Cultivating Cooperation in Krishna consciousness
I'm grateful to be here amongst all of you at the lotus feet of Jagannath Vande Subhadra, Shraddha Das, Shraddha Bihari and Taiga Urchandra and as was mentioned I'll try to speak on the topic of cooperating in Krishna's service.
So I think when we make a mistake one principle of cooperation is to apologise. So I apologise for being late. I thought the talk in the 7.30 somehow is a little misunderstanding.
So I'll speak about cooperation from the perspective of the three modes of material nature. What is it that causes us to become separated? Now all relationships, all interactions begin with perception. We perceive each other in particular ways.
In the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita from verses 20 to 22 Krishna talks about knowledge in the three modes of material nature. So if we are perceiving others in an incorrect way, in a wrong way, then no matter how much we try we will not be able to have any functional relationships. So let's start with perception in the mode of ignorance.
Then I'll move towards passion and goodness and finally I'll talk a little bit from transcendence perspective. So in 18.22 Krishna says that So he says, when we take one thing to be everything When we take one thing to be everything we do not have a proper understanding of the real substance. We have knowledge but it is meagre knowledge.
And such knowledge, he says, is in the mode of ignorance. So when we perceive in the mode of ignorance we perceive one fragment of reality and we make that fragment into everything. The modes are subtle forces that shape the interaction between matter and consciousness.
So how we perceive each other, that is shaped by the mode that we are under. So what does it mean to take one thing to be everything? Say we could have as an example racism in America or we can have casteism in India where we reduce the person down to just their one attribute the colour of their skin or the dynasty of their birth. And everything else about that person, no matter how good it may be it just becomes irrelevant.
That race, that means this person must be like this. But that caste that means the person must be like this. So when we are seeing something about the person we are seeing only one thing.
And that one thing becomes the basis of our entire interaction. Last year, I had come to America last spring and I went to some colleges, did some programmes. So after a programme, I was talking with one student.
And the student as we were talking, he told me that he grew up in a foster home. So then I asked him what happened? Did your parents pass away in an accident or something? He said, no. Both my parents are alive.
I said, what? If your parents are alive then why were you in a foster home? He said, when I was five, my parents divorced. And it was a very bitter divorce. And at that time both, my mother and my father, they told me that this marriage was the biggest mistake of my life.
And you remind me of the biggest mistake of my life. So both of them said we don't want anything to do with you. And despite having both parents, this child was reduced to orphan, to becoming an orphan.
So now, sometimes it may happen that we may not be able to get along with each other. That's okay. But why should we project our differences on a third person? And then that means that child is a living, loving person in his own right.
But instead of seeing that child in his own right, all that they can see is this child is a product of my greatest mistake. So this is seeing one thing and making it into everything. When we have now when we say this is extreme, this is crazy, who will do something like this? Now we may not do specifically anything like this.
But we also, when we interact with each other, often, we carry the memories of some past interaction and hold it against people. Now this is what you did at that time. Something that person may have done 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 25 years ago, we hold it.
We define that person by that action. This is what you did. And when we are viewing the person through that prism, through that frame of reference, we can't have positive interactions.
The very nature of the world is that we all make mistakes and sometimes our mistakes hurt others. So we all need to learn to tolerate and to forgive. Sometimes when people commit mistakes, it's just their conditioning.
It's not just because somebody commits a mistake doesn't necessarily make them bad people. We'll talk later about somebody repeating their mistakes. But the point is, when we define people by their certain attributes which we have encountered long ago, we hold that as a reflection through which we look at them always.
This is the scenario which I told. It's not that far fetched about parents rejecting their own child. In the Bhagavatam, the fourth canto, there is a story of Daksha Prajapati and his own daughter.
When Dakshayani came to meet him, he was having a big ceremony at his house and he invited everyone but he did not invite Shiva because he had felt that Shiva had dishonoured him or Shiva had failed to honour him. So, because of that, he was angry. Now, Parvati she thought that, actually it's my own home.
I don't need the invitation to go there. And she came there. Now, for daughter to go to her own home, it's a matter of joy.
It's almost like a homecoming. When she came there, Daksha was so cold. He just did not even condescend to greet her.
It is said that, the harshest words of our critics don't hurt as much as the silence of our friends. When there are some people who are just opposed to us and they are going to attack us, attack us. But when we are being attacked, their words hurt us.
But if somebody whom we love, trust and whom we expect to support us, if they remain silent, that silence hurts much more. So, at one level, you could say nothing happened. Daksha and he came home and nothing happened.
It was not that Daksha shouted at her. It was not that Daksha kicked her out of the house. But just by his neglect, he hurt her unbearably.
And then eventually, as events worsened, his repeated neglect of Sati and his refusal to give a position of honour to Shiva, all that led to a point where Sati became ready to immolate herself. And even then, Daksha did not change his stance. So, what happened over here? That Daksha no longer saw Sati as his own daughter.
He saw Sati as the wife of Shiva. So, people are multi-dimensional. When Sati came there, she saw, this is my home, this is my father.
But for Shiva, for Daksha, her defining relationship was she is the wife of the person who is dishonoured. And all his interactions with her became filtered by that perspective. So, here, when we meet people, sometimes we talk nicely with someone, the other person doesn't pay any attention to us.
What happened? What did I do? We may not have done anything, but that person is associating us with something. Maybe you came from that temple, and person from that temple treated me like that. Or you are the disciple of that guru.
And you know, that guru's that disciple treated me like that. So, we reduce people to their certain attributes. That is perception in the mode of ignorance.
So, we take one particular attribute of a person, and then we act entirely based on that. And sometimes this is what happens in romantic relationships also. Romance itself may be in the mode of passion.
But sometimes when people act in those relationships, their actions may even be in the mode of ignorance. The two people look at each other, and when they fall in love with each other, and they are ready to fight with the whole world. I can't live without this person.
And then a few months later, I can't live with this person. Why? Because initially we saw just some good qualities in that person. Maybe their good looks or whatever.
We got captivated by them. And then eventually, as the inevitable friction and life's interaction comes up, then this person is like this. How can I live with this person? So, in the mode of ignorance, there is no holistic perception.
There is only fragmented perception. And this fragmented perception makes any sustained relationship or any mature interaction impossible. When we interact with others, at that time, our mind is constantly passing a live commentary about everything.
As soon as you see some person, this person is lazy. This person is forgetful. This person is arrogant.
This person is very self-serving. So, our mind not only passes comments, it passes a commentary. It just goes on and on and on.
And in that way, we are not interacting with the person at all. We are actually interacting with our commentary of that person. Our mind's commentary of that person.
