For meditation, we need the right object and the right conception
Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna.
So this morning, the meditation on the Lord, as the yogi is meant to be doing, is being guided by the Srimad Bhagavatam. And after describing in two verses how to meditate on his lotus feet, now the vision is moving upwards. And he said that his legs and thighs, they are the object of service of the goddess of fortune.
There is a similar, but significantly different mood, meditation in the second canto that is described, where it is talked about how the Lord is manifested as a universal form. And there, in that universal form also, the lower planets are compared to his feet, and the intermediate planets are compared to his thighs and to his belly, and the upper planetary systems are compared to his head and chest. So in either case, the focus is on directing our thoughts towards the Lord.
So the mood of the Bhagavatam is that we strive to intensify our remembrance of the Lord. Now we may remember Him in different ways at different times. That means that depending on our particular situation, our particular disposition, our particular level of spiritual advancement, we will meditate on Him in different ways.
In the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about the devoted, the demoniac, and everyone in between. In 9.11 and 12, he talks about those who misunderstand Krishna's form. They consider Krishna's form to be mundane.
And he says that, अवजानन्ति मा मूधा मानुष्यं तनमाशृतं परम्भाव मजानन्तो अमभूतबहेश्वरं मोघाशा मोघकर्माणो मोघज्यानाविचेतसः राक्षसिमासुरिम्चैव प्रकृतिम्मोहि निम्षृतः So he says there are these people who understand him wrong. जानन्ति is to know. अजानन्ति is to not know.
अवजानन्ति is to know the opposite of the reality. So one is to know God, the other is to not know God. But the worst is to think of God as an ordinary human being.
That is अवजानन्ति. अवजानन्ति मा मूधा Those who are foolish, those who are unfortunate, they don't understand me properly. मानुष्यं तनमाशृतं They think I have taken shelter of a human form.
So Krishna, when he descends into this world, he descends in a form that looks like human, but it is not a material form. But they think he is आश्रितम्. मानुष्यं तनमाशृतं He has taken shelter of a human form.
And they don't understand that परम्भावजानन्तु that actually I don't need to take shelter of anything because he is the shelter of everything. Krishna is the person who sustains all of existence. So he doesn't need a form to sustain his existence, material form of all.
ममः परम्भावजानन्तु ममः भूतमहेश्वरम् I am the maintainer, the controller of all of existence. And if they have this misunderstanding about him, Krishna says that they, whatever they do, they will not succeed. Even if they मोगःशा मोगःकर्माणो मोगः ज्याना विचेतस They may try to do some कर्म to go to heaven.
They may try to cultivate some ज्यान to attain liberation. And whatever desire they have, it will become frustrated. So Krishna is the fulfiller of all our desires.
Whatever desire we have, we may work to fulfil it, but it is Krishna who arranges to fulfil it for us. And if we misunderstand Krishna, whichever yogic path a person may be following, they cannot succeed in that. So in two verses Krishna talks about these people who misunderstand him.
So here some people may understand that, may think, oh, you know, the Lord is receiving intimate service from Lakshmi. Or we have Radha Krishna's intimate pastimes. And people may think that this is just like some mundane activities.
And those who misunderstand like that, sometimes hearing about the Lord may actually increase their either sensuality, because they may think I will imitate the Lord, or hearing about the Lord may increase their aversion to Him. Because they think that He is just a big enjoyer. And they think of Him from their perspective.
So in contrast with that, in the next two verses Krishna talks about how the pure devotees think about Him. That's 9.39 and 14. He says, महत्मानस्तुमां पार्थ दैविं प्रकृतिमाशुतः भजन्त्यनन्य मनसो घ्यात्वा भूता दिमावयं He says that knowing that I am the source of everything, घ्यात्वा भूता दिमावयं that I am the source of everything, and Krishna is not like a source in the sense that sometimes there may be a patriarch in a family who has many children, and they have many grandchildren, many children, and then he has a huge family.
Sometimes some people have 50, 60, 100 members in their family. But then as this patriarch grows old, then he has become more like an object of relic, more like a fossil, even he is living. He doesn't have much power.
Krishna is not like that. भूता दिमावयं He is imperishable. He becomes old.
He doesn't become old like us. He is timeless. He is existing beyond time.
So अव्यय, he is imperishable. Time does not affect him in any way. So when they understand that, then महत्मानस्तु माम्पार्त They take shelter of me entirely.
