Are our mistakes part of Krishna’s plan? – 2

[Talk at Raleigh, USA] Video:

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Hare Krishna. So thank all of you for coming today morning and I'll speak on the topic of Are our mistakes part of Krishna's plan? So we'll take some past tense in the Srimad Bhagavatam where either some devotees do some mistakes or something turns out to be a mistake and then how Krishna works things out. So I'll talk about this in two terms.

First is we understand what do we mean by Krishna's plan and then we understand what mistakes mean and then we'll try to see how these two come together. A plan is different from a purpose. Plan and purpose are related but they are not the same.

Say if we consider, okay I planned this event properly. That means if you want to organize a program then okay I want to do this, do this, do this, do this. That's my plan.

Now the purpose is the program should all go off well and if to serve that purpose if you're done planning properly then there is plan A and there is plan B. There might be plan C also. If this goes wrong we have this backup. If this goes wrong we have this backup.

So Krishna's purpose is specific. He wants us to grow spiritually. We are all souls on a multi-life journey of spiritual evolution and Krishna's purpose is our spiritual growth and that requires us to make right choices.

So in that sense if we are making wrong choices that is not Krishna's purpose. But is it Krishna's plan? Sometimes if we equate the two plan and purpose then it becomes confusing. But the plan is actually bigger than the purpose.

That means even if this purpose is not served in a particular way something else can be done. Just like in an educational system. The purpose of the educational system is to help the students get promoted from one level to the next level till they get the degree and they graduate.

But if some students fail then the failing of the students is not the purpose of this school. But there is a plan for dealing with them also. You can do this subject again or you can do this course again or you may have to do the whole year again, whatever it is.

There is when the students make a mistake that does have its consequences. But that consequence is not outside the educational plan of the school. The school has the capacity to accommodate.

So in that sense the plan of the school is capable of acting whether the student succeeds or the student fails. Whether in a multiple choice exam sometimes we have this interactive multiple choice exams where if you give a right answer the next question is tougher. And if you give a wrong answer the next question is easier.

So they are meant to determine what level of proficiency a particular person is at. So that means both contingencies are prepared for in that interactive exam. Whether you give a right answer or a wrong answer.

So the exam plan includes both. Now of course the exam's purpose is that the students give right answers or at least give as many right answers as required by which they can clear the exam. So similarly Krishna's plan is that we grow spiritually.

And then for that purpose his plan is that we make choices that enhance our spiritual growth that promote our spiritual growth. But if we somehow make inadvisable choices we make wrong choices. Krishna's plan includes that.

So Krishna's this differentiation if you understand if you understand that the universe is like a university. In this understanding the universe is like a university then there is an educational system in which Krishna has a plan and Krishna has a purpose. So our mistakes are not Krishna's purpose.

Krishna doesn't want us to commit mistakes. But Krishna can include our mistakes in his plan also. So in that sense his plan is not like a rigid fixed outline.

It has flexibility which can incorporate us doing some mistakes also. Now going further, this is one perspective of Krishna's plan and it's a dynamic or interactive plan which reciprocates with the way we act so that the ultimate purpose is served. Now moving forward how do we define a mistake? So a mistake in the Mahabharata it is said that how do we analyse whether some action is right or it is wrong.

There are three broad ways of analysing it. One ultimately you could say Shastra is the manual for life. If we are travelling along a road and the Google map says go left but then we go right.

That's an obvious mistake. So we can say scripture is like a map for life. If we take guidance from scripture it will help us to make right decisions.

However scripture doesn't give us specific directions always. Life is so complex and the kind of situations that we face in today's world are so different from the cultural setting in which scripture was spoken that we may not get specific directions for our specific situations. Some are black and white.

This is what we should do, this is what we should not do. But scripture gives us broad principles that we need to apply in our life. So now after we have internalised the broad message of scripture then when we have to decide what is right and what is wrong how do we decide that? There are three broad parameters for it.

Intent, content and consequence. Something is right or wrong based on why am I doing it. If I am doing something to hurt others then it is bad.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that speak in a way that is not agitating to others. If somebody is very hurt by some event then at that time whether to talk about that event or not talk about that event that event has happened, it's true. Somebody's loved one has betrayed them.

Something terrible has happened in their life. Sometimes they may need to talk so that it helps in the healing. Sometimes the talking may be like scratching the wound.

So sometimes something bad has happened in their life and some people speak about that publicly just to embarrass the other person. So it may be true but the intent is bad. So which action is right or wrong can be determined by intent.

Then the second major is content. Scripture tells us that certain things are moral, certain things are immoral. So speaking lies is for example immoral.

Cheating is immoral. So there is a content. What exactly is the action? Some actions are right and some actions are wrong in terms of content.

So there are moral categories. Say for example we talk about the four regulatory principles. Now these are actions which a tradition considers to be wrong.

Now moving forward, so this is a category. This is right, this is wrong. And then the third is consequence.

Consequence means sometimes we may think this is the right action but it may turn out to be the wrong action. Say going back to the traffic metaphor that we have two paths to take. You know this is going to take 35 minutes, this is going to take 32 minutes.

So I take the 32 minute part. But it turns out that the traffic over there increases. Maybe there is a road accident or whatever.

Then I realize if I had gone by that path it would have been better. So then at that time based on the information I had it was the right decision. But in terms of consequence it turned out to be wrong.

If I had taken that decision it would have been better. If I had taken that path I would have reached earlier. So sometimes actions, their rightness or wrongness can be evaluated in terms of consequence.

Now if we consider among all these three things what is in our power primarily is the intent. We can try to have a good intention in doing things. Now of course good intention alone although important it is not enough.

We talk about intent in two distinct ways. One is Krishna is Bhavagrahi Janardana. That he just looks at the emotion of the heart.

He looks at the devotion. So if we do something with the devotional disposition then it pleases Krishna. And so if we consider Shabari's offering the berries which she had bitten to Ram, that's from the content point of view it is wrong.

How can you offer Jhuta food to Krishna? But from the intent point of view it is glorious. So sometimes something may become right because of the intent even if the content is not right. At the same time, one point is Krishna just looks at the intent.

