Bhakti in three modes 3 – Bhakti in goodness brings sustainability purity and harmony

[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Chicago, USA]

Video:

Hare Krishna So today morning we will be discussing the third and concluding part of the this series on devotion in the three modes of material nature so previously we discussed about devotion in ignorance and passion and now today it’s about goodness so firstly it is actually not so much about Bhakti in goodness it is about the Bhakta in goodness it is about the devotee which mode they are in. Bhakti itself is transcendental the in grammar sometimes when adjective or describer comes in a particular sentence it can apply to different words and the senses will be different the meanings will be different so for example if we consider the well known verse from the Bhagavatam Bhagavatam Bhagavatam So there Krishna says Bhagavatam says to the Goswami that that is Paradharma which is which involves performing pure devotional service which is unmotivated uninterrupted So now actually So Prabhupada translates this, he says, his stress is on that we should perform devotional service in an unmotivated and uninterrupted way.
Now Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur when he translates this, he says, ahaitukya and apratihata are characteristics of bhakti itself. That means bhakti is not triggered by any material situation and bhakti cannot be interrupted by any material situation. So ahaitukya and apratihata can be describers for the bhakta, that this is how the bhakta should practise bhakti, or they can be describers for bhakti, that this is the nature of bhakti itself.
So in this case, if you look at the Sanskrit, such a person is in the mode of pruthak bhavah sa sattvikah. That such a person is in the, sa means that person, sattvikah is in goodness. So basically, if you consider, what is it that determines what a particular activity is in? Now normally, if we consider some activity like charity, we would consider it to be a very good activity.
And normally we would think that charity is in the mode of goodness. And yes, a good amount of charity could be in the mode of goodness. But the Bhagavad Gita goes deeper, beyond the specific action, to the underlying conception or motivation.
So normally, if somebody gives charity, that is good. But suppose an alcoholic comes out of a bar and sees a beggar outside the bar, and has half drunk a bottle, he gives the bottle to the beggar, he says, it is a favour for you. Now, he is giving a drink, he is giving it free, that is charity.
But that charity is charity in the mode of ignorance. Because what, it is not, charity is not benefiting that, benefiting either the giver or the receiver. The receiver is going to go deeper into illusion.
And the giver may also get incriminated by karma, because the giver helped the receiver go into illusion. And from a legal perspective, if somebody gives, accused alcohol to someone, say a minor, the minor drinks and drives, there is an accident, the minor will be blamed, held responsible, but those who give the alcohol will also be held responsible. So we need to look not just at the action, but the underlying intention.
Similarly, austerity, also the Bhagavad Gita 17th chapter talks, and this can also be in the modes of goodness, passion, ignorance. So, the action itself may normally be associated with a particular mode, normally we may say that, that, say, austerity is in goodness, but it can be in passion or ignorance depending on the, in conception or intention. Conception means the broad worldview that the person has.
Intention or motivation means the specific reason why that person is doing some particular thing. So, usually our conceptions and motivations are related. If I have a materialistic conception of life, then even if I come to a temple, my intention in coming to the temple will be materialistic, and I’ll be coming because I want, I see God as a means for increasing my material prosperity.
So we come to the temple, Krishna is playing his flute, he’s inviting us, please come and join me in my eternal pastimes. But when we are in materialistic consciousness, we come and tell Krishna, Krishna, I want to perform pastimes here, you come and assist me in my pastimes here, remove the obstacles so that my pastimes can go on unhindered. So basically our conception determines our intention.
So coming to a temple is a good activity. But somebody may come to a temple simply for getting material gains, and they might just, that might be in the mode of passion, although coming to a temple is a, can also be a transcendental activity. So now bhakti, we could say in terms of the activity itself is transcendental, bhakti is transcendental.
But the bhakta, depending on the motivation with which they are coming, the particular activity done by that particular devotee may or may not be transcendental. So there is the action, there is the performer, and there is the conception. So we could say that the performer and the conception are tied together.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about work in three modes and worker in three modes. In the 18th chapter between verses 23 to 27, 28-29, there he talks about, that means there are certain activities themselves may be in passion or ignorance. So if somebody works excessively hard without considering one’s health, without considering other’s well-being, one gets obsessed with work.
Like we have alcoholism, we can have workaholism also. So now Krishna says that kind of obsessive mode of working will be in the lower modes, passion or ignorance. So that means what we are talking about here is, there is the particular person who may be in a particular mode, then there is a particular action that may be in a particular mode.