Now, it is true that people have defects. And it is also important that people work to change their defects. But, it is important for us that for us, changing them is not in our control.
Basically, if we take it from another perspective, these three modes, they are related with, as I said, our perceptions. Now, in every situation, there are some things in our control, some things not in our control. In the mode of passion, we overestimate our capacity to control.
We think, I'll fix it. I'll fix this person. I know they have problems, but I'll fix them.
So, we overestimate our capacity thinking that we can change people. In the mode of ignorance, we underestimate our capacity. Thinking that we can do nothing.
In the mode of passion, in the mode of ignorance, when somebody does something wrong to us, we just go into a pity party. Feeling sorry for ourselves. Oh, you know, you did like that to me.
And he's not the first one. So many other people treat me like this. Everybody treats me like trash.
Life is so rotten. People don't care. No one loves me.
No one cares for me. From that one neglect, a person can go mad. The mind in ignorance takes makes one feel sorry for oneself.
And then you become miserable. I have a friend, a devotee friend who is a suicide counsellor. And he told me that sometimes the reasons why some people commit suicide are so ridiculous.
Of course, the act of suicide is not ridiculous. It is terrible. He said there was this woman.
She was calling her partner. She called once, twice, thrice, five times she called. And when he didn't pick up the phone, she felt so unloved that she tried to kill herself.
Now, is somebody not picking up your phone worth killing yourself? Now, why he didn't pick up the phone, we don't know. But here what has happened, oh, he didn't pick up the phone, it means he doesn't love me. He doesn't love me.
Oh, no one will love me. No one will love me. What is the value of my life? Better let me end my life.
In the mode of ignorance, we underestimate our capacity to control. And thus we end up acting destructively. Either self-destructively or destructive towards others.
Broadly speaking, we could say, again, another way of classifying the modes is that in the mode of goodness, there is first contemplation and then action. I think and then I act. So, again, going back to the control point of view, in the mode of goodness, we are able to analyse, what is in my control, what is not in my control.
And then we act in the area that is in our control. But in the mode of passion, first there is action and then there is contemplation. Some people speak to express their thoughts.
And some people speak to discover their thoughts. They speak. I didn't mean to say that.
So, in this case, what happens? The action comes first. So, Krishna says in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, in the 11th verse, that illumination. Illumination means thinking before acting.
That is the characteristic of the mode of goodness. When the mode of goodness is prominent, then there is illumination. Illumination means we can see actions, their consequences and then we act cautiously.
In 14.12, he says that the mode of passion is characterised by So, he says that in the mode of passion, there is there is the urge to do something. What? It doesn't matter. I have to do something.
So, before thinking, we act. But in the mode of ignorance, So, he says this. Prakasha is illumination.
Pravrutti is action. But Krishna says, in the mode of ignorance, there is no Prakasha and no Pravrutti. There is neither proper contemplation nor proper action.
And what is that? Simply Moha. It's illusion. That means we neither think properly nor act properly.
We just live in our head imagining problems and beating ourselves up with negativity. So, that is where in the mode of ignorance, we just, we can't even help ourselves, we can't help others. We just sink deeper and deeper into ditches that we ourselves have dug up.
So, yes, people do have problems. But, if we are going to improve any relationship, it is, first of all, we have to begin with ourselves. How am I perceiving this person? And, to the extent I can change my perception of them from the fragmented vision I have of them through ignorance towards a more elevated vision.
To that extent, I become a part of the solution. Otherwise, I can keep complaining. This person is like this, this person is like that, that person is like that.
And, that doesn't improve anything. Once I was giving a class on a similar topic on relationships. And then I asked In spiritual life, we have to tolerate many things.
So, what are all the things that we have to tolerate? So, one devotee very enthusiastically raised his hand. He says, yes, we have to tolerate devotees. We have to tolerate devotees.
So, I said, yes, that's a good realisation that even if the devotees give us some problems, we have to tolerate it. But, if we advance, we will realise that devotees are tolerating us. It is not just that we are tolerating others, but others are also tolerating us.
We all have our deficiencies. If we think that, I want an ideal community around me. Well, in the material world, there is no ideal community anywhere.
And, even if there were an ideal community somewhere, we wouldn't get admission there. Because, we aren't ideal. So, therefore, we have to function in the world with real people.
And, real people means that they have difficulties. They have their conditionings, they have their weaknesses. So, in the mode of passion, we just hang on to some one deficiency that people have and just make it their defining characteristic in our eyes.
That's in the mode of ignorance. Now, in the mode of passion, what happens? Krishna says in 18.21, So, in the mode of passion, we just look at people's external characteristics. So, if we say there is material reality, there is spiritual reality.
So, the material reality is more easily visible. The spiritual reality is not so easily visible. So, from the external perspective, material reality is seen first.
In the mode of ignorance, we can't even see material reality fully. We see only some aspect of the material reality and hang on to that, obsess over that. In the mode of passion, we see material reality but that's all that we see.
So, oh, this person is so wealthy. Okay, I'll behave nicely with this person. This person? Not very influential, so I don't care for this person.
So, that's the mode of passion. In the mode of goodness, Krishna says, sarva-bhuteshu yenaikam bhavam avyayam ikshate avibhaktam vibhakteshu taj jnanam viddhi sattvikam So, he says that we see all living beings as having the same essential nature as we have. What does it mean? Everyone is spiritual.
sarva-bhuteshu yenaikam ekam bhavam avyayam ikshate, we see the imperishable nature in all living beings. Understand, essentially everyone is like me. What does that mean? We are all souls, we are all parts of Krishna, we are all having our body-mind and its conditionings and in those conditionings, we are all struggling to do what we can.
So, when we see the spiritual essence and then we see there is a conditioning around it, then we see some commonality and then there is a greater possibility for cooperation. In the mode of ignorance also cooperation is possible. But what is the cooperation? As I said, two people who feel sorry for themselves come together and cooperate to have a pity party and they both just have a good time complaining how bad the world is.
But at the end of it, neither of them is doing anything constructive. In the mode of passion, also there is cooperation. But that is as long as two people can both get sense gratification through cooperation, can get their selfish purposes served through that cooperation.
But once their self-interest is challenged, hey, why should I cooperate? The same person who might have said that I'll lay down my life for you, that person may turn and hold a sword at your neck. That's what people just do. Kamsa, we have the example in the Bhagavatam, he was drawing the chariot of Devaki.
Was it that he had such great love for Devaki? And the next moment he heard that Devaki's ashtam garbha, 8th child, will kill. Actually the Bhagavatam, the word that came in the Akash was gender neutral. It did not say 8th son.
