How spiritual life relates to our material Life 1 – Rejection, Complementation, Redirection

[Seminar at Wellington, New Zealand]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
I’m grateful to be here amongst all of you today. And it’s inspiring to see such a vibrant community of devotees developing here. And to see Ambarish Maharaj Prabhu’s eager also in understanding and sharing Krishna Bhakti.
And to see all of you taking it up enthusiastically. I’m grateful for that. And I’ll try to serve whatever way I can in the next two days.
Today I’ll speak on the verse 9.22 from the Bhagavad Gita. अनन्यास्चीतयंतोमां येजन्हः परिपासते तेशामित्याभीतानम् योगक्षेमंवहाम्यहम् Krishna says that those who meditate on me constantly, for them, योगक्षेमंवहाम्यहम् I protect what they have. And I provide what they lack.
So I’ll talk about how our spiritual life and our material life interact with each other in the light of how Krishna acts in our life. In every situation in our life, there is something in our control and something outside of our control. So, for the things in our control, we do the best that we can.
Devotion has these two aspects. Dependence on Krishna and diligence for Krishna. Dependence on Krishna means the things that are not in our control, we leave it to them.
Krishna, I have faith in you, you will take care of those things, I depend on you. But for the things that are in my control, I need to do the best that I can. That is my diligence for Krishna.
About 17-18 years ago, when I first started giving classes, I was given by senior devotees some guidelines about how to speak in public. And the last guideline was, depend on Krishna. But in bracket, but only after you have prepared.
If I don’t prepare and I come for a class and I say I’m dependent on Krishna. That is not dependence, that is irresponsibility. So we have certain things which are in our control.
And we need to be diligent to do the best that we can. So that is our diligence for Krishna. So bhakti has these two aspects.
Dependence on Krishna for the things that are not in our control. And diligence for Krishna with regard to the things that are in our control. Now, when Krishna says, I provide what you lack and I protect what you have.
That means, again, same thing. We have certain things which are in our control. And Krishna says he protects that.
And whatever we need, whatever we lack, Krishna will provide that. So for what is in our control, he will protect it. For what is not in our control, that he will provide.
And this applies in various ways in our life. I’ll talk about how our material life and our spiritual life can interact. So broadly, we can have three understandings.
One is rejection. Second is complementation. And third is redirection.
Rejection means that, oh, if I have to become spiritual, then I have to reject everything. Some people think, okay, if you become too spiritual, then you become a renunciate. Some people think that’s how, if I become a renunciate, only then I’m going to become spiritual.
So one understanding is, oh, material life is all maya, it’s all temporary. This world is dukkha. Let’s reject everything, just surrender to Krishna.
So some people may think that practising spiritual life means rejecting material life. That is one understanding. Then what this would mean is that Krishna will provide a spiritual life.
But what about what we have? We have to reject it. It’s all maya. The other understanding could be that material life and spiritual life are complementary.
So that means that, yes, material life is good, it’s important. I need to take care of my bodily needs, I need to take care of my family responsibilities. But that alone is not enough.
Life has a higher, eternal purpose. And that has to be fulfilled also. So the material life is one part, spiritual life is another part.
The Isopanishad talks about this and it says, विद्याम्च विद्याम्च यस्तद्वेदो भयंसः अविद्याम्रत्युन्तीर्त्वा विद्यानाम्रतमश्णते That vidya refers to spiritual knowledge. Avidya doesn’t refer to ignorance. The verse itself is saying that by vidya and avidya we can cross over material illusion.
Together, when we have both vidya and avidya. So avidya doesn’t refer to ignorance here, it refers to knowledge about the material world. So by spiritual knowledge and the material knowledge combined together we will cross over material existence.
So this is complementation. So our spiritual knowledge, our spiritual side will add something that is lacking in our material life. That is lacking when we are practising only material life.
A third understanding is redirection. That means that it is not just that when we practise spiritual life, we add something to our life. Yes we do add, but also that whatever we have, we use it in a new way.
We redirect it. So if we have certain talents, we have certain abilities. In the past we may have been using it just for earning money, becoming famous, getting prestige and praise.
But we now use those abilities for serving Krishna. And we treasure those abilities. If we have wealth, we use that wealth in a way that we can do service to Krishna.
So this is what we have, our material life, we are redirecting it. So spiritual life is not just another aspect of life which we are adding. Spiritual life is also about redirecting the life which we already have.
So when I say Krishna provides what we lack and preserves what we have. Krishna provides what we lack means in our normal materialistic way of living, the spiritual side is missing. So Krishna provides that.
Krishna gives us spiritual knowledge by which we can add the spiritual dimension to our life. But Krishna also protects what we have. That means our existing life that is there, it is not that it is to be rejected.
Rather it is to be redirected. We are meant to use whatever resources we have, whatever abilities we have, whatever we are doing in our day to day life. We are meant to use it for serving Krishna.
A few months ago I was in university in India giving a spiritual talk. After that one student asked me that how can I share Krishna Bhakti with my fellow students? How can I inspire them to become devotees? So I told him the first requirement is study nicely. If you study well, there is no guarantee that they will become devotees.
But if you don’t study well, study poorly, there is almost guarantee they will never become devotees. They will say no, if I become this, if I start chanting Hare Krishna, then I don’t get good marks in my exams, I become negligent about my studies. Why should I do this? Better not do it.
So when you are practising Krishna Bhakti, what we have is it can be either a source of illusion or it can also be a tool to liberation. Broadly speaking, there are three paths or three understandings of life, which are given in the Vedic literature. There is a Karma Marga, the Jnana Marga and the Bhakti Marga.
So the Karma Marga is the path of better material enjoyment. So, OK, you do this puja, you do this yajna, you do this pratha and then you desire will be fulfilled. You can enjoy life better.
That is the path of Karma. The path of Jnana is whatever you do, this world is a place of misery. It’s full of illusion.
It’s full of deception. The more we get attached, the more we suffer. Therefore, just renounce everything.
So if you can say that in one word, the path of Karma romanticises the world. Romanticises means, oh, if you just do this, do this, just like when people have a romantic relationship, they think, you know, if I guess this relationship works out, everything in life will be happy. Most romantic movies end with happily ever after.
The idea is, OK, if I just get this relationship, everything else is wonderful. Now, the Bhagavad Gita says, this world is Dukkhalayam Ashashvatam. It is exactly opposite of happily ever after.
Happily ever after, Dukkhalayam Ashashvatam. Happily Dukkhalayam, ever after, Ashashvatam. So, actually, just as in romantic relationship, people think, oh, if just this one thing works out, everything will be wonderful.
Like the path of Karma romanticises the world. Only if I get this money, if I get this house, if I get this car, if you just make these arrangements, life will be wonderful. The path of Jnana demonises the world.
This world is simply a place of illusion. It is simply a place of entanglement. Don’t get involved.
Just stay away from everything. The further you stay away from this world, the more peaceful it will be. The idea is, we see the world as a source of illusion, of danger, when Jnana demonises the world.