भजन्ति अनन्य मनसो Our mind is always looking for alternatives. Even when we are chanting Hare Krishna, our mind is looking. Is there something else which will be more enjoyable? Once there was a construction worker.
He was working on a high building, and he suddenly slipped and fell. And he was falling, he just caught hold of a pole which was hanging by. It was a weak pole, but somehow he was holding on to it.
He said, Oh help, help, help. Suddenly he heard a grey voice. He says, This is God speaking.
Let go, I will take care of you. He remained silent. Is there anyone else? So this is अन्य मनसो That we think that, Okay, God is there, but will God protect or not? Is there someone else? So even when Krishna is there in front of us, we are, our mind is more interested in other things.
So we keep looking for other alternatives. अनन्य मनसो So for the pure devotees, they have understood Krishna is the ultimate reality. You don't need anyone else.
And what happens because of this? सततं कीर्त यंतो माम्यतंतः शद्वडव्रतः नमश्यन्तस्चमां भक्त्या विथ्युक्ता उपासते He says that, They wholeheartedly glorify Krishna. सततं कीर्त यंतो माम्यतंतः And they endeavour with great determination. Because to glorify Krishna, for us as sadhakas, we have to overcome the obstacles because of our mind and senses.
Our mind and senses want to go here and there. Now for them, for the great devotees, there is no obstacle because of their mind and senses. Because their mind and senses are focused on Krishna.
But still, to do anything in this world, there are obstacles. The nature of the material world is that, nothing is easy. Prabhupada was never tempted by anything of this world.
But that did not mean that he did not have obstacles. The nature of this world is, if you want to do anything constructive, it is not easy. If you want to do anything constructive for Krishna, it is also difficult.
So they have great determination to persevere. Even in the presence of obstacles. So when we say empowerment, Prabhupada was empowered.
Empowerment does not mean absence of obstacles. Empowerment means perseverance in spite of obstacles. That even when great obstacles come, the devotee does not give up.
Normally we have certain determination, but when some obstacle comes, it is too much trouble. One obstacle we will face, second obstacle we will face, third obstacle, too many obstacles we will face, we will give up. But for a pure devotee, the momentum is irresistible.
It is no matter how many obstacles come, they just keep moving on. Say if a car is moving along, and some log comes in the way, the car may knock off the log. But if a big truck comes in the way, then the car will be blocked by it.
So if a cycle is moving along, then even a simple block of wood following the road may stop the cycle. But if there is a huge truck that is moving along, then whatever comes in the way, that will be knocked over by the truck. And the vehicle will move on.
So similarly for us, we can say that our enthusiasm is like a cycle moving along. Our determination is like a cycle moving along. We move along, but some obstacles come, then we stop.
But for an exalted devotee, their enthusiasm is like a huge truck's momentum. Whatever comes in the way gets knocked over. And they keep persevering.
So even when it was for Prabhupada, not having money, not having institutional support, getting a heart attack, having his own typewriter being stolen away, having one of his prospective disciples turning and attacking him, and he having to flee from the place where he was staying, nothing stopped him. That was his determination. So, With one point of determination, they constantly worship the Supreme.
We are talking about this because I am trying to contextualise what we are meditating over here. So Krishna talks in 9.11 and 12 about those who are complete, who misunderstand God and 9.13-14 he talks about those who understand God properly. And in 9.15 in the Bhagavad Gita, he talks about those who are in between these two.
He says, By acquiring some knowledge, people come up with some conception of the absolute and start worshipping. He talks about three categories. ekatvena Those who have an idea that the absolute truth is non-differentiated oneness.
pruthaktvena bahudha They think that there is one absolute but it is manifested in many different forms. So, there are many devtas, many gods who represent the Supreme. And vishvatomukham vishvatomukham is those who consider worship the universal form of the Lord.
So now, here, when the yogis are meditating, see, there is a particular conception. Say for example, God is impersonal or God is personal. Now this is one conception.
But different people arrive at this conception from different backgrounds. Somebody may think that God is personal and for many kids nowadays, Christmas is coming soon. Christmas is not about Jesus Christ, it is about Santa Claus.
So, they may think, what is special about Christmas? Oh, Santa Claus will come and give me gifts. So, they know Christmas is important but its importance, what is the reason for it? It comes from their whole idea, why it is important. In India, Diwali is a big festival.
