Even if we can’t be grateful for all circumstances we can be grateful in all circumstances
Hare Krishna.
So I'm grateful to be here amongst all of you at the lotus feet of Radha Shamsundar. And today I'll speak on the topic of gratitude, specifically on even if we can't be grateful to Krishna for all circumstances, we can be grateful to Krishna in all circumstances. So even if we can't be grateful for all circumstances, we can be grateful in all circumstances.
In the Bhagavad Gita, 18th chapter, 58th verse, Krishna says, If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace. So Krishna is not asking us here to imagine that just because we are devotees, everything is going to be nice, or that even if bad things are going to happen, we are somehow to think that it is all good. He's saying there is Durgaani, there are obstacles.
Obstacles do come in our life. And he acknowledges there are obstacles. But he says, by my grace, you will cross over those obstacles.
So gratitude is like a fundamental channel that connects our consciousness with Krishna. When we are instead of the opposite of grateful is resentful. So grateful means we are looking at the positive and we are happy and thankful about the positive.
Resentful means why is this happening to me? We are filled with negative emotions. And when we are resentful, that emotion of resentment blocks our connection with Krishna. Whereas gratitude, if we are grateful, then that itself becomes a connection with Krishna.
So I'll talk about three levels at which or three ways in which we can be grateful in all circumstances. So the difference between grateful in all circumstances and grateful for all circumstances is that grateful for all circumstances means that even if bad things are happening to me, I am to be grateful for that. If somebody gets some terrible disease, somebody gets cancer, somebody gets robbed, somebody gets abused, we can't be grateful for that.
It's almost like denying the reality of our and the gravity of our suffering to say that you should be grateful for that. In India, some people based on some Gita commentary, they write a Gita Sar. In the Gita Sar they say everything that has happened is good.
Everything that is happening is good. Everything that will happen is good. And this is the essence of the Gita.
Now, I have read the Gita dozens of times, I never found any words which says anything like this. The Gita's essence is not what is happening. It is what we are doing.
Rajendra's question was I want to know what is Dharma. Dharma means what is it that I am meant to do in my life. So often bad things happen in our life.
In the Mahabharata also of which the Gita is a part, when Draupadi is dishonoured, she is attempted to be disrobed. Nobody tells her, be grateful for this. No, the Kshatriyas, although the Pandavas are rendered helpless in that situation, they are furious.
And Krishna is also infuriated with what has happened. When later they go to the forest when Krishna comes to meet the Pandavas and Draupadi, Krishna is infuriated. So, bad things do happen in life.
And when bad things happen, it is not that just because we are devotees, we are meant to think of those bad things as good. We acknowledge the bad things are bad. From a transcendental perspective, we will look at it a little later.
But at our level, we do see that bad things do happen in our life. So now when I talk about three levels at which we can see gratitude is that when bad things have happened in our life or when one or two or three bad things have happened in our life, the first thing we can do is we can look at the good things that have happened in our life, the good things that are still happening in our life. And usually the mind tends to gravitate towards the negative.
So, when Hiranyakashipu was the ruler of the universe, at that time, everybody was offering respect to him. But there was one person who refused to bow down to him. That was Prahlad.
And Hiranyakashipu found that unbearable. He got no pleasure in seeing all other people who were respecting him. But Prahlad, why is he not respecting? So now, of course, this is his demoniac mentality.
But Prahlad points out to him later that your only enemy is the uncontrolled and misguided mind. So what this means is when something has gone wrong in our life, our mind somehow obsesses over that one thing that has gone wrong. And then the many other things that are right in our life, just don't look at it.
And we feel so angry, we feel so frustrated, we feel so misunderstood. But if we look at it, say, even as practising devotees, even among our loved ones, sometimes somebody does something which hurts us terribly. Someone lets us down, somebody betrays us, somebody backbites against us.
Now, when this happens, it's very hurtful. And to be hurt is just a natural human reaction. But if we look at our social circle, you know, okay, we may be getting hurt from one person, it may be severe hurt.
But there are so many others with whom we may have good relationships. And now we can look at the love, the support, the understanding that we can get from others. So if we obsess over that one thing, why is this happening to me, then we block out all the other good things that are in our life.
So at a practical level, basically the soul is encased in three circles, the circle of the body-mind, the circle of society, and the circle of the broader world or nature. And from these three circles, we get the three kleshas. So from the body-mind, we get the Adi Atmic Klesha.
From the society, we get the Adi Bhautic Klesha. So one of my devotee friends, author, he said, what is Adi Bhautic Klesha? He said, it is mosquitoes, Mujahideen, and mother-in-laws. So basically, people around us, living beings around us, they actually cause trouble to us.
So this is the second circle, the social circle, and then the environmental circle. So we had the hurricane just now, that is Adi Daivic Klesha. So in each of these, the nature of the soul is, the soul though being transcendental, is situated presently in these circles.
Our consciousness is in these circles, it's caught in these circles, in our body, in our society, in the world that we are in. So whenever any affliction comes, it hurts us. At the same time, in these circles also, there is good.
