

The important thing is we should have the intention to advance, the intention to come closer to him and he will give us the intelligence of how to come to him. The temptation generally in the material world is to keep postponing our spiritual life. For those who are materialistic or godless, for them, their illusion is that God doesn't exist.

But for those who are religious, those who are somewhat spiritual, temptation will not come and tell them that God doesn't exist. That will not even entertain that temptation. Temptation comes as, the way it comes is, yes, God is important, but later.

So what happens is that illusion comes to us like pushing God just one rung down in our priority. Yes, God is important, but right now my job is important, right now my family is important, right now my health is important, right now this is important, right now this is important. And then, if we are going to reject God, we would never do it.

But through just pushing God one rung down, one rung down, from priority number one, he will become priority number one thousand. We still think, I am devoted to God, but what is my devotion? I go to a temple. How often? I go once a year in Janmashtami.

That is also a level of commitment, but that is a very nominal connection. So in general, the temptation is to push God lower down in our priority list. And that's why regular association with those for whom God is a high priority is important.

And that will serve as a reminder. We don't necessarily have to imitate anyone else, because others may be at a different level where they can focus more. But association is very important.

The whole world is going to remind us of worldly things, and there are very few reminders of God. Even if there is a reminder of God in the world, there are TV channels, sometimes there are pious TV channels, but actually there, God is treated more as an entertainment commodity. There are movie stories and there are stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

That is not really very inspirational for dedicating oneself to God. So we need association of devotees. That will keep reminders of that God has to be an important priority in my life.

And with that association externally and the devotional intention internally, we will be guided about what rate we can move towards Krishna. Sometimes, when we think that Krishna will protect us, and when we, like you said, faith in Krishna can remove the fear, but sometimes we feel that we are not such a nice devotee for Krishna to step in and protect us, or that Krishna is not our servant to take care of us. So, if we have the faith that Krishna will protect us, we may feel that we are not so advanced devotee that Krishna will intervene, and that Krishna is not our servant that he should intervene and protect us.

See, it's not that when we are asking Krishna for protection, it's not that we are treating Krishna like our servant. It's that we want to serve Him, but for serving Him, we need certain facilities, certain situations. So, if our intention is simply to use God to fulfil our own plans and we have no plan to devote ourselves to God, that is a different situation.

Even that also Krishna appreciates. Even such people who come only for their own purposes to Krishna, Krishna also says they are pious people. But for them to come to Him, it will take many lifetimes.

Even that Krishna appreciates. Now, the mood for a devotee is that I want to serve Krishna. And for serving Him, I need certain facilities, I need certain situations.

And to seek the protection for that, that is simply a part of our service to Krishna. As far as we not being advanced enough, we do know that Krishna's love for us is not based on who we are. It is based on who He is.

He, Krishna doesn't say that He is the surudha of only the pure devotees. In the Bhagavad Gita 5.1 it says, surudham sarva-bhutana. It says, I am the well-wisher of all living beings.

So, Krishna's love for us is based on not who we are. We may be fallen, we may be sinful. That is not the basis of Krishna's love for us.

It is simply He is the all-loving Lord of all living beings. So, His love for us is based on who He is. Now, who we are determines how much we can experience His love.

The sun gives life to everyone. But depending on whether I am in the light or I am in a cellar, I can see the sun or I can feel the light or I don't feel the light. Like that, if we are too attached to material things, then we may not feel Krishna's love.

Say, if I am very attached to cricket, say. There is one devotee's son. He is a small boy.

He says, stop chanting, stop coming to the temple. The devotee took him to his spiritual master. He asked him, why do you stop chanting? He says, there is an India-Pakistan cricket match.

And I prayed to Krishna that India should win. But Pakistan won. So, I stopped chanting.

So then, the spiritual master told, actually, just as you are praying that India should win, there is a boy in Pakistan who is praying that Pakistan should win. And he prayed more than you. So, when we are too attached to something, then we see Krishna's love through the filter of that thing.

That means if this thing is fulfilled, then Krishna loves me. If this thing is not fulfilled, then Krishna doesn't love me. It's not like that.

Krishna's love for us is not dependent on anything in this world. So, if we are very attached, then we may not feel Krishna's love. But Krishna's love for us is there always.

And as far as Krishna protecting us is concerned, Krishna is ready to protect us. There is a beautiful prayer of Kulshekar Maharaj. He says that, Oh mind, don't worry about various different problems that you may face in life.

Why? Do you not know that your Lord is Paaparipava? He is the enemy of sin. He is the destroyer of sin. Not only the destroyer of sin, He is the Lord, the Goddess of fortune.

Wherever He is, He will bring fortune over there. And He says, not only that, Even general people go to Him and pray to Him, and He protects them. He protects them from danger.

Thousands of people, millions of people go to temples, churches, mosques. They get something over there, otherwise why will they keep going there? And most of them are not going out of any pure devotion. They get something, that's why they go there.