So bhakti itself is always transcendental. But the bhakta may or may not be. And even if the devote, now what do we mean by the bhakta? The soul is there and around the soul the body, mind, machine is there.
The soul is always pure. Currently what is happening is, the body, mind are contaminated by past impressions because of which the soul’s intentions get misdirected. The soul’s consciousness gets captivated by worldly things based on whatever impressions are stored in the body, mind.
So that’s why the person who performs bhakti may be in passion or ignorance. And accordingly, their bhakti may also be in passion or ignorance. Now in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, sattvaat sanjayate jnanam He describes the immediate, intermediate and ultimate results of living in each mode.
So he says the immediate result of acting in sattva is jnana. Things become clear. So we get a clearer perspective if we act in goodness.
If we are worried and we are breathing very fast, simply we slow down our breathing. Slow down. Breathe in, breathe out.
This, just slowing down our breath can bring us in goodness. As we come to goodness, our thoughts start becoming clear. Similarly if my mind is agitated, worried, I read some scripture, I start feeling calmer.
I start thinking more clearly. So sattvaat sanjayate jnanam As soon as we come to the mode of goodness, it results in knowledge, illumination. The long-term result of, or we could say the short-term, immediate result, the intermediate result of functioning in the mode of goodness is purification.
karmanasukrutasyahu sattvikam nirmalam phalam rajasastu phalam dukkham ajnanam tamasah phalam So karmanasukrutasyahu. We do good work in goodness and the result is sattvikam nirmalam phalam. The phala, the fruit of acting in this way is nirmala.
The mala, the contamination in the heart goes down. In contrast, when we act in passion, the result is distress. Rajasastu phalam dukkham.
In rajo guna, we might, we are promised pleasure. Oh, you know, eat this, this is so delicious. I’ll drink this, this is so nice.
I’ll do this, it’ll be so good. I’ll buy this, it’ll be so good. So initially there’s pleasure, but then eventually there is agitation, addiction, there is infatuation, and there is distress.
Mind gets hooked to it. So the intermediate result of living in passion is distress. The intermediate result of living in ignorance is further ignorance.
Ajnanam tamasah phalam. And Krishna says the long-term result of living in goodness is urdhvam gacchant sattvastha madhye tishthanti raja-saha jaganya-guna-vrittistha adho gacchanti tamasaha In 14.18, he states that those who live in goodness rise upwards to the heavenly planets. Those who live in passion stay where they are.
Those who live in ignorance go down to the lower destinations. So now this is the nature of the mode itself. That the mode of goodness will foster knowledge.
Now if a person is in the mode of goodness, then when they practise bhakti, there they understand, just by living in the world we start understanding that actually this world is a place where I tend to get more and more entangled. I try to do one thing and try to get that one thing, I have to get ten other things. And as I get ten other things, I have to arrange those ten other things, then hundred other things come up.
So even if one is not very philosophical, if one is just introspective, one can observe that I can, that actually getting more and more entangled. So, there is a story attributed to Socrates. He was in the market place and sitting a long time in the market place, looking at various wares that were being sold in the market.
So, a friend came and asked him, Oh Socrates, are you also longing to buy all these things? He says, no. He says, I was sitting here and watching all the unnecessary things that people are buying. All the unnecessary things.
Like earlier I said there is workaholism, there is also what they call as shopaholism. Just keep shopping, shopping, shopping. In fact, there is a name for this.
If you feel depressed, just go and buy things. You feel good. They call it retail therapy.
Retail therapy, just buy things. But the point here is that when we act, so a person in the mode of goodness can observe this person. Why are they wasting their time getting this, getting that, getting that? It is unnecessary.
Every possession possesses us. We don’t possess the possession. The possession possesses us.
That means when we spend some time, energy, money to buy something, then it consumes a part of our consciousness. And the more we become attached to the possession, the more forcefully it occupies that territory within our consciousness. And then we just can’t have that consciousness available for any higher pursuits.
So this, a person in goodness can pursue. And therefore, a person in goodness wants to become disentangled. And disentangled means, how does one become disentangled? That here in goodness, one does work and understand that if I crave for the results of the work, then I will become attached.
It is not so much the work that causes entanglement. It is the conception with which we do the work. If I think I am the producer of the result and I am the enjoyer of the result, then I get entangled.
But if I do the work for Krishna’s pleasure and offer the result to Krishna, then I do not get entangled. So a person, a devotee in the mode of goodness, works to offer the results of the work to Krishna. The work, but their purpose is disentanglement.