We get hurt by people, but we are also loved by people, we are respected by people. Whatever it is, we do see that there is good also. So one level of gratitude is, when something bad has happened, is just sticking on that.
Why did he speak like this? Why did she do like this? The mind gets caught in resentment, again and again and again, just thinking of that one person. So sometimes people just behave unreasonably. I'll come to how to see that later.
But somehow, if we could turn our thoughts, and look at all the things that are right in our life, then we'll find that we do have things to be grateful for. Even if something terrible has happened for us, even if my health is spoilt, at least I have some friends, I have some family members, some loved ones who are ready to support me when my health is not good. Even if I'm alone, at the spiritual level, we have Krishna with us, we have Krishna Bhakti with us.
We have, we can always look and we will find that there's something which is positive. So the mind tends to count problems. But the intelligence is meant to count blessings.
So if we are too much on the mental platform, we'll be counting problems, this is wrong with my life, this is wrong with my life, this is wrong with my life. And we will feel sorry for ourselves. So this will only increase our distress.
But if our intelligence is strong, then we look at good things in our life also. So don't let the mind count problems, use the intelligence to count blessings. And actually, we are not just meant to count our blessings, we are also meant to make our blessings count.
Don't just count our blessings, but make our blessings count. What does that mean? That means, yes, we have opportunity to say, we have good friends who can support us. But when we are lonely, suddenly I met a devotee, and the devotee had fallen sick, and the devotee was telling that I expect that the devotees will come and give me some prasad, and devotees will ask me how I am, and devotees will help me.
And then nobody came. And then I asked the other devotees what had happened. This devotee had never told her that he was sick.
Now how do you expect that, you know, somebody should telepathically know that you are sick. So actually, if we have, there are often in the world, there are people who support us, but we have to ask for support. Not in a demanding sense, but there will be, life is a reciprocation.
Sometimes we help others, others help us. Basically the point is, when we have blessings, we have to make the blessings count. I'll talk about how to do this a little later.
But the first point is, when something bad has happened, we look, instead of just counting the problems, we count the blessings. Now count the good things in our life. Second level is that we focus on the good thing that helps us to deal with the bad thing.
So for example, if I've got some terrible disease, now that is distressing. But if suppose the disease is curable, then I can be resentful that I have got the disease, or I can be grateful that it is curable and there is a medicine for the disease. So there are things by which we can set the wrong right, or we can deal with the wrong.
That's the second. And the third, I'll just mention it and if we get time, I'll come to it later. Third is that in the long run, we may find out that even the bad thing was for good.
The bad thing itself is not good, but it was for good. Something good came out of that. And if we have that faith, then we may be able to stay connected with Krishna and be grateful even in that situation.
So the first is when the bad thing happens, look at the good things. Second is among the good things, there is some good thing which helps us to deal with or rectify the bad thing. So I'll focus on this a little bit more.
When we are practising Krishna Bhakti, we all come with different conceptions of God and we come with different expectations from God. Quite often when we have problems, we expect that Krishna, we pray to Krishna and Krishna should solve our problems. So when I was staying in Pune, at that time next to our temple, there was a school.
The school children would never come to the temple except in the month of April. Because April was the month of exams. So before the exams, oh God, please pass me this exam.
So actually come to God for the release from problems. And yes, Krishna can release us from problems also. But Krishna Bhakti is about something more.
It is not just release from problems. It is relief amidst problems. That there are problems, but Krishna consciousness raises our consciousness to a higher level by which we get relief amidst the problems.
So Krishna is saying, if you become conscious of me, Sarva Durgaani, the problems are there, Madh Prasadat Tarishasi, by my mercy, you will cross over them. Cross over them means the problems will be there, but your consciousness will be raised upwards. So you will not feel that threatened by the problem.
Say there is a flood and if we are in the flooded area, we are at the ground level and the flood is coming in. We will be scared, what is going to happen? But if we are in a two-story building and you go to the two-story, the flood is still coming in, but we do not feel immediately threatened, because we have risen slightly above. So we have above, so we can look at the problem from above.
So often when we expect removal or release from the problem and if that does not come, then we feel, what is Krishna doing for me? And what is the use of practising Krishna Bhakti? But if we look for not just release from the problem, but relief amidst the problem, that means even when the problem is there, our consciousness gets raised upwards. And then we can actually experience that relief even if the problem remains. The problem, the problems that come in our life, why exactly they come, how they come, it is very difficult to analyse.
We may say, oh, our problems are, sometimes circumstantially, we may say that it is, you know, this person did like this, that is why the problem came in my life. Or we may say, we may sometimes intellectually say, it is because of my past bad karma. But there is one devotee boy who got a terrible disease.
He somehow, sometimes, you know, we have to be also sensitive when we speak. Okay, you know, if somebody has got some problem, tell them it is because of your past bad karma. That can come off as very insensitive.