But in Bhakti, we neither romanticise nor demonise. We utilise. So, when we utilise the world, what does that mean? That means that we understand that this world serves a purpose.
We don’t look at the world, we don’t look away from the world. We look towards Krishna. And then we see, how can this world help me to move towards Krishna? So, since Ambrish Mahaprabhu has spoken many of the points, Prabhu, if I am speaking anything which is repeated, you can tell me, then I can take further.
I won’t elaborate that part. Please tell me anytime. So, have you heard about this, romanticise, demonise, utilise? First time.
Oh, first time. Okay. You had heard about it.
Okay. Fine. So, sometimes when we come to spiritual life, Bhakti is not about demonising the world.
It is about utilising the world. So, when we have this idea, when we demonise the world, actually, what are we doing? We are not so much centred on what is up there, what is spiritual. We are simply centred on what is material and how it is bad for us.
Once a boy came, when I was doing some college outreach, once a boy came to me. And suddenly he told me, I want to become a Brahmachari. Now, he had never been very serious about coming for programmes, practising Bhakti.
Suddenly, he said, I want to be a Brahmachari. I asked him, okay. And he said, I want to become a Brahmachari, and I will make my final decision by Sunday.
This was Friday. I asked him, what is going to happen in two days? He said that, you know, I have proposed to a girl. And she is going to give me her answer by Sunday.
If she says no, I will become a Brahmachari. So now, Bhakti is not frustrated renunciation. Sometimes, there is actually a very big difference between renunciation and frustration.
Now, frustration can be an impetus to renunciation. But they are two very different things. What is the difference between frustration and renunciation? Frustration means, I can’t get it.
I want it, but I can’t get it. Whereas renunciation means, I don’t want it. I don’t want it.
The two are very different levels of consciousness. Although, both of them will be externally turning away from the thing. But one of them, they are externally turning away, but internally they still turn towards it.
So, when we have this rejection understanding of spirituality, quite often it is because, there is this problem, there is this problem, just forget it all. And with this rejection model, it’s not so much that we are attracted to Krishna. Or we haven’t understood Krishna.
It’s just that this world is a place of so much problem over here. Better let me pursue something else. When we have this understanding, and basically what are we thinking? That to become spiritual means to reject the material.
Yes, there is some aspects of material life which need to be rejected. But, rejection of the material doesn’t automatically make us spiritual. It’s rather connection with the supreme spiritual reality.
Connection with Krishna, that makes us spiritual. So, when we have this understanding that spiritual life requires the rejection of material life. Then, we often become either artificially renounced, we still have attraction but we say I am renounced.
Or, if we are actually renounced also, we become very hard hearted towards those who are attached. We become very judgemental. You are so attached.
So, for example, if there is Ekadashi, and I am fasting nirjala nikadashi, and then I go to the kitchen and see who all are eating what all. So attached. Sense gratifier.
No self-control. So, if this is my consciousness, then my body is fasting, but my ego is feasting. Ego is on a feast.
And I will make no spiritual advancement by that. The purpose of fasting for food is to focus on Krishna. It is not just to become proud that I am fasting for food.
So, similarly, when renunciation is seen as the primary goal, I reject this. Then what happens? If I am not able to reject it, then I become a pretender, acting as if I have rejected it. Or, if I am able to reject it, then I become a judge, a condemner of those who are not able to reject it.
And either way, where is our consciousness connected with Krishna? It is not. The Bhagavad Gita offers us a very inclusive understanding of spirituality. Inclusive understanding means that Krishna is not just present in the temple, or in the holy name, or in the scripture.
Krishna is present even in this world. यतः प्रवित्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वविदंदतं स्वकर्मणातमभ्यरिच्य सिद्धिन्विंगतिमानवह यतः प्रवित्तिर्भूतानां This is 18.46. This whole section, 18.14 to 48 in the Bhagavad Gita, offers this inclusive understanding of spirituality, of bhakti especially. Krishna says, first he talks about what is his relationship with the world.
यतः प्रवित्तिर्भूतानां From whom the whole world has come. येन सर्वविदंदतं By whom the whole world is pervaded. Everything is situated in Krishna.
And Krishna is situated in everything. This is the inconceivable relationship. If I say that, I am seated in this room, I am situated in this room, then obviously the room cannot be situated in me.
So, normally this is the way we think. But Krishna is God. He can be greater than the greatest, He can be smaller than the smallest.
So, He can be, the whole universe can be situated in Him and still He can be situated in the universe. Everything exists in Him, He exists in everything. And Krishna shows the Vishwaroopa in the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
At one moment, Krishna is just one person sitting on a, standing on a chariot which is on one part of a country which is on one continent within one planet which is within one universe. And the next moment, that same Krishna manifests the whole universe in form. Wherein the universe is within Him.
Arjuna is overwhelmed, what is this? नान्तोनमद्यम्नपुनस्तवादिन् पशामिविष्वेष्वरविष्वरूपा My Lord, I can’t see your beginning, I can’t see your middle, I can’t see your end. What is this? Then He identifies this. पशामि, I am seeing, विष्वेष्वरविष्वरूपा O you who are the Lord of the universe, I am seeing your universal form.
So, even when Krishna was present on the chariot of Arjuna, still the universe was present within Krishna. The point of this verse is, that we shouldn’t think that Krishna is present only in the spiritual world. He has got nothing to do with this world.
No. The whole world has come from Him. The whole world is situated in Him.
And then He says, स्वकर्मणातं अभ्यविच्छ By your work, सिद्धिं गिन्दतिमानव You can attain perfection. How? By worshipping Him. स्वकर्मणातं अभ्यविच्छ By your work, worship Him.
Now, many times, in India, this is translated as, work is worship. Actually, the Bhagavad Gita is not teaching work is worship. It is saying, by your work, worship Him.
स्वकर्मणातं अभ्यविच्छ If work itself were worship, then, the donkey would be the greatest worshipper. Donkey works so hard. So, now, this is not to make fun of the principle, work is worship.
Work is worship, is valid and valuable as an ethical or a social principle. That, whatever work anybody is doing, you should not demean that work. You should not demean a person because that person is doing some work which some people may consider low.
Everybody should be respected for whatever work they are doing. And everybody should respect whatever work they are doing. So, this is an ethical or a social principle.
And it’s valid. But we can’t make it a spiritual or a philosophical principle. Work is not worship.
Work can be made into worship. If work itself were worship, then, is a thief who is robbing someone, is a thief also doing worship? A thief’s work is robbing. Is a beggar’s begging also worship? Somebody may be, somebody may be arsonist, somebody may be different criminals who are doing different crime.
You cannot call that worship. So, work itself is not worship. But Krishna says, by our work, we can worship.
That means the work can be done in a worshipful mood. And how can we get that worshipful mood? By seeing that the world is connected with Krishna. It is not that Krishna is only in the temple, when I go to temple, I worship.
No. Everything in the world comes from Krishna. Krishna is situated in everything.
And therefore, I can worship anyone. So, essentially, we need to recognise the reality that actually, everything is connected with Krishna. And Krishna says, means, I am ability in people.