It was assumed it would be a son who will kill. That's why when a girl emerged from there, she was initially perplexed. What happened? But the point is, as soon as he heard that, what happened? The same sister, she was his cousin sister, his father was Ugrasen and his father was Devak.
They were brothers. So the same cousin sister was like his own sister, whom he was carrying, by being a charioteer for her, he turned around and caught her by the hair, was ready to kill her. Now, in the Vedic culture, to kill a woman, no matter what happens, a man should not raise his hands against a woman.
Women are meant to be never physically messed up. What to speak of? One's own sister. She's meant to be protected.
And what to speak of? Sister on her wedding day. It was at three levels. It's a something which is bad, bad square and bad cube.
So it was like that. So what happened? Where did his love disappear? Actually, it was not really love. It was, he wanted to portray to the world, he had an image that I want to enjoy life, I want to portray to the world what a good person I am.
So it was a very more passionate way of living. And to portray a good image in front of the world, he wanted to show, okay, just see how much this brother loves his sister. That he has become a charioteer for her.
But when his life was threatened, what sister? Caught her hair and was about to kill her. So in the mode of passion, the cooperation lasts only as long as one's self-interest is served. As soon as the self-interest is stopped, the cooperation stops.
In the mode of goodness, we can see that we all are actually essentially the same. We are all spiritual beings. And we are all struggling against our conditionings.
So if somebody forgets something, if somebody makes things untidy, if somebody just is not responsible, whatever it is, it is their conditioning. Our conditionings don't excuse our behaviour. But they explain our behaviour.
Excuse means this is how I am and this is how I will stay. But explain means, okay, I can understand why you forgot. This is something which is a subtle point.
That actually our conditionings, they make us good at certain things and bad at certain things. The conditionings are not necessarily always bad. The conditionings which are good, they are called as instincts.
The conditionings which are bad, they are called as impulses. So instincts, some people just have a very good, say, language instinct. So you just give them a letter, say, you know, use this word over here, shorten this sentence, reword this like this.
And in five minutes, they've got a perfect letter. Somebody else may agonise for two hours, how should I write this, how should I state it? Just get it quickly. Some people are very good at, say, home design or home organising.
They come into a room and immediately they say, you know, if you move this table here, move this sofa here, put this curtain here, put this picture here, it'll look much better. And somebody else may be staying in that house for a long time and they can't figure it out. So we all have certain instincts which make us instinctively good at certain things.
Just reflexively we just get it. But some people just don't have those instincts. So now, somebody who doesn't have that instinct, they just don't get it, that I'm doing something wrong.
Imagine, say, a kirtan is going on. And some person has really good musical instinct. They're singing nicely, playing instruments nicely.
And there's somebody else who just has no musical instinct. It's bad enough if somebody doesn't have a musical instinct, but it's much, much worse if they don't have a musical instinct and they don't know that they don't have a musical instinct. Then they come in, they pick up a kirtan and they start playing.
And they are playing it wrong, but they close their eyes and they are in bliss. And people around them are in agony. What are you doing? So, what is happening over here? Here, that person just doesn't have that musical instinct.
So because of that, they just get it wrong. And you tell them, hey, you're playing it wrong. Wrong? I'm glorifying Krishna, no? What is wrong? They just don't get it.
So at such times, especially if we are good at something and someone else is bad at that very thing, then that other person's actions can infuriate us. Some people are very cleanliness conscious. And some people, it's as if the part of the brain which looks at cleanliness that is absent in them.
They come into a place and in five minutes, a storm came over there. You come there and ask, what did I do? Things are so unclean. Are they unclean? I didn't notice.
So, such a thing happens when two people are like this. One is very good at something and the other person is so bad that they don't even know they're bad at it. Then, there can be constant conflict.
Some people are very good at management. And if they want to plan an event, they will organise. Do this first, do this first, do this first.
And they'll organise it delicately. Some people are not at all good at management. And the person who's good at management, how can you be so chaotic? So, often it may appear for the person who's good at something that the other person is doing this just to vex me, just to infuriate me.
But it's not like that. There's a difference between being insensitive and being desensitised. Insensitive means not caring for others' feelings.
Desensitised means incapable of having any feelings. Say, for example, if you're looking in the other direction, I want to talk with them. So, I tap on their shoulder.
And they don't turn around. I tap more. And they don't turn around.
I tap more. They don't turn around. How rude! I want to talk with you.
You just get angry and give them a kick. What happens if they get angry with us? But, actually, suppose later we come to know that they have some kind of paralysis on their shoulder. So, they get no sensation over there.
So, they were not being rude. They were not being insensitive. They were desensitised.
So, they just don't have any sensation over there. So, if it's a physical lack of inability to sense, then we understand. We just tap on the other shoulder or move forward and talk with them.
But when that desensitisation is internal, then it is not so easy to perceive. So, at such times, when people repeatedly keep doing the same thing again and again and again, same wrong thing again and again, we tell them and still they don't get it. Then we feel this person is never going to change.
And then that becomes our defining perception of that person. However, at such times, we have to understand that they are not going to understand. This is something which we can't count on them for.
We can't count on them for. So, we may try to help them improve and sometimes they may improve. But, if we are punctual and we always want to be on time and somebody never comes on time, every time that happens, we get angry with them.
Then, we may tell them how important it is to come on time and they may sometimes come, but again they relapse and that just infuriates us. So, at that time, what we need to see is that we often compare. If I can come on time, why can't you come on time? But, rather than comparing their lack of punctuality with our punctuality, we should compare their conditioning with some other conditioning which we have that we are unable to overcome.
So, for example, it may be that I just keep forgetting people's names. I meet someone, I talk with them for half an hour and at the end of it, if a third person comes along and says what is your new friend's name? I don't know. So, we may just be very forgetful about people's names.
So, now we may try to remember, but it doesn't stay in our mind. So, when we look at our conditioning and see how difficult it is for us to overcome our conditioning. And now, for us, keeping things clean may be very easy.
They may be able to remember the name of somebody they met even five years ago. So, when we compare something which is very easy for us, why can't you do it? But, it is not easy for them. So, when we compare their weaknesses not with our strengths, but with our weaknesses.
Then, we will change our whole vision of the relationship. Rather than seeing them as antagonists, who are troubling us, we will see them also as partners. We are all battling against our conditionings while trying to do something worthwhile.
You have this conditioning, I have this conditioning. But, it is the same material nature which has given us those conditionings that is the problem. Of course, material nature is not the problem.