Purpose is purification. Now, it’s interesting that even this is called prathak bhavah. This is also called separatist mentality.
In fact, this word prathak bhavah comes as a describer for all three modes. Ignorance, passion and goodness. So it is in pure goodness and in transcendence that our interest becomes one with the interest of Krishna.
Till then, our interest is Krishna, I want to do this and I want to become purified. I want to become liberated. So in pure goodness, Krishna, I simply want to serve you.
I simply want to please you. I don’t want anything else. The classic example of such pure devotion is manifested by the gopis of Vrindavan.
Once Narad Muni came to meet Krishna and Krishna was holding his head. God is supposed to be blissful. So Krishna asked Narad Muni, what happened? So Narad Muni asked Krishna and Krishna said, I’ve got a headache.
Now, thinking about this, we may get a headache. How can God get a headache? Now, God cannot get a headache at all. But for the purpose of Leela, he can get whatever he wants.
So he said that God, actually I’ve got a headache and I need some medicine. So what is the medicine? He said, the medicine I need is the medicine of the dust of my devotee’s lotus feet. When he desired this, the dust of his devotee’s lotus feet, then Narad Muni became a little alarmed.
He went to different devotees. But normally, in a decent culture, is that even if we touch somebody with our feet, it’s an offence. So we touch them with our hand and take it on them.
I’m sorry about that. Even an ordinary person, what to speak of the Supreme Lord, accidentally also we would be very careful not to touch the deities with our feet. In the early days of our movement, when the devotees did not know much, so Prabhupada was in the New York centre where it began, the second avenue.
And then Prabhupada came into the room and Hayagriva Prabhu was at that time sitting and typing Prabhupada’s manuscripts. So when he saw Prabhupada coming, he got up to offer obeisances. And there was a typewriter and he started kicking the typewriter away so that he would have space to offer obeisances.
And Prabhupada said, don’t touch it with your leg. That is sacred. So the Hayagriva Prabhu was new and he was also a little cheeky.
Swamiji, you mean to say the typewriter is sacred and my leg is not sacred? Prabhupada said, you are a devotee, even your leg is sacred. But sacred objects are meant to be handled in a particular way. And we handle them with our hands, not with our legs.
So basically, the point I’m making is to have our feet touched. Even an ordinary object like a tape recorder, like a typewriter is considered improper. Then what to speak of? Touching the Supreme Lord.
All the devotees refused. But then when Narada Muni finally went to the gopis of Vrindavan, and they heard Krishna has got a headache, it was like they got a big blow on their heart. What happened? What can be done about it? Krishna needed the dust of his lotus feet as medicine.
They immediately ran to the Yamuna, put their legs in the Yamuna, made it wet. They came out and moved their legs in the dust of Vrindavan, got a big nice chaddar and put all the dust in that chaddar. And they gave it to Krishna.
Taken to Krishna immediately. Narada Muni started thinking, these are just innocent cowherd girls. They may not know what they’re doing.
Do you know what will happen if Krishna touches the dust of your lotus feet on his head? So you’ll go to hell. The gopis said, we know that. But we don’t care.
For us to think that Krishna has a headache, that thought itself is hell. If we can relieve Krishna of his headache for even one moment, we are ready to go to hell forever for that. So in pure devotion, our concern is not our pleasure, but our Lord’s pleasure.
And for the Lord’s pleasure, we are ready to even accept trouble. In goodness, our focus is primarily on our becoming free from trouble and our gaining pleasure. In goodness, I understand the material world is a place of misery, but let me get out of it.
So this aspiration that I simply want to serve the Lord is demonstrated in na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadheesha kamaye mama janmani janmanishware bhavatad bhaktirahaitukitvaye so mama janmani janmanishware So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying, even if I am not liberated, it doesn’t matter. I simply want to serve you purely, O Lord. So once a devotee asked Prabhupada, Prabhupada, I want to serve you life after life.
And Prabhupada replied, don’t make me come back life after life to accept your service. Get purified and come to Krishna. So of course, we understand at one level the pure intention or the pure devotion means you simply want to selflessly serve Krishna.
But we are not at that level right now. So for us, we need to strive to practise bhakti in the mode of goodness. We want to go to transcendence, but we cannot artificially go into transcendence.
So we try to cultivate goodness and from goodness, transcendence will emerge. So for us, if we understand vidyam cha vidyam cha yas tad vedo bhayamsa I understand the nature of the material world and how it is filled with distress. I understand the nature of the spiritual world and how it is filled with ecstasy.