Okay. How much bad karma? How much bad karma have I done? One of the arguments people give is that, you know, if I look at myself in this life, you know, even if we may or may not be very sinful, but sometimes the amount of suffering that comes, may seem very disproportionate. So, the principle of karma is there.
But when somebody is suffering, the point is not to focus on the cause of the suffering. In the Shrimad Bhagavatam, in the first canto, when Parikshit sees the cow and the bull being beaten by Kali, there is a very intriguing discussion that happens over there. So, Parikshit chastises Kali and then dismisses him off.
But after that, while this is happening, he asks the bull, you know, what is the cause of your suffering? And he says, what a ridiculous question. Can't you see this Kali was beating me? What is the cause of your suffering? Kali, this person is beating me. Can't you see that? Now, Parikshit's question is very intriguing.
And the bull's answer is also very amazing. He says, actually, the cause of suffering is very difficult to assert. Some people say it is because of karma.
Some people say it is because of the grahas, because of the planets. Some people say it is because of material nature. Some people say the cause is inconceivable.
And when he replies like this, Parikshit says, congratulations. He says, you know, this is very good. He says, I can see that you are very enlightened.
And there he makes a very statement that can seem very disturbing. He says that one who blames a wrongdoer gets the same destination as the wrongdoer. What do you mean? How is it possible? A brutally assaults and wounds B. And B says, A attacked B. Is it that A is going to get the karma and B is also going to go to the same destination? No, the point here is something deeper.
See, the whole Bhagavatam, Bhagavatam's purpose is to take us beyond the surface. There is a surface cause, but Bhagavatam's whole point is to go beyond the surface. So, when it says that the wrongdoer and the victim both will get the same destination, that doesn't mean karmically both are equivalent.
It basically means both of them are at the same ignorant level of consciousness, where they are not seeing beyond the immediate causes. So, the wrongdoer is thinking that this person, if I rob him, this person, if I attack him, I will, I'll fulfil my whatever plan is and the victim is thinking, oh, this person did this to me. So, the Bhagavatam encourages us to go beyond the immediate causes.
And the whole mood of Pariksit Maharaj, when he is cursed, you know, it's such a disproportionate, it's a small offence to someone, a small offence to a sage and he is cursed to die for that. Can you imagine, you know, somebody comes to our house, they knock on the door and maybe, you know, we are sleeping or we are doing something we don't notice and they walk away and they get angry with us and they just, maybe they just knock down a vessel or they just do some disruption in the house. And then suddenly you are sentenced, capital punishment, going to die for that.
What is this? You know, what kind of justice is this? So, Pariksit Maharaj could have protested against injustice of it all. He could have countered against stringing, but no, just went beyond the surface. He saw that ultimately Krishna has arranged this for me to come closer to him.
So, the point which I'm making here is that when suffering comes, that what exactly is the cause, it is very difficult to assert it. And if you start getting into, why did he do like this? Why did she do like that? Why did that happen? It's very, very difficult. And karma may be an intellectually satisfactory explanation, but it is not an emotionally satisfactory explanation.
So, sometimes it appears as if when we just talk about karma, it appears as if, okay, I may have done some bad karma, but, but, you know, I'm suffering here so terribly. So, the point is, we need relief. I have not seen too often in scripture, that when somebody is suffering, people tell, it's your karma because of which you are suffering.
That person may say like that sometimes, but nobody else says, nobody tells Sita when she's abducted, it's your karma because of which you are abducted. No, nobody tells Draupadi when she's dishonoured, it's because of your karma. No, very rarely, nobody says Pariksit, that it's your karma because of which you got this curse.
So, the point is, karma, we have to be emotionally sensitive. So, when somebody is in distress, at that time, I talked about relief amidst, relief amidst the problems. So, we can be grateful for something that helps us to deal, for the good thing that helps us to deal with the bad thing.
And what is that good thing? So, no matter how many bad things happen in our life, there's always something in our control. In our life situations, some things are in our control, some are not in our control. And often the mind focusses on the things which are not in control and makes us feel powerless.
At the very least, there are always three things in our control. And I use the acronym TAB, T-A-B tab. In a computer, sometimes we open a tab.
So, one tab is open, we open another tab, and we can see something else in the browser. So, like that, we can, no matter how many things are going wrong in our life, we can always open a new tab. And through that, we can direct our consciousness elsewhere.
So, tab is thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours. Our thought, what we, no matter how difficult a situation we are in, no matter how much somebody has dealt unjustly with us, what we think about, with what attitude we look at our situation, and how we behave in that situation. This is always in our control.
So, if somebody is very sick, or somebody we're planning to go for a picnic or a yatra, some enjoyable trip we're planning to go, and suddenly, just the night before the trip, we get a flu, and we fall sick. And now, when the flu is there, there's not much bodily pain, there's just some weakness. And that has to be tolerated.
But at that time, we think, oh, you know, all my friends are enjoying over there, I'm just lying on this bed, so bad, so bad, so bad. So, often, resentment of reality hurts more than reality. The reality is I got flu, and the flu is a trouble.