Our own past karma because of which we have got those conditionings is the problem. But, the point is that it won't be we against them. Why do you do like this all the time? I may say, why do you do like this? And, they will say, why do you do like this? But, rather than looking at it that way, I see that, okay you have this conditioning, I have this conditioning.
So, let us compliment and compliment. Compliment is C O M P L I M E N T E and C O M P L E M E N T E. Compliment means I M E N T E means appreciate. Compliment means complete.
This is E M E N T E means. Okay, you are not good at this, but I am good at this. So, rather than nagging you, why you are not good at this, I will take care of this.
And, you are good at that. I will appreciate you for that. And, you take care of that.
In fact, the whole principle of Varanashram was this. Compliment and compliment. Some people are good at intellectual things.
Some people, they just love to do management, delegation, getting things done. Some people just love monetary matters. These are all different natures.
So, everybody has to face problems in life. Because this world is a place of problems. The expertise of Varanashram was that it allotted to people the problems they like to face.
Brahmanas like to face intellectual problems. In many positive thinking books, they say that don't think of difficulties as problems. Think of them as challenges.
Then, you will be more stimulated to deal with them. But, there are certain issues which we will be able to see as challenges and certain issues we will not be able to see as challenges. That depends on our strengths, our nature.
So, if somebody is a Brahmana, and you tell them, there is a verse in the Bhagavatam which says that we have to do whatever it takes to protect our body. Can you find this verse? Oh, yeah. I will get excited.
Where could this be? Which pastime? Where is the pastime where protection of the body is talked about? They will go on thinking, thinking and they will find the verse. They will get joy in finding the verse. Somebody will say Avaishya.
There is a verse in the Bhagavatam which says that we need to protect our body. What is that verse? Can you find it? There are thousands of verses in the Bhagavatam. How am I going to find one verse there? If you have to speak it, just speak the translation.
Why do you need the verse? Who is going to notice? For them, it is no consequence at all. That will seem to them like a burden. Why do you need to do that? Just one verse.
But for a Brahmana, it is a challenge. The same problem can seem like a burden for someone and it can seem like a challenge to someone else. On the other hand, if you tell somebody who is an Avaishya teacher, Oh, we have to build a big temple and we have to raise 3 million dollars.
Oh, yeah, that's good. I have got something to do. They will feel excited.
They will feel stimulated by it. Somebody is a Brahmana, you tell them, Oh, we have to raise 3 million dollars. After building a temple, you are only going to discuss Shastra, isn't it? We can discuss this temple also.
Why do you need a big temple? So, they will see that as a problem. So, we all have certain strengths and certain weaknesses. When we obsess over people's weaknesses, then there is no possibility for cooperation.
But, when we compliment and compliment, that means we look at people's strengths and appreciate them for their strengths. Compliment means, okay, you are good at this, you do this, and you are not so good at that. So, I won't trouble you about that.
I will take care of this. When we act in this way, then cooperation becomes not just possible, but productive. Otherwise, without having this attitude of complimenting and complimenting, cooperation simply becomes an exercise in repressing our feelings.
I don't like you, but what to do? I have to work with you. So, I am just repressing my feelings and I am trying to cooperate. But, I can't do that for very long.
Sooner or later, I will explode. So, it's only when we can see the positive, then we can work together. Prabhupada is probably the greatest example of seeing the positive.
Because Prabhupada was transcendental. And when Prabhupada came to America, at that time, the hippies whom he first connected with and brought them to Krishna's lotus feet, they they just given up all practically civilised life. So, from the perspective of traditional India, it is said the western world is considered to be a very degraded place.
But the hippies were considered degraded even by the degraded. They were considered degraded even by the degraded. In fact, their only regulative principle was to break all regulative principles.
So, among such people, Prabhupada came. And, if he had wanted to see faults in them, he could have seen so many faults. You do this inflected this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.
But Prabhupada saw the spark of spiritual interest in them. He saw that they had interest in Krishna. And Prabhupada focused simply on fanning that spark.
So, it was not that he couldn't see all the faults in them. But he focused on seeing the potential for spirituality in them. And, ultimately, in transcendence, our focus is on our service to Krishna.
We focus on those things that enhance our service to Krishna. And we avoid seeing those things that obstruct our service to Krishna. So, Prabhupada saw that among those hippies, he could do the service of attracting souls to Krishna and lotus feet.
And that directed his vision. And that's how he was able to transform their hearts. If he had focused on their faults, he would not have been able to live with them.
And sometimes, our mind is obsessed with people's faults, and we try to behave nicely with them. But that can't be continued for long. Because sooner or later, our anger, our judgmentality, our irritation will come out.
But, Prabhupada, now he was a Mahabhagvat, he was a pure devotee, he knew standards of purity far more than all of us. Not just in terms of theoretical knowledge, he was living it. It was not that Prabhupada was, these people are so degraded, somehow I'm tolerating it.
It was not like that. He actually, people who met him, they felt he was radiating so much love and affection. He was genuinely concerned about them.
Why? Because his vision was the vision of service. Yes, they have these faults, but I am relating with them for the purpose of serving Krishna. And for that service, whatever is required, I will do that.
So I'll conclude with one last reflection. I was in Melbourne a few years ago, and we had a question and answer session. So one devotee asked a question that, I have to do a service with another devotee, but that devotee has told me that he doesn't like me.
So, what can I do? And, if that devotee is present here, what would you like to tell him? So, I answered that, actually, there are two kinds of people. Some people bring happiness wherever they go. And some people bring happiness whenever they go.
Some people, when they come, they feel so eager, I want to meet them. And some people, when they come, everybody becomes tense. And when they go, we breathe a sigh of relief.
But, actually speaking, it is, we could say some people are like this and some people are like that. But it's not that simple. The same person whom I say, when they go away, I breathe a sigh of relief.
Somebody else may say, oh, when they come, I'm so happy. So, it's actually not just, there may be a problem with that person, but it's also a problem with us, with our perception. So, we can't change other people.
We can only change our perception, and the way we change our perception is by changing our focus. If our focus is, I am to serve Krishna, and how best can I serve Krishna in this situation? So, suppose, we go to a cloth shop. Say, we go, suppose, somebody goes to a cloth shop.
Now, in that cloth shop, there are attendants who show people, this dress, this dress, this dress. Now, some customers are very difficult customers. They will look at 500 clothes, and they will not take anything.
And then the attendant has to put up all the clothes in their proper place. Normally, when a customer comes, all the attendants want to go and attend to the customer, so that they will get some commission. But when some customers come, who are known to be difficult, then no attendant wants to attend to them.