And therefore, a desire to follow the process will take me from the material world to the spiritual world. So of course, as devotees, even when we want to go to the spiritual world, it is not for our own selfish purposes. We want to go to the spiritual world so that we can serve Krishna better.
In this world, even when we want to serve Krishna, still our mind comes in the way, our body limits us, the world obstructs us. So basically, in this world when we try to serve Krishna, the mind distracts us, the body limits us and the world obstructs us. So because of this, we can’t serve Krishna to our heart’s content.
And so the devotee wants to be free from this world and this body by which we can serve Krishna more. So devotional service in the mode of goodness is definitely better than in ignorance or passion. We want to come towards transcendence and that will happen gradually through the process of steady purification.
While we are trying to move towards transcendence by the practise of Upabhakti, sometimes we may misapply the principles of devotion and mistake our passion or ignorance to be transcendence. With respect to starting Bhakti, we could say that the three modes are like this. I can be in ignorance, I can be in passion, I can be in goodness.
From wherever I am, I can start Bhakti. In fact, if you see the Bhagavatam, the fourth canto describes, the third, fourth canto describes Kardam Muni’s devotion, which is devotion in the mode of goodness, because he is a good person. Fourth canto describes Dhruva’s pastime.
And Dhruva’s devotion is in the mode of passion. From passion, he goes towards transcendence. Sixth canto describes Vritrasura’s pastime.
Vritrasura is a demon, he is in the mode of ignorance, but from there also he goes to transcendence. So in one sense, Bhakti can be started off from anywhere. We can be in ignorance, we can be in passion, we can be in goodness, we can start off Bhakti.
However, to sustain Bhakti, we need some level of goodness. So the universality of Bhakti is that the doors to devotion are open from any mode. However, to maintain anything, maintenance is a characteristic of the mode of goodness.
In passion, we want to start new things. In ignorance, we just want to destroy everything. But to maintain requires goodness.
So just as maintaining anything requires goodness, similarly, maintaining Bhakti also requires goodness. So that’s why we may be from any mode, even a person who is alcoholic, who is drunk and in the mode of ignorance, they may see devotees dancing in kirtans on the streets, and an alcoholic may also join. An alcoholic may also experience ecstasy.
And sometimes we are dancing, we are doing kirtans every day, and sometimes we feel this alcoholic is experiencing more ecstasy than what I am experiencing. That’s simply because for them there is newness over there. The taste of Krishna Bhakti is new.
But for that alcoholic, if they get that experience, that is good. But from there, if they want to get that experience regularly, they have to practise Bhakti regularly. And that practising of Bhakti regularly requires coming to the mode of goodness.
So in general, if we want to sustain our devotion, if you want to sustain our relationships in our devotion, if you want to sustain our movement, which is meant to share devotion, we need to come to the mode of goodness. One idea on understanding the mode of goodness is that whatever we are doing, we need to do it for the long haul. I was talking with a senior disciple recently.
He was telling that the mood of exuberance when Prabhupada’s time was there, he said that we felt as if in the next few days, we are going to take over the world. And a few months after that, we are going to become pure devotees, and we’ll all go back to Godhead. So that was the exuberant mood that Sri Prabhupada created.
But then as the months passed, years passed, we started understanding that this takes a long time. I have to keep practising. So in the mode of passion, in the Bhakti Samhita, there’s a conception of bhoga and tyaga.
In the mode of passion, I take something up very enthusiastically, and in the mode of exuberance, I give it up. Sometimes we do that with respect to our devotion also. One day I say that, like there’s one devotee who decided to go to Vrindavan, and he said, I want to go to Vrindavan, I want to stay in Vrindavan, and I want to chant 128 rounds every day.
And he has left, and now his spiritual master, other devotees, please don’t go to Vrindavan. Stay where you are, chant prescribed rounds. He said, no, I want to go to Vrindavan.
He went to Vrindavan, and he was chanting 128 rounds for a few days. And after some days, the devotees found that he was at a petrol pump, serving some petrol for a gas station, spilling gas for people. He says, what happened? He says, you’re going to chant 128 rounds? Yes, he says, I chanted 128 rounds.
Now I’ve chanted enough rounds for the rest of my life. I’m not going to chant anymore. So what happened? We try to be over-enthusiastic in passion, and we try to do too much.
And when that is not sustainable, we go off into ignorance. And we just give it up completely. So rather than that, we have to say, what is the practise of bhakti that is sustainable for me? Sustainable means that I want to do it today, I want to do it tomorrow, and I should be able to do it lifelong.