From the content point of view the squirrel that was carrying some dust particles for the bridge, she was not doing much. The consequence was how much was it helping? Not really much. The content okay it was the right action but still Lord Ram appreciated because he was having the right intention to serve.

So one side we say that intent is important and intent is what pleases Krishna. But there is also the other side where we say that if some people do social service and then we often say good intentions alone are not good enough. Prabhupada gives the example that there was a girl, elder sister and her younger brother.

This younger brother had got typhoid and he was told don't take any fried items and he was begging give me fried items, give me fried items. So the sister wanted to make the brother happy and she gave him some pakodas and his health situation worsened and he had to be rushed to the hospital. His mother was chastising that girl.

Why did he give? Prabhupada said this happened in his neighborhood. So here what is happening? The intent may be good but the content was not good. If my brother is in distress, I want to help.

Similarly, if somebody's patient is in great pain and a surgeon does surgery but the surgeon is not there if a compounder says I will do surgery. I want to relieve this patient of pain. So intent, we could say for pleasing Krishna, intent is good enough.

But for getting a result in this world, intent alone is not enough. We also need content. The squirrel, her intent in pleasing Lord Ram is great.

But from the practical point of view, would this squirrel have been able to build a bridge for Lord Ram? No. Now of course we can say Lord Ram can empower the squirrel and even through the squirrel he can build. That is his miraculous intervention.

But in this world, if we want to do things for Krishna's service, if our goal is only to please Krishna, then intent alone is enough. But if our goal is also to do something tangible for Krishna in this world, then content is also important. Some devotees may be very great devotees but they may not be great speakers.

They may not be great singers. If we want to give a class which attracts people in this world, if we want to do a kirtan which attracts people in this world, then we have to see what speaking ability is there, what singing ability is there. They may sing out of tune and they may please Krishna because their intent is great.

But in this world, if we want to have a result, then we also have to look at the content properly. So intent and content both are important. Sometimes if we just do something with the right intention, that alone does not necessarily mean things will always work out right.

It is our responsibility to have the right intention. It is also our responsibility to try to make sure that the content of our action is also right. That the action that we are doing is also right.

And life does not come with a guarantee of good decisions. Even if I have the right intent, even if I have studied scripture properly to understand this is right, this is wrong. Sometimes what may seem to be right in one situation may by future developments turn out to be wrong.

So that means by consequence if something does not work out to be right, then okay, let's not do it. Vishal Prabhupada, when he was in India, he brought his western disciples to India. In the west, the primary model for preaching was do kirtans and by doing kirtans in the street, by distributing books in the street, attract people, people come to the temples and they move into the temple and they become devotees.

So when he came to India, the devotees started doing the same thing. When they were in Bengal and they were doing kirtans on the streets, at that time some people started throwing money at them. In Bengal, there is kirtan mandali which just goes around and even now and traditionally also, Vaishnavism was seen as a beggar's excuse for earning a livelihood.

It was seen like that. Now people who don't have any way to earn a living, they go out and dance and do some performance and people give them some money. So when the devotees told that money was thrown at us, Prabhupada says, stop going for kirtans.

He says, we don't want to be lumped with these people. Now in intent, glorifying the Lord is wonderful. In content, Harinam Sankirtan is Yugadharma.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself did that. But if the consequence was turning out to be wrong, then Prabhupada said, stop it. It's not that that stop doesn't mean permanently stop it.

But that circumstantially we may have to decide that. So even with the best of intentions and even with the best content, sometimes the consequence may turn out to be wrong because of particular circumstances. So our mistakes can fall in these three categories.

We may have a wrong intent, we may have a wrong content or what we may do may have a wrong consequence. Now actually we live in an interconnected world and because we live in an interconnected world, so our mistakes don't affect us alone. Our mistakes affect others also.

And then say somebody commits a serious mistake. Somebody is driving a car and they just are neglectful for a moment and the car goes and hits the curb and there is an accident. And not only the car gets damaged, the person gets injured, but the people with them also get injured.

So now their momentary inattention is going to cost others also. So because we live in an interconnected world, our mistakes affect others. So then if person A commits a mistake and B is hurt, then is B getting also a part of Krishna's plan? Is B getting hurt because of A's mistake or is it because of Krishna's plan? So now here we have to understand that there are many factors involved in how things work out.

That means that normally we talk about the law of karma as action leads to reaction. However, karma is not that simple. It's not that it's a linear chain, this action and this reaction.

There is in between this cause and this effect, there is a long chain of factors involved and that chain primarily involves destiny. That destiny of course is just the accumulation of our past karma. Our destiny is simply the accumulation of our past karma and because of that an action A may not lead to the result B immediately.

So often our past karma determines the lag between the action and reaction. Two simple examples. Say some people smoke and they smoke and smoke and smoke lifelong and nothing happens to them.

They have a healthy body. Some people start smoking and within one year they start having severe respiratory tract problems. They may even get lung cancer.

Now smoking is the same. Some people, they have weak digestion. Even little eating problem, their stomach gets upset or some people are very prone to say gaining weight.

Little eat, eat a little bit more, their body balloons up. Some other people, they just eat anything and everything. They treat their tongue like a conveyor belt.

And still their digestion goes on well. They still remain slim and attractive. Now why is this? Because some people by their past karma are meant to have a healthy body.

Now that is the karmic installment that they have. They have done good karma in the past by which they will have healthy body. Now even if they do unhealthy activities now, there are going to be reactions for that.

But those reactions may not come immediately. Those reactions may not come in this lifetime also. On the other hand, some people are meant to have a sickly body.

That is the karma that they have. That even a small provocation, small stimulus, small mistake can cause a big reaction. So there is the past karma which plays into this also.

So now in this case, that person is overeating or eating inappropriately. That is a mistake. But in one case, the reaction may come much more.

In another case, the reaction may not come at all practically speaking, at least at that time. So here what has happened? The actions that we do, their consequences are determined not just by either the intent of the action or the content of the action or even the consequence. It is also past karma that affects what result will come out.

