From passion to compassion 1
How are the three classes? I will be using one driving metaphor for all the three classes which we will have today, tomorrow and the day after. How do we understand compassion or how do you understand compassion? Prahlad Maharaj uses a well-known verse from the 7th Canto which Prabhupada would often quote. He says that, my dear lord, I am not worried about how I can transcend material existence, how I can overcome worldly illusions.
Why I am not worried? Because I am absorbed in your glories. Instead, I am worried about all those people who are caught in material existence, chasing its illusory pleasures. So, in the material world, we are driven by the forces of illusion because they create within us a feeling of deprivation.
The forces of illusion make us feel, oh, this person is having so much wealth, this person is having this much, this person is having this much and they are all enjoying so much, I am not enjoying. And this feeling of deprivation is what drives us. Chase this, get this, buy this, watch this.
So, passion means that we feel deprived and then we chase after worldly objects. So, even when we have Krishna with us, we feel that, oh, I need this, I need this, I need this. And in that way, we let ourselves chase after one thing after another.
So, passion is the situation when we feel deprived. Whereas, compassion is the consciousness where we feel that others are deprived. We feel that Krishna is so wonderful, Krishna Bhakti is so wonderful, that others who are not having Krishna Bhakti, they are actually deprived.
And therefore, let me share this with them. So, passion is the state where we feel deprived and compassion is the state where we feel satisfied in Krishna and we feel others are deprived. And so, we try to share Krishna with them.
So, this is basically the journey, how we move from feeling deprived even while practising Krishna Bhakti to feeling that others are deprived and wanting to share Krishna Bhakti. That is the journey from passion to compassion. So, in today's session, I will talk about how passion in terms of craving for material things is undesirable and how we can counter it.
In tomorrow's session, I will talk about how we may practise Bhakti also in passion. And how we may share Bhakti in passion. In the last session, I will talk about how we can practise and share Bhakti with compassion.
So, the mode of passion is described by Krishna in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, which is Prakriti, Treya, Udbhava, Yoga. That the three modes of material nature. And there he says that the characteristic of the mode of passion, 14.12 he states, Lobha, pravrtti, arambha, karmana, mashyama, spruha, rajasye, taani, jayante, yurudde, koru, nandana.
Lobha is greed. I want this, I want this, I want this. Lobha and pravrtti, I should do this, I should do that, I should do that.
Lobha is craving to get things and then the working God is there. Arambha, great endeavour. Karmana, mashyama, spruha.
And even if one gets something, after working, still, mashyama, spruha. The desire remains in session. The desire doesn't go away, doesn't decrease.
Rajasye, taani, jayante. This is the characteristic of the mode of passion. Yurudde, koru, nandana.
Oh Arjuna, understand it like this. Especially, this is the characteristic, the mode of passion becomes prominent, dominant in our consciousness. Now, when Shri Prabhupada came to America, he composed the mark in a Bhagavad Dharmasam.
And therein he says that, prajastam goyena sabaiyachana, vasudeva katha ruchi nadi se prasanna. All people are covered over by the modes of passion and ignorance. And because of that, they are not able to appreciate the sweetness of Krishnamata.
So, Shri Prabhupada is talking about, not just that the material mode of passion, living in it, causes distress. But, it also makes Krishna Bhakti seem not very attractive. And that is the greatest spiritual danger of the mode of passion.
So, materially, it just indentures us to endless labour. And spiritually, it makes us feel that Krishna Bhakti is tasteless. So, now the word passion can also be used in a positive context.
Say, I have a passion for art, I have a passion for reading. So, passion basically means a strong attraction. A strong, deeply felt attraction.
In the Bhagavad Gita's philosophical context, when we use the word passion, it refers to the mode of passion. The radha-yoga-guna. Wherein, each of these modes have their own characteristics.
There is sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna. One way we can describe these three modes are, that some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some people wonder what happened. So, people in goodness make things happen.
They think and then they act and they get things done. People in passion, they watch things happen. If they want to do one thing, but in doing one thing, they are not very thoughtful.
That one thing leads to some other untoward consequence. And they deal with that. And they deal with that.
Hey, what is happening? What is happening? What is happening? Just watch things happen. And people in ignorance are so paralysed that they just wonder what happened. What is going on? Just don't see.
Another way of understanding this is, there are two faculties we have. The faculty of thinking and the faculty of acting. So, we think in our inner world and then we act in the outer world.
In the mode of goodness, thinking precedes acting. First I think, then I act. In the mode of passion, first I act, then I think.
I should have spoken that. Why did I speak that? So, first we act and then we think. And, in the mode of ignorance, we neither think nor act.
So, Krishna defines this. He will talk about three modes. In 14.11, he says, the characteristic of the mode of goodness is prakasha.
sarva-dvaareshu dehe smin prakasham upajayate jnanam yathadavidyat vivruddham sattva-vidyutam So, he says, when all the doors to the body are illumined by knowledge, by light, the light of knowledge, then that state is the mode of goodness. Now, the doors to the body are the senses. Does this mean that people are in the mode of goodness, light comes out of their eyes, light comes out of their ears? Not like that.