But the resentment, oh, why, why, why, why? Now, that why question becomes like a mental whip, whip, whip, whip, whip. With that question, we are whipping ourselves. Now, why did this happen? Why did he do like this? Why, why, why? So, at that time, if we see, yes, there is some problem, but our mind is increasing the problem.
So, what I think about, what is my attitude, and how I behave, that is in my control. What this means is, and I'll talk about how now Krishna consciousness actually enables us to access this. So, what I think about, I can think about my problem and become miserable.
But when we become Krishna conscious, that means we try to become conscious of Krishna. So, I can, I can direct my thoughts towards Krishna. So, I can hear about Krishna, I can chant about Krishna.
Nowadays, I can read, see some videos about Krishna. I can, if I can sing. So, I can direct my thoughts towards Krishna.
And actually, just by thinking about Krishna, it's amazing how we can get relief. It's, it's just that it's almost, it's a tangible relief, actually. It's outside, it's very hot, and we come inside an air-conditioned room, we feel relief.
So, like that, as long as we are thinking about the problem, there is misery. And if we can just direct our thoughts towards Krishna, just hear his holy names, hear some kirtan, come and take darshan of Allah Shamsundar, we just feel some relief. So, what we think about is in our control.
Now, I'll talk later, yes, we are not running away from the problem. We do have to deal with the problem. I'll talk about it later.
But some, the important thing is, sometimes the mind says, you know, thinking about Krishna, what are you doing about this problem? Come on, be practical, deal with the problem. But actually, we are not dealing with the problem, the problem is dealing with us. What that means is that if we are just thinking about the problem, and this problem is so bad, this problem is so bad, this problem is so bad.
So, all that happens is we feel more and more powerless. So, just we always have the option to think about Krishna. And that itself gives us some relief.
The second is our attitude. Okay, this has happened. Whatever be the reason this has happened, how do I deal with it? So, either I can be resentful and hateful, and I can blast out at whoever comes around me, I can blast at myself, I can blast at nature, I can blast at God.
But all that negativity simply makes me more miserable. So, how do I, what is the attitude which I deal with it? At the very basic level, we can say, arms the pictures of heart. Just tolerate it, just tolerate it.
So, often when problems come in our life, one of the greatest hopes that we can get is that everything in this world is temporary. So, even problems are temporary. So, in India, there are some leeches, when they bite, and the leech bites, it actually is extremely painful.
But, and not only painful, it's fearful, because you can feel it sucking the blood from. And I may get, I may get panicked, I try to pull the leech out. But the leech has got such a grip, if you try to pull it out, it will rip off the whole skin.
And the pain will be far greater. But if at that time, if I just tolerate, now it's sucking my blood, how can I tolerate? But the thing is that the leech does not have infinite capacity to suck blood. It has, it has a small tubule.
And once that tubule is filled, that leech will itself let go, and it can just flip and it will fall off. So, like that, when problems come, they may seem unbearable. But the problems are like leeches, they will, and they have a finite capacity to suck blood, they will last for some time.
Sometimes I may have a problem right turn, how will I ever get over this problem? But if we look back five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, we always had some problem. And at that time, that problem seemed unbearable. So, whenever a problem comes, it just appears very big at that time.
But the problems are like leeches, they will come and they will go. So, we at one level, our attitude can be this is temporary, no matter how big it seems, it's temporary. And I can tolerate it by that.
So, the attitude of tolerance is to it. So, trying to pull it out is like overreaction. So, you did this to me, I will do this to you.
Somebody gets speaks hurtfully to me, I speak 10 times hurtfully to them. And then the whole issue, the whole problem gets 10 times worse by that. This is tolerance.
Tolerance doesn't necessarily mean that we let that person victimise us. It just means that we don't overreact impulsively. We are thoughtful, and then we wait for our intentions to get restored so that we can deal with the situation.
The third is behaviour. So, the attitude can be tolerance. A higher level of attitude will be transcendence, which I'll come to a little later.
But tolerance is temporary. Third is behaviour. Now, practically, whenever we face any difficult situation, any problem, broadly, we have three options.
One is change ourselves and tolerate the situation. The other is act to change the situation or change the person. The third is walk away from the situation.
In any problem, these are the three broad options we have. And it is not that one of them is right and others are wrong. In different situations, different may be right.
So, the Pandavas themselves adopted all these three options in different situations. Say, initially, when Bhima was poisoned or when they attempted to be persecuted in various ways initially, Yudhishthira told, don't publicise it. Don't make a big issue of it.
Just tolerate it. So, they tried to change themselves and tolerate. They tried to avoid the animosity going to too much high level.
But eventually, when Draupadi was dishonoured, eventually, when the Kauravas showed no sign of remorse or repentance, then the Pandavas took aggressive action. Krishna told them to fight. So, they acted to change the situation.
And eventually, when Krishna departed from the world, they just walked away from the situation. They also departed. They also renounced the world.
So, similarly, when problems come in our life, we also may decide, okay, you know, this is, okay, this is this person's nature only. I just have to tolerate it. And I change myself and tolerate it.