So, we are all able to do certain things, that’s based on the abilities we have. Now, where do our abilities come from? If we consider, somebody says they are very good singers. Now, those who are good singers, if we consider their throat, it’s not that their throat is made of any special elements.
It’s not that their throat contains some special chemicals or certain elements, which other people don’t have. The basic throat structure is the same. Some people have phenomenal memories.
Some people have phenomenally poor memories. Now, either way, it’s not that the brain itself is made of any different substance. At a physical level, whatever we have at a physical level is a tool.
But, some people have some tools which have some special endowments. What exactly those endowments are, it’s not so easy to correlate that. There are some people who are mathematical geniuses.
In India, there was a mathematical genius, Shakuntala Devi. She could just multiply 13-digit numbers. And, if you ask her, the product of two 13-digit numbers multiplied, before the person can enter those into a calculator and get the result, she already has the answer.
She’s not getting it by a linear step-by-step, this is this, this is this, carry over, carry this over, multiply this. She’s not getting it. When she’s asked, she says, I just look inside and get the answer.
So, actually, this, I just look inside and get the answer, this is actually the Supreme Lord, Paramatma. sarvasya caham hrdi sannye vishtho mattahasmatir jnanam apoha namcha Krishna said, I am the giver of knowledge. He’s present in the heart.
So, when we are able to do something extraordinary, the ability to do that is actually coming from Krishna. And when we have this understanding, that my abilities are gifts coming from Krishna. So, we are meant to use them in Krishna’s service.
So, I talk about how the rejection model is incomplete understanding. Because the material also comes from Krishna. So, then what do we have to do? Redirection.
Whatever abilities I have, I use them for the service of Krishna. What we are is Krishna’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to Krishna.
What we are is Krishna’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to Krishna. We have certain abilities, we have certain talents, we have certain resources, we have certain relationships, we have certain roles.
Whatever we are in, that is Krishna’s gift to us. And what we do with this, not just what we achieve externally, but what we become, that is our gift to Krishna. So, with this understanding, we see even our material life as an opportunity for reciprocating bhakti with Krishna.
Even when I am working in my office, even when I am relating with my family members, I see that this is an opportunity to love and serve Krishna. Now, when we say work in the mood of worship, that mood is not something which will just come automatically. It’s not a matter of sentiment.
Some people say, if you tell them chant the holy names, Bhagwan ka naam to 24 gante chalta hai. In God’s name I am chanting 24 hours. If you are chanting 24 hours in the heart, why can’t it come out for one minute? In which other field of life will we accept the emotions that are only in the heart? If a husband comes back home tired, and then the wife says, I love you.
Husband says, I am hungry. I love you. I am hungry.
I love you. I am hungry. I love you.
If the wife is like this, the husband is just not having a job, not going anywhere. The wife says, we don’t have any food at house. Husband says, I love you.
We don’t have any food at house. I love you. If you love me, go and work.
Get something. So love is always expressed through actions. It has to be expressed through actions.
Without that, there is no meaning to that love. So if that applies in our day-to-day relationships, why should that not apply to our relationship with Krishna? Some people who say that, you know, bhakti is all in the heart. Yes, it is very much in the heart.
But what is in the heart has to be expressed. In every relationship, we express what is in the heart. So similarly, there has to be time which we devote exclusively for Krishna.
There has to be time when we come for satsang. There is time when we do some swadhya, we do some japa, we do some puja. It is when we do all these activities, exclusively focussing on Krishna, then that is what infuses the mood of seva within our hearts.
And then when we do our jobs, when we do our family responsibilities, we will have that mood of service. Otherwise, if I just say, I am going to work as a worshipper, but actually I will be consumed by material consciousness. I want to become famous.
I want to become powerful. I want to become the number one. Why do I want to do that? Because I want to be the number one.
There is some lip service of devotion, but there is no actual devotion. So when I talk about rejection is not there. Complementarity means something more has to be added.
So when we are practising serious bhakti, we need to add quality time for serving Krishna. When we do that, then that creates a seva bhava, a service attitude. And that service attitude we bring into all our activities.
That’s how our material life is redirected with the purpose of serving Krishna. Some people ask, if God really loves me, then why is His love conditional? Why do I have to do this, do this, do this? If God really loved me, then He should let me do whatever I want. I should continue to love Him.
Now this kind of argument is actually coming from people who are not serious about relating with God. Basically, love can be unconditional. But a loving relationship can never be unconditional.
I can love someone even if they don’t love me. But if I want a relationship, they have to reciprocate. Otherwise, there’s no love over there.
If a mother says, Oh, my dear girl, my dear daughter, I love you so much, I will, whatever you want, I’ll let you do. And the girl wants to go on a crowded street and play over there. And then, the mother says, Oh, whatever you want, feel free to do, I love you.
Yes, the mother may say, I love you, but the child protection service will come and say, you don’t know how to love. And they will take the child away from the mother. You are a responsible parent.
You are not capable of parenting. So, parenting means, at one level, restricting. Of course, that restriction has to be complemented with education.
That you tell the child, why this is not right, how it is dangerous. But the point is, in no relationship can there be total unconditionality. When Krishna tells us, don’t do something or do something, that is because that is for our ultimate goal.
When we live according to Krishna’s words, we’ll find that actually our life turns out to be better. That we become happier, we become more peaceful, we become more joyful. Often, when we talk about complementarity, we need to have exclusive time for serving Krishna.
And then, there is a redirection, where we steadily serve Krishna, we use whatever we are doing in our life for serving Him. This is the redirection aspect. So, Krishna provides what we lack.
That means, He has spiritual knowledge and He adds a spiritual dimension to our life. But then He protects what we have. Whatever and whatever life we have, He helps us to learn how best to use it in His service.
How to make the best of what we have. So, in this, what we essentially need is to recognise that Krishna is meant to be the steering wheel of our life. Steering wheel means that actually, Krishna is the central force which shapes all our entire life.
Some people treat God like a spare wheel. I saw an advertisement of an insurance company, which said, if you are not insured with us, if you are not insured with us, it’s time to say your prayers. So, what they are seeing over here is that they think that if there is no material arrangement for protection, then we need God.
But actually, Krishna adds even to that material arrangement. But the point is that, how can we may insure with them, but what if that company itself goes bankrupt? What if that government goes bankrupt? There is no guarantee in the material world. Ultimately, Prahlad Maharaj says that the apparent protection is not the actual protection.
He says, a father or a mother can’t protect a child unless the Lord’s sanction is there. So, what that means is that there is an actual element which protects us. Yes, we do need to take medicines, we need to take care of our loved ones, but we alone can’t protect.
Sometimes we may do our best, but nothing works. I was in Ohio State University, and I was talking with a person who is a genetic researcher over there, and a professor, one of the leading professors in genetic engineering. And she was there for one of my talks, and she was telling that when we use medicines, sometimes, you know, a patient does everything that I tell them, and the patient gets cured.
But sometimes I tell everything that the patient tells them, and the patient doesn’t get cured. So, sometimes, whatever I tell, the patient doesn’t do. I assume the patient says everything.