Now, when, he says, illumined, prakasha, prakasha means light, but when you talk about light of knowledge, so for example, if this door is there, and if around that door everything is dark, then I will not know who is coming in, who is going out. Sometimes a thief may come in. I will not even realise it.
Some child whom I am supposed to take care, a child slips out, I won't even notice. So, if there is darkness, then what is coming in, what is going out, we can't know. So, similarly, when there is no illumination in the door of the senses, then what to take in with our eyes, or what to do with our actions, that there is no clarity.
So, we eat without discrimination, we talk without discrimination, we see things without discrimination, and that is a state of lower mood. Lower mood, either passion or ignorance. In goodness, when there is the illumination, then we can see, okay, and this person looks like a dangerous person, I will not let them inside, close the door.
So, like that, we process the sensory inputs and decide what to allow inside, what to not allow inside. So, prakasha, illumination is the characteristic of the mood of goodness, Krishna says. In the next verse, 14.12, he says, pravrutti, pravrutti is action, person in the mood of passion is defined by action, he just can't sit peacefully, he has to keep doing something or the other.
Action, action. And, beyond that, Krishna when he talks about the mood of ignorance, aprakasho apravrutti, pramadamohai, there is no prakasha, there is no proper illumination, and there is no proper action also. There is not pramadamoha, there is intoxication and illusion.
So, for example, a person may sit and think and study and understand, that's the mood of goodness. A person is involved in passionate sports, that is, people get into physical sports where they are slamming into each other, knocking each other down, that kind of physical, running around a lot, that is in the mood of passion. In the mood of ignorance, people just sit on a bed and play video games.
And, in shooting images on the video games, they think, I am a big hero. So, actually, there is neither thinking nor acting, there is simply illusion. So, in the mood of ignorance, basically there is, what we can say, not even material action.
So, there is, even materially, imagine, I will do this, I will do that, I will do that. So, when people watch, when people go and watch movies, now, usually, when you watch movies, maybe there is an action scene, there is a hero beating up some villain, I am there, I am beating up that person. If a hero and heroine are dancing together, people may, if I was there, it would be so nice.
We will start whistling. So, what is happening, this is actually, eating, sleeping, mating, defending, they are considered the activities which are common to humans and animals. So, when animals, when humans do only those activities, that is considered animal life.
But, getting compulsively obsessed with entertainment is not even animal life. It is second-hand animal life. That means, the people are not even working to get the bodily needs or bodily desires.
Just imagine and get it over. That's why many times when people go and watch movies, they take something like popcorn and pop it, eat it. Why? Because everything is imaginary, something has to be real.
So, a prakasho, a prurutistha. In the mode of ignorance, there is neither proper action nor is there proper illumination. Somehow, there is some groping for enjoyment.
Then, if you broadly understand these three modes, in this way, Sri Prabhupada writes in the 14th chapter, Parpot, that in the past, progress was understood in terms of the mode of goodness. Now, progress is defined in terms of the mode of passion. So, as I said, prakashya or illumination is the characteristic of goodness and pravukti, action, is the characteristic of the mode of passion.
So, one of the first books, that Shri Bhakti Siddhanta Sarodhakar wrote, was in Bengali called, Bangali Samajikta, Sociality in Bengal. And there, he addressed some of the criticisms of British people who had come to India. Indians are such lazy people.
You know, no ambition, no progress. They are so apathetic. So, he addresses that criticism by telling that, actually, we human beings have two faculties.
There is the karmendriya, the working senses, by which we act in the world. And there are jnanendriyas, they are the knowledge acquiring senses, by which you observe and learn. So, he says, in the western civilisation, which is largely in the mode of passion, the stress is on the karmendriyas.
Do this, do that, do that. Whereas, in the Vedic civilisation, the stress was on the jnanendriyas. Observe, learn.
So, he says, the sages in India composed huge literature. Mahabharata is 110,000 verses. 110,000 verses is actually, it is seven times longer than the two of the longest poems in western literature.
Iliad and Odyssey. Both combined together, multiplied by seven, is less than the length of Mahabharata. So, so, how about lazy people who have written something like this? It obviously requires hard work.
But, the sign of progress in Vedic civilisation was that how much we observe the world and learn was in terms of jnanendriyas, acquiring knowledge. Whereas, in the western civilisation, it is in terms of doing things. What have you done? What have you done? So, he says that from the perspective of the karmendriyas, progress in the jnanendriyas doesn't seem of much value.
On the other hand, from the perspective of the jnanendriyas, progress in the karmendriyas doesn't seem to be of much value. Because the basic reference points are different. Krishna also talks about this similarly in 2.69 in the Bhagavad Gita.
He says, यानिशा सर्वभूतानम् तस्याम् जागृति सइञ्यमि यस्याम् जागृति भूतानि सानिशा पश्यतोमलेहे So, he says that that which is यानिशा सर्वभूतानम् that which is night for all living beings तस्याम् जागृति सेञ्यमि that is the day for the सेञ्यमि for the self-restraint. यस्याम् जागृति भूतानि that which is day for all living beings is night for the self-realised. Now, this verse, if you take it literally, what does it mean? One creative interpretation we could do is when it is day in India, it is night in America.
