When does determination turn into obstinacy?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So when does determination turn into obstinacy? Suppose something may be good, but like waking up in the morning, but if our schedule doesn’t allow us to sleep early, then waking up early can be damaging to our health. It can irritate us, make us irritable and then it can be counterproductive.
So determination and obstinacy, the defining difference between them is intelligence. So Prabhupada defines intelligence in the 10th chapter in verses 4, 5, 6, par 4. He says that intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective. So knowledge is okay, this is the body, this is the soul.
I should wake up in the morning. These are facts. But intelligence means to see the facts in an integrated situation.
Okay, so Prabhupada also told us that. Now if we don’t take, Prabhupada would say that if you sleep too much, you become lazy. If you sleep too less, you become crazy.
It’s a small, small thing. We just get irritated. We start stabbing at other people when we have not had enough rest.
So we need balance. So one principle in scripture is that yes, we should wake up early. But another principle is also, Krishna says that those who sleep too much or sleep too little, they cannot become yogis.
They cannot advance in the spiritual path. So that is also a principle. So now in my situation, if I just take one principle, generally fanaticism, the word fanatic are considered very bad.
But what is fanatical? Fanatics are basically people who take one thing to be everything. They may take something from scripture only. But they don’t see the full picture of the scripture.
Just take one thing and make that as everything. So that is where they are lacking in intelligence. They are not seeing the improper perspective.
So okay, if I want to wake up early, but my situation doesn’t allow me to wake up. Okay, then what can I do? Let me try to do some other services. If I want to execute my determination.
But let me exercise my determination in some other direction where it is possible for me to achieve. With respect to fasting. It depends on the body type also.
Ayurveda says there is Kapha, Vata, Pitta. Three types of bodies are there. And people with Kapha Prakruti, they can fast very easily.
But those who are with Pitta, they get acidity very quickly. And they just, as they start fasting, their stomach starts burning, they start throwing up, it becomes very difficult for them. So then if fasting is very difficult, it doesn’t matter.
No need to fast. If I want to do some austerity on Ekadashi, I may decide that okay, I can’t fast, maybe I will just chant some extra rounds. So we have to channel our determination constructively.
So again, going back to the point, to see things in a proper perspective. What it means is, say, Kunti Maharani gives the example that just as the Ganga always flows towards the ocean, let my consciousness always flow towards you. So now when the Ganga is flowing towards the ocean, sometimes it may come across an obstacle.
Sometimes there are some rocks which come along the way which are made of slightly erodible material. And just by flowing, flowing, the rock gets eroded. Sometimes, it may be not rock, it may be soil, it gets eroded.
But sometimes the rock may be immovable. Then the Ganga, what does it do? It goes there and finds some other way to move on. So, the purpose of flowing towards the ocean remains the same.
But the channel by which it flows can change. So like that, for all of us, we want our consciousness to flow towards Krishna. But the channel by which the consciousness will flow towards Krishna will vary from person to person.
So for someone, it might be waking up in the morning is what works for me. I get my japa done and then I can do other things so nicely. For somebody else, it just becomes very difficult.
For them, maybe they are doing some service which requires them to stay awake late night. But if they are doing that service, that is the service where they are connected with Krishna. We also need to chant, to chant attentively.
But how we do it, that will vary. So for us, we have to find out what are the channels by which our consciousness moves towards Krishna. There are certain standard practices that we all need to do.
We need to chant, we need to associate with devotees. But some activities, we will be able to naturally focus on more. And when we find the channel by which our consciousness can naturally move towards Krishna, then we become comfortably situated in bhakti.
There is always going to be some amount of discomfort and austerity. But that shouldn’t be the constant state. It should be something which we should be able to joyfully do.
And this is where individuality plays a very important role in bhakti. What may be a channel by which I can joyfully move towards Krishna. But that may not be a channel by which somebody else can move.
Now for me, I like to memorize verses. And especially when I go in front of the deities, I try to recite one verse. That is my offering to the deities.
So once in a class I told, if we recite verses, when we go in front of the deities, for me, when I recite the verses, I remember, this is the Lord who is here before me. Then that connects my consciousness. Okay, whatever is described in the verse, that is the attribute of this Lord.
That connection happens and then I am able to remember Krishna more. So I once spoke in a class. We can memorize verses and we can speak verses when we take darshan of the deities.
After a few days, one devotee came to me and he said, he told me that whenever I try to memorize verses, and now when I go in front of the deities, trying to recollect that verse causes me so much tension that whatever bhakti I have, that goes away. So, for some people, my intelligence is more verbal. So when I have words, that simulates thought.
For some people, their intelligence may be very visual. They just see the deities and they feel very attracted. So the channel that works for me may not work for someone else.
There is a saying in English that the shoe that fits one leg, bites another leg. So, our purpose of connecting with Krishna is common. But the specific channels by which each of us may connect with Krishna can vary.
So we have to see things in the proper perspective. And then, as long as our consciousness is moving towards Krishna, even if along one channel it is not moving so well, it doesn’t matter.