And sometimes, when the patient doesn’t do what I tell them, they become sick and they suffer. They may die also. So, what does this mean? This means that, this is a tolling point, I will elaborate much more tomorrow, but I will just mention it today, that there is a cause and there is an effect.
Now, normally we think that this cause has produced this effect. But frequently, we see, or sometimes, we see that the cause does not produce the effect. Or sometimes we say that even without the cause, the effect comes.
Without getting into cause-effect, complex words, simple point. Some people, all of us, we want to have an attractive, healthy, slim body. But some people, they eat a little and they just bloat up.
Some people, they treat their tongue like a conveyor belt. And still they remain thin. Some people, they eat a little and they remain thin.
Some people eat a lot, they become fat. That’s what normally we expect. How much you eat, it will reflect in the bodily size.
But that’s not always true. Some people are genetically inclined towards thinness. Some people are genetically inclined towards obesity.
So, there is a correlation. But it is not simply A leads to B. When we think about karma, karma is not simply a linear connection between cause and effect. It is not just that A leads to B. Rather, between A and B, there is also past karma.
So, A will lead to B. But when A will lead to B, that intervention may be determined by past karma. That means, if somebody has done a lot of good karma in their past, then they are going to have a healthy body in this life. So, they are going to have, say, a thin, slim body.
Slim, healthy body. No matter. So, how much they eat, because of their past karma, they have a healthy body.
So, it is that our present karma will produce a result. But sometimes it may not produce a result immediately. There may be delay in that.
And, on the other hand, some people, they eat a little, but they just bloat up. Why? Because, in their case, by karma, they are meant to have a fat body. That’s how it works out.
So, when we understand this, that there is no necessarily a one-to-one correlation between the immediate cause and the immediate effect. There is something involved in between. And that, something which is involved in between, that is arranged by Krishna’s will.
Ultimately, not Krishna’s arbitrary will. It is Krishna who arranges as per our own past karma. But, there is this gap between cause and effect.
And the duration of that gap may vary based on how much, what kind of past karma a person has done. So, this understanding enables us to see our life in proper context. We don’t get too disturbed if we do a particular activity and the result doesn’t come out.
Because, our action alone is not the cause of the result. I may study, but I don’t get marks. I try to behave reasonably with someone, and still that person remains unreasonable.
So, we may think, what is the use of behaving reasonably? But, no, there is a use still there. So, if we have this understanding, there is a higher element in my life. When we are practising bhakti, then when we redirect, that means we start serving Krishna.
So, I was telling, the point which I am building over here is, when we get a mood of service in our worldly activities, in our profession, in our family, in our relationships, then that helps us become more mature, even in our day-to-day interactions. So, I’ll conclude with one example, and then we can have question-answers. Suppose, there is a cloth shop, and there is an attendant, and there is one customer.
Some customers are easy to please. Some customers are super fastidious. When they go to a shop, they want to look at hundreds of clothes, and they won’t take any clothes.
So, it’s said that some people bring happiness where they go. And some people bring happiness when they go. So, normally, if in a shop, a customer comes, the attendants will want to go and attend to the customer.
Because if they make a sale, they’ll get some commission. But, sometimes, if customers are known to be difficult, then none of the attendants want to go to them. They want to keep away.
But suppose there is an attendant who is serving, who is attending to that person, and that person says, show me this, show me this, and they keep fighting for it, this is not good, this is not good, this is not good, and looks at hundreds of clothes, and then, I don’t want anything. This goes away. So, then, at that time, it’s natural that the attendant may get irritated.
And if the attendant is thinking, my success is only in terms of making this sale, then my time was wasted. But the attendant has a higher understanding. There are cameras all over the shop.
And, the boss is watching. And the boss also knows, this person is a difficult one, this customer is difficult. And the boss sees, that I have been courteous, I have been polite, I have dealt well with this person.
The boss will be pleased. And sometimes, even if the attendant doesn’t make a sale, the boss may come and say, you are a cool guy, you know how to deal with difficult people. And the boss may promote the person.
You take care of this whole week. And you train others how to be cool. So, success is not just in making the sale.
Success is in actually pleasing the boss. Similarly for us, when we are interacting with others, sometimes some people may be very difficult, they may be very unreasonable. And you may feel that, this person, why is he behaving like this? But if you see, that by my interactions with them, even this person doesn’t understand.
It’s not reasonable. But if I stay reasonable, then I will please Krishna like this. A couple of years ago, when I had come to Melbourne, we had a question-answer session after the class.
There was a written question which came. It says that, there is one devotee, who has told me, that he doesn’t like me. If somebody doesn’t like me, what should I do? And, if that devotee is here, what would you like to tell that devotee? So, I explained that.
I gave the same example at that time. And, said that, if, if our reaction to others’ actions, is based only on their actions, then how are we different from non-devotees? Our devotion is seen, not just in how much we chant, how strictly we follow Ekadashi, or how often we go to the temple. All this is good, it’s important.
But our devotion is also seen, in how we respond when others act. Our devotion will be seen in, okay, it’s not that I let others trample on me, but I act, in the mood of service to Krishna. Krishna, in this situation, how do I skin myself? So, if our devotion doesn’t come, in this way, then, our devotion, will not be of much transformation for us.
Yes, we’ll still get purified, but we’ll not be able to do much transformation, or contribution in this world. In our spiritual life, there is sadhana, there is siddhanta, there is seva, and there is sadhachara. Sadhana is, spiritual practises, the chanting of the holy name, the puja, the scriptures that we study, that’s important.
Siddhanta is our philosophical understanding. This is the meaning of this verse. This is our philosophy.
This is not correct. All this is siddhanta. Then there is seva.
We go to the temple, and do some services. All these are important. But, the most important, in a sense, is sadhachara.
Siddhanta, sadhana, seva, and sadhachara. Sadhachara is good behaviour. Good behaviour means, cultured, respectful, polite, tolerant behaviour.
The world, doesn’t care, what our sadhana is. If we tell, our non-devotee relatives, or if we tell our non-devotee colleagues, or anyone else, Oh, I fast every day on Ekadashi. Every Ekadashi.
Okay. What’s so great about it? I chant Siddhanta. Okay, so what? They don’t care for that.
Even if we tell, Oh, I know so many shlokas from the Bhagavad Gita. Okay, so what? They don’t care for siddhanta. I go to temple and do so much service.
Okay, you go to that voluntary organisation. I go to some other organisation. I also do some volunteer arts.
What’s the big deal? What people are going to see, is our behaviour. Sadhachara. If we are conducting ourselves nicely with them, that is what is going to attract people.
That is what is going to transform people. When Srila Prabhupada was asked once in an interview, that, How do we know your followers? Prabhupada said that, They are perfect gentlemen. Perfect gentlemen, perfect ladies.
So he could have said, Oh, they are always chanting Krishna. They are always remembering Krishna. They wake up early morning and do Salma.
He could have said all that. That’s true. But that’s not what new people are going to appreciate.
What they are going to appreciate is how we behave. Srila Prabhupada, he was an Acharya. He was so absorbed in Krishna, that all day he would talk about Krishna to people who came to meet him.