But Diwali, most people think Diwali means what? Oh, we get to blow firecrackers and we get to eat a lot of feasts. That's what they think of most of the time. So, that Lord Ram came back and Lord Ram's return is being celebrated or Damodar Leela, Krishna was tied by Mother Yashoda.
None of this people think about. So, the point I am making is, there might be something which may be of spiritual significance also but why people come to that or how people conceive that, that will depend on them. So, even if you consider something like say, God is a person or God is impersonal or there are many Gods.
Each of these is a conception but with what understanding people are approaching that conception can be very different. And here, the Bhagavatam is guiding the yogi to arrive at a truly personal understanding of the absolute truth. So, when somebody may meditate on the absolute truth as I am one with the absolute truth.
Now, this monism as it is called, monism means there is one, only one substance existing. That is monism. So, now this can be either Brahmavad, where they don't know about the personality of God or it can be Mayavad, where they think that actually the personality of God is illusion and we need to go beyond that.
So, in 9.11 and 12, what Krishna is talking about is Mayavad. They know about Krishna's form but they think Krishna's form is mundane. But here in 9.15, when Krishna is talking about ekatvena, oneness, he is not talking about that kind of offensive mentality.
Oh, I am one with the universe. That conception, there are many people who may have no knowledge of Krishna, they may come from Buddhist background or some mystic background and they may have that idea. Now, they are not necessarily Mayavadis because they have no knowledge of Krishna and they are not thinking that Krishna's form is illusion and we have to go beyond Krishna's form.
So, similarly, here when the meditation on the personal form is happening, the conception can be different for different people. There is another important word over here, suravandita, that all the devatas, they worship Lakshmidevi and Lakshmidevi is worshipping the Supreme Lord. So, again, in the previous verse we talked about how Shiva is taking the water of the Ganga coming from the Lord's lotus feet on his head.
So, in that way, he is considered to be, he is accepting Vishnu to be supreme. So, suravanditaya means, so, I was talking about, this is monism, the idea that there is oneness that can be offensive to Krishna or that can be non-offensive to Krishna. Similarly, some people may conceive there are many different devatas.
Now, how they conceive it is also important. Some people think, many people, especially when western people come to India or came to India for the first time, their idea of many gods was that, there is a Greco-Roman conception and there are these gods, often they would have fights among each other and each god would have his own territory and each god was trying to expand his territory and fight for supremacy. Now, that was not the conception in the Vedic tradition.
All gods have their territory but there is one supreme god. So, when we talk about devatas, prathaktven bahudha So, the Bhagavatam is stressing over here, yes, there are many gods but there is one supreme being and in that sense, at a cosmic level, there is cooperation, not competition. And there are some people Vishwanatha Krishnadevaraya explains in his purport to this 7.15 that actually there are some people who consider the various devatas to be independent kings who fight for supremacy but there are some who consider all the devatas to be symbols of the Brahman and they think that ultimately we have to go beyond all symbols to the Brahman.
So, this is some kind of impersonalism but they may worship the devatas but their idea is oh, you have to go beyond the devata. You have to merge into the one but here the Bhagavatam is talking about not meditating on something beyond the form but meditating on the form. There was a quite a well-known impersonalist teacher.
He said that everyday you should take your Ishtadev, whichever is your deity, favourite deity and meditate on that. And you sit and meditate and meditate and meditate and how do you know that your meditation has attained perfection? He said by the power of your concentration you keep meditating on the deity if the deity crumbles to powder. Then that means by your concentration you have gone beyond the form to the formless.
And now what many people started doing is everybody wanted to claim they were perfect. So, actually they would all go into their private chamber, start meditating and then they would get a sledgehammer and smash the deity. And they would say now I have caught the deity to crumble to powder I have attained perfection.
So, it's ridiculous. It's not just ridiculous, it's horrible. But what is happening over here? The deity even it is seen simply as a transitional tool to go beyond.
Then one is not interested in meditating on the deity. One is interested in going beyond the deity to something else. So, of course not all Mayavadis are like this.
There are different Madhavadis also of different strengths. Most people who even identify themselves as Mayavadis they actually don't know much philosophy about impersonalism. They just think that okay there is a light and we have to merge in that light.