But sometimes that person's behaviour may be unbearable for us, that person may be hurting not only us, but many other people. Then we may act to change that situation. Or sometimes I feel this is too messy.
And I have better things to do in my life. And just walk away from the situation. When we, there is a difference between walking away and running away.
When we run away, our mind is still caught in that situation. We are fearful of that situation. And we just still centred on that.
But when walking, walking away means, you know, I have better things to do in my life. I do not want to get involved. So now, all these three can in their own way be empowering.
So, and in different times, we may choose different options. But the fact is, once we choose an option, now, if I have decided to choose the option of tolerating, then there is no point in complaining. If I decided to tolerate, if I want the other person to change, and I want that change to be immediate, even tolerance may cause the other person to change, or tolerance may also lead to the situation changing.
Tolerance may also lead to the situation changing, but that may take time. So, this is a very simple example. Say, here, if the hurricane has come.
Now, if I decide to stay over here, or I can decide to go away from here. Now, if I decide to stay over here, and then I am unprepared for the hurricane. You know, if I stay here, I think the hurricane should not come only.
Well, it's not going to work, it's going to come, it's going to come. So, either I can go away from the situation, I can stay in the situation. So, often the problem comes, because we choose one approach, and then we have expectations of the results from the other approach.
That means, I walk away from a situation, and I still expect that I should get the results or the facilities or the support that I was getting in that situation. You know, I leave some place, and then I expect, you know, why are the people from there not supporting, they are no longer a part of that place. Why will you? So, we have to be clear, what am I doing? It's not that one is right and other is wrong.
But when we choose a particular option, so if we are going to act assertively, then there may be some more conflict. If we have to deal with that, we have to deal with that. But the point is, in every situation, we can deal with issues.
And by becoming Krishna conscious, what happens is this new tab opens. So, in all the three things, whether I'm tolerating, whether I'm acting to change or walking away, all these three can be done in a mood of service to Krishna. Krishna, as your servant, I will tolerate this.
As your servant, this is a serious problem, it needs to be set right, I'll work to centre it. Now, as your servant, I have other services to do, so I'm not going to get entangled in this. So, if we have that attitude of service to Krishna, then we will be able to execute each of these options also properly.
And the last is, what I said, we were being thankful to Krishna for the circumstance, for the thing that has happened. Now, that is extremely difficult when the situation happens. But quite often, so even when bad things happen, Krishna can bring good out of the bad.
That means, that bad thing happens, at that time it appears very bad. But when one door closes, some other door opens for us, and we find that that door leads to a better service, a better situation. And then later on, you say, okay, this was actually for my good.
So, we may realise it later. So, here, there is the aspect of faith that is required. Faith means that we often look at our present, and we prepare for the future.
But Krishna looks at our future and prepares for the present. So, Krishna looks at the future and plans our present. So, a child has pain, and a child goes to a doctor expecting that I will get relief from the pain.
And the doctor takes out an injection. Hey, I came for relief, and you are giving me more pain. But the doctor knows in the future, this disease is going to cause further problems, I need to give injections at that time.
So, like that, even the bad thing that has happened in future, we may realise this was for good. But at this stage, rather than, so as being thankful for all situations and thankful in all situations. So, thankful for all situations is often almost like an inhuman demand, because sometimes terrible things happen in our life.
But rather than focussing on that bad situation, we can focus on Krishna, we can focus on the blessings that Krishna has given in our life. And by changing what to think about what the look at the problem, and the behaviour that we choose consciously, we can actually be grateful even in that circumstance. And you'll find that if we can just turn our thoughts towards Krishna, in a mood of gratitude, that Krishna, I'm grateful that no matter this has happened, at least I can chant your holy names, at least I can come to a temple and worship you, I can hear about you, the opportunity to remember Krishna is actually Krishna's greatest blessing.
Because no matter how many things, bad things Krishna sets right, ultimately at death, all the things that you have set right are going to be left behind. And what is going to be with us is his remembrance. And by remembering him, we can actually get liberated from material existence, we can attain Krishna's eternal abode.
And thus, there we have freedom from all misery, there we have constant absorption in Krishna. Till we get there, we will have difficult circumstances. And rather than focussing on the circumstances, we focus on Krishna.
So there is circumstantial devotion, I'll conclude with this point, there is circumstantial devotion, and there is transcendental devotion. So circumstantial devotion means that my devotion depends on the circumstances. If circumstances are good, I'm thankful to Krishna, I'm a nice devotee.
If circumstances are bad, what is the use of practising bhakti? What is Krishna doing for me? But transcendental devotion means we understand our relationship with Krishna is beyond the circumstances. That doesn't mean circumstances don't matter. They do matter and we have to deal with them practically.
But our focus is on Krishna. And the transcendental connection with Krishna is what enables us to move on. So instead of asking what is Krishna doing for me, Krishna, what are you doing for me? A devotee in transcendental devotion is Krishna, what can I do for you? How can I serve you in this situation? When Srila Prabhupada came to America, it's one of the most amazing ways in which we can understand Srila Prabhupada's exalted consciousness is through this song Amarkine Bhagavad Dharma.