So the consequence is not just by intent or content. Now this becomes further complicated when we consider two people are involved. So when two people are involved, then person A does something wrong.

So when earlier I said person A does something wrong and they get the result, sometimes they don't get the result. That is by their karma. Similarly, person A may do something wrong and person B may get the consequence.

Now when B gets the consequence without having done anything wrong or their only mistake was say somebody say people go for a party and after party they are just going back to their home. And while they are going back to their home, they don't know that the person who is driving the car is drunk. They think he appears to be sober but that person is drunk and they drive.

Now, was it person B's mistake that they got into a car where the person was driving? Well, if they had known, we could say it was their mistake. If they had not known, it just happened that way. So now fate is not something arbitrary or cruel.

Fate is simply the result of our own past karma coming upon us. So in this case, B may have made a mistake or B may not have made a mistake. But B gets some consequence over there.

So in retrospect, somebody may decide that in future if I even suspect that somebody drinks, then I will not step into their car. I will find some other way to go. That's something which we can learn.

So we always need to have a learning attitude. But sometimes it becomes very complicated. What action will have what consequence? So all this I am talking about, I talked about the topic of are our mistakes part of Krishna's plan? So this whole discussion is towards the point that understanding Krishna's plan is not simple because plan and purpose are two different things.

And understanding what is a mistake is also not very simple. So let's now, if we discuss these three things, intent, content and consequence. So we don't know what consequence is going to come.

So if something happens as a consequence, some result, some decision turns out to be bad, some action turns out to have an unfortunate consequence. And if we had chosen the best decision if we had made the decision using our best intelligence at that time, then there is no need to worry about it. Just move on.

So Prabhupada writes in the first canto purport that if things are beyond human control, then there is nothing to regret. If things go wrong beyond human control, then there is nothing to regret in that. We have maintained our car well.

We are driving our car nicely. But suddenly in the middle of the road, the car brakes fail and there is an accident. There is nothing which we could have done at that time.

So we just accept this as fate and we say that Krishna must be having some purpose behind this. I will talk about what Krishna's purpose may be a little later. But if something which is well thought out and then done has an unforeseen consequence, then that is not held against us.

Because we had the proper intention, we did the proper analysis to choose the right action. There is nothing to regret when things are beyond human control. So we don't have to agonize over the mistakes.

Generally, the nature of the human mind is that when some mistakes happen, when something goes wrong, I am going to use the word something goes wrong, as a matter of consequence, something goes wrong, we always want to have someone to blame. If you see the three modes of material nature, they make us act in different ways. So we could say in the mode of goodness, we try to seek understanding.

We try to seek knowledge. We try to seek insight. Maybe you can come ahead.

You can sit behind. In the mode of goodness, we try to seek understanding. In the mode of passion, we try to seek power, power, control.

And in the mode of ignorance, we try to seek scapegoats, someone to blame. So in goodness, we try to seek understanding, insight, explanation. In passion, we seek power.

So, if something has gone wrong, the whole idea is, if some mistake has happened, just cover it up. If you can fix it, fix it. If you can't fix it, at least cover it up.

Nobody should be able to see it. Many times when some things go wrong, the government agencies or big business corporates, they try to cover it up. That's passion.

We don't want to take responsibility. We just want to cover it up. In ignorance, we just want to seek a scapegoat.

Someone to blame. Oh, this person, because of his mistake, this happened. Or sometimes we may blame God also.

Because of it happened. Now this is unhealthy. Blaming someone else, blaming God, this is unhealthy.

Blaming God is especially unhealthy. And I'll talk about that a little later. But sometimes we may blame ourselves.

Now, holding ourselves responsible is different from blaming ourselves. When we start blaming ourselves, it is like beating ourselves. Why did you do that? You are such a big fool.

You are an idiot. You are good for nothing. So when we accept responsibility for something that is wrong, that means, okay, I am here, this action is here, and I made this wrong decision, and I accept responsibility for that.

We are acknowledging our responsibility, but still there is a distance between us and our action. But when we start blaming ourselves, we start identifying ourselves with that action itself. And then we start losing faith in ourselves.

We start thinking that I am good for nothing. I am useless. So failure is an event in our life.

But for the mind in ignorance, failure becomes a defining event of life. So I start defining myself by that failure. And when that happens, people get inferiority complex, they get self-esteem issues, chronic depression, just become incapable of doing anything.

So if blaming ourselves discourages us so much that we can't do anything in life, then that is also unhealthy. So we have to… So, okay, I made a mistake, but my life goes on. And I can rectify it in future.

I want to learn from this mistake, and the mistake will have its consequences. But blaming ourselves perpetually, just beating ourselves up, is of no use. So why am I talking about these three modes in terms of… We are trying to analyze what exactly is a mistake.

So if we do something and it has a bad consequence, maybe we didn't analyze properly, then we are responsible. If we analyze properly and still have a bad consequence, we just understand it is fate. So sometimes… What about the intent? Sometimes impulses come upon us.

They just force us to do something. Like, say, Parikshit Maharaj. At that time, he was so… He was so tired.

He was so thirsty. Just needed some water. And when the water… When they didn't give the water, when Shambhik Rishi did not respond, just lost his cool, and in exasperation, he took a snake, a dead snake, and put it on the king.

It's like… Normally, a guest is meant to be welcomed by the host. But here, Parikshit Maharaj says, you are not welcoming me at all? I will welcome you. And he put a garland.

But the garland was of a snake. Now here, you see, this was out of character. This was not what Parikshit Maharaj would normally ever do.

So all of us, sometimes life catches us at weak moments. Now, some person will be normally very calm, composed, gentle. But, you know, one thing has gone wrong in their life.

Second thing has gone wrong. Third thing has gone wrong. Fourth thing has gone wrong.

Fifth thing has gone wrong. And then, we tell something to them when we happen to be 10th person. And then their limit is crossed.

And then, bam! They explode. Why are you troubling me so much? Can't you deal with this yourself? Hey, what happened? Such a small thing, such a big reaction. So for them, what happened? We don't know the background.