But they are just we could call them not so much as Mayavadi is as people under Mayavad influence. There are people who are influenced by those who are impersonalists and if they are given proper bhakti understanding they accept it. Because the human heart does need bhakti.
In the even in the tradition of impersonalism started by Shankaracharya or rather prominently spread by Shankaracharya there were many bhakti saints who came and they actually were encouraged by even the impersonalists. Because they realised that the impersonalism cannot spread far because there is no rasa, there is no sweetness, there is no reciprocation of the heart. The only thing to think is that there is nothing to think.
The only thing to talk is that there is nothing to talk. The only thing to do is that there is nothing to do. Now ultimately because for all of them everything is illusion.
So most impersonalists because nobody can stay at an impersonal platform they come to the platform of goodness where they do some social service. Social service is not bad but social service can often become a distraction from devotional service. If it is seen as a substitute to devotional service then it is a problem.
So Tulsi is very dear to the Supreme Lord and devotees take care of Tulsi because they want to actually please the Supreme by offering him Tulsi. But when one thinks everything is symbolic and one has to go beyond that. There is a prominent impersonalist leader he said that you Indians he is an Indian leader why do you worship Tulsi? What do you get by worshipping Tulsi? If you want to water anything water eggplant you will get something to eat at least.
So what happens is he just although he claimed to be a spiritual teacher and he might have been good in many other fields but his understanding was completely off. So Prabhupada he was completely devoted to Krishna and this kind of ideas were unbearable for him. So when he speaks strongly against impersonalists to understand where he is coming from and where the impersonalists are coming from.
So here the whole idea is that Prabhupada says that Lakshmi who is worshipped by the Devatas and by the people in general that Lakshmi is serving the Supreme Lord. So he is the ultimate object of devotion. In the Bhagavatam time and time again this theme comes that even the goddess of Lakshmi goddess of fortune she considers her fortune to be the Supreme Lord.
Without him she considers himself restless. Shiva has a consort and Narayan has a consort. Now Narayan's consort is Lakshmi.
Shiva's consort is Parvati. Now Lakshmi is almost always worshipped with Narayan. Sita is almost always worshipped with Ram.
Radha is always worshipped with Krishna. On a few occasions in South Indian temples where there is a mood of awe and reverence the temple of Narayan and temple of Lakshmi will not be in the same place but the same premises they have to separate temples. So that is more in the mood of awe and reverence that they are in the same premises but not in the same place.
It is like in traditional settings some guests would come then the men would meet the men and then the women would receive the women separately. So it is like that. But with respect to Lord Shiva sometimes the goddess is worshipped with him and quite often the goddess is worshipped without him when she is worshipped without him as Kali.
So Parvati is considered Saumya Rupa, gentle form. Kali is considered to be the Ugra Rupa. She looks very angry.
Sometimes she has a necklace of skulls on her body and she has a weapon with which she is killing demons. So the mood there is that actually when the goddess is with her lord she is Saumya, she is gentle. But when she is worshipped alone she assumes an angry mood.
So normally with respect to the goddess that kind of worship is done and that worship is considered to be the worship of Shakti. There are three broad groups of worshippers in India. We have Vaishnavas, Shaivites and Shaktas.
Shaktas are those who worship the goddess Shakti. So normally Lakshmi is not worshipped alone. When the goddess is worshipped alone she is considered to be a form of Durga.
She is separated from Shiva. Lakshmi is not meant to be worshipped alone. Now of course there are some temples of Mahalakshmi, very famous temples where there is only Lakshmi alone but Prabhupada says this is not the mood in which the goddess of fortune is to be worshipped.
She is always with the lord and that same Lakshmi who is the goddess of fortune, when we pursue Lakshmi alone without her lord then the fortune comes but she stays for some time and he goes away. We can say at one level everything in this world is temporary. So what is the difference? Now the difference is that the material world is always temporary but the temporary can become the way to the eternal or the temporary can be the way for further entanglement in the temporary.
That means our present material body is temporary. There is no denying that but with this temporary body if we engage in sensual activities then the Bhagavatam 11th canto is the example that it is like a tree before it dies, it drops many seeds and those seeds will all grow into new trees. So like that in this body we do so much karma that that karma will fructify in many other bodies in future.