And practically all night, he would talk about Krishna to people who hadn’t come to meet him, by writing books for them. But that Srila Prabhupada, he was so sensitive. Once the devotees in America, they were in a temple.
It was a house of two parts. In one apartment they were staying. And in another apartment, there was an old lady who was staying.
And she just couldn’t appreciate these young boys and girls, noisy kirtans. What are they doing? So when Prabhupada was asked who stays there, Prabhupada said it’s an old lady, she stays alone. And then Prabhupada went to her and talked with her.
And he was talking with her, which is typical old folk talk. How is your health? Where are your children? What do they do? What did you do? Almost 20-25 minutes Prabhupada was talking with her. And the devotees were thinking, now Prabhupada will talk about Krishna.
Now Prabhupada will talk about Krishna. And Prabhupada didn’t talk anything about Krishna. And then he came back.
And then, when the devotees asked Prabhupada, Prabhupada, they were wanting to ask but they didn’t know how to ask. Prabhupada, why didn’t you talk about Krishna? That’s what was there on their minds. Prabhupada looked at them.
And Prabhupada just smiled and said, sometimes old people get lonely. Sometimes old people get lonely. So Prabhupada went there and talked with her.
He told her, I am a pure devotee, I am going to deliver this fallen soul. She is an old person, he is going to spend some time with her. And actually, after he left, her whole attitude towards the devotees changed.
She said, your spiritual master is such a nice person. And she started enquiring, and then she started learning, and she also started practising Krishna Bhakti. So Prabhupada preached to her by her actions, preached to her by her actions, by her sadachara.
So he knew there were devotees next to her, and devotees can tell her at other times. So the point is that, our spirituality, our bhakti, is meant to enhance our, whatever material abilities we have, whatever material contributions we are making, they are meant to be enhanced by that. Enhanced doesn’t necessarily mean that we will earn more money.
That may also happen. But that’s not the enhancement. The enhancement is that, we will become better human beings.
We will be able to contribute better. We will be able to relate with people better. So about a fortnight ago, I was in America, in Intel.
I was giving a talk in Phoenix, the Intel company there. And there, one of their executives, he came and told me, that, I had known this, but he also confirmed this, he said that, most of the people, when there are to be layoffs, when we lay off people, we don’t necessarily lay off those people who are under-performers. We lay off first those people who can’t get along with others.
Because, even if one person is an under-performer, somebody else can perform. But if somebody is a quarrelsome person, then it is not just they are not performing, they are taking everybody’s energy also. If somebody can get along with others, then, we would like to keep such people.
So actually, this just requires some humanity, some tolerance, some sensitivity. So by the practise of our bhakti, if we learn to become more humble, more tolerant, bringing more of a service attitude into our relationships, then even in our material life, we will actually be able to contribute better, become better human beings. And thus, we will blossom spiritually, but we will also, our contributions will be enhanced materially.
And this is how, सो कर्मण तमभ्यर्च. This is how we worship Krishna through our work. So I’ll summarise what I spoke today.
I spoke about how Krishna says, I protect what you have, I provide what you lack. When I talk in terms of bhakti, we have material life and spiritual life. So, does spiritual life mean rejection of material life? Or is it complementation? Or is it redirection? So rejection means, that is the idea, the karmic idea is, we romanticise the world.
The jnani idea is we demonise the world. The bhakti understanding is that we utilise the world. So when we are rejection, when we are rejecting the world, often it is because of frustration, not because of renunciation.
Frustration means, I can’t get it, although I want it. Renunciation means, I don’t want it. So, when we are rejecting the world, actually we are not seeing Krishna’s connection with the world.
Krishna’s connection is, everything comes from him and he is situated in everything. Our abilities come from Krishna. What we are is Krishna’s gift to us.
What we become is our gift to Krishna. And for us, we are meant to work as worship, not work is worship. If work is worship, then a donkey would be the greatest worshipper.
A thief’s work cannot be considered worship. So work has to be done in a mood of worship. For that mood to be had, we have to have tangible time for direct devotional activities.
But along with that, we have our sadhana, we have our seva, we have our siddhanta, understanding. So this is like our direct devotional activities. The assimilation of all these should lead to sadhacharya.
It should lead to a transformed attitude in how we deal with others. So, just like attendants serving a difficult customer, attendants say, I am doing this to please my boss. So even if there are difficult people in our life, we deal with them in a way that is filled with a service attitude towards Krishna.
When we function in this way, then actually, whatever talents we have, whatever positions we are in, we will be able to function better and contribute better. And thus, by contributing to our fullest potential, we can redefine our work as worship. And thus, we can be enhanced, we will be blossoming spiritually through our devotional practises directly, and we will be also contributing more effectively, even in our material life.
Thus, bhakti is about both complementation and redirection. So in tomorrow’s session, I will talk about how this aspect about sadhacharya, how we can actually apply it more in our life, in terms of spiritualising our relationships and spiritualising our roles in life. So, thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. So, are there any questions or comments? Yes, please. Hare Krishna.
Let’s go from 1902. The first line says, and then he says, take an example, and he quoted from his book also, and he was so lusty, he was chastised for his lustiness, and at the end, he made himself blind. He rejected.
He could have used those eyes to serve the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, but he rejected. And he still became a pure devotee. So my question is not that.
It says, even after rejection, how did he become a pure devotee? The second is Mirabai. Same thing. Okay.
Yes, I agree. That Mirabai, because it was offered to the Lord, and she drank, and Krishna was happy with that. When you look at… Yes, so the question is that, we see examples of Billo Mangal Thakur, who blinded himself, rejected his eyes, so that he could avoid being misled by lust.
Even Mirabai, she could have worked as a queen. She could have used those resources in the service of the Lord. The point here is not the rejection of renunciation.
The point is the automatic equalisation of renunciation, sorry, the automatic equalisation of renunciation with devotion. Renunciation is a very valuable resource for devotion. But renunciation alone is not devotion.
Krishna has six opulences. Which are those opulences? Strength, Wealth, Fame, Beauty, Knowledge, Renunciation. Now, when we get, start off in this life, by our past karma, we get different components.
We get these six opulences in different degrees. Some people may have a lot of wealth, some people may have a lot of looks, some people may have a lot of intelligence. So, the presence of these opulences in someone’s life is a result of past good karma.
So, if somebody has wealth, they can use that wealth in Krishna’s service. Somebody has intelligence, they can use it to study scripture, share scripture, apply it, memorise it. They can use it in Krishna’s service.
But, somebody can have wealth and they can become more and more materialistic by that. Somebody can have knowledge, they can become more and more arrogant by that. So, now, normally, if somebody just is wealthy, we don’t assume that they are spiritual.
Somebody looks very attractive, we don’t assume they are spiritual. Good looks can also be used in Krishna’s service. People are attracted to good looking.
And if they are talking about Krishna, sharing about Krishna, people will be attracted by that. But these are resources which can be used in Krishna’s service. So, just as by past karma, some people may get wealth, some people may get knowledge, similarly, some people may get renunciation.