Nine things went wrong in their life at that time. And they were just at a weak moment at that time. So, somehow Parikshit was caught in a weak moment.

See, normally the anarthas, lust if we see, greed if we see, the object that stimulates that anartha is the object that is the target if somebody is lusty and they are attracted to a particular person, particular sense object and that's where their desire goes. Somebody is greedy. I want this, I want this, I want this.

That's where their desire also goes. But with respect to anger, it's slightly different. The trigger of the anger and the target of the anger can sometimes be different.

Event A or person A makes me angry. Sometimes you may find we go work at office and the boss is in a very disagreeable mood. It may have happened that the boss had a fight with their spouse and now that anger they don't express in their home but they come and express it to their subordinates.

So what has happened? The trigger of the anger and the target of the anger can be different. So now for Parikshit Maharaj, at that time, the trigger was he was already tired, he was already thirsty, it had been a long day, he had been fighting, he had been travelling in the forest and then suddenly when the sage did not offer him any reception, he was just so annoyed that in exasperation he put that garland around his head. So in anger, the trigger and the target can be different.

Now it is definitely a mistake on his part. It is an infraction. So what he did was wrong but the consequence that he got was devastating.

It is a breach of etiquette. If it had been a live snake, that is a serious thing but it is a dead snake, there is no harm. And Shambhik Rishi also, he just came out of his trance and he just tossed it away.

He did not take it seriously as this is how dare the Kshatriya who is meant to respect Brahmanas disrespect Brahmanas like that. And he cursed, he will die in 7 days. He will die in 7 days, he said that.

Now this is completely a disproportionate punishment. One of the principles in justice is that the punishment has to be proportionate to the crime. But when the heat, in the heat of the moment that is there, at that time one may just prescribe an excessive punishment.

So that is what Shringi did. And then Parishad Maharaj, it was at one moment devastating. At one moment he was the king of the world, the most powerful person and he was not just powerful, he was popular, he was virtuous, he was doing so much good to the world and the next moment he was cursed to die in 7 days.

Terrible. There was a mistake on his part but the mistake led to a devastating consequence. Now we could say it could be because of karma.

Of course Parishad Maharaj is a pure devotee and as a pure devotee whatever happens is a part of Krishna's direct plan in their lives. So we could say it was all orchestrated by Krishna. So this is, we can see these actions at two levels and I will come to these two levels a little later.

But at this point if you want to analyze from the moral perspective, then we can say Parishad Maharaj made a mistake but it is a small mistake. It could be a serious mistake because it is offending a Brahmana, disrespecting a Brahmana but still that mistake did not merit the death sentence. I was at an interfaith conference recently and there, there was a Baptist minister and the Baptist minister, he was actually, he had been wrongly framed because somebody else had done the crime but the attorney, the witnesses, they all conspired and he was framed for it.

And he was 25 years in jail. 25 years. And then while he was in jail, he studied law, he discovered Christianity.

So Christians had some organization by which they support people who are in the jail. And then he found out the whole process, if he has been wrongly sentenced, how to, what to do. He contacted the right lawyers and then he proved the exposing.

So now you see, no mistake but 25 years in jail. Such a terrible thing. So it was terrible.

There was no mistake on his part but he ended up in jail. But somehow there, he, he came, he was, he was just an ordinary materialist, there he came to God and he was so inspired that by that now he has become a minister who shares the message of God. So sometimes in life, because of no fault of ours or because we are just caught in the wrong situation somehow, we may get into big trouble.

So at that time, the trouble can just appear to be overwhelming. But if, if we don't lose hope, if we try to be positive, if we try to do something in that situation, so just feeling sorry for ourselves, then something good can even come out of it. Now, we can't say that losing 25 years is a good thing.

But it's a terrible thing. But eventually it came out, and if one comes closer to God, one grows spiritually, then that is good. Similarly for Parikshit Maharaj, being sentenced to death is bad.

But good can come out of it. And it came out because he chose the right course of action, right response. This terrible thing, small mistake, big consequence.

Because of his response, he did not get into feeling sorry for himself. Why did this have to happen to me? Why did this have to happen to me? Or he did not mean, how dare I be punished for such a small thing? He said, accept it, this is the Lord's, this is the part of the Lord's plan. And he just decided to offer his life and surrender to the Lord.

And that is how the Srimad Bhagavatam was spoken. The Srimad Bhagavatam is the knowledge that helped Parikshit Maharaj transcend material consciousness, transcend bodily entanglement. And not only did it help him, it helped everyone.

It helped millions of people for millennia because the narration of the Lord's pastimes are there to protect. They are there to elevate. They are there ultimately to liberate.

So, it may be said that Parikshit Maharaj he was protected by the Lord when he was in his mother's womb. The Lord personally came and protected him. And we often glorify the Lord as a protector.

But then if that Lord came and protected him in his mother's womb, why did that Lord not protect him when he was unfairly cursed like this? Yes, the Lord protected him even then. He came as the Srimad Bhagavatam. And as the Srimad Bhagavatam, he gave him shelter.

And through the shelter of the Srimad Bhagavatam, although at the material level the result came, the consequence of the curse came about, his consciousness was no longer caught in the material level. His consciousness had risen to the spiritual level. So because his consciousness had risen to the spiritual level, he did not experience the pain of death.

Rather he was absorbed in Krishna, he was in ecstasy hearing the Bhagavatam and he said even before the snake Takshaka bit him, he had already left his body. So the Takshaka's bite caused his body to burn, but he had already left his body. He was absorbed in Krishna and he was liberated from the body.

So the Lord's protection came. But it came at a spiritual level. So sometimes at a material level, some consequences may happen and it may appear as if it was a terrible thing that happened.

But at a spiritual level, there is something entirely different going on. So mistakes may have consequences at the material level, but at a spiritual level, something bigger is happening. Now, till now I was talking about mistakes.

Actually this class I am going to continue tomorrow also. There are many subtleties in this. But I will add one more point over here and then we can have some questions.