It's among everything that Srila Prabhupada has written, that song is by far my favourite. So what I find out there is Prabhupada is elderly, he's alone, he's come to a land where he has never come, he doesn't even know anyone over there, he's just had seasickness, he's just had heart attacks and at such a time, what would most people ask for? Krishna, please protect me, now please protect my health, please protect my life. But Prabhupada, what is he praying for? He's praying, Krishna, please make me nice.
My dear lord, if you brought me here to make me dance, then make me dance, oh lord, make me dance. Just like a puppeteer makes me, waiter makes a puppet dance, make me dance. Now actually, this make me dance is what? It is a prayer for service, Krishna.
Please engage me in your service. And the very first line of this prayer is, Krishna, you've been very merciful to me. Now actually, if you see, an ordinary person says, what is there to be thankful about? I've got nothing, I've got nothing, what is there to be thankful about? But Prabhupada was thankful that he had an opportunity to fulfil the instruction of a spiritual master.
That spiritual master had told him to preach in the western world and at least now he had that opportunity and for that he was grateful. So, one letter from one of his Mataji disciples, she said that she was very troubled by other devotees. So, Prabhupada writes to her, now we work at a, she was feeling very discouraged, so Prabhupada writes that we work at a platform that is above discouragement.
We work at a platform that is above discouragement. What does that mean? That means actually, if we have that mood of serving Krishna, then discouraging things will happen in our life and to some extent there will be discouragement. But if that connection, that desire to serve Krishna is there, then we'll always find something to be grateful for and by that we'll be able to move onwards.
So, now here Krishna says that if you become conscious of me, we pass over all obstacles by my grace. So, Prabhupada was once asked, you know, Prabhupada discusses in one lecture, how do we know that whether we are Krishna conscious? And Prabhupada says, if you come to the temple and you look at the deities and if you feel that Krishna is asking you, what are you doing for me? What are you doing for me? Most people come to Krishna and ask what are you doing for me? But if we feel that Krishna, what are you doing for me? Krishna, what can I do for you? How can I serve you? If we feel Krishna is asking me, what are you doing for me? Then we are Krishna conscious. So, in this way, if we have that attitude of service, we'll always find some way to move onwards in life.
And thus, we'll find that Krishna by his excellent arrangement will set things right for us in due course. By his mercy, we'll be able to cross. So, to summarise, I spoke just now about how we can't be grateful to Krishna for all situations, but we can be grateful in all situations.
So, for all situations means when bad things happen, we can't imagine somehow, we can't deny that they are bad or imagine that they are good. When bad things happen, so we can be thankful for the many other good things that are in our life. The mind will obsess with problems, but the intelligence can focus on blessings.
And then we can focus on the good thing that helps us to deal with the bad things. So, if I have sickness, I can focus on the medicine that is helping me to deal with that sickness. And Krishna consciousness, it can offer, we often expect from Krishna, release from problems.
Krishna will do that, but like a leech, which bites, it will stay for some time. So, sometimes past karma or whatever problems come, they will stay for some time. And while they are there, we can get relief amidst the problems.
We can tolerate that. And how do we tolerate that? Rather than going into why this problem is coming, blaming this person or blaming that person or talking about past karma, we focus on, okay, how can I deal with it now? We open a new tab in our consciousness. That is, always what is in our control is, what do I think about? If I constantly keep thinking about the problem, I make myself miserable.
But if I move my thoughts towards Krishna, that gives relief, just as coming from a hot room to a air-conditioned room gives relief. And then with the attitude with which I look at the problem, if I think, oh, this life is so bad, always problems keep coming, or everything in this world is temporary. I always had some problems.
I have weathered those problems by Krishna's grace. So, this problem also I weather. And that attitude will enable us to tolerate it.
And behaviours, we have three options. Either we just endure the problem, we act to change the situation, or we walk away from the situation. And we discussed how the Pandavas did all these things in different situations.
And if we do it in the mood of service, we choose one course of action, we shouldn't have the expectation from another course of action. Let's choose that and move forward. So, when Krishna says, by becoming Krishna conscious, we will pass over all our problems, that means that he will guide us how to move forward.
So, rather than asking Krishna, what are you doing for me? Ask Krishna, how can I serve you in this situation? So, Prabhupada, instead of asking anything for himself when he came to America, his mood was, Krishna, make me dance. Please, guide me, how can I serve you? And Krishna reciprocated in such an amazing way by just manifesting through Sri Prabhupada this wonderful sort of international movement. Thousands and thousands of people are being enriched with Krishna consciousness.
So, when we come to the temple, we can feel Krishna asking, what are you doing for me? How can I serve you? So, we have this attitude of service, then whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through. Whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. The media often focusses on problems in today's world. Yes, it's true that in the past, always there have been problems in the world.