So the temporary, the body is anyway temporary but that temporary body can either perpetuate many more spans of temporary material existences or this temporary can be used to pursue the eternal. That means by striving to develop our devotion to Krishna we can ultimately attain Krishna and similarly fortune, the goddess of fortune Lakshmi Devi, she gives her blessings in the form of money. Now her blessings, money, sometimes a person who has money, that person can do so much karma with money that person can get you know get buried under tonnes of karma.
So money can become a source of great illusion and entanglement but money can also be used for serving Krishna and wonderful service for Krishna can be done with it. So when Lakshmi is worshipped separate from Lakshmi, the wealth that we acquire in this world is always going to be temporal. It is never going to last forever but the wealth that we have we can use it to attain the eternal or we can use it in a way that it will perpetuate our existence in the material world.
Actually Prabhupada met Ambarish Prabhu. Ambarish Prabhu is Alfred Ford, great grandson of Henry Ford. So when Prabhupada met him for the first time the devotees told him he is the great grandson of Henry Ford.
Now Ambarish Prabhu he told me when I met him recently so he said that many people he was used to many spiritual teachers religious teachers being very respectful and almost flattering because he wanted some donations from him. So what he said when Prabhupada met him Prabhupada just looked straight into his eyes and he says so you are the great grandson of Henry Ford where is he now? Where is he now? So he said that Prabhupada drew home that point that Henry Ford might have been so wealthy but all his wealth is left behind he has gone somewhere else. So he said that I felt that Prabhupada was not concerned with my wealth Prabhupada was concerned with me the soul.
So where is he now? He said Prabhupada is a real saintly person who wants my well-being. Now of course he is having huge whatever wealth he is having he is using it in Krishna's service to help fulfil Prabhupada's dream. So the point is that wealth itself is neither good nor bad.
It depends on how it is used and we may say that is practical use of wealth but there is also the religious conception of wealth. When somebody does religion so the idea that somebody may say that we go to a temple and we chant aarti to Lakshmi Devi and worship her with great devotion but we are worshipping Lakshmi alone not with Narayan. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that is that we are conceiving of religion itself as meant for us not meant for God.
That means religion is a means by which I will make my life more comfortable not that I will be devoted to God. And the Christians have that prayer that Oh Father thou art in heaven hallowed be thy name give us our daily bread. So Prabhupada would say it's good that they are going to the church and praying to God but he says this actually reflects love for bread not love for God.
And if somebody else gives bread then they feel what is the need of going to God. So now of course in the western world normally we talk about God being conceived as a provider. God as a provider means that okay we don't have we don't have bread we don't have money God please provide me this.
Now a days in America there are many big evangelical churches called mega churches and there God is portrayed not so much as a supplier of material things because in the western world people have material things. So the current conception of God in these populist evangelical churches is God is like a divine therapist. People have mental problems so you go to God and he is a therapist who will solve all your mental problems.
Now of course just as Krishna can provide bread Krishna can solve mental problems also. But Krishna is not just meant for that. Krishna is meant for something more.
Krishna is meant not just to solve our mental problems heal our emotional issues. Krishna is meant to actually elevate our heart ultimately to him. So the meditation on the Lord when it is directed from our perspective which will be natural when we come to Krishna we will have some conceptual essence with which we come to Krishna.
But the whole process of bhakti and our growth in bhakti will depend not just on how much how intensely we connect with Krishna. It will depend also on how willingly we are ready to revise our conception of Krishna. There is connection with Krishna and there is conception of Krishna.
So there are many people who may have often much more intense devotion than what we may have. Sometimes some people say in the month of Kartik they may fast very strictly and have intense connection with Krishna. But their conception is okay when I do this Krishna will provide me this, this, this, this.
So the connection with Krishna is important but the conception is also important. Now if our conception is material means God will provide me this then Prabhupada explains that as long as the devotion is motivated motivated means I want this, I want this, this is my motivation. As long as the devotion is motivated it will be interrupted.
That is how devotion should be the Bhagavatam says. But when it is motivated Krishna give me this, give me that, give me that and when if that doesn't come then what is the use of worshipping God? If it comes okay thank you God, bye bye. So either way it becomes interrupted.
Now this doesn't mean that we don't go to the Lord with our prayers. Certain things are important for us we can pray to Him definitely but I'll conclude with this point that we don't make our relationship with Krishna dependent on the fulfilment of our prayers. So Prabhupada writes the mood of devotion is that a devotee desires but does not demand.