Now, if some customer is very difficult, very demanding, and now naturally, the attendant who is attending to them will feel irritated. Why is this person doing this? But, if the attendant knows that my salary is actually coming from my boss, and there is a camera over here, and my boss is watching. So, if that attendant still behaves very gently, very gracefully, very politely, then the customer may still remain irritable.
But, they may not even make the sale. But afterwards, the boss may come. The boss may say, Oh, you are a cool guy.
You know how to handle tough people. And although they don't make the sale, the boss may promote them. You take care of the whole floor.
You know how to deal with tough people. You tell all the other employees how to take care of the tough people. So, what has happened? There are two definitions of success in that interaction.
One is making the sale, getting the thing done, whatever is to be done. The second is pleasing the boss. Similarly, for us, as devotees, when we are interacting with each other, there are two definitions of success.
One is, when we are interacting, we have to get the service done. We have to make sure that the person does that thing properly. But, if that is the only basis of our interaction with others, then we are in material consciousness.
How are we different from materialistic people? For us, the bigger definition of success in the interaction is that, is my interaction pleasing to Krishna? Am I conducting myself in a way that Krishna is pleased? Krishna is present in my heart. Krishna is present in this person's heart. So, if I act thinking that my success is not just making this person understand or making this person do what I want them to do.
My purpose is to please Krishna. Then, even if that other person is behaving in a difficult way, our actions will not be determined solely by their actions. Naturally, it's a reciprocation.
So, our actions will be in response to their actions. But, our actions won't be determined by them alone. Our actions will be determined by our purpose of serving Krishna.
Okay. How best can I serve Krishna? How best can I please Krishna? And sometimes, we may decide that. Now, we may spend a lot of time making that person understand.
And we do that with a service attitude, not a condescending attitude. Sometimes, we may decide, for my service to Krishna, if I try to make this person understand, it's going to take so much time that it's just not going to work. So, I'll just leave this person and do this thing myself.
So, we may choose different courses of action. But, we won't be vindictive in our actions. You did this to me, so I'll do this to you.
We will focus on how best can I serve Krishna in this situation. And that way, we will actually be able to grow even through difficult interactions. So, our spiritual growth doesn't depend only on how many services we get done.
Our spiritual growth also depends on how well we can get along with people. And that means, we behave with them in a way that is pleasing to Krishna. That doesn't come off as judgemental or condescending to them.
This way, we can see every interaction as an opportunity to grow in our devotion. When we have this higher definition of success, then failure in a particular interaction won't trouble us so much. This leads to the conclusion of this point.
All of us have some defining sense of identity. And, bhakti means that our defining identity has to be that I am the servant of Krishna. If my defining identity is that I am the mother of this child, and this child starts misbehaving, if this child starts going on the wrong track, then I start feeling my whole life is a waste.
My life is a failure because the child is going on the wrong track. How dare the child do like this? And then we may explode in the child. Or, we may just go into self-pity.
If I define myself primarily as the husband of someone or the wife of someone, and there is a problem in that relationship, what am I going to do? If I define myself, even in my spirit, I am the counsellor. I am this, I am that. And then if I see somebody who is not doing what I want them to do, how dare you do like this? So, if we define ourselves in terms of any identity other than that I am the servant of Krishna, then when interactions threaten that identity for us, our reactions will be unbearable.
Our reactions will be over-reactions. So, for us, we have to define ourselves as the servants of Krishna. As a servant of Krishna, I am a mother.
As a servant of Krishna, I am a husband. As a servant of Krishna, I am a wife. As a servant of Krishna, I am a preacher.
As a servant of Krishna, I am a temporal leader. And these services are important for me. And I want to do them as well as I can.
But suppose a service doesn't work out, that doesn't mean that is the end of my life. Kunti Maharani says that, Ganga always flows towards the ocean, let my consciousness always flow towards you. So, like that, for us, the river of our consciousness flows towards Krishna through our various services.
They are like channels for our consciousness to move towards Krishna. Sometimes, one channel gets blocked. If we have defined ourselves only in terms of that channel, if I define myself as a preacher, and tomorrow I get some disease because of which I lose my voice, then I think, what am I going to do? It will be the end of my life.
But if I see this is a channel through which my consciousness is going towards Krishna, if this channel is blocked, I need to find some other channel and move on. So, if we see our services as channels for taking our consciousness towards Krishna, then even when there are problems in services, we won't overreact. We will see that, okay, this channel is blocked, let me find some other channel and let me move on towards Krishna.
So, ultimately, cooperation is possible not just by changing our perception of others, but changing our perception of ourselves. As long as I perceive of myself as anything other than a servant of Krishna, cooperation will sooner or later become difficult if not impossible. But if I see myself as a servant of Krishna, if I see myself as a servant of Krishna, then, no matter what obstacle comes, whether I want to change the other person, whether I want to change myself, whether I want to change the situation, specifics may vary, but we will ensure that our consciousness keeps moving towards Krishna.
And in that way, what Kunti Maharani says, praise will come to… Oh Lord, just as the Ganga flows towards the ocean, let my consciousness always flow towards You. If some devotee helps my consciousness to flow towards Krishna, great. If some devotee obstructs, then let that not stop the flow of my consciousness towards Krishna.
I'll just move aside, let that devotee be what they are and make sure that my consciousness flows towards Krishna through some other channel. That way, we can actually internalise the mood of service and become effective in our particular positions and contributions in Krishna's service. I'll summarise.
I spoke about cooperating in Krishna's service. I started by speaking about how the modes shape our perception of things. And if we are perceiving wrongly, we cannot act rightly for wrong.
The mode of ignorance means that we take one feature of a person and make that the whole person. So, racism or casteism is an example of knowledge in the mode of ignorance. And I gave the example of this child who grew up with foster parents in foster care because both his parents on divorcing saw the child not as their child but as the product of my, the worst mistake of my life.
Daksha couldn't see Sati as his own daughter. All that he saw was the wife of the person who has dishonoured me. Similarly, somebody may have some defects, somebody may have done some wrong in the past, we just hold that and we define that person in those terms.
When that happens, then we can't function properly. So, we need to have a holistic picture. So, in the mode of ignorance, we, in the mode of goodness, there is first contemplation, then action.
In the mode of passion, there is first action, then contemplation. In the mode of ignorance, there is neither contemplation nor action, there is simply delusion. So, we just get into a pity party.
In the mode of ignorance, in the mode of passion, we just cooperate as long as it serves our self-interest. So, Kamsa was ready to be a charioteer, a menial servant of Devaki as long as it made the world feel, oh, what a loving person he is. But when his life was threatened, he was ready to kill that same sister.