And when it is day in America, it is night in India. So, we could say that all self-restraint people are in India and all self-gratifiers in America. So, when it is day for the self-gratifier, it is night for the self-realised.
And when it is day for the self-realised, it is night for the self-realised. But the Bhagavad Gita is not talking about geographical categorisation like that. So, here the words day and night are used not literally but metaphorically.
Day is the time of illumination. Night is the time of darkness. So, when it is said this is the day for the self-realised, that means this is where they see things clearly.
This is where they want to act. This is what they look forward to. Whereas night means so, the self-realised, they want to get deeper understanding of life, of the purpose of life.
And thus they want to move forwards. So, that growth in our understanding is what they look forward to. But the but the why, but the the materialistic people what is this? What is the use of the self-realisation? What are you doing? How much money are you earning? What are you achieving in life? That is their focus.
So, conversely is also true. Materialistic people think you are achieving this, you are running here, running there. What is the point of it all? And Shrila Prabhupada met Ambarish Prabhu.
Ambarish Prabhu, the great grandson of Henry Ford. I was just in Alachua, so I met him and his family recently. So, he likes to tell his first meeting with Shrila Prabhupada.
Prabhupada came, when he came to me, he was in Detroit and Prabhupada came there. So, the devotee is introduced to him. He is Alfred, the great grandson of Henry Ford.
So, Prabhupada opened his eyes, looked at him deep in the eyes. So, he is the great grandson of Henry Ford. Where is he now? Where is he now? So, what Prabhupada meant was he had so much wealth, but now he has gone to some other destination.
The wealth is left over here. So, he told that. When I heard Prabhupada say this, I thought Prabhupada is a real saint.
He is not interested in my money. He is interested in my spiritual well-being. When people are very wealthy, everybody around them walks on tiptoe.
I don't want to offend you. So, when people approach them, we want some donations from them, then we try to flatter them. But Prabhupada was not interested in that.
Yes, there is wealth, but it is temporary. So, where is he now? We may have a lot of wealth, but how long is it going to last? Things may belong, but for how long? Things may belong, but for how long? So, when we see this from a long-term perspective, those who are self-reliant say, what is this infatuation? Why are you getting so mad after this? See, wealth is needed for living. There is no doubt about it.
But, wealth is a means for living. It is not the purpose of living. It is what we live with, not what we live for.
In the materialistic world view, wealth becomes the purpose of living. The more money I have, the more successful I become. And then I want to become more successful, more successful.
And what does that mean? I want to earn more and more. So, this is the difference in the world views of the materialists and the spiritualists. So, now, when a person is caught in the mode of passion, the desires just keep growing.
Just think, karmanam ashamahaspuruh, insatiable desire. Get one thing, ten other desires come up. Get those ten things, hundred other desires come up.
And it's an endless process. People talk about a rat race. Rat race, even if we win the rat race, we still remain rats.
No, no, the thing essentially changes. Achieve one goal, and then some other goal to achieve, some other goal to achieve, some other goal to achieve. When I was a student in India, since my early childhood, I had one dream.
I wanted to be the topper. And I was always among the toppers. Second, third, sometimes the joint first, but I was never the first.
So, I used to study for my exams, and I was looking for, but never, that first rank was always eluding. And finally, in my third year of engineering, I gave GRE. And at that time, because I liked English from my childhood, one of my hobbies was just to pick up a dictionary and memorise words.
So, generally Indians find it difficult to do well in English. So, then when I gave GRE, at that time it was out of 2,400, I got 2350 out of 2400. Not only was I first in my college, but I was the first in the history of my college.
I was the first in the whole state of Maharashtra at that time. I was in the seventh heaven. A lady that lasted.
It was exhilarating, but after some time, I realised that just looking at the marks, there is no pleasure. It's only when someone comes and congratulates you. Yes, I have done something special.
So, somehow it happened that three of my friends forgot to congratulate me. So, first time it happened, second time it happened, and third time it happened, I was so agitated. I said, don't you know what I achieved? Why are you not congratulating me? So, at that time, it's almost like I looked at myself from above, my body, not a physical out-of-body experience, but conceptual, and I realised that at one level I was annoyed with them.
Why are they not congratulating me? But then it struck me that it has actually not made me happy. It has made me more dependent for my happiness on others. In the past, I could just meet with my friends and talk with them and move on with life.
Now, when I meet them, there is so much expectation. And when that expectation is not fulfilled, there is agitation. So, I have not become happy, I have become more dependent for my happiness on others.
And that's when it struck me that there must be some other way to happiness. I can give another exam, I can work very hard, and I might achieve something higher also. So, but to what point? Again, the same thing will happen.
I achieve something, again I will depend on others for congratulations, for felicitations. How can one get satisfaction internally? That was some of the time when Krishna arranged that one of my friends who had been much more materialistic than me, he gave me a Bhagavad Gita. And he gave me the Bhagavad Gita.
The first thing I told him, he says, please read the Bhagavad Gita. I have already read it. And he said, okay.
But then as I was talking with him, I saw that he was so transformed. I felt maybe I missed something so let me read it again. And that's how I started reading the Bhagavad Gita.