Now, just as wealth can also be increased by working hard, saving properly, planning properly, similarly, renunciation can also be increased by this life’s practise. Renunciation may also result by the practise of bhakti. But, it is not necessary that all devotees by their equal practise of bhakti will become equally renounced.
Because there is a combination. Is it that some person who was very mediocre in their studies, just because they become bhaktas, tomorrow they are going to memorise all verses and their memories are going to become phenomenal. Krishna can do that.
It doesn’t have to happen like that. They may still have a mediocre memory, but still they can be very dedicated devotees. So, just as knowledge, by the practise of bhakti, gyan and vairagya comes.
But, it is not necessary that gyan has to come in terms of increased capacity for memory. Gyan means internalised conviction. This is what I am meant to do in my life.
So, similarly, same with vairagya also. So, if somebody has vairagya, it’s a very valuable resource for using in Krishna’s service. I have seen some devotees who just sleep 3-4 hours at night and they are fully energetic throughout the day.
I sleep for 6 hours and still I feel tired sometimes, 5 hours. So, I wish if I could sleep 4 hours, I could do so much more. But, if I sleep 4 hours, I am sleeping 4 hours at night and then remaining 20 hours, I am sleeping throughout the day.
Prabhupada said that if you sleep too much, you become lazy. If you sleep too less, you become crazy. So, we could say, the capacity to sleep less is one sign of enunciation.
But, we have to be realistic. If somebody can get away with less sleep, great. If I can’t, I cannot artificially cut down on my sleep.
It will not sustain for a long time. So, whatever I meant to speak, it was not meant to reject renunciation. There is a standard practise of bhakti and there are exceptional practitioners of bhakti.
Yes, Bilwamangal Thakur, he pierced his eyes. But, did he create a parampara where all his disciples also pierced their eyes? And all their followers, they all pierced their eyes? No. So, sometimes some devotees will demonstrate bhakti in extraordinary ways.
And we respect that extraordinary demonstration. We take inspiration from that demonstration. But, that doesn’t mean the extraordinary becomes, the exceptional becomes the standard.
We recognise it to be the principle. Yes, I have to be careful, my eyes should not misdirect me from Krishna. So, I have to be careful about that.
That’s the principle we learn. How the principle is applied, we have to see according to our level. So, renunciation is a resource which is very helpful in serving Krishna.
But, if that resource is not there, we can still serve Krishna in lot of situations. And, if that resource is there, that doesn’t automatically mean we’ll serve Krishna. I said, by that resource I can become proud.
So, the important thing is not to, just like we may crave too much for wealth. Some people say that, no, if, I only, once my bank balance becomes this much, then I will start chanting Hare Krishna. Till then I want to focus on my material life.
Well, yes, you can try to have more savings, but there is no need to delay bhakti till then. Start practising now, and then when that is there, you can practise more. Why? Because, if we wait for acquiring some resource, so that we can practise bhakti, sometimes we never acquire that resource.
Or, sometimes in acquiring that resource, we will get so involved in something, we will become so materialistic. And, I get that wealth, then I feel, no, actually I need more wealth. I need more wealth, I will never practise bhakti.
So, one understanding of surrender is that surrender means to serve Krishna with what we have now. Surrender means, one way of surrendering is, Oh, Krishna, I give up everything for you. I surrender my life to you.
That’s surrender. But, surrender also means, I will do what I can with what I have now. That also requires surrender.
There is, there is the life of sacrifice, and there is the sacrifice of life. Sacrifice of life means that, say, if somebody is patriotic, and some enemy is attacking, and this person heroically comes in the way and stops the army, they sacrifice their life. That’s heroic, that’s glorious.
But, actually, much more demanding than the sacrifice of life is the life of sacrifice. For that same person to live as a responsible, law-abiding citizen who contributes to society constructively, that actually is often more challenging. It is not to minimise the sacrifice of life, but the life of sacrifice is also very valuable.
So, some people may exhibit that renunciation in extraordinary ways, but if we don’t have that renunciation, we don’t have to postpone our devotion. We practise devotion with whatever resources we have, including whatever renunciation we have. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
Any other questions? Yes, Mataji. My children are big lovers. They like reading books.
How do they make them? If your children like to read books, how can we make them read Krishna conscious books? See, we have to recognise that our movement right now is at a very beginning stage. Bhakti tradition is very large. But right now, our movement has been only for 40-50 years.
So, as we advance, as we move forward, we need to create arrangements by which the various needs of our members can be taken care of within the community. That means, with respect to specifically children and book reading, it’s not realistically possible that children who are very small will be very interested in reading spiritual or philosophical books. Yes, they may read Ramayana, they may read Mahabharata.
There are many devotees who have also rewritten Ramayana and Mahabharata in very attractive ways. So, those kind of books that there are stories entertainingly told, that they can be inspired to, you can encourage them to read them. But to expect them at that age to read philosophical books, it is going to be difficult for them.
So, we need to, there are, we need to have, we need to recognise that there is spiritual, there is material. But in the material also, there is satvaguna, there is rajoguna, there is tamoguna. There is goodness, passion, ignorance.
So, if they get a taste for devotional books, especially if we sit and read with them, we read to them, or there are creative ways in which the book reading can be made more enlivening, we can and should do that. But at the same time, if somebody is, loves to read, then we cannot restrict them to only spiritual books. So, what we can do is, we can try to find out books in the mode of goodness, where there are some good values being taught.
Some, it depends on the genre. In fiction, there is some fiction in goodness, there is some fiction in passion or ignorance. There is non-fiction.
There are authors who write on interesting subjects. So, we have devotees who are into education. And often, where there are schools, the devotees have made lists.
So, there is one of our, one of the prominent educational leaders in our movement is Urmila Mataji, Urmila Devi Dasi. She has a website where she has a list of books that can be used by devotee children. There is fiction, non-fiction, general knowledge, various things like that.
And that may or may not be relevant, but that can be used as a guidebook. If we can give them the freedom to read, but have what you can call as regulated freedom. They can read books in the mode of goodness.
They may want to read fiction, they may want to read some adventure stories. But if those are giving some good values, or at least not some bad values, then that’s fine. And as they grow onwards, once they, philosophically, unless a child is very exceptionally spiritual, and we may all want our children to be exceptionally spiritual, but we have to be realistic.
We have to, we can’t expect our children, all our children, to be reincarnations of Prahlad Maharaj. So we try, but we try to encourage them and try to find out, even within devotional literature, there is, there are devotees who have written very attractively. This Krishna Dharma Prabhu has really told the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, very attractively told.
And there are, he’s done a retelling of the Bhagavatam also now. There are other devotees who have written books for children. So we can find those books and provide them, but if that is not possible, we can’t restrict them.
We can find out books in the mode of goodness and encourage them to read those books. And gradually, by seeing the devotional culture, by appreciating, as they grow older, they appreciate the philosophy, then their taste will become more spiritual. It’s more, again I said, we can’t have rejection.
We have to have complementation. Non-devotee children will read only mundane books. They have the complementation.
They read spiritual books. We get our children to read spiritual books. But along with that, redirection.