It was like bad karma or sin cube. Killing a woman, killing one's own sister and killing a sister on a marriage day. In the mode of goodness, we see people holistically, that they are souls like us and they have conditionings.
And instead of harping on people's weaknesses, we focus on understanding that just as I am struggling against my conditionings, they are struggling against theirs. So, just because they keep doing things which make us mad, that does not mean that they are insensitive. They may be desensitised.
So, rather than criticising and condemning, we learn to compliment and compliment. Compliment means see what they are good at and appreciate them for that. Compliment means that, okay, you can't do this, I'll do this for you.
And we, in that way, make each other complete. So, Varanashram was basically people complimenting each other. So, Varanashram gives people the kind of problems that they like to face.
Based on what we are good at, a problem can seem as a challenge which we feel stimulated by or a problem can seem like a burden which we just want to get out of. So, when we learn to compliment and compliment, then rather than nagging people, we focus on each other's strength and come together, we make up for each other's weaknesses and come together, engaging each other according to their strengths. And ultimately, in the mode of transcendence, we see that we are all servants of Krishna and we focus on seeing others in a way that is favourable for our service to Krishna.
Prabhupada saw good even in those who were so degraded as to be considered degraded even by the degraded. So, similarly, if there are difficult people in our lives, if we see that the success of my interaction is not just the way I interact with them, whether they do what I am telling them to do, but success is whether I please Krishna. Like the attendant wants to make the sale, but the attendant also wants to please the boss.
So, similar, if we have that higher vision of success, then even if there is some difficulty at the lower level in terms of how the other person acts, we will be able to tolerate it. And to be able to live with other people's unpredictable and unpalatable behaviours, we need to not change not just our conception of them, but also our conception of ourselves. As long as we define ourselves in terms of any particular relationship or role, then any danger in that relationship or role will cause overreaction in us.
So, we shouldn't define ourselves as husbands, wives, mothers, temple leaders, preachers. We define ourselves primarily as servants of Krishna. And all these services, all these roles are channels for our consciousness to move towards Krishna.
So, if one particular channel gets blocked, then we accept that, find another channel and move on towards Krishna. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Applause Are there any questions or comments? So, you said a couple of points I wanted to make. See how that serves Krishna and then if that channel doesn't work, then you don't. Yeah.
Okay. So, in that same point, I think the channel, I mean, I'll continue my question, but first, the channel tends to create groupism. That's number one.
Two is, we are in an atmosphere where we are not like a one Guru temple. Everyone wants to serve Krishna, but there is a multitude of Guru disciples and different opinions. Everyone has a different room and time, place and circumstance to preach.
One thinks a certain programme should be catered to a local audience. Another thinks, no, it should be catered to this kind of audience. So, this also creates dissent and tension.
Here you cannot create separate channels. I mean, I'm not saying this… Okay. I understand.
I travel around the U.S. and Europe and all this and I've seen this very frequently. So, on the same point… So, this also tends to create groupism of some sort. I mean, for me, I know Varnasana is the best solution, but because everyone has different Brahmin tendencies, Vaishya tendencies, Shudra tendencies under one Guru, these different channels tend to create groupism and to the extent that it affects one's personality also.
So, when I talked about there being different channels, but these channels can lead to groupism because different people may have different visions of how to preach, what to focus on or they may all have different Gurus based on which also there can be groupism. See, there's a difference… Okay. Okay.
Thank you. So, when we… When there is groupism, the word groupism itself, any word which you add ism to it, it becomes negative. So, groups are just unavoidable.
And that is natural. Like-minded people come together. So, caste system was considered to be very discriminatory.
But actually, if we see in traditional India, there are many thinkers, many social observers who studied traditional India and they said that actually the caste was like a bigger family. So, if people belong to a particular caste, they have similar professional interests, they have similar work styles and it was like a bigger family. So, at one level, you may say the caste separates you from other castes.
But the caste also brings you together with other like-minded people. So, there is belonging and there is separation. So, we all are… We all need association between bhakti and like-minded association.
So, now, with respect to the problem comes not when we seek like-minded people and form groups. That's perfectly fine. But the problem comes when we start considering others as unworthy or as wrong.
If I am inspired to study Shastra and naturally, I will bond with others who can study Shastra nicely. And somebody whose main goal is say… So, somebody wants to study Shastra, they want to study Shastra and understand. We have Bhakti Shastra course and help people to grow.
Somebody else's purpose is, no, we have to build a big temple. See, what are you doing studying Shastra? Come on, raise some money. So, these two people, both of them are serving Krishna, but their interests are different.
That particular interest, that particular way of serving Krishna is different. So now, if we see that in Bhakti, there are principles and there are preferences. The principle is we all are meant to chant Hare Krishna.
We all are meant to worship the Deities. We all are meant to move towards Krishna gradually. So, if you understand this, then, these are core principles, but okay, specifically what I want to focus on.
That may be based on your inspiration. So, preferences, if we make preferences as principles, this is what I am doing and this is what everyone should be doing, then we become fanatic. That leads to sectarianism.
If I understand that Prabhupada is very big, Krishna is very big, and Krishna can accommodate different people with different inspirations. So, those who want to study Shastra, they can study Shastra and glorify Krishna. Those who want to build a temple, they can build a temple and glorify Krishna.
Now, things are not that simple because as I said, we have limited resources and we have to decide where the resources are going to be focused. So then, generally, anywhere in the world, especially in a spiritual movement, you could say, we will not get two things together. We will not get freedom and facility together.
If I have a particular vision of how I want to serve Krishna and I want the freedom, okay, I want to do western preaching. That's good. If that's what you want to do, that's good.
But, if the temple and the temple leaders have some other priority, some other vision, if I want to pursue my vision, that's fine. But I can't demand freedom and facility. If I want the facility, then those who are responsible, those who are leading, those who are managing, those who are actually taking care of those facilities, those who are ensuring that the facilities are provided, they will act according to their vision.
So, the problem comes when there is an unclarified expectation. So, if somebody feels inspired to do a particular thing, fine, you can do that. And then, if that is within the priority of the temple's priority at that time, then you will get the facility.
But if not, if you want to do it, we can do it. But we shouldn't demand facility. What happens is that we want freedom and we want facility.
Then, then we will just become like different people, just pulling in different directions. And we are just criticising each other. But, Sri Prabhupada also did not do everything at the same time.
Eventually, when he got many dedicated disciples, he started doing many, many things. He focused on one thing at a time. So, I would say that, if we understand this principle that there can be different ways to serve Krishna, and we have the facility within our movement for different people to serve Krishna in different ways.