And then I understood about how at the level of the soul there is happiness that doesn't depend on anything external. In 6.22-23 in the Bhagavad Gita, he talks about the state of Samadhi, of deep absorption. And there it is said, yam labdhva cha param labham manyate nadi kandatah yasmin sthito na dukhena gurunapi vichalyate So 6.22, Krishna says that yam labdhva, have you achieved this? yam labdhva cha param labham that there is no other gain to be achieved.
manyate nadi kandatah And yasmin sthito means situated in this state of consciousness dukhena gurunapi navichalyate Even if great distress comes, one will not be agitated. One will not be disturbed. So Krishna is telling here the state of spiritual absorption once we achieve it, there is no more further hankering for something more.
And there is also no Krishna is saying not that there will be no problems but he is saying there will be no agitation problems won't disturb us. So I started thinking whatever I achieve in my life will it ever can it provide these two guarantees? After achieving this there is nothing more to be achieved. At the material level whatever we achieve that guarantee can never come.
And whatever we achieve can we say this is going to protect me? After I get this no, it also can't come. It's only when we internally connect with Krishna and realise our eternal identity as his blissful parts that's when this will happen. So this is the truly worthy achievement which we can pursue.
This doesn't mean that we have to stop pursuing externals but those are not what is going to make us happy. They are part of our life they are part of our profession we pursue them. But our ultimate goal has to be this.
So in the mode of passion we just keep pursuing one thing and another thing and we hope it will give us pleasure and it gives us pleasure but it is short lived. And when that pleasure goes away we find it so unbearable I want more pleasure. And in this way in the mode of passion there can be actually two strong pullings one is enjoyment and the other is achievement.
Achievement is also for enjoyment only by enjoyment I mean essential enjoyment. Eat this, touch this, do this that's enjoyment. And achievement I want to become great I want to become number one I want to get this gold medal.
And both of them promise some pleasure but that pleasure is short lived. Sri Prabhupada explains that as far as the mode of passion is concerned in sense enjoyment most of the pleasure is in the anticipation of the pleasure. Oh I'll get this, I'll get this I'll enjoy, I'll enjoy, I'll enjoy.
Most of the pleasure is in the anticipation. Suppose somebody is in a desert lost and their throat is burning they desperately want water and they look up and they see a helicopter coming and about to signal for rescue they find the helicopter just coming to them. As they look at the helicopter they see on the side of the helicopter W-A-T-E-R They feel so much relief.
The helicopter lands in front of them and after landing a person in uniform comes out tall, hefty, well built and on the uniform on the sleeves W-A-T-E-R Hello I want water and then they have a big jug carrying the jug they come out and that also W-A-T-E-R and then that person approaches this and this person just pulls his fingers please give me water and then he puts his hands forward and then the person takes the big jug turns it around and one drop of water comes out of it and the person walks back so this one drop of water is going to satisfy so sense pleasure is like that this huge hype oh I am going to get the pleasure I am going to get the pleasure but actually when the pleasure comes it is so little it is so little that we just can't believe it and then people think maybe I am doing something wrong maybe I am with the wrong person or maybe I don't know some techniques I have to do this, I have to do that some people try to explore but it is the pleasure is only in the anticipation there are Prahlad Narayan in a verse he analyses is there pleasure in material existence or not at all sometimes you may say there is no pleasure in the material world but then you may say on the spiritual side there is some pleasure when I hear some nice music there is some pleasure so Prahlad Narayan says that so he says somebody is asking him please oh Prahlad ask for some benediction and Prahlad replies I don't know what benediction can I ask for you why there are so many enjoyable things it is all just hear about the enjoyment but when you actually try to enjoy it it is like a mirage there is no pleasure somebody says you have got a young healthy body even if you are not enjoying right now later you can enjoy the body is a breeding place for diseases so what enjoyment can you get but in spite of doing this even the wise people are not able to give up the pursuit of sense pleasure why it is like a fire the desire is like a fire which burns within us but there is a drop of honey a drop of nectar over there and that is so intoxicating it just becomes it is very difficult to get it but still it is even more difficult to give it up so so in the same words he is saying two things he is saying it is like a mirage mirage means there is no water at all but in the same words he is saying that there is there is a drop of nectar over there so what is it so actually the illusion is not about the presence of pleasure there is pleasure in the material world the illusion is about the quantity of the pleasure the pleasure is there in sense enjoyment but it is very tiny it lasts for a few moments it is over but the mind imagines it is going to be endless so this imagination of the mind is what causes agitation and so these two the drive for achievement and the drive for enjoyment that I want to be the top I want to be the number one and I want to get all the enjoyment I can and in this way the soul gets caught pursuing one thing after another after another and there is just can't when you are pursuing a particular pleasure if you don't get it it is very difficult to accept that we made a wrong decision so we pursue it more I'll get it next time I'll get it next time but when the little pleasure comes along with that a lot of craving comes so I once wrote a poem about this so their hearts are pierced by desires their hearts are pierced by desires their minds are filled with fears we have desires and the desires whether we fulfil it or not all that causes anxiety, fear their minds are filled with fears they are on the verge of tears they are on the verge of tears and they say cheers so in materialistic civilisation actually people are not happy but they somehow try to put a facade I'm enjoying because the ego doesn't want to admit that I made some wrong decision so yeah, I made the right decision I just have to work a little more so till then I'll put on a facade but actually there is no enduring satisfaction some fleeting pleasure is there but it comes and it goes and not only does the pleasure go when the pleasure goes in the pursuit of the pleasure there is