That there are mistakes at the material level and there is Bhakti at the spiritual level. Now, how does it work out? If we have devotion, it is said that devotion is never lost. Whatever devotion we… भवनेहा भिक्रमनाशोस्ति पत्यवायो नविद्यते When a little Bhakti we have done, it will never be lost.

On the other hand, there is a law of Karma where material actions have material reactions. So, let's take two examples. In the Mahabharata, Bhishma is a very heroic, very virtuous, very glorious person.

But he does commit the mistake of siding with the Kauravas and remaining silent when Draupadi is being dishonored. So, according to some analysis of the Mahabharata, it is said that Bhishma, he had to suffer terribly. All the Kauravas were killed.

But Bhishma had to live on a bed of arrows. Now, we may see that picture and say how transcendental Bhishma is. But actually, it is painful when each arrow is going through his body, piercing through his body.

So, now some commentators say that that was because Bhishma was the eldest person in the family. It was his responsibility to stop the gambling match, to stop Draupadi's being dishonored because he did not forcefully stop it. That's why he had to bear this consequence.

Now, in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya, that is a commentary on the Vedanta Sutra written by Madhvacharya, he says that the epics, the itihasas can be understood at three levels. The literal, the ethical and the transcendental. The literal means, these are simply the events that happened.

And if we just hear the narration of these events, we will become purified. About the Ramayana it is said, ek ek aksharam pumsa maha partha kanashinam. Hearing it will free us from great sins, it will purify us.

So, just hear it literally and relish the pastime. You will get purified. Another level is ethical.

Ethical means that we see that in this situation this person did this. And we can learn ethical lessons. How to act and how not to act.

So, learning these ethical lessons is also a very important lesson from the Mahabharata. Or from the Ramayana also. And if we have to learn ethical lessons, then we cannot learn any ethical lesson if we simply say everything is Krishna's pastime.

Everything is Krishna's leela. Everything is orchestrated by Krishna. That is also one way of looking at things.

But that is not the only way of looking at things. See, in the Bhagavad Gita, in the first chapter purports, in the second chapter purports, Prabhupada treats Arjuna somewhat differently. In the first chapter Prabhupada is saying Arjuna is so soft hearted.

And this soft heartedness indicates that he is ripe for spiritual knowledge. And in the second chapter, tears, they are indication of ignorance. Everybody is suffering from skin disease because of which one is so attached to one's relatives.

And that ignorance that is there, that ignorance will be dispelled by the Lord. So, it seems that Prabhupada is taking two different acts. First he is saying Arjuna is such a good person.

He is so virtuous. He is so soft hearted. He is so thoughtful about the consequences of his actions.

He is crying. He is attached to the body. So, now what is it? Prabhupada in his purports, packs the purports with lessons that we can apply in our life.

It's like sometimes some car advertisement, we get maximum mileage per litre of fuel. So, like that Prabhupada gives us maximum mileage of knowledge with every purport. So, Prabhupada's purpose is not to evaluate that this character is right or this is wrong.

Prabhupada's purpose is to help us learn lessons for life. So, if we have to learn lessons for life, there are many cases in Prabhupada's purports. Sometimes Prabhupada says Draupadi is so soft hearted that because of her soft heartedness, she wanted to forgive Ashwathama.

But in another purport he may say, actually Ashwathama is a criminal. She has done a terrible crime. She has to be punished.

And one cannot let sentiment come in the way of justice. So, now what is the point? Both are valid lessons. And Prabhupada is giving us both lessons.

Now, one lesson may apply at one particular point. Another lesson may apply at another particular point. So, Madhusudana Saraswati is a prominent Advaitic scholar.

But he also had some devotional inclinations and devotional compositions. So, in his Gita commentary, which Chakravarti Pada also quotes at times, there he says the whole purpose of the first chapter is to demonstrate Arjuna's qualification for hearing the Gita. That Arjuna, he was a Kshatriya, but he was not simply a Kshatriya geared for action.

Eager, itching for a fight. He was a Kshatriya who was thoughtful. So, Prabhupada is taking more or less that mood over there.

He is showing that the first chapter demonstrates Arjuna's qualification for getting spiritual knowledge. So, I am talking here from the point of view of ethical analysis if we are doing, then we don't have to get into who is right and who is wrong. Rather than putting it that they did a right thing or they did a wrong thing, we can say this is one lesson I can learn from the situation, this is another lesson I can learn.

So, with respect to Bhishma Pitamaha, it could be said that his actions at one level are wrong, should have intervened. At another level we can say it was because he remained silent that ultimately Krishna was able to demonstrate that he is the only protector. And Draupadi, despite having so many protectors, she was protected only by Krishna.

So, both perspectives are right. But if you are doing an ethical analysis, saying that it's Krishna's plan is not particularly helpful. Because then there is no ethical analysis to do.

Everything is Krishna's plan. So, here everything is Krishna's plan but is everybody serving Krishna's purpose? Is everybody serving Krishna's purpose? So, Duryodhana, he is also part of Krishna's plan. But he is not serving Krishna's purpose.

Dushasana, when he is disrobing Krishna, disrobing Krishna, that is Draupadi's name also is Krishna. But that is not part of Krishna's purpose. Krishna is so expert that he can include even the villainous activities of certain souls in the purview of his plan.

He can make good come out of the bad also. But Krishna doesn't want people to do bad things. Krishna didn't want Dushasana to do something wrong.

In fact, we see Duryodhana, Krishna himself went as Shantinoodh. He did not want Duryodhana to fight the war. But when the war was decided then Krishna's plan is so expansive, so inclusive that it can include the villainous actions of people also.

Krishna can bring good out of the bad. So, now Bhishma, we could say from the ethical analysis perspective, what he did was wrong. And there was a reaction for that.

But Krishna came to Bhishma at the end. And not only was Krishna there with him to help him make the final transition, but Krishna still considered Bhishma worthy of receiving instruction. So, that means Krishna did not make Bhishma's mistake as a permanent label on him and condemn him for that.