Now, of course, doing it lifelong doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to expect the same degree of struggle lifelong. There will be struggle in the practise of bhakti. But as we keep practising bhakti, the devotional impressions start becoming more and more within us.
And the non-devotional impressions start going down. And when that happens, the struggle internally goes down. The struggle will be there because the non-devotional impressions are there within us.
But as the devotional impressions start becoming more and more, the struggle becomes lesser and lesser. Say, if we have particular conditioning, that means that is like a particular decision or inclination that is there in the mind. Say, if somebody is using a computer and they’re visiting a particular website.
Now, if they’re visited repeatedly, suppose they’re visited in India, the movie industry is called Bollywood. So they visit Bollywood.com repeatedly. Now, they come to a temple.
And in the temple, they come to a spiritual programme. They hear about the Bhagavad Gita. I want to know what is this Bhagavad Gita.
And then they go on type B. As soon as they type B, what happens? Bollywood.com. So they wanted Bhagavad Gita, but what came up was Bollywood.com. But if they keep visiting Bhagavad Gita again and again and again and again, then what will happen eventually? After some time, that Bollywood.com will go into the background and it will not come. The recent search history would be, if I type B, after some time, Bhagavad Gita will come. So like that, for us, based on the past conditioning that we have, even if we’re trying to practise bhakti, material tendencies keep popping back, popping back, popping back again and again and again.
So why? Because that is what we have chosen earlier. But if we keep practising bhakti, we keep making devotional choices, then the devotional choice will slowly start becoming the default choice. And when that happens, then the internal struggle goes down substantially.
That is when we become purified. That means the internal struggle is not there. And that is how we can pursue the process of bhakti steadily.
When we are in the mode of goodness, also it is goodness that is required for not just getting purity. So I talked about goodness will bring sustainability in our bhakti. Goodness will gradually, the sustainable practise of bhakti will bring purity.
And lastly, it is goodness that is required for harmony. Harmony means within the devotee community, if we are too much in the mode of passion or too much in the mode of ignorance, in the mode of passion, we want to be controllers. In the mode of ignorance, we feel nothing is in my control and we feel sorry for ourselves.
So, in the mode of goodness, we think that I am in charge and everybody has to do what I am telling them to do. And if people do not do what they are telling them to do, we get very angry. And then there can be, you could say there is authority, and the authority, if they are in the mode of passion, they may abuse the power to dominate people.
But if we are in the mode of ignorance, we go to the other sixth stream. What happens in the mode of ignorance? We just start blaming, complaining, scapegoating. So, in passion, we overestimate our capacity to control.
Now, I am in charge, I am telling you, why don’t you do this? I was talking with one devotee and everybody was complaining about this devotee that he gets angry very much with everyone, shouts at, yells at everyone, hurts everyone. And then when I talked with this devotee, he said, if they would do what I was telling them to do, I wouldn’t have to yell at them. So, rather than accepting responsibility, that I am being short-tempered, he was blaming them, if they don’t listen to me, that’s why I have to yell at them.
So, yes, people are not our slaves that they will always have to listen to us. We have to explain to them properly, and sometimes they will do it, sometimes they will not do it. But still, the important thing is how we conduct.
So, in the mode of passion, there is an expectation that I should be able to control. And if I don’t control, I start bossing, I start exploiting others, abusing others. In the mode of ignorance, there is an underestimation of our capacity to control, because of which we feel, oh, this person is like this, this person is like that, that person is like that.
Just start blaming others. Now, life is complicated, and there are no easy solutions to life’s problems. Each of us has to find our way, struggle against our conditionings, struggle against our conditions, and move forward in life.
But the conditioned mind does not want to go through all this trouble. So, the conditioned mind takes a shortcut and finds someone to blame. So, each, it’s almost, I have travelled to so many countries, every country in the world thinks that their neighbour is the cause of their problems.
America thinks it’s Mexico, India thinks it’s Pakistan. Every country has an issue with their neighbours. It’s almost a universal human tendency.
So, what happens is that, when we are in the mode of ignorance, rather doing the hard work of trying to deal with life’s problems, we find a quick explanation. Because this person is like this, the problems are there. In our movement also, there are so many people who try to find out, you know, because of this thing, there are so many problems.
Because of this thing, there are so many problems. Because of this thing, so many problems. And you can have so much criticism.
But this trying to find a quick or easy explanation for complex problems is simply a sign of a lazy intelligence. Which is, which is simply looking for a scapegoat. So, when either we have the domineering mentality or the blaming mentality, there cannot be harmony.