so much entanglement that results by entanglement we don't just have to refer to karma some people may not say I don't believe in the law of karma I don't believe in future consequences but still we may not be caught we may not be caught for our wrongdoings but we will be caught by our wrongdoings caught for our wrongdoing means it is something wrong and some external authority punishes us for that but caught by our wrongdoings means those actions themselves entangle us that means somebody takes drugs so yes if they are taking some illegal drugs the police may catch them and punish them they are caught for their wrongdoings sometimes they may not be caught say I am clever enough I won't be caught but if they are taking drugs each time they take it the desire becomes stronger and stronger and when that happens they are caught by their wrongdoings the desire itself is binding them Krishna says that 16.12 he says that materialistic people are bound by hundreds and thousands of desires these are like shackles they are like nooses they drag people now almost all over the world slavery is reproached condemned even if it exists somewhere human trafficking is there but in general slavery is condemned they are physically free they are physically free but still there is slavery there is bondage at the psychological level psychologically people are bound and they are being increasingly bound suppose this is the home of a this is a house a hostel where two students are staying and this is their college and in between there is a drug joint where now one of the students is born in a cultured family I am never going to take drugs and that student just goes by no thought, no agitation just goes peacefully by but other person has taken drugs and they should take again so whenever this second person passes by that drug joint what happens? go and take some drugs no I have got studies to do I have got to go to college so there is there is this tug of war that goes inside so what is happening as that person goes by that drug joint that craving is there so there is like a bond the bond between the person's mind and the drug the sense object and it pulls, pulls and if that person keeps indulging then after sometime he doesn't even have to see the mind is already in the drug joint even if somehow that person goes to the class studying in the class oh I could have taken that drug the mind is still there there is psychological bondage and when somebody becomes an addict now addict means and the first thought that they get after waking up is I want to take a drug and the last thought before the sleep oh I want some drugs this is the perversion of devotion in devotion we always want to remember Krishna addicts remember the object of their addiction constantly but whereas remembering Krishna brings peace and joy remembering the object of addiction simply causes agitation so even if somebody doesn't believe in future life or future karmic consequences we can see the consequences even now we may not be caught for our wrongdoings but we will be caught by our wrongdoings the wrongdoings create desires to do that wrong again and again and they bind us and it's a state of great distress so at external level those who are in the mode of passion they may seem to be enjoying life but internally there is no satisfaction there is only agitation I want more, I want more, I want more so the result of the mode of passion Krishna talks about this in the 14th chapter, 15th, 16th verses he says that each of the modes gives the result he says so phala, the fruit of each of these is in the mode of goodness if someone acts the result is purification nirmala but in the mode of passion rajasastu phalam dukkham living in the mode of passion leads only to distress dukkham and then if somebody is in the mode of ignorance they are already in ignorance but they go into deeper ignorance by that so the mode of passion promises pleasure but it leads to distress and the more one goes into the mode of passion the more one becomes distressed the more one becomes entangled more and more the mind just gets consumed this desire, this desire, this desire how do I get all of this so when the desires start consuming us then they torment us internally externally the person may be wealthy may be prosperous may be successful but if the desires are uncontrolled then they are pulling, they are tugging and there is great pain because of that sometimes people who are successful they do something crazy people who are fabulously wealthy still they do some scam to get more money and then they get caught and they lose everything why do they have to do that because greed is tormenting them pulling them, do this, earn this and it just makes them miserable and they do something terrible afterwards so in the mode of passion although there is an appearance of prosperity appearance of success but internally there is great dissatisfaction there is great distress and the greatest marker of this is that people are at the level of the mind extremely agitated at the level of the body especially in the first world countries there is a substantial amount of comforts but at the level of the mind there is enormous agitation and that's why the professionals like psychologists, psychiatrists they are flourishing because people are so agitated so disturbed they need some relief factor so the whole anti-depressant drug industry it started in 1960s before that throughout the history of life people have had problems but it is people in the past would also have had depression but in 1960s this idea of anti-depressant drugs started and now anti-depressant drugs are the single biggest drugs that are sold in the world in the first world countries the maximum expenditure is on those drugs only it is interesting sometimes they do world happiness surveys and different countries come first happiness is of course subjective so there are sometimes countries like Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark Switzerland, Netherlands these come first in some parameters in some different ways but it is curious that the people of these countries they say they are happy but these countries also have among the highest sale of anti-depressant drugs so I say I am happy but I need to take anti-depressant drugs then what is the happiness actually so if we just let ourselves be guided only by seeing only with our eyes then we think there are big buildings there are posh cars these people must be so happy yes there is some happiness but if we see deeper at the level of the mind there is great agitation and that is unavoidable in the mode of passion because when there is desire the desire is one thing get this, get this, get this but concomitant with desire comes fear because when we want things which are out there and because the things out there are not always in our control so if those things go away then that causes fear we may think that oh if I have more money then I will have more control so I will have more security but then the