So, it is that the summary of this whole analysis and narrative is that Krishna, just because we are devotees, that does not mean all our mistakes will be excused. But just because we have committed mistakes does not mean that our devotion will be forgotten, that our service will be forgotten. Both will go together.

If we do mistakes, there will be consequences. If we have practiced bhakti, that bhakti will protect us. So, as devotees, we cannot say just because I do something with devotional intention, it is wonderful.

No, even if I have devotional intention, I have to also act properly. I have to use my intelligence. Once when the devotees did the Rath Yatra in London, at that time they had made an elaborate plan.

The devotees in London, they wanted to do big things. So, they made a huge Rath, Rath Kart. And the first time when they did it, they took all the dimensions from the Rath Yatra that was happening in America and they went there and they made the Rath Kart.

And then as the Rath Yatra was about to start, the cart was so big that the wheel collapsed. And it was a big flop show. So, then Brahmananda wrote to Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada, did this Rath Yatra fail because of our poor devotion? Prabhupada said, no, it is because of your poor engineering.

So, the intent was to glorify Krishna, but the content also has to be right. Oh, we want to do a big festival for Krishna. That's fine, but we have to also take care of the logistics.

So, now Prabhupada appreciated the devotional intention. Yes, you want to do good things for Krishna, but at a material level, if our intention to glorify Krishna is there, that's wonderful. But at a practical level, the material level, the content is not right, that will also have its consequences.

So, therefore, for us, it is our responsibility to use our intelligence, not only to, we have to try to have purity or pure intention, we also have to use our intelligence to make sure the content of what we are doing is right. Otherwise, there will be, our intention to glorify Krishna is good, but for the good to manifest in this world, the content also has to be right. And for that, we have to do the proper analysis, we have to get the proper education.

I was at one community where they are building a huge temple, and this temple is so big, it's such a multi-million dollar project, and they don't have that big a congregation. So, the leaders, one of the devotees was asking me, we had a question and answer session that, you know, should we go for this big project? Prabhupada said, you know, we should go and shoot the rhino. Now, of course, now rhinos are endangered species.

So, I think it was Shamsundar Prabhu who wrote a book, so he has changed shooting the rhino to chasing the rhino. So, chasing the rhino or catching the rhino, so whatever it is. But is that the mood? We should do big, Prabhupada wanted us to do big things, and we should depend on Krishna and do big things.

So, yes, that is true, Prabhupada wanted to do big things, but Prabhupada also planned things properly. Now, if you look at Prabhupada, how often has Prabhupada quoted that, shoot the rhino, that was more for a one-time event. They wanted to do a big pandal program in Mumbai, that is the time.

It's not a constant quote that Prabhupada would make again and again. So, for a one-time event, if it works out well, that's wonderful. If it doesn't work out, okay, that's okay.

Some small event doesn't work out, that's also fine. But a temple is not a one-time, building a temple is not a one-time event. It's an enduring, it's a project which not only we have to do now to build a temple, but after that we have to maintain the temple.

And maintaining the temple requires finance, requires manpower, requires logistics. So, I have been to so many temples where the devotees enthusiastically build a big temple and now they don't have the congregation. The whole congregation is struggling to just maintain the temple.

Financially maintain the temple, maintain the deity worship. And then the preaching has gone down because of that. Devotees are feeling burdened.

So, our intention may be very good, oh, I want to build a big temple for Krishna. But content is, we have to evaluate. I was talking about this with Giriraj Maharaj recently.

So, he was telling, Prabhupada was so pragmatic, that when we wanted to build a magnificent temple in Vrindavan, but his idea was, he also built that MBT, that trust is there, Maya Vrindavan Trust, where he said that, that will act like a guest house, people will come and through the money from that, we will be able to fund the temple. Even if we don't get charity, even if we don't get donations, we will have an arrangement. So, Prabhupada wanted, traditionally, he said, Brahmanas depended on charity.

But charity is unpredictable. So, what the Brahmanas would do is, how were the Brahmanas maintained? The kings would give land in charity to the deities. And on the land, there would be tillers who would till the land and they would get a portion of the produce.

But that land is said to belong to deities and the food that was offered, the food that was grown over there was offered to the deities and the priest's families would be maintained by that. And also, some of that portion could be sold also. But the point was, charity is important, but there also has to be sustainability.

So, we have to think, not just about the intent, but also the content. We look at that, then we can make wise decisions. And just the intent being good enough is not necessarily a guarantee that the decision will be good.

So, tomorrow I'll talk more about what we can work on, on our intent, on our content. And when our past karma, some complications happen, when somebody else does something wrong, when basically things seem to be going wrong in our life, how to see Krishna's plan over there and how to be a part of that plan by pursuing his purpose. I'll discuss that in tomorrow's class.

I'll summarize. So, I spoke today on the topic of, are our mistakes a part of Krishna's plan? Started by talking about the difference between plan and purpose. In a school, the purpose is to educate and elevate the students to higher grade.

But if a student fails, there is a plan for them also. Similarly, Krishna's purpose is not that we commit mistakes. But if we commit mistakes, that is included in Krishna's plan.

So, like in interactive exams, give a wrong answer, easier question. Right answer, tougher question. Purpose is to elevate the students.

Krishna's plan is flexible. It can accommodate our mistakes. Krishna's purpose is that we grow spiritually.

But if we make wrong choices, it's not that it's such a terrible thing that Krishna doesn't care for others. There is no plan of Krishna. Krishna's plan is always there for us.

Then I talked about mistakes. How do we evaluate what is a mistake? At one level we say it is by Shastra. We should learn from Shastra right or wrong.

But there are so many complexities in our life that Shastra may not give a direct instruction for us in our situation. So, there is, rightness or wrongness can be evaluated through three things. The intent, the content and the consequence.

Why am I doing something? What exactly am I doing? And what is the result of what I do? So, sometimes I may choose a road which seems to have lesser traffic. But if the traffic becomes more and the consequence turns out to be wrong. So, sometimes despite our best efforts, the action gives a wrong consequence.