Whatever they are reading, try to at least have it in the mode of goodness so that it is pro- devotional. It’s not non-devotional or anti-devotional. Any other questions? Yes.
Yeah. Just moments ago, in the first answer, you mentioned that by practise of bhakti, jnana and vairagya can come. In Bhagavad Gita, we’ve also read, and we discussed that when you become jnani, one of the thousand, one of the thousand jnani, when he comes to Krishna, he gets dharti.
So, jnani leads to jnana, leads to bhakti, or bhakti leads to jnana? That was one part of the question. Second one, as I was going up, Elders told me that there are three yogas, main yogas in Bhagavad Gita. Karma yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga.
But now we are in bhakti shastri and going to move inwards. In one place, Krishna says that even if you can perform jnana yoga properly, still perform karma yoga. So, are they complementary to each other? Is it progressive or they are individual parts? Okay.
So, sometimes some questions need explanation before the answers can be explained. So, I’ll explain the question. I said that, I talked about karma, jnana and bhakti as three different attitudes.
I say romanticised, demonised, utilised. But then, in the Bhagavad Gita also it is said that when jnana, one becomes full of jnana, then one comes to bhakti. I also quoted that actually, by the practise of bhakti, jnana comes.
And it’s also said that, karma, jnana, yoga, are they karma, jnana and bhakti, are they progressive or are they complementary, parallel parts? Okay. So, let’s first clarify the terms. Karma and karma yoga are two different things.
Jnana and jnana yoga are two different things. When I’m talking about karma, jnana and bhakti, there are three broad mindsets. Karma yoga is not karma.
Because in karma yoga, there is detachment. In karma, there is attachment to enjoy the world and one is doing religion to enjoy the world better. So, karma and karma yoga are different.
Jnana and jnana yoga are not necessarily the same. Jnana is basically the attitude of intellectual reflection, so that one disconnects from the world. But jnana yoga is a process by which one connects with some spiritual reality.
Now, what that spiritual reality is, that conception will evolve over time. Initially, one may think that the spiritual realities are non-differentiated oneness. Then as they evolve, they may understand actually this non-differentiated light, it is coming from a personal absolute.
Then, they evolve towards devotion to Krishna. So, in that sense, the jnani can evolve to a bhakta. That means their conception of spirituality evolves.
So, jnana yoga in that way can lead to bhakti yoga. But when Krishna says that, Bhagavatam says that by the practise of bhakti, jnana will come, what that means is that not that one is going to become a practitioner of jnana yoga or not even the attitude of demonising the world. There, jnana basically means philosophical understanding.
That philosophical understanding of the truths of life, that will emerge by the practise of bhakti. So, it’s more that, if you consider context, this is 1.2.7 In the Bhagavatam, Vasudev Bhagwati bhakti yoga prayojita, janetya asvairajim jnanam jaharayatikam If you see, the verse preceding that was savai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhakti adhoksha je ahaituky apratihata yaiyatma suprasiddhati The para dharma is that by which one can attain, by which one develops pure love for Krishna. And the next four verses are talking about what about other spiritual paths.
If you are saying bhakti is the supreme spiritual path, then what about jnana and vairagya? Bhagavatam says, through bhakti, jnana and vairagya will come. That means the important thing is that you don’t have to practise any other path. This will come by that.
But then what about one’s prescribed duties? Then, the Bhagavatam next verse says that dharma sarusita pumsam ishvaksena kathasuya na utpadi vidhati shrama evai kevalam If you do your prescribed duty, but you don’t become devoted to Krishna, don’t develop attraction for Krishna, that’s simply a waste of time. That’s simply mundane. And somebody may ask, what about dharma, artha, kama, moksha? In the next two verses talk about that also.
All this is ultimately meant for bhakti. dharmasyapa vargasya na artha arthaya bhagavate na arthasya dharma ekantasya kamo lavahaya hisvatha kamasya nahindriya priti lavaho jiveti avata jivasya tattvajiki gnyasa na artha yas chyeha karma So, the Bhagavatam says that all of these, if they are not used for bhakti, then they are useless. So again, the point is that in this particular verse, the assertion, the emphasis, the stress is that a devotee doesn’t have to separately practise the path of jnana.
Jnana, you have to acquire knowledge. Within the practise of bhakti itself, by that, knowledge will emerge. So the stress is the self-sufficiency of the path of bhakti.
That is what is the stress. Thank you. Yes, sir, you had a question? Thank you very much.
It’s been very nice to talk. Your name is Sadashah. You have examples of Prabhupada as well.
So that was very inspiring. The people who want to practise this, to reach to a level like Sadashah. Okay, yeah.
So, sometimes we may say that non-devotees, materialistic people may also exhibit good qualities. They may be humble, they may be tolerant, they may be very good-mannered. So, is it that spiritual life, spiritual practises lead to Sadashah? Sadashah or… Sadashah is basically, we can say, largely speaking, behaviour in the mode of goodness.
And, behaviour in the mode of goodness can also result from one’s past karma. By past karma, some people may be in goodness. Some people may be in passion, some people may be in ignorance.
So, that means that if by past karma, somebody is meant to be overall having a disposition of goodness, they may not come to bhakti, they may not even believe in God. There can actually be atheists who are behaviourally in the mode of goodness. And there can be religionists who can be behaviourally in the mode of ignorance.
So, we can’t say that there is in the Mahabharata, there is talk about there are functional values and there are ultimate values. Ultimate value means what is the ultimate goal of my life? And functional values means according to what values do I function in this world? So, as devotees, we have understood the ultimate value. Krishna is the ultimate value whom I am meant to pursue.
But that does not necessarily mean our functional values are going to be the best. For example, atheists or materialists, they may have no understanding of ultimate value. But by their past karma, by their upbringing, by their… if they have observed a particular culture, they may be in goodness now.
If they are in goodness, we appreciate that. So, it’s not that good qualities come only from bhakti. They can come from past karma, they can come from this life’s culture, they can come from choice also.
Choice means some people can choose. I am too harsh, I need to be polite, I need to become more courteous, I need to do that. So, if somebody has functional good values, then we appreciate that.
Actually, many times people become atheistic or anti-religious not because they disbelieve in God. It’s primarily because they feel alienated by how religious people behave. Sometimes we may have wonderful ultimate values but our functional values may be too abysmal.
If that happens, then people get alienated. If an atheist is in the mode of goodness and a devotee is in the mode of passion, from the point of view of ultimate destination, the devotee is better situated. But from the point of view of immediate disposition, the atheist may be better disposed.
I was in Texas. Texas in America is considered to be a Bible belt state. Lot of aggressive evangelicals are there, Christian evangelicals.
So, on one car poster, on a car bumper, I saw a wording, Oh God, please save me from your preachers. Normally, God saves us through his preachers. They come and tell us about the message of God.