problem is I get money I seek money to get security but then money itself is not in my control the stock market may crash anything can happen so desire and fear these two drive the mind wild and in the mode of passion these two are unavoidable so externally how much money one has how big a house a person is staying in how great a car a person has all these are fine they are markers of success at one level but they are not necessarily markers of happiness happiness will depend on what is the state of the mind if the mind is driven by desire and fear there cannot be happiness and this desire and fear which drive the mind wild they can be calmed ultimately only by Krishna when you fix the mind on Krishna in devotion then the desire and the fear subside so without Krishna no matter how much one achieves we will we may even imagine I am successful and the world may laud us as successful but happiness will elude us so in the mode of passion as I quoted Prahlad Maharaj maya sukhaya bharam udvahato vimudhan there is bhara burden we carry a burden which the whole world thinks oh you are so happy but it is maya sukha that is not actual happiness udvahato vimudhan mudha is a fool vimudha is an empowered fool empowered fool means person has a lot of energy I will do this, I will do that but through it all there is only the burden there is no real happiness so that sense of deprivation that we may have when in the materialistic culture we say oh this person has this this person has that and we feel deprived I don't have all that so I am unhappy we have the capacity to work and earn and get material things that's not a problem but thinking that these things will make me happy and thinking that because I don't have these things I will not be happy I am not happy that is the mistake because how much we have how little we have that don't determine our happiness our consciousness will determine our happiness I will be peaceful I will be joyful with it if I have a lot but my mind is wild with desire and fear then whatever I have I will not be satisfied the classic example of this Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad Prahlad was a child who had nothing in fact his life was being threatened but he was peaceful Hiranyakashipu had everything but he was not satisfied he was agitated so by using Shastra Chakshu with the eyes of scripture when we look at the world then we will see that life in the mode of passion is not a life of happiness it is a life of distress when Sri Prabhupada came to America that is what he saw he says they saw that actually that all the people here are distressed only if they hear about Krishna then when they become connected with Krishna then that distress will go away so that is a vision which Sri Prabhupada saw with the eyes of scripture he did not see big buildings fast cars, smooth roads he saw all that but he saw something more he saw the consciousness he saw his favourite mode of passion ignorance that is why there is dissatisfaction so to the extent that we study scripture and we ourselves learn to see through Shastra Chakshu through the eyes of scripture then we will also see that this passionate living is not the way to happiness and we will not get captivated by the illusion so broadly speaking we can say that the eyes are the way to illusion the ears are the way to enlightenment the more we look at the world with the eyes I have to get this then I will be happy I have to get this then I will be happy but the ears are the way to enlightenment the more we hear scripture the more we contemplate what we hear then this is not the way to happiness there must be some other way and that is how we can perceive it so the first step in moving from passion to compassion is to recognise that passion does not lead to satisfaction it leads to tribulation and that understanding that passion leads not to satisfaction but to tribulation that comes through Shastra Chakshu through seeing with the eyes of scripture so in tomorrow's session I will talk about how Bhakti is the solution to the distress of passionate living but more importantly I will talk about how the mode of passion can misdirect even our practise of devotion and thus we may practise Bhakti with devotion and we may share Bhakti also with devotion practise Bhakti in passion and share Bhakti in passion and that can also cause distraction so I will summarise what I spoke today I talked about the first part from passion to compassion I talked about how passionate living does not lead to happiness but leads to distress and the three modes characteristics I described that goodness means first there is thinking then there is action then passion means first there is action then there is thinking and ignorance means there is no other thinking nor acting there is simply imagining so like people playing video games watching movies and just living in that doing that as entertainment is one thing but making that as life's greatest pleasure it is not even animal life it is second hand animal life so in the mode of passion it is characterised by action not work mode of goodness is characterised by illumination so those who consider knowledge, acquiring knowledge as a sign of progress and those who think acting, doing things here in the world as a sign of progress that is the quintessential difference between you could say western civilisation and eastern civilisation or broadly speaking material civilisation and spiritual civilisation there has been spiritual even in the west and there has been material even in India also but Krishna talks about that night for all living beings is day for the enlightened so night and day refer to area of illumination and area of action, contribution so we try to see from the perspective of the self-realised why they are not interested in passionate activities so in passion we may achieve I talked about that two main sources of pleasure achievement and enjoyment even if we achieve I talked about my getting GRE good score when we achieve there is always the dependence on others to lord our achievement only then there is pleasure otherwise the achievement intrinsically doesn't give pleasure and it's just an endless task because always we can keep achieving so real achievement is that which gives us freedom from hankering and freedom from distress because of external disturbance enjoyment in material life in sense enjoyment most of the enjoyment is in the anticipation like a person lost in a desert getting a helicopter with water coming but giving only one drop of water so there is pleasure in the material world the illusion is not in the existence of the pleasure but in the quantity of pleasure feel there is so much but that little pleasure also comes at a big cost even if we neglect the future karmic consequences of wrong doing but still we may not be caught for our wrong doing we will be caught by our wrong doing that means whatever actions we do they create desires which bind us people may not be bound through physical slavery now but there