So Krishna removes the dangers even of people who come to Him for their own purposes. Therefore, why will He not protect His devotees? Therefore, Just give up any lethargy. Bhakti is very easy.

So with this easy process of bhakti, just absorb yourself in Krishna. So Krishna definitely wants to help us in whatever level we are at. And His love for us is always there.

And to the extent we try to absorb ourselves in Him, we will experience His love. We should never have this fear that Krishna doesn't care for us. Krishna cares for us always.

And that is not dependent on our spiritual level or our lack of spiritual consciousness. It is our spiritual consciousness which will determine whether we perceive His care or not. But He always loves us.

I just remember Prahlad Maharaj, how his mind was always fixed on Krishna. And he was protected in every situation. And then I remember the devotees in Russia, when the KGB was there, how they distributed books and sometimes they were cut and they were beaten at their feet.

So, I am thinking that, you know, this is what is now in my mind. So, you can see Prahlad Maharaj was protected, but sometimes the devotees in some communist countries, they were persecuted. So, now you see, we should not see that suppose a particular devotee suffers, whether a particular devotee suffers at the material level, that is not necessarily a reflection of the level of their devotion.

In the Ramayana there is a scripture which says Jatayu. Jatayu was devoted to Rama. And he was trying to protect Rama's own consort Sita.

And he was remembering Rama, he was seeing Sita's relationship with Rama, that's why he was trying to protect her. And he didn't succeed at that time. So, it's not that Jatayu was a lesser devotee and say Hanuman heroically went to great danger and he was always successful.

I want to say that the presence of material protection or the absence of material protection are necessarily reflections of the level of devotion of a person. Krishna has his own plans. And sometimes he may protect someone at a material level, sometimes he may not protect someone at a material level.

So, that does not mean that Krishna doesn't protect. If you see the Bhagavatam itself, the Bhagavatam, it describes how Parikshit Maharaj was protected in the womb when Ashwatthama's Brahmastra was sent to him. And Lord Vishnu himself came and protected him.

But then that same Lord Vishnu, why did he not protect Parikshit Maharaj when he was cursed by a Brahmana? If you hear of some adventure novel in which the hero is cursed to die in seven days. And the whole novel is there or the whole movie is there. And at the end of the movie, the hero dies.

What is the point? What is the adventure in this? I thought somehow the hero will survive. That's the adventure, isn't it? So, we may say what happens? Parikshit Maharaj, he was cursed to die and he died. So, where was the protection? So, was it that when he was a baby, he was such a great devotee that he was protected by the Lord.

But when he was a king who had rendered a lifetime of service, that time his devotion became so contaminated that the Lord refused to protect him. It's not like that. Actually, Krishna has his own plans.

And Krishna protected Parikshit Maharaj also. But that protection came in the form of absorption in him. The message of Bhagavatam helped him to absorb himself in Krishna.

And our Acharya described even before Takshak, the snake bird came and bit him. Now Parikshit Maharaj, by his absorption in Krishna, had already gone to the spiritual world. So, Takshak's biting simply destroyed his body.

But that body had already been left. So, he was protected through the absorption in Krishna that he got. So, that's why at the material level, sometimes protection may come, sometimes protection may not come.

So, to understand the reality of Krishna's love, we have to understand the breadth and the depth of our own existence. The breadth means we are not just the body. We are beyond the body, we are the mind.

We are not even the mind, we are the soul. So, sometimes there may be pain at the bodily level, but a devotee may be absorbed in Krishna internally. And that is protection.

Sometimes a devotee may go through very painful difficulties in this life. Sometimes even an exalted devotee may get something like cancer or something. They may go through a lot of difficulties.

But, if we consider the length of our existence, we have souls who have gone through many lifetimes. And sometimes that particular situation, that particular suffering, that particular cancer or whatever is there, that may be the way Krishna is exhausting all future karma. So, instead of going through many different lifetimes, everything is finished in one lifetime.

So, we don't know what Krishna's plan is. Basic problem is that we look at the present and we prepare for the future, or we plan the future. Krishna looks at the future and prepares the present.

So, because of that, sometimes something which may seem to be very bad at a material level, that may seem as if Krishna is not protected. But from the perspective of future danger that was going to come, Krishna may have offered protection. That's why as devotees, naturally if we hear some devotees in Russia who were persecuted, it's very distressful for us.

But we see that as a testament to their faith, that they were devoted to Krishna even amidst such tribulations. So, at least I don't have so much tribulations, let me be devoted to Krishna. And if in future some problem comes, Krishna will give me the strength to deal with it.

So, faith means that whatever problems come, Krishna will give me the strength to deal with it. Now, how I will deal with it, that I do not know. And we cannot reduce Krishna's protection to the material level, nor can we equate a devotee's devotion with the protection of the material level.