But if the preachers are holier than thou, condescending, condemnatory, hell and brimstone kind of preachers, people say, I don’t want to have anything to do with this. So, our, we have the ultimate value, we have the ultimate values, but they need to be reflected in terms of our more of goodness functional values also. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
Any other questions? Yes. In order to appreciate what Krishna is providing and what Krishna is protecting, it is important for us to realise what are our limits, what is in our control, what is not in our control. Because of our conditioning and false ego and delusion, do you think it is easy to identify our boundaries? Yeah, good question.
So, how do we understand what is in our control and what is not in our control? Yeah. It’s, let’s begin with basics. There are certain things which are very much in our control.
One of the favourite questions which some people who have very superficial understanding of religion they say, everything is this kind. Why bother about anything? Once I was asked this question in a, where was it, in one university, I think it was, I was talking in Yale, everything is this kind. So why should we do anything? Why should I answer this question then? Why are you asking this question also for that matter? So, obviously, everything, if you say everything is this kind, that means nothing is in our control.
Now, if nothing were in our control, scripture itself would become meaningless. Because scripture tells us, do this, don’t do this. The very fact that do this, don’t do this, that means, Baldev Ji uses this reasoning in the Vedanta Sutra commentary, that means we do have some control.
So one extreme is to say nothing is in our control. That is not realistic. The other extreme is to say everything is in my control.
That also is not realistic. I can’t control who is going to become, who is going to win the elections. I can’t control what the global economy trends are going to be.
I can’t control the weather. I can’t control even the ageing of my body. So first let’s start with that.
That is, it’s not that we have everything in our control. It’s not that we have everything in our control. Then, when we are dealing with practical situations, say for example, we are appearing for some competitive exam.
Now, I may appear once and I may not clear it. I may say, I’ll appear second time, I’ll appear third time. Now how many times should I keep appearing? Is this just not in my control? Let me leave it.
Or should I keep trying? Or sometimes we are working in some relationship and we are trying to help the other person to behave unreasonably. Should we just keep trying to change? Let’s accept that this person is not going to change. Let’s leave with it.
These are all individual decisions where we need the mode of goodness to decide. Basically, one way to understand the three modes of material nature is some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some people wonder what happened. So, those who make things happen are in the mode of goodness.
Those who watch things happen, they try to do one thing, it leads to that, that happened, that happened, that happened. They just get things, they try to do one thing, but because they don’t think thoughtfully, they create so many problems because of that. And so, they just watch things happen, this is happening, this is happening.
So, I want to speak one thing to someone, but the words come out wrong and that person takes offence, that person complains here and that person does this, and whole group is against me. I said, what happened? I didn’t do anything. So, we just watch things happen in the mode of passion.
In the mode of ignorance, we don’t even know what has happened. It’s completely unaware, wonder what happened, what is going on. So, applying this point to the analysis, in the mode of passion, we tend to overestimate our capacity to control.
In the mode of ignorance, we tend to underestimate our capacity to control. In the mode of passion, I actually know. Like say, if I am in a relationship with someone, and I think that I will just, I will change this person.
By now, they are all different. Every person is different. We can’t control or change anyone.
We can try, but if I think this person is mouldable and I am like a Michelangelo, mould him if you really want. It doesn’t work like that. So, we tend to overestimate our capacity to control in the mode of goodness, in the mode of passion.
In the mode of ignorance, if somebody is dealing badly with us, we go into the zone of self-pity. Now, everybody treats me like this only. My life is unfair.
People trample over me. They treat me like a doormat. My life is so miserable.
My destiny is rotten. So, here, we think as if there is nothing in our control and just keep feeling sorry for ourselves. So, we have to avoid this underestimating or overestimating.
And if, say, there is a particular area in which you have to make a decision. What should I do in this situation? Then, should I just let go of this? Should I continue in this? If you have to decide like that, that’s what you mean by how much I have control and how much I don’t have control. So, then it’s very important to try to come to the mode of goodness.
It’s not necessarily possible. It’s not always possible for us to always be in the mode of goodness. Our life is so fast that we will get into Rajoguna.
I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this. That’s fine. We can’t avoid that.
But especially when we are going to make significant decisions in our life, we can’t make them on the move. We have to sit down, calm ourselves and pray to Krishna, chant some japa, hear some kirtan and then think calmly. And then, often, thinking is helped by writing.
Write things down. As long as thoughts are in the head, they keep congesting. Get them out, things become much clearer.
And then after you write it down, letting go of this, keeping things as they are or working to change those things. What should I do in this situation? Any problematic situation we have, we have only three options. Either I try to change the situation or I change myself or I walk away from the situation.
If I have a very exploitative boss, what can I do? I can just tolerate or I can change the situation. You know, maybe I can go to ombudsman in the company or I can file a report to somebody higher in the hierarchy. You know, this is non-religional practises over here.
Or I may just decide, I don’t want to get involved. I’ll take some other job. Now, which of these will be good for us, which was the best for us, that is something which we have to use our intelligence.
And for that, we need, to use our intelligence in that way, we need the mode of goodness. So, if we, before making any something which has major consequences for our life, other than making those decisions impulsively, we calmly think, and then we pray to Krishna, write our thoughts, then we revisit and reflect on those thoughts, then gradually take a decision. Then we’ll arrive at a much more realistic assessment of our capacity to control.
And it doesn’t have to be necessarily like a one-zero thing. Sometimes we get a little bit, we may err a little bit on this side, sometimes we may err a little bit on that side. The important thing is to keep moving onwards.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur says that if we wanted to go in this direction, we find we have gone off track. And that doesn’t mean we have to go back to the starting point, and then start again. No, as soon as we go off track, we come back on track.
Sometimes we may try to control too much. Sometimes we may try to let go too much. And life is all about seeking balance.
Because life is dynamic, we may not always have full balance. So, when a plane is moving, it is not that the plane moves in one straight line. Say, if a plane comes from, say, yesterday I came from Sydney to Wellington.
It’s on the plane, so one line it comes. There is wind, there is turbulence. The plane, it is said, almost 90% of the time, the plane is off track.
But because the plane keeps getting reoriented, so it comes back. It goes to the destination. Goes off track, then back on track.
Goes off track, then back on track. So, same way with us. We may not be able to come to a perfect assessment.
We use whatever intelligence we have, and take a decision. If we have some spiritual guides, we can consult with them also. And if we have done our homework, thought through our situation, written things down, then we are also going to present our case better to them.
And they can give us an objective, third-party kind of perspective. And based on that also, we can make a decision. The important thing is that we don’t take a decision hastily.
Calmly, with due respect, if we take a decision, then we can start more and more assessing our capacities better. Just like if I want to lift weights, first time I go to a weighing machine, first time I go to a gym, I may not even know how much I can lift. So, if I lift a 30 kg weight, I might just crush and do that.
But the next time, you know, I lift a 1 kg weight. Well, 1 kg weight will not lead to much exercise. So, we may go towards one extreme, another extreme.
Gradually, we come to a balance. I can lift 5 kgs, I can lift 7 kgs, whatever it is. So, like that, we will come to a balance gradually, as we keep learning.
Is that an answer to your question? So, thank you very much. Shlok Prabhupada Ki Jai! Gaur Bhakta Vrindaki Jai! Gaur Premananda Jai! Jai!