But, there will be leaders, and leaders will have a particular vision. And it's not that we have to suppress our vision and always simply do what the leaders are going to do, tell us to do. Sometimes we will feel inspired to do something, and we can do it.
But, we don't do it in a way that criticises others. So, we can have many definitions of success and and in some situations, we may have to recognise that on time, place, circumstance, this is what is most important. So, let me do this right now, and okay, I feel inspired to do that, but I will do that later.
I was just, 4-5 days ago, I was in Carpentaria, I met His Holiness Giriraj Bhairaj. He was telling, now he is focussing on, he is writing a book, which Prabhupada told him to write almost 30-40 years ago. So, he is telling about his writing experiences.
So, he said that, Prabhupada encouraged him to write. And then, he was at the Juhu temple. Juhu temple was not there, but the Mumbai project was going on, and Shamsudargu and others were there.
They said that, you know, now Prabhupada wants us to do this big festival, and we need to go and connect with people, raise funds, do the organisation for that. And then, he said, no, no, but Prabhupada has told me to write. So, no, writing you can do anytime.
The opportunity for doing a festival like this, this is just now. Please do this. Then, Prabhupada asked him, have you written anything? He said, no.
Prabhupada was a little disappointed. He said, why? Can you explain? He said, that's good. That's good, you cooperated.
So, Prabhupada appreciated that. So, the point which I am making is, that sometimes, for the cohesion of a project, even if we are inspired to do something, we feel that is important, but we may decide that, okay, I want to do this, but we will do it later. Let's focus on doing this right now, and once this is stabilised, then we can think about other things.
So, if we, groups are not the problem. But, when it becomes groupism is, when I think that what I am doing is right, and what others are doing are wrong. Or, I am working so hard, but why don't others appreciate what I am doing? Why don't I appreciate what they are doing? So, groupism, and actually, there is some concern about guru groupism, but primarily it is not guru groupism.
It is basically tamasic groupism. Because we are in the mood of ignorance, and the guru just becomes an excuse for a rallying call. Okay, we are all, we are all this guru.
We are all this guru-disciple, we will come together, and they were doing this, we will do that. Now, if we have a proper understanding, we are all serving Krishna, and we may all have our ways, inspiration in which we can serve Krishna. That's perfectly fine.
But, we don't have to become judgemental about others. Does it answer your question? Okay. So, this conditioning we are talking about, is it right, how our childhood was there, or it is conditioning from previous birth? Okay, does our conditioning come from childhood or from previous births? Broadly speaking, our behaviour is determined by five factors.
One is our past life karma, which comes as our innate vrittis, or innate impressions that are there within us. Like some children, even when they are in their, even when they, some children when they cry also, they cry so loudly that they bring the whole house down. Even when they are babies, they are planning, they are in their cribs, they are planning, you know, I am going to take over the house.
Literally like that. So, we have some impressions which come from our past lives. Some, so, past life impressions, that's one factor.
Second is our upbringing. It's quite important. Third is our association.
So, somebody may, it was a very pious family, but if they come to college, and they meet with a bad crowd, then they all get into bad habits. So, the third is our association. Fourth is our free will.
All these factors, they push us to act in certain ways. They don't force us. Sometimes some people may grow in very bad, they have very bad upbringing, bad association, but still they grow up to become good people.
How is that? Because that we all have free will. And so, these three pushes in a particular direction, our free will can push back. The fifth factor is Krishna's mercy.
Now, Krishna's mercy can act in both ways. It can decrease the force of these three factors. And Krishna's mercy can also increase the force of our free will.
So, our actions are shaped by broadly these five factors. Thank you. Any of the Mataji's have any questions? Yes, ma'am.
He was talking about more of passion, ignorance and time. How long does it take for us to change this vision from more of ignorance to more of goodness? How long does it take for one person to change this viewpoint? Yeah. How long does it take for us to actually come from? Oh, God.
Sorry for troubling you. Thank you very much. So, how long does it take for someone to come from the mode of ignorance to the mode of goodness? Rather than thinking of these modes as static features of our consciousness, we can see them as dynamic forces.
That means we all go through different modes at different times. There is happiness and there is happiness level. We all are happy sometimes a lot and sometimes we are very unhappy.
But, and this will keep happening throughout our life. Of course, the crests and troughs, their magnitude will not be so much, so much oscillation will not be there. But even if you are a very advanced devotee, still sometimes you will be happy, sometimes you will not be happy.
But what will change by the steady practise of bhakti is our happiness level. That means, when I am neither in the extreme of joy or the extreme of pain, what is the normal level of my consciousness? Normally, I was always very irritable. But now, after practising bhakti, I am calm.
So that basic happiness level is what improves by the practise of bhakti. So similarly, even when we are very serious devotees, even advanced devotees, sometimes the mode of ignorance may hit us. Sometimes the mode of passion may hit us.
But, we will be able to understand when it is hitting us. And the important decisions that we have to take, we won't try to take them at that time. So sometimes I get angry with someone and I just blast at that person.
And then it just makes things worse. Some other time, if I am a little more spiritually, I practise bhakti seriously, it's not that I may not get angry. Anger may come.
But, I am angry. Right now, talking anything will simply make things worse. So, okay.
Let me calm down. Let me talk about this later. So, we will know, the modes will still come, but we will know how to manage the modes.
What to do when and what not to do when. That way, even if we are not always in the mode of goodness, we can make sure that our major consequential actions and interactions are done when we are in the mode of goodness. Sometimes, we have some major difference of opinion with someone and we have to clarify it.
We are very angry with that person. We just start having a litany of complaints. Like this, this, this, this, this.
If you are talking with them, say your husband and wife are having a quarrel. And the husband says, you do like this, you do like this, you do like this. And before the wife can defend, the wife starts speaking, now I have to go to office.
She goes off. Then, the wife will be burning throughout. How dare you say all this and go away.
So, if you have to talk those things, talk at a time when both of them have proper time. Both of them can sit and talk. So, basically, even if we don't come to the mode of goodness constantly, but if we can come adequately enough to the mode of goodness, then we can recognise what action should be done when.
So, we may still get angry, but we won't act in that anger. We will wait for that anger to abate and then we will act gradually. So, we can't, spiritualising ourselves doesn't mean dehumanising ourselves.
It doesn't mean that human emotions will not come. If people let us down, we will feel hurt. We will feel hurt, but we won't just act out of that hurt.
We will process that hurt and then we will deal with it. See, broadly speaking, we think of our emotions only in two terms. Expressing them or repressing them.
We express them, then it hurts other people. Our expression may be unhealthy. Repressing hurts us.