You see that devotion and Krishna's protection act not just in this lifetime, but they are from a multiple lifetime perspective, they are not just at the level of the body, they are ultimately at the level of the soul. So, with that understanding, we can be confident that we will be protected. How? That is up to Krishna.

And we can see that, not knowing how, as a source of insecurity. Or we can see that as a source of excitement. I will discover how Krishna will protect me.

Prabhupada had that motive. He went to his old age to travel, I mean to share Krishna's message all over the world. He did not know clearly, I am going to meet this person, this is going to happen, this is going to happen.

That depends on Krishna. So we, for us as devotees, because we have faith in Krishna's benevolence, so even the uncertainty about how we will be protected, that makes us see the future in a mood of adventure. Yes, whatever Krishna brings in my life, he will help me to come closer to him.

One more question. I think you answered the question. The question I was thinking about the fear of unknown.

Like you told, this is what I was always thinking. I was always thinking, if I have the complete faith in Krishna, then I do whatever I want, I don't care about what's going to happen, I will just go for it. And Krishna will protect me.

That is what I was thinking. And that has always worked out fine for me. The fear of unknown is always like, if you have complete surrender to God, complete faith in Krishna, I don't have to worry about anything in the world.

I will be able to face anything, any fear. So, is it that if we have complete faith in Krishna, then we won't have any worries in life? We will be completely fearless? We have to understand what complete faith in Krishna means. We have to understand what fearlessness actually means.

See, fearlessness is not foolhardiness. So, one of the ways in which we depend on Krishna is by using what Krishna has given us. And Krishna has given us our intelligence.

So with our intelligence, we also have to understand what I can do. What is realistic for me. So, if I think that there is an incident in the Bible where Jesus is tempted.

If you are really a messenger of God, then jump down from this hill. And let us see if God protects you. So, Jesus refuses to fall for that temptation.

He says at that time, I don't want God to be my servant. That means what? If for my service to God some danger comes, He will protect me. But I will not put myself into danger and demand that God protects me.

So, my point is that faith in Krishna doesn't necessarily mean that we become foolhardy. Fearlessness is not foolhardiness. We have to use our intelligence.

But, having said that, I get your point. If we had fear, our worries would go down a lot. If we had faith, our worries would go down a lot.

And as far as complete faith in Krishna is concerned, yes, if we can develop that faith, we will be much more confident than what we are right now. But we can't jump automatically to that level of faith. Because sometimes we may think that I am having faith in God.

But what we may be doing is simply not using our intelligence. Not using what God has given us properly. So, faith in Krishna means that we do the best that we can and we leave the rest to Krishna.

So, it's Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita culminates in Bhakti Yoga. So, full faith in Krishna is something which will come gradually.

So, we start working with whatever faith we have. And you will see it's a progression. The more we work with faith, the more our fears go down and the more our faith increases further.

So, rather than waiting for some time, some time in the future for full faith to come and then to act, we act with whatever faith we have. And if we have some fears, we face those fears. This is the fear and deal with this right now in this way.

But the faith cannot be like 50-50 percent, right? So, can faith be 50-50 percent? It's not so much of percentage, but it's a matter of practical deliberation. So, when I say 50-50 percent faith means, is it like I am hedging my bets? You know, if God exists, this is good. If God doesn't exist, then maybe this is good.

It's not like that. When you talk about faith being less or more, it's a faith is a choice, but faith is also an inclination. That means that it's like muscles.

I can develop my muscles by exercise. But some people have more muscles, some people have less muscles. So, I would say when you are talking about faith and I am talking about faith, we are referring to two different things.

We are talking about faith, say for example, I am facing some problem. At that time, I don't know how to deal with that problem. I just have faith in Krishna and I'll move on.

Yes, that is faith. And at the back of my mind, what if Krishna doesn't help me? If that is there, then the purpose of the faith will be sabotaged. So, in that sense, we have to always have faith.

When we put faith, let's put faith wholeheartedly. That's true. But when I am talking about faith, I am more talking about intellectual understanding as well as a spiritual realisation.

So, there is faith as a, I would say, not sentiment in a negative sense. If God exists, God will take care of everything. That is good as a faith.

But the more our philosophical understanding of God's control increases, the more we ourselves practise bhakti and get spiritual realisations. That faith goes much beyond a level of, beyond just a choice that we have or a sentiment that we feel. It becomes a deep conviction.

It becomes something which is just a part of our spiritual makeup. That will come by gradual purification. So, yes, if we are putting faith, we should put faith wholeheartedly.

But as we move forward, our faith will become deeper in terms of understanding, in terms of realisation. It won't just be a matter of emotions being reposed. Emotions being reposed is important.

But directing those emotions will be a profound philosophical understanding. And it will be experienced spiritual realisations. So, can we stop now? So, thank you very much for your very valuable introduction.

And the session is not stopped yet.