is a huge amount of psychological slavery in the sense there are addicts who break their lives to somehow get the substance of addiction devotees remember Krishna addicts just compulsively remember their object of addiction at a lesser level at a less extreme level also people who are externally very successful internally they are tormented by their desires and that's why even when they have fabulous wealth they do something criminal to try to gain wealth as long as the mind is going wild because of desire and fear how much we possess that is not going to determine our happiness we may have little we may have a lot but if the mind is wild with desire and fear there is going to be distress so the way to happiness is not just to increase what we have externally it is to free the mind from the forces of desire and fear and that happens when we fix the mind in Krishna and become purified so devotion is the way to satisfaction not material accumulation as is impelled by the mode of action I talked about how in the material world there is the facade of happiness their hearts are pierced by desires their minds are filled with fears their hearts are filled with fears their minds are pierced by desires they are on the verge of tears and they say cheers so if we stick to the eyes and see with the eyes then we will fall into illusion but if we hear with the ears and then look at the world then we will see that the passionate life actually leads to distress and therefore we will get a strong conviction to rise above this passionate way of living thank you very much Hare Krishna Hare Krishna are there any are there any questions or comments yes yeah thank you for a very nice class looks like there is some similarities from your class from last night and today yeah I am just wondering about the happiness and distress factor they could be genuine like when you talk about controlling the mind to balance there could be some genuine fear of physical pain so not just imagine there could be a fear of genuine physical yeah right so that is one end of the spectrum and the other end is when it comes to happiness sometimes it is easy to get carried away from the rewards of your own services even if it is performing Krishna consciousness so there is one spectrum and the other spectrum is when you get carried away from our rewards so how is this carried away from our rewards means what there could be some rewards or recognition or something that happens during the services within Krishna consciousness ok that I will talk tomorrow or practising some kind of devotion or practising passion but all our fears are they simply caused by our desires for craving and losing but can there be not the fear of genuine physical pain also like disaster yeah I got your question yes there can be definitely see in the mode of goodness when we live there is also happiness and in the mode of goodness also there is fear there is healthy fear the illusion is in the quantity of pleasure there is pleasure at the virtual level also if somebody has a passion but not in the sense of rajoguna but a deep attraction somebody say loves science and you want to do scientific research somebody is a musician and is going to go deep into music and absorb themselves in it that is not rajasic pleasure if somebody does something out of love for that thing not so much for the result that I will get by that the result comes but if somebody does something in the material world out of love for that thing there is a deeper satisfaction that comes so that is to large extent in the mode of goodness when we do something but it is not passionate so similarly in the mode of goodness just as one can find more enduring material happiness so in the mode of goodness one can also recognise more tangible material fears so sometimes some people they are terrified what if my favourite team loses the cricket match and that is the biggest fear of their life now others may have fear what if I what if my health gets spoiled or what if there is an accident or whatever now that fear is actually good if when I am driving a vehicle if I don't tie the security belt then there can be great injury so to have that fear I should tie my belt that is a healthy fear the material is not false the material is real and being real there is real happiness possible there is real distress possible the problem is that it is in the mode of passion it is disconnected from reality and it is very flickering in the mode of goodness it is more connected with reality but still it is not connected with the supreme reality which is knowledge at that time he says that the wise person sees janma, mrutyu, jara, vyadi, dukha, dosha, anudarshan person sees the distresses of material existence birth, old age, disease and death and that becomes an impetus for practising spiritual life so that fear is not just in the mind it is a real problem in this world and recognising it with due gravity is what will energise us in our spirituality does it answer your question? yes it does but mostly we hear a lot about being fearful ok now is it that in devotion we are meant to be fearless? Prabhupada said that one of his regrets is that his devotees are not adequately fearful of maya so he wanted that healthy fear so there is fearlessness because the devotee is absorbed in Krishna and the devotee's fear is that I may get disconnected from Krishna and therefore the devotee is very cautious you could say almost fearful which may cause forgetfulness of Krishna so that means this fear is not so much a physical damage a devotee may also fear physical injury but that is not so much just because the devotee is thinking I am the body and the body will get injured but rather the devotee thinks that this body is the means by which I am serving Krishna if the body gets damaged how will I serve Krishna therefore I want to take care of this facility it is what the fear is for whether the fear is so that I can stay more connected with Krishna or the fear is that I will lose those things which are giving me pleasure without any connection with Krishna so ultimately everything can be used in Krishna's service so even fear can be used in Krishna's service so if the fear is fear intensifies our devotion to Krishna then that fear is positive ok thank you so if the desire becomes comes and becomes strong how do we control the desire and stay connected with Krishna yes it is we cannot fight desire at the level of the desire that means the mind will slowly delete the note I will not do it I will not do it I will do it I will do it so if our consciousness is simply focused on saying no saying no is never pleasurable it's only when we have a yes to something higher then we can say no to something lower so bhakti is not so much about giving up desires it is more about taking up higher desires so taking up the desire to serve Krishna taking up the desire to hear what Krishna does serve to chant Krishna's names to share Krishna's message so when we fill our life with more and more positive