Will Krishna help us out of a situation that we have got in because of our own desires?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
But when we are in a particular situation which is often a result of our desires, Krishna has a plan over there also. Krishna has some plan and he will work it out. There are two different things over here.
There is the level of consciousness of a particular person and there is the principle of Krishna’s omnipotence and Krishna’s benevolence. So whatever situation we are in, Krishna is expert at bringing good out of the bad. So Kachendra, he got into the ocean.
Why? Because he got into the lake because he wanted to enjoy. So he got caught over there. But then he had gone there because of his own desire.
But Krishna brought good out of that. So you see at the Bhagavatam, you can see four different levels. One is, somebody gets into trouble because of their own desire to enjoy.
That is the example of Kachendra. Second is, somebody has a desire to serve but then they are overpowered by their desire to enjoy. That is Arjuna.
Initially this collapse was unintentional. Eventually it became intentional. But you will see it there also.
Third is the example of Pariksit Maharaj himself. It was not exactly a mistake. It was not a sinful activity.
It was just a small infraction. It was a mistake. But it was not a sinful activity.
They had not gone there with an enjoying mentality. It was a circumstantial greed, thirst, which impelled him to do that. But even from that, Krishna brought good out.
And the fourth example you could take is of not Bharat Maharaj in Jadav, but Maharaj Raghunath. Raghunath was just going for a pious activity. And he actually chastised Jadav Bharat.
But through that he was instructed. We may get into a particular situation because of our spiritual desire, because of our pious desire, because of our sinful desire, because of circumstantial need. All four examples are ignored.
But still, Krishna brings good out of bad. So our focus should not be so much on what has happened. Our focus should be on just, OK, what can I do now? How can I serve Krishna in this situation? If you just focus on that.
So when you talk about Krishna having a plan, it’s a little difficult to understand this. Because when you talk about plan, when you talk about a flowchart and this and that, the plan is not like that. Krishna’s plan is also evolving.
It’s not that Krishna has a fixed plan and then we cooperate with that plan and everything works out. No. Krishna’s plan is also evolving.
It’s more like, because we also have free will, so with free will, we may act in different ways. But depending on how we act, Krishna can arrange things accordingly. So when you say Krishna’s plan, it is not that if I do something wrong, it’s that Krishna’s plan gets disrupted by that.
No, Krishna, yes, Krishna may have wanted me to do something and I did not do it. Krishna can get that done to someone else. And even through one mistake, Krishna can bring something good out.
So when you talk about Krishna’s plan, it is an evolving plan. It is not a pre-designed plan on which we do nothing but just walk like program machines. We have our free will and we have to use our free will.
The pattern of life that is woven, that is both by Krishna’s plan and also by our actions. And our actions will shape which pattern comes up, no doubt. At the same time, whatever actions we do, Krishna can actually use those actions for his service.
How he will do it, how he will bring good out of it, we don’t know. That does not mean that we do anything and everything and Krishna will bring good out of it. We don’t do bad things necessarily.
But it’s just that, that is Krishna’s expertise. So his way of planning is that it is, you could put it as a simple example. It’s not entirely appropriate but if a game is being played, say cricket match is going on, on the field.
It’s a very mundane example and there are many exceptions. But the point is that the coach may have a particular strategy. The captain may have a particular strategy.
But then, what happens is, a particular player doesn’t play well or the opponent has a particular ball who is bowling very well. Or their plans change. So then what happens? The captain, with his experience, the captain also changes the plan.
Okay, so if you have a plan, you should go first. But he is a bad person. So the plan, it’s not a fixed plan which will be disrupted by our doing something wrong.
Yes, a particular course of action will be disrupted. But Krishna’s plan is not dependent on a particular course of action that he is realizing. Krishna can use different factors, different agents, different people to execute his plan.
So in that sense, it’s more like an evolving plan. So what we focus on is, in this situation, Krishna, how can I serve you? So whatever reason we have landed in a particular situation, that doesn’t matter. If we have done something wrong, we want to learn from it, we want to avoid it, that’s definitely true.
But what has happened, that doesn’t matter, ultimately. There are some, at a level of karma, there are some consequences of that, which we’ll have to deal with. But in terms of our spiritual evolution, Krishna can take us from wherever we are and he can elevate us.
So we don’t have to, in that sense, worry much about the past. So, the Mahabharata says that grief or lamentation, lamentation achieves nothing except to sap the energy of the lamenter. It achieves nothing except to sap the energy of the lamenter.
Yes, we have all made some mistakes in the past, big mistakes also. But that’s okay. Krishna has not left our heart and gone away.
Krishna has not rejected us, he has not abandoned us. Krishna is still with us. And Krishna will bring good out of the bad ones.
So, does that answer your question? Thank you very much.