A devotee desires the darshan of the Lord. A devotee desires that Krishna come in once we get darshan of Krishna but a devotee does not demand that. Similarly we all have our particular desires.
Now our desires may be material our desires may be spiritual and for a devotee who is serious there is no need to like rigidly differentiate between the material desire and the spiritual desire. The life is meant for serving Krishna and the desire is a part of the service to Krishna. Krishna if my health were better if my financial situation were better if I had certain skills which were better I could serve you better.
And we pray Krishna. If somebody will pray that I want this things I want this it's not wrong to pray for that but it's wrong to make our relationship with Krishna dependent on the fulfilment of the prayer. So when we have this spiritual conception of Krishna that means that Krishna the greatest thing that he can give us is love for him is absorption in him is satisfaction in him then that is what we strive for.
While striving for that we can have many other things which we may need which we may seek if we get them that's good if we don't get them that's also okay. Sometimes we reduce our path to Krishna to one particular path. Say I am going along this road I think this is the road on which I will go towards Krishna and suddenly the door on that road closes and that door closes I wanted to go to Krishna the door is closed what should I do? But Krishna may have opened some other door for us or it may well be that that door even if it would be opened that road led to a dead end.
We don't know that. Sometimes what happens is we make a particular plan to serve Krishna the plan may be even devotional but when you make the plan to serve Krishna the door closes bang we get so frustrated by that we are just glaring at the door sometimes we just bang on the door to make it break open bang on the door to get it to open all that happens is we break ourselves but Krishna I wanted to serve you somehow if this is not your plan please guide me how I can serve you so if we have that service attitude Krishna will serve it will open a better door for us and the important thing is that a devotee does not reduce the journey to Krishna to one path that means how I want to serve Krishna I am fixed in that but exactly how I will serve him that Krishna will determine that so we it is a part of our intelligence to make plans because when we want to take something seriously we make plans for it that is that making planning is a sign of our seriousness about something but at the same time we also recognise that Krishna is the supreme controller so we make plans and we offer the plans to Krishna if Krishna has some other plans then we accept those plans sometimes his plans will be revealed in sometime not immediately so just as somebody may misunderstand Lakshmi Devi is massaging Lord Narayan as mundane similarly we may mistake Krishna's actions you know does Krishna get joy in frustrating me I am trying to serve him why is Krishna making things difficult for me Krishna is making things difficult for us simply our karma coming upon us but through our karma Krishna has some better plan so rather than trying to evaluate Krishna through our filter see Krishna I can't understand what is happening but please guide me how I can serve you so if we are open to revising our conceptions about Krishna and about how we can serve Krishna then Krishna will reveal far better paths for us that is the mood of Sri Prabhupada when he sings that famous song that make me dance make me dance as a puppet puppeteer makes a puppet dance make me dance so and Prabhupada prayed to this when he came all alone to America with nothing and how Krishna made Prabhupada dance in the last 11 years of his life he travelled all over the world 14 times he established 108 temples he wrote 70 books he inspired millions of people to take the path of Krishna bhakti so Prabhupada did all that he could to serve Krishna but he also surrendered to Krishna and Krishna revealed wonderful plan for him similarly in our own small ways if we compliment our determination to serve Krishna with we have a desire to serve Krishna but along that we don't demand Krishna however you want I will accept it please guide me so that I can serve you and we will find that Krishna has a plan much better than what we have and Krishna will bring wonderful things for us both in terms of the external service that we do and more importantly in terms of the internal satisfaction that we get through our devotional connection with him so I will summarise I spoke today about how the process of bhakti requires us to get the right understanding of the absolute so we may hear even from scripture but unless even if we get a right fact but our conception will determine how we approach that fact so somebody may hear about the supreme lord here but they may if we hear about Lakshmi Devi serving, massaging the lord we may approach that with a material conception so how the conceptions play a very significant role I talk from 9.11 to 15 in the Bhagavad Gita 9.11 to I will talk about how those who conceive Krishna's form to be material and think that something else we have to go beyond that they are thwarted in their endeavours Krishna says those who understand that Krishna is the ultimate reality they wholeheartedly focus on him they don't look for any alternative beyond Krishna and they keep serving Krishna even when they face obstacles empowerment is not absence of obstacles