But today we get to hear problems from different parts of the world. So, we have to be careful of what kind of input we take in. Yes, we need to be aware of certain things, but unnecessarily if we take too much negativity, it just agitates our mind and disturbs us.
So, we need that which not agitates our mind, but that which pacifies and purifies our mind. That's why Prabhupada writes in that, in the 17th chapter, when he talks about Manah Prasad Somnathom, the austerity of the mind is satisfaction. It's interesting, satisfaction I think is an emotion.
But Prabhupada is saying, satisfaction can be a cultivation. And there he writes that the more we study scripture, he says, the more we contemplate the world, contemplate sense objects, we get agitated. But the more we study scripture, the more the mind becomes peaceful.
So, the more we study scripture, the agitation in the world will come and go. But if you are absorbed in Krishna, then we will be far less agitated. So, some people pass through obstacles even without hearing Krishna.
Yes, all of us by our past karma are put in certain situations and are given certain dispositions. So, some people may be physically very healthy, some people physically very sickly. So, some people may be mentally very weak, they get agitated very quickly.
Some people may be mentally very stable. So, the mind stability or irritability, that's also to some extent the result of past karma. So, some people by their past karma may be in goodness.
And if they are in goodness, they don't get so worked up by the problem and they deal with the problem. But the same in spiritual life, spiritual life is very subtle. Sometimes there may be a problem and we may go through the problem.
But if by going through that problem, if we think that, if we think that I don't need Krishna, then actually we have gone through that problem, but we have gone into a deeper problem, isn't it? Because we have only increased the illusion of self-sufficiency. We have only increased the notion that I can live without Krishna. So, that's why there is a circumstantial solution to the problem and there is a transcendental solution to the problem.
So, at a circumstantial level, the practical problems can be solved practically and we also do that. But if that is all that we do, then the spiritual growth is missed out. So, yes, some people may be internally tough and that is by their past karma, by their past disposition, they are able to deal with it.
But that toughness is not going to save them from old age, disease and death. And that ultimately, it's only attachment to Krishna that is going to take us to Krishna. That is only going to liberate us from material existence.
So, it's not that the problems of this world at a practical level can't be dealt without God. To some extent, for some time, we can deal with the problems without God. But ultimately, keeping God away is the biggest problem and all the complications will come back again.
So, Ravana performed enormous austerities. Hiranyakashipu performed such austerities that Brahma said even the sages have not performed austerities like this. But then what is the point? He got power for some time, afterwards he lost it all.
So, people who go through problems without taking shelter of God, they often end up in a bigger problem of thinking that godlessly they can deal with all problems and thus they perpetuate their mortal existence. So, is the opposite of gratitude being resentful or is it being just oblivious or unaware? Yeah, I would say both are true. Just like we can look at it this way.
The opposite of love can be hate or the opposite of love can also be indifference. You know, if I hate someone, that is the opposite of love. But if daily I just keep neglecting that person, that also hurts the other person.
So, I was talking specifically in circumstances when bad things happen to us. At that time, the opposite of grateful could be resentful. Why is this happening? Why is this happening? Why is this happening? But in general, yes.
The very fact that we have the opportunity to practise bhakti, the opportunity to chant the holy names, to associate with devotees, if we start taking this for granted and we become apathetic, pathetic or indifferent or oblivious of this, then that also is a sign of lack of gratitude. So, I would say indifference or obliviousness is the opposite of gratitude in a generic sense if we forget our blessings. In the specific situation when we are faced with difficulties, the opposite of grateful would be resentful.
Okay, this situation is coming and my predominant emotion is, why is this happening? Why is this happening? But instead we turn, okay, even if this is happening, Krishna, I am thankful for all this in my life. I am thankful that you are in my life. So, I would say both apply in different situations.
Now, why is it that Krishna doesn't make things easy for his devotees? Why did Prabhupada say, for example, struggle so much to share Krishna consciousness? In 9.14, the Bhagavata Krishna says, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yathantaś ca dhṛḍha-vratāḥ namaśyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā nitya-yukta-apāsati This satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ, always glorifying me, yathantaś ca dhṛḍha-vratāḥ, endeavouring with great determination, namaśyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā nitya-yukta-apāsati, they worship me, offer obeisances to me. In this way, they are devoted to me. So, when I read this verse, I had the question, Krishna in the previous verse described how these are actually exalted, they are pure devotees.
They have no attraction to anything else in the world. Then why do they need great determination? Now, we need great determination to serve Krishna because we are distracted by our mind and senses. But those who are ananyaṁ mahātmānas tu māṁ bhakti-māśyantaḥ, that is 9.3, they will not need it.
So, the ācāryas explain over there that actually to do anything in this world is difficult. So, the devotees want to serve Krishna in this world. Glorifying Krishna in the spiritual world is easy.
But glorifying Krishna in this world requires endeavour. And the devotees have the determination. So, Prabhupāda explains that the difficulties in the great devotees' life is for their glorification.
There are so many reasons. Prabhupāda could have said, I don't have to do this. Prabhupāda was already a pure devotee.