But when we are in the mode of goodness, then we understand that I am a servant of Krishna, I am trying to purify myself. This person is a servant of Krishna, they are also trying to purify themselves. And let us try to work together for purifying, for getting purified.
I will conclude with two points. I was once giving a class and I was telling that, I was talking about tolerance. I said that we all have to tolerate some things in our life.
So, what do we have to tolerate? So, one devotee raised his hand very enthusiastically. I said, yes. He said, we have to tolerate devotees.
So, I said, yes. There is a good realisation that even if we have some difficulties, still we should tolerate devotees and move on in our spiritual life. But as we advance, we will also get another realisation that actually devotees are tolerating us.
It is not that we are, I am so good, this person is so bad, this person is troubling me. But actually, I also have my conditions. And because of my condition, others are also being troubled.
Others are also tolerating. So, generally, how can we get this vision that we need to tolerate each other and we need to move on in our life? Of course, everybody has some good side which we may like and there is some bad side which we may not like. But if we equate people with their conditionings, this person is so forgetful, this person is so short tempered, this person is so unclean, this person is so judgemental, whatever.
We equate people with their conditionings, then it becomes they against us. But instead of that, we see that the person is different from their conditioning. Just as I have my conditioning, I am here, my conditioning is here.
So, they are here, their conditioning is here. And their conditioning may create trouble for me and my conditioning will create trouble for them. But instead of seeing that this person and their conditioning are one and they are creating trouble for me and they will see that I and my conditioning are one and I am creating trouble for them.
But instead, we can separate this. Just as we want to overcome our conditioning, but it’s difficult for us. Similarly, they also want to overcome their conditioning, but it’s difficult for them.
So, what we do is, we see that even if there is a conflict among devotees, it is not a conflict between me and you. It is a conflict caused by your conditioning causing a friction with my conditioning. So, we will learn to separate this.
We learn to separate people from their conditioning. Then we won’t become so judgemental, so aggressive or so domineering. This person has this conditioning, let’s try to work with it.
Let’s try to, just as I have to live with my conditioning, they have to live with their condition. As I am working and slowly I will overcome my conditionings, they will also work and slowly overcome their conditionings. Sometimes it may happen that with some people it is difficult to work.
Then we may keep some distance, but we won’t have to go on a tirade against anyone. Just say, okay, I am trying to serve Krishna and they are trying to serve Krishna. This is all like a hospital.
And our purpose here is to make sure that we get treated and we get cured. So, I may have a different disease and you may have a different disease. So, what I do is, I have a disease because of which I am constantly coughing, coughing, coughing, coughing.
And you want to sleep, but you are not able to sleep because of my coughing. But then you may have a disease because of which you snore very loudly. And then when I am sleeping, I get up awake because of your snoring.
So, what do we do? Each of us has our conditionings. We understand that this is a hospital and the purpose here is not enjoyment. The purpose is treatment.
So, let us do the best that we can. Shrila Prabhupada would say, let’s make the best of a bad bargain. Of course, it’s not that all devotees we have to tolerate.
Some devotees are so wonderful that their association inspires us. We look forward to it. But there will be some devotees who will be difficult to get along with.
So, we need some association that will give us strength. And by that strength, some association which takes away our strength. And working with some devotees inspires us.
And working with some devotees makes us perspire. So, now for all of us, there will be people in both categories. So, what do we do at that time? We need to have enough association of those who inspire us so that we can tolerate those who cause us to perspire.
If we seek only this, it’s not going to work. We expect that all devotees should be inspired. I want an ideal community.
That’s not going to work because there is no ideal community in this world. We are all conditioned souls. And even if there were an ideal community, we would not get admission there.
Because we are not ideal. So, what do we do? There are some devotees who inspire us. We take their association and gain strength from there.
And those who cause us to perspire, we learn to use this strength to tolerate that. And thus, when we move forwards, then there can be harmony in the community of devotees as we all move towards Krishna. So, I’ll summarise what I spoke today.
I spoke on devotion in the mode of goodness. And I spoke that actually, actions themselves can be in particular modes. So, devotion itself is transited.
But the intention can also make their action be manifested in a different mode. Just like charity is considered good. But somebody giving free alcohol to somebody else, who then drives and causes an accident, that’s an ignorance.
So, austerity is in goodness. But austerity done for destructive purposes is an ignorance. So, devotion itself is transcendental.