it is perseverance even amidst obstacles and then 9.15 talks about in between those who understand Krishna those who misunderstand Krishna and in between is those who are struggling towards the right understanding of Krishna so the conception of oneness can be offensive if it leads to minimisation of Krishna's form or it can be just progressive towards spiritual realisation if one doesn't know about Krishna and is simply realising the spiritual reality in the beginning stage similarly the conception of the universal form here we meditate on the Supreme Lord and his personal form and then we meditate on the universal form as parts of the universe being the body of the Lord that can also be progressive and I focus on how the worship of the demigods can be done in various conceptions you can see them as representatives of the Supreme meant to cooperate with him gradually which is the correct understanding you can see them as competitors to the Supreme which is the Greco-Roman understanding and we can see them as representations of the Supreme that means symbols of the Supreme which is also incorrect or monistic understanding so when we meditate on the materialistic but that connection has to be with the right conception so if we have impersonal conception then we think the meditation should be to go beyond the form or if you have materialistic conception then we think the connection so that the Lord will provide what I need and our relationship with him becomes conditional to his provision of material things whether it be wealth or whether it be peace of mind we can see a supplier or a therapist or whatever but a devotee is not only interested in strong connection with Krishna but also interested in revising one's conception so that by studying scripture we get the right understanding Krishna knows better than us what is best for us so a devotee desires but does not demand we try our best to serve Krishna using our intelligence for planning if the plan does not work then we surrender in the mood of Srila Prabhupada Krishna make me dance and Krishna will reveal his plan for our service and for our growth to be better than whatever we may have planned thank you very much Hare Krishna any questions or comments I am a little intrigued by this statement where Prabhupada is saying the devotee always thinks of this relationship between Lakshmi and Narayan does it seem that in our Gaudiya focus more of a like Radha and Krishna as opposed to Lakshmi and Narayan ok so when Prabhupada says the devotee always focusses on the relationship between Lakshmi and Narayan Srila Prabhupada gave us he was a representative of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition and he gave the Gaudiya Vaishnava understanding but his focus was not primarily on Gaudiya Vaishnavism his focus was on basically giving whatever was required for people to get elevated so in a sense we could say the people whom Prabhupada came to he they did not have any even basic human values so in the Bhagavad Gita he gives a basic Prabhupada is three main books we could say in big books Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam and CC so through the Bhagavad Gita he gives basic spiritual understanding not the body or the soul and then he talks about Krishna of course but in the Bhagavatam he gives Vaishnava understanding so we could say Prabhupada's teachings were the Bhagavad Gita gives Vedic principles the Bhagavatam gives Vaishnava principles and the Chaitanya Charcharita Amrut gives Gaudiya Vaishnava principles so Prabhupada in the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam does not talk so much about specifically about Gaudiya Vaishnava principles in fact for the Gaudiya Vaishnava Radharani is the supreme reality she is the supreme worshipable but in the Bhagavad Gita Prabhupada mentions Radharani's name only one in one place nowhere in the introduction when he is reciting the prayer Tapta Kanchana Gaurangi Radhe Vrindavan Eswari that is the only praise throughout the Bhagavad Gita that he mentions Radharani so of course there is one place where Prabhupada says in a purport that the devotee should meditate only on Krishna and not even any other forms of Vishnu only Krishna that is giving some inkling of Gaudiya Vaishnava understanding but broadly speaking Prabhupada gives progressive understanding so the Bhagavad Gita focus on Vedic values Bhagavatam focus on Vaishnava values that's why I say when Ram Leela is going on or Vaman Leela is going on or Narsimha Leela is going on there Prabhupada does not bring in Gaudiya Vaishnava simply explains that Leela and he explains how we can learn some devotional values for applying in our lives so here when he is talking about we should meditate on relationship with Lakshmi and Narayan he is talking more about the principle of loving reciprocation between the lord and the devotees and by meditating on that we can become attracted to wanting to enter into a similar loving relationship and to delight in similar loving reciprocations so now at our level our heart may be attracted even by the way Ram reciprocates with Hanuman our heart may be attracted by how Krishna reciprocates with Arjuna so in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit and Nectar of Devotion more Gaudiya Vishnu books directly there he talks specifically about Krishna and in what mood to approach Krishna so Prabhupada is giving a progressive understanding so thank you very much Chaitanya Chaitanya Chaitanya Prabhupada Ki Jai Chaitanya Chaitanya Prabhupada Ki Jai Jai.