So, expressing is in the mode of passion. Repressing is in the mode of goodness. Sorry, ignorance.
In the mode of goodness, we see a third option. Not expressing, not repressing, but processing. I process my emotions beforehand.
I think about it and then I act on it. I am an author, so I correspond with a lot of people on emails. I sometimes just get angry with people.
When I am angry, I just write a furious mail. But, I have made a policy that I will not press the send button for 24 hours. If I don't write the email, at that time, I just feel so angry with it.
I feel repressed. But, if I write it and send it, there will be explosion at the other end. Most of the time, if I just wait for those 24 hours, then many times, that person himself writes, you know, okay, I am sorry, I forgot this, I did this.
Or sometimes, they write something clarifying, I don't know. What is like this? I thought it was like that. Or sometimes, after 24 hours, even if I have to write that email, I just calm down.
I process it, okay. This is too harsh. I don't know enough information.
This is a good point, but I have to phrase it more softly. So, I have found that many confrontations can be addressed better if we can process our emotions. Thank you.
… … … … … … … … So, now, the paraphrased manifest presence is not there, and we all have different modes. So, how will we actually learn to cooperate, to complement and complement when there are so many forces which are pulling us apart? Who will take the responsibility for this? Actually at one level we can see that this is Krishna's machine and Krishna will send the right souls in every generation to carry on this mission. So, there are different, Prabhupada used different approaches at different times.
So, one time one devotee wrote to Prabhupada and said, Prabhupada, I am the most fallen. And Prabhupada said, wrote back, you are the most nothing, do something practical in Krishna's service. Another devotee wrote back, Prabhupada, I am the most fallen.
And Prabhupada said, I need many fallen souls like you to spread this Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. What that means is that Prabhupada was able to appreciate the consciousness of the person. So, if I am saying I am most fallen in a very self-indulgent, self-centred kind of way, then you know, okay, stop thinking about how fallen you are, just do some service.
If I am saying in a humble sense, then Prabhupada said, I need people with this kind of consciousness. So, at one level we see that this is Krishna's movement and Krishna will take care of it. He will send the right souls in each generation.
Of course, we also want to serve Krishna, we want to take up the responsibility. So, what we do is that there has to be adequate acknowledgement of individuality. At the same time, there has to be an adequate emphasis on commonality.
We all have a common purpose. And we will have to, we have to work together as a team. Srila Prabhupada said, your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate with each other.
So, he wants us to work together. But at the same time, Srila Prabhupada himself showed by an example how we encourage different devotees. Now, Prabhupada, at one time, he would go to, say, some temple where good distribution would be happening.
And he would say, yes, no service as important as good distribution. Then he would go, say, to Nirmala and the farm community and say, there is nothing as important as farm community. And then he would go to the gurukul that we had in Dallas and say, nothing as important as educating these children.
They are the Vaikuntha children. And Prabhupada would come to India and say, nothing as important as building a temple. I am paraphrasing over here.
But the point is that Prabhupada was broad enough to engage, to have different definitions of success in the service of Krishna. So, they are all serving Krishna. Then Prabhupada especially emphasised good distribution.
But then at one place when the book distributors came together and they asked Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada, what pleases you the most? They were very confident that Prabhupada would say that, oh, distributing books pleases us the most. But then Prabhupada said, if you love Krishna, that will please me the most. So, that means that there is that common purpose that we are all going to serve Srila Prabhupada, serve Krishna.
At the same time, we are all individuals. So, when there is too much focus on commonality and there is no room for individuality, then individuals feel repressed. I have no scope to do what I feel inspired to do.
But other hand, when there is excessive emphasis on individuality and no focus on commonality, then there is not just diversity, there is diversion. Just go in different directions and nothing effective happens. So, we have to have, we have to learn that balance.
And generally, if we practise bhakti properly, if we connect with Krishna in our hearts through our practise of sadhana bhakti, then we learn that balance. Sometimes we may go, the emphasis may be more on commonality. Sometimes the emphasis may be more on individuality.
That is fine. But overall, we find the balance. Balance is never a static thing.
Balance is also dynamic. That means, suppose say if I am going from here to there by cycle. Now, if I come till here, normally the balance state for cycle is the vertical state.
But then if there is a building over there, a wall over here, then I have to go in that direction, I have to turn right. And for turning right, the cycle's balance state is a tilted state. So, to stay balanced, I have to tilt myself.
And then I move onwards, again I straighten myself, I move on vertical state. Then I have to turn left, then I have to tilt. Then I tilt towards the left.
Then I move straight again. Again come in the vertical. So like that, the balance state for a cycle is not a static balance.
It's a dynamic balance. Sometimes vertical, sometimes tilted left, sometimes tilted right. Similarly for us, if we look for one rigid formula, this is how we can balance, this is how we can have harmony.
It's not going to work. What is the formula is that we have to connect with Krishna in our hearts. तेशां सतत्युक्ताना भजितां प्रिति गुर्वकम् ददामि बुद्धियोगं तम्हेनमामुपयान्तिते So, if we individually try to connect with Krishna, then Krishna will give us the intelligence about how we can make a contribution.
Individually as well as collectively. So, thinking about Krishna's movement, and thinking of how it will go on in the future, this can be positive, it can be negative. It can be negative if thinking, oh, there are so many differences of opinion, there are so many conflicts, how is this movement going to go on? And then the mind says, okay, the movement is not going to go on, why should you go on? You give up bhakti.
So, the effect is what? It is प्रतिकुल्यस् परचेनम् So, thinking about Krishna's big movement is making us discouraged, then better not think about it. I am a small person, let me do my service to Krishna the best that I can. Or sometimes, thinking about that big movement, oh, there are so many different people, so many different kinds of people, and yet, there is a person so different from this person, but still they are worshipping the same Lord.
How attractive Krishna is! And sometimes we see some devotees with such radical different opinions, radical different personalities, but still they are serving Krishna. So, if Krishna can attract people of this level of diversity, surely Krishna can keep this movement going forever. Then, that way, we have to make sure that our thought process ends in a way that enthuses His individual service.
So, Krishna will find a way to carry on His movement. What we should focus on is, what will be our movement within that movement. Is our movement upwards in our journey towards Krishna, or is it downwards? So, if we try to sincerely connect with Krishna, He will give us the intelligence to find the right balance between commonality and individuality.
Okay? We'll stop here. One last question. So, thank you very much.
I was given the topic. I'm grateful for those who gave me the topic also. Thank you very much.
Prabhupada Ki Jai. Bhaura Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jai. Jai Gaura Purnima.