spiritual desires then these lower desires slowly start going away so we can't battle desire at the level of that desire we have to create a higher desire just like say if somebody invites us for some thing at their house say I have this programme come to my let's come now we may not want to go at that time how do I say no I don't want to make this person feel bad so we may not be able to say no but at that time that same day there is some other programme is there then we can say no I have to go for this programme so I can't come so when we have something to say yes to saying no becomes easier but if there is nothing to say yes to then say no why not so that's why as devotees we try to fill our life with Krishna as much as possible try to take up commitments in devotional service so we can't empty our mind of desires but we can crown our desires we fill we fill it with other things with Krishna conscious things with positive things related with our services our responsibilities Krishna then gradually those desires go away so that's the first thing second thing is when the desires come at that time we need to have some some readily accessible means by which we can direct our consciousness towards Krishna that means when the desire comes at that time it's very difficult to remember why I should not do this because the desire comes and allures very strongly so we at other times we may remember there are many times when I say that when I am giving class it's so easy to remember the philosophy but when the temptation comes it's just always the philosophy is forgotten so it is that we have to make sure that that it's like you know how otherwise I sometimes feel it like sometimes there are some warriors who fighters who they they exhibit their skills so when they are exhibiting their skills they are taking all their weapons and showing it and fighting but on the war field wait I forgot my weapon and now the enemy will slaughter at that time so we have to have our reasons ok why I don't want to do this now have that ready with us so it's not that illusion attacks us in unlimitedly new ways all of us have certain certain weaknesses and those weaknesses keep popping up again and again so what are our reasons why I don't want to indulge we write it down not just shlokas but what those shlokas mean to us what is it that convinces me write it down 1,2,3,4,5 whatever reasons are there and keep that ready maybe in a phone in a diary and read that that basically we need to resist when the desires come at the level of the intelligence and at the level of the mind at the level of the intelligence we get rational reasons philosophical reasons this is why I don't want to do this at the level of the mind because the emotions are involved over there the craving is there so we need to find some devotional stimuli by which our emotions are directed towards Krishna so it may be some particular kirtan this is so sweet I love this it may be a particular darshan of Krishna particular pichai this is so nice so as soon as we look at it as soon as we hear it our consciousness gets directed that way and then if our both our intelligence and our emotions are channelled towards Krishna then saying no to that desire becomes much easier and thirdly even if we indulge we should never even if we succumb we should not become discouraged ok it happened let me rise and let me move on sometimes what happens is the mind is very cunning what the mind does is first it makes us do wrong like say two people boxing match is going on and one person he just gives a blow and this person falls back and now when this person has fallen down he has to he has to fight and he should look at the coach or look at some of his fans or supporters what should I do the coach says come on we can do it fight but if this person who has fallen down this boxer looks at the other boxer and says can I win this match never so what happens is first we let the mind knock us down and then we consult the mind can I ever give up this desire never so what so what happens is when you fall down ok I can rise but instead of rising the mind says you have fallen now fall down completely so we never become discouraged that's why even if something has gone wrong we rise again and we need those who will encourage us so we never lose till we lose hope so even if we fall one time ten times hundred times doesn't matter rise and keep practising as we keep practising bhakti gradually our practise of bhakti will make us stronger and as we become stronger then we will be able to overcome those desires last point I will make is that we also have to recognise that past karma plays a role in this that just like Krishna has six opulences wealth, fame, knowledge, beauty and so some people may look very beautiful some people may be very wealthy this is a result of past karma similarly for some people by their past karma they have renunciation others don't have so just as just because somebody is more good looking than others that does not make them automatically more spiritually advanced yes if somebody looks good then they will attract others and if they are going to speak about Krishna people will be attracted and people will hear from them so just as beauty is a resource which can be used in the service of Krishna similarly renunciation is a resource that can be used in the service of Krishna but just because renunciation is there does not necessarily mean the person is spiritually advanced and just because renunciation is not there does not mean that the person is not spiritually sincere of course by the practise of bhakti also renunciation comes but that is gradual so the point I am making is overcoming desires should not be our defining criteria for deciding whether I am serious in spiritual life or not our seriousness in spiritual life is determined by whether I am practising the positive activities of bhakti consistently or not the regularity activities of bhakti all of us based on our past karma we will have certain levels of renunciation some people may actually by their past karma be very renounced but if they become proud of their renunciation I will talk about this tomorrow more then they are actually not using their renunciation to remember Krishna they are using their renunciation to become more proud you know just see all of them are fallen then they are not making spiritual advancement sometimes we may fall but if we take shelter of Krishna more then we may actually advance more so by trying to fill our consciousness with Krishna by having both intellectual and emotional ways of redirecting our desires our consciousness away from that objects by never becoming discouraged no matter what happens and by understanding that renunciation is a resource for serving Krishna if I have it good if I don't have it still I will serve Krishna that way we can combat desires thank you thank you very much so we will stop here Shila Prabhupada Ki Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki Hithai Gaur Premanande.