So, Prabhupada says if something, if things go wrong beyond human control, then there is nothing to regret. But we still want to learn and prepare. Sometimes we just get into a car which somebody is driving drunk and we meet with an accident.

In future we will be very cautious whose car I get into. So, we learn from consequence. But there is no mistake on our part in that sense.

The action does not become a mistake but we are not responsible. There is no need to regret it. In the mode of goodness, when bad things happen, when mistakes happen, we try to gain understanding.

In mode of passion, we either try to fix it quickly or we want to cover it up. In the mode of ignorance, we simply want to look for a scapegoat. We blame others, we blame God or we blame ourselves.

There is a difference between accepting responsibility for a wrong and blaming ourselves. Blaming means we just beat ourselves up and we become demoralized. So, failure is an event in our life.

Failure does not have to be the defining event of our life. And we are not failures just because we have met some failures in our life. Then I discussed about the relationship between intent and content.

In bhakti we say just the intention is all that matters. Sabari, her fruits were bitten so content was wrong but intent was good. That's true but at the material level if you want the results, then along with the intent, the content is also important.

For satisfying Krishna, intent alone is enough. But the squirrel alone couldn't have built a bridge for Ram. The content also has to be there.

So, I discussed about how karma comes into the picture. Sometimes a small mistake on our part can lead to a disastrous consequence. For Parikshit Maharaj, it was small in distribution and it was with respect to anger, the trigger of the anger and the target of the anger can sometimes be different.

So, when we are caught at a weak moment which happens because of karma, then there might be overreaction. I talked about how action leads to reaction but there is past karma which determines when which action will lead to what reaction. So, some people may eat a lot and not maintain their health and figure.

Some people may eat a little and spoil their health or figure. So, that's karma plays into the picture. So, we can look at our situation and decide for me this action is, for me I have to be very cautious in eating.

For this person, they can just eat what they want. So, content may be different for different people based on karma. Now, in bhakti, intent is important but the content also shapes the consequence.

So, we took Bhishma Pitamah's situation. When we study scripture, we don't want to judge the characters who is right and who is wrong but we want to learn lessons for ourselves. So, from the literal perspective, it's all purifying because it's all a part of Krishna's Leela.

But everybody there may not be serving Krishna's purpose. So, we want to analyze from ethical perspective. What we can do? How we can make right decisions? So, Bhishma Pitamah's silence was wrong.

So, Krishna did not overlook his mistake just because he was a devotee. At the same time, Krishna did not overlook his devotion because he committed a mistake. So, he had the consequence that he had to suffer on the arrow bed but Krishna gave him inner strength by which he could tolerate the pain and Krishna gave him his own darshan.

Krishna gave him the knowledge, the composure, the consciousness by which he could speak spiritual knowledge and material knowledge for everyone's benefit. So, for us as devotees, when we are trying to act, if somehow a mistake happens, we try to focus on doing our part rather than analyzing too much. We can try to analyze and learn but we focus on right now how can I best serve Krishna.

If we have that attitude, then even through difficulties, we will move forward positively. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

As a devotee, in this moment of so much stress, how can we act in this moment of complete understanding? If somebody's mistake, say, a devotee's mistake, somebody else's pet gets killed and they are traumatized by that, how do we help them at that time? See, each person is different and each situation is different. So, there is no set formula. If you see that when Chitraketu is grieving, then sages come and give a strong dose.

Why are you so attached? Whose son is it? Whose father is it? The son himself comes back and speaks. That is, we could say, a strong shock treatment. But when Abhimanyu passes away, as described in the Mahabharata, Krishna does not give any philosophical instruction.

Krishna says that grief comes upon everyone, O Arjuna, in this world. But the wise act in a way to decrease others' grief, not to increase it. O Arjuna, see, all your brothers are grieving right now.

Don't act in a way that will increase their grief. Arjuna was so upset, shouting at his brothers, you know, are all your weapons just ornaments? Why couldn't all of you protect my brother, my son? So, Krishna consoled him at that time. Krishna did not give any philosophical instruction.

He did not say, have you forgotten you are not the body or the soul? So, we have to see what works with what person. When we are dealing with people, there is no set formula. Sometimes, some people just need a shoulder to cry on.

And then they cry for some time and then that crying is also a part of healing. Part of healing. Sometimes we say crying and tears are a sign of ignorance.

That is true. That is especially when that person has no spiritual knowledge and has no spiritual orientation in life. But at an emotional level, when there are relationships involved, and say if we lose a loved one, then there is a sense of loss over there.

There is an emotional wound at that time. And emotional wounds are just as real as physical wounds. If say, I may have a strong desire to serve Krishna, but if I have fallen down and I have fractured my hand, and if I try to pick up a Pradhan with that hand, or if I try to pick up a book distribution bag, I can't do that.

So, I have to rest that hand till it recovers. Similarly, when people have emotional wounds because of something that happens in life, they need time to recover. So, grieving is different from lamenting.

Lamenting means just go on obsessing, this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened. It's like an endless loop that goes on. But grieving is a healthy way of processing the event.

Like say, if a devotee passes away, then we have a memorial, where other devotees come together and remember how nice that devotee was. So, that way, that hurt that is there, that is processed, and the healing is helped. We still acknowledge that we value that person, and it is a loss for us that the person has gone away.

So, it's not that for some people emotional healing may take some time. And for some, it's just letting them vent their grief is the way the emotional healing takes place. In the Bible, there is a time for grieving and there is a time for celebrating.

There is a season for grieving, there is a season for celebrating. Sometimes in life, there is grieving that comes. And that can be, you could say, salutary or therapeutic.

It helps us to heal. But if somebody keeps grieving, doesn't emerge out of it at all, just keeps doing it again and again, not just one day, two days, not just one week, two weeks, months after months. Somebody has passed away a year ago and still they are just grieving and not able to do anything.

Then you have to understand, you have to move on with life. So, it depends on the level of the person. And it depends on our relationship with them, how best we can help them.

So, sometimes just letting them vent their grief helps. Sometimes helping them process that grief, speaking some philosophy may also help. Sometimes our mistakes may have serious consequences.