He could just have been in Vṛndāna and gone back to the spiritual world. He didn't have to come to America. Prabhupāda could have said that.
But he accepted all those difficulties because he wanted to be compassionate. He wanted to share Krishna's compassion with the world. So, that is how, through all those difficulties, that how much a devotee is ready to sacrifice for Krishna's sake.
Through that, the greatness of that devotee and the devotion is revealed. So, for them, the devotion, the difficulty is for their glorification. And for us sādhakas, the difficulties are for our purification.
Because when the difficulties come in our life, often that is when we take shelter of Krishna. Normally, even when we are practising bhakti, there can be stagnation in devotion. Yes, I am practising bhakti, Krishna is happy there, I am happy here.
But then, it's only when difficulties come, Krishna, I need you, please help me, the intensity in the devotion comes. So, purification happens that way. Now, we can see in the Bhāgavatam, there is the sudden disappearance of the Lord, that happens in the first canto and in the tenth canto.
In the tenth canto, it happens for the gopīs. They are with Krishna about to perform the rāsa and Krishna disappears. And eventually, Krishna appears back and he basically says that the glory of your devotion is unparalleled, even I cannot repay you.
So, Krishna disappears from them just to have the Gopī Gītā revealed to the world, just to reveal the glory of the gopīs' devotion. So, Krishna's disappearance from the gopīs is for the gopīs' glorification. In the first canto, we have Nārada Muni who has darshan of Krishna and suddenly, Krishna disappears.
And then, Krishna hears a voice which says that those who are impure of heart and incomplete in service, they cannot see me. But then he says, by hankering for me, all your worldly hankerings will go away. That means Krishna is subject to Nārada Muni to separation from him for his purification.
At one glimpse, you have Krishna, I want this again and again and again and again. And in that, all other cravings will go away. So, the difficulties which we face in our life, they are ultimately for our purification.
And purification, basically, what does it mean? Sometimes, you know, if purification means suffering, it's not like that. Purification essentially means that our choice changes. So, when we are impure, as per our impurities, we choose the worldly condition, we choose particular attachments.
That's what we take shelter of. When we become purified, we take shelter of Krishna. So, the difficulties are what forces us to take shelter of Krishna.
And in that absorption in Krishna, actually, we experience the reality of Krishna consciousness, the reality of Krishna's love for us. It will all be theoretical. Yes, Krishna exists, Krishna loves us, we have souls, gone through many lifetimes.
But a practical level, we will stay in material consciousness. But when the difficulties come, and we, we realise that sometimes we may compare, the difficulty comes now and the difficulty came, say, before I started practising bhakti, or if I had not been practising bhakti, then the difficulty would have crushed me. But that means now, at least I'm living, I'm moving.
So, how am I going to do that? That is because Krishna is giving me shelter. So, the difficulties help us to realise the reality of Krishna's shelter. And that's how we can run, we can actually go beyond the difficulties.
We can actually go beyond the difficulty by realising the reality of Krishna's shelter. I'll conclude with one example which is given in the Madhya Sampradaya. I've adapted the example for our circumstances.
Say, there's a teacher who is very strict. And the student doesn't do homework, the teacher is going to show your hand, is going to beat the stick. Now, the mother knows the child has not done the homework today.
And now the mother knows that the child is going to be beaten. Mother doesn't want the child to be beaten. At the same time, the mother doesn't want the child to be undisciplined.
So, what the mother does is, when the child is about to go to school, mother puts nice thick gloves in the child's hands. And the child goes to school. Have you done your homework? No.
Okay, show your hand. Now, loud noise comes. But although the child is hit, but the child is not hurt.
Because the gloves are there in between. So, similarly, Krishna, we are like that child. You know, we all have done certain karma because of which is supposed to get some reactions.
So, material nature is like the teacher. And Krishna is like the mother. And the remembrance of Krishna is like that glove.
So, the worldly problems will hit us. But if they are absorbed in the remembrance of Krishna, they will not hurt us. But if the child thinks, you know, what is this glove? I don't need the glove.
Takes out the glove. And then goes to school. Then the child gets beaten.
So, then about the stick has come. Hey, where is the glove? I need the glove. Let me put it on.
So, like that, sometimes for us, we don't feel the need for absorption in Krishna. So, when the blow starts hitting, oh, Krishna, I need you. So, by material nature's arrangement, so I'd say it is, I think it's a little dicey for us to say that Krishna is making things difficult for us.
It's not Krishna who is doing it. Now, in this material world, people act misusing their free will. Material nature acts according to people's past karma.
You know, to say that Krishna is creating the problems in our life, that is a little philosophically problematic. What we can say is that the problems are coming because of whatever reason. But Krishna is ready to give us relief.
He's giving us the glow of Krishna consciousness. And sometimes the stick is not hitting. Then we don't feel the need for the glow.
So, we take the glow and throw it away. So, when the stick comes, Krishna, I need you. And that's how we wholeheartedly take shelter of Krishna.
So, it is said that when we are down to nothing, then Krishna is up to something.