I discussed how unmotivated and uninterrupted can be characteristics of devotion itself. They can be characteristics of how a devotee should perform devotion, both ways. So, devotion itself is transcendental.
But we, based on the mode we are in, we will act that way. And accordingly, the results of the devotion will be there. So, in the mode of goodness, the immediate result is knowledge.
We get clarity. This is what I should do. This is what I should not do.
The intermediate result is purity. And the ultimate result is that we get elevated to a higher destination. So, same way, if we want to sustain the practise of bhakti, we need some amount of goodness.
Because sustainability, that is the characteristic of the mode of goodness. Otherwise, starting devotion can be done from any mode. Dhruva started from passion.
Kartham Muni started from goodness. Vritrasu started from ignorance. But they all attained transcendence.
But to sustain lifelong practise of bhakti, we need goodness. If we are in passion or ignorance, in passion we overestimate our capacity to think. In a few days, I will become a pure devotee.
In ignorance, when we feel that I can’t follow these high standards, I just give up the practise. So, I chant too many rounds for some time and then give up the chanting entirely. But in goodness, we practise at a level that we can sustain lifelong.
So, practise in goodness gives sustainability. And by sustained practise, gradually we get purity. In the material conception, we worship God so that he will fulfil our desires and he will help us perform pastimes in this world.
In this pure devotion, we want to assist him in his pastimes. In goodness, we want to become purified because this world, we can’t serve him to our heart’s content. Our mind distracts us, our body limits us.
The world obstructs us. So, at our level, we can’t artificially imagine like the gopis that, Oh, I want to serve Krishna for his pleasure. I’m ready to take up any trouble for that.
It’s a good aspiration. But right now, it’s safer to be in goodness. Don’t make me come back again and again in this world.
So, in practising goodness, we’ll also promote harmony. If we practise bhakti in passion, we will want to control others and not be able to control and frustrate us and we will abuse others because of that. In the mode of ignorance, we will simply be looking for scapegoats to blame for our problems and the world’s problems.
The tendency to find quick explanations for complex problems is a sign of intellectual laziness, which is a characteristic of ignorance. In goodness, when we practise bhakti, we understand that just like me, everybody has their conditionings. And rather than equating people with their conditionings and seeing them as a problem creators, as for us, we separate them from the conditionings and understand that their conditionings create problem for me, my condition create problem for them.
So, let us try to together fight against these conditionings. We see each other as partners rather than as antagonists in the battle against the conditionings. And to tolerate devotees with whom we find difficulties, we need the association of devotees who inspire us.
And when we get a balance of the association that is inspiring, then even if that association which causes us to perspire, we’ll be able to tolerate it and move towards Krishna. Thank you very much. So, how does Prabhupada talk about 81 over there? Basically, he says that there are three modes and you can do hearing in goodness, hearing in passion, hearing in ignorance.
And the hearer themselves can be in goodness, passion and ignorance. So, hearing itself, the activity can be done in goodness, passion, ignorance. And the hearer can also be in goodness, passion, ignorance.
So, 9 into 3 and 3 becomes 81 like that. The activity and the performer activity, their mode also. So, will our conditionings affect the way we hear? So, our conditionings, they prompt us to act in particular ways.
They push us, but they don’t force us. So, we also have a capacity to counter-push. That means if somebody is an alcoholic, the conditioning constantly prompt, drink, drink, drink, but they can choose not to drink.
They can counter-push. Now, the capacity to counter-push may vary from person to person. So, for example, if I am in the mode of goodness, I will be looking for some good insight.
Okay, what nice points, philosophy. If I am in the mode of passion, I may just be looking for entertainment while hearing. If I am in the mode of ignorance, I am just looking at the watch to get out and go back to sleep.
So, that may affect me in my conditionings. But rather than thinking of conditionings, these modes, they are also dynamic. Sometimes we are in goodness, sometimes we are in passion, sometimes we are in ignorance.
So, if we strive to do devotional activities in the mode of goodness, that means then the effect will be more for us. If we have not had enough sleep, we are just battling against sleep, then our japa will not be that good, our hearing will not be that good. We know one important principle in fighting the mode of ignorance is not being ignorant about the needs of the body.
If I think that I can get along when my body needs six hours sleep, I think I will get along with four hours sleep, then I am being ignorant about the needs of the body. So, that is actually the mode of ignorance. And acting that way, I increase the mode of ignorance within me.
So, even when I could be hearing and rising to transcendence, I stay in ignorance even at that time. So, basically, our body-mind will prompt us in particular ways. But if we learn to choose judiciously, choose and plan wisely, then we can increase the higher mode within us and that will have the bhakti affecting us more efficaciously.