One devotee in the traffic police, he was telling me that there was this boy, he was driving a car and there was a baseball match. He was watching on his mobile. And suddenly something happened in the baseball match.

It was an unexpected move and he just started looking at it. And the car veered off. And on the footpath somebody was there and that person got hit.

We all may look at our messages, look at our phones when we are driving. But in that case, a small mistake has a terrible consequence. So, what can we do? Sometimes life is like that, that small mistakes have terrible consequences.

So, what we have to make sure is that we don't continue the mistake. Okay, this A led to this big reaction. And I can say, oh, if only I had not done A, that is good.

But just reliving the past, continuously lamenting the past, that is also a mistake. So, now when somebody is grieving, somebody is crying, they are crying because this happened. And that is, because the event happened, the crying, that is good, that can be therapeutic.

But if I blame myself and I keep blaming myself for that, oh, I made a terrible mistake, I am such a terrible person. Okay, you made a terrible mistake. But if you continue lamenting, you are making another mistake.

It is like, say, I am walking along the road and somebody has warned me, be very careful, there are snakes over here, there is forest trail, be very careful. And then, a snake comes and bites me. And the snake has bitten me.

Oh, what a fool I am, I should have listened to that person. Why did I come on this trail? I am such a fool, I never learn, oh, the snake has bitten me. Well, stop, now go back and try to get the snake poison out.

Isn't it? The snake has bitten me, okay, it is a mistake. But now don't make a bigger mistake by just lamenting about it. So, sometimes we do make mistakes and sometimes if we make a big mistake, it may turn out to be a big mistake.

But whatever it is, lamenting about it can make that mistake bigger still. So, we have to help that person, sometimes knowledge of, sometimes philosophy, understanding that it may be because of some karma that this action had this consequence. And don't blame yourself so much, it was not such a serious mistake from your part.

But because of circumstances, this reaction came. That kind of philosophy can help them to process it. And we can give Parikshit Maharaj example.

A small mistake can be a big consequence of that. So, sometimes people just need a shoulder to cry and then they get over it. Sometimes some philosophy can help them to process the event.

And we don't lay the blame on them, we don't lay the blame entirely on karma. We say that karma plays a role, reaction also plays a role, you learn from it. But just because there is a big consequence, that doesn't make you a big offender.

Because in your case, what you did was not a big mistake, it was a mistake. It was a big consequence. So, don't blame yourself so much.

Just move on in life. Sometimes in life, we do some small good thing and such a big result comes up. Sometimes we just go for book distribution and it happens that so many people are interested over there.

And so many people take books. If I start taking credit, I am such a great distributor. Next day I go and nobody takes books.

Then I start thinking I am a useless distributor. No, our effort is a part but other things also play a part. So that's why it's understanding that we are not the only doers.

That is important, that is helpful in keeping perspective. Do we have time? Yes. Last question.

And I think tomorrow I will speak shorter and we can have more questions. Because there is a lot I know which is still to be explained. Tomorrow I will keep shorter class.

Go ahead. Professor, my question is when we, is the consequence of the project, is our past karma also an influence in the consequence? Okay, if we take some devotional projects, does our past karma play a role, part in whether the results come out? I would say, yes. Now Krishna uses the past karma in a way that is favorable for our spiritual growth and for others also.

It's like we may say that there may be two very exalted devotees. But one may have thousands of disciples, other may have just a handful of disciples. Now is it the spiritual potencies that this person is very advanced, they have so many disciples, this person is not so advanced, they don't have so many disciples.

It may be, it may not be also. Some people by their past karma are meant to be popular. And they would have become popular even if they had not been devotees.

Now they are popular and they are devotees, so they are very influential as devotees. Now we don't want to be judgmental and attribute, oh you know this person has so many disciples just because of the past karma. There is no bhakti.

We don't want to say that. In the process of bhakti, when you start practicing bhakti in the material world, the results that come, what part of that result comes because of the material aspect, the karma, and what part of it comes because of the bhakti, we can't say. So we can become very judgmental sometimes.

We may think that somebody has got big results, they must be a great devotee. And somebody has got no results, they may be a poor devotee. But it's not like that.

Some devotees may have great devotion, but they may just not have the inclination towards cultivating people, guiding people. They may have great knowledge and great devotion. So that's why they may not have many disciples.

But that doesn't reflect on their devotion. So as far as we are concerned, I would say, we just do our best. And sometimes results come, sometimes results don't come.

So we don't have to necessarily hold ourselves ordinarily responsible. That way we can say that if Prabhupada tried for so many years in India, no results came. Was that a part of his karma? Prabhupada is a pure devotee.

It is Krishna's plan. So we don't have to get too much into that analysis. But it does play a factor.

So we can't say that the caliber of the devotion is reflected in the material, in the way the result is manifested in the material level. So the two may be connected, but the connection is elusive. It's the best that we do our service.

And if in a particular area we are not getting the result, then we use our pragmatic intelligence, maybe this is not where I am meant to work. Let me do something else. So Bhakti Sahasrara Raku told Srila Prabhupada that, told in the Nirvana Disciples, if nobody comes for programs, preach to the walls.

But then Prabhupada did not keep preaching in India. He came to America. He could have said, even if people are not listening, I am following the instruction.

But he wanted to follow the instruction in a way that it brought material result. So therefore we have to be careful. That if somehow we find that, say, if I am not very good at management, then I may want to do service for Krishna, but things keep going wrong.

And I am on the other hand good at preaching, good at doing programs, cultivating. Let me do that. So we can see the lack of results, not just as a result of karma, just a lot of Krishna's plan for me, purification.

That's also true. But we can see the lack of results also as pointers. One pointer.

Sometimes Krishna may just want us to persevere in that service till we get the results. Sometimes Krishna may want us to use our intelligence and find out where we can be more effective and do that. So there is no black and white in this.

Our karma plays a part. Krishna's plan plays a part. And our own abilities also play a part.

So we should just use our intelligence and think how I can be best effective in my service. Thank you very much.