So, even if I am sleeping in a bhagavatam class, still the sound vibration is going in my ears and I am getting purified. But if I am awake and hearing, the purification is going to be much, much more. So, the mode in which I am, that affects the potency with which the speed, the efficacy with which bhakti will act on me.
Does that address your question? Yes, go on. Just reflecting on myself, I can recognise in myself certain… Now, can we say, or is it I have a proper understanding that not necessarily the extended maintenance is caused by the moral goodness, but let me try to make it clear. I’m not sure if I feel that throughout my devotional life, which being now, you know, I can feel that, you know, I’m making this very substantial advance in moral goodness.
I still feel that I’m living with some of the same conditions that I have. Okay, yeah. Yeah, so I get it.
So if after practise of bhakti also we don’t feel we have come much to the mode of goodness, that we are still facing the same conditionings, how do we understand this? In 5.23 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, He says that if we can tolerate lifelong the forces of desire and anger till we leave our body, then we are well situated to attain liberation and we will be happy. So here Krishna is not saying that we have to become free from these. So, if we can just tolerate this lifelong, what does this mean? It means primarily that we have to gauge our spiritual advancement, not so much by the change of our desires as by the change of our values.
See, desires keep flickering because the world is filled with so many temptations. They’ll cause sometimes lust, sometimes greed, sometimes anger. These will keep coming.
But values means, what do we value? See, when people are materialistic, if some sensual stimulus comes up, they open, they roll out the red carpet. I want to see this more and more and more. But when we become devotees, we lift up the red flag.
Stop! So, that is a change of value. So, the same stimulus is coming in and that is causing some response within me. But the nature of the response is very different.
I am not looking forward to it. I am not trying to titillate myself more and more. I am trying to decrease it, to eliminate it.
This change of value itself is a sign of spiritual advancement. So, as long as we are in the material world, the nature of the material world is that some desires will come. Sometimes we just live with different kinds of people and sometimes people will behave in a way that will irritate us.
So, we may feel depressed when bad things happen. This is just being human. It is, say like, if the weather is cold, I will feel cold.
Is it that because I am spiritually advanced, I will stop feeling cold? No. I will feel cold, but if I am spiritually very neophyte, then that cold, I will not wake up in the morning only. But if I am spiritually serious, then despite the cold, I will wake up and I will try to practise my bhakti.
So, the cold, feeling cold is simply a physical response to a physical stimulus. Similarly, there are certain emotional responses to certain emotional stimuli. So, if somebody just disappoints us, somebody betrays us, then we will feel hurt.
If a loved one passes away, we will feel a sense of loss. If some tempting object comes up, we will feel some attraction. These are simply responses to stimuli.
But what do we do about it? Determination means that our intention stays above our emotion. Determination means that our intention stays above our emotion. Emotions come, but our intention says, I am going to do this no matter what happens.
अव्यभिचारेन भक्तियोगेन सेवते सगुणान समतीत्यैतान ब्रह्मभुयाय कल्पते So, the very fact that we have been practising bhakti for many, many years, indicates that we have got some taste. Indicates that our value has changed substantially, because of which, in spite of the temptations, in spite of the struggles, we are still persevering in the path of bhakti. So, we can look for our advancement more in terms of change of values than change of desires.
And secondly, the change of desires, if the desires will come, the negative emotions, the unwanted anarthas will pop up, but they will not stay that long. If you consider, the graph of our consciousness is like a sine wave. Some people call the sine wave causes a sin wave, it makes us do wrong things.
But the sine wave, its amplitudes will not be that high. So, when I feel elated, I won’t be too much excited. When I am feeling disappointed, it won’t just go and crush me down.
It will become steadier, steadier. Not only will it become steadier, the overall graph will not be like this. The overall graph is going like this up.
So, there is happiness and there is happiness level. All of us feel sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy. But, when there is no major external stimulus that is happening in our life, where does our consciousness return to? So, if I am in the mode of ignorance, then when I have nothing to do, I just feel so irritated.
I am complaining about this, that, that, that. When I am in passion, when I have nothing to do, my consciousness goes back to craving. If only I could get this, if only I could get that.
But, if I am in goodness, even when I have nothing to do, I feel satisfied. I want to do this, but I am contented where I am. So, basically the practise of bhakti may not seem to increase our happiness at a moment to moment level.
Because, we will go through the routine emotions of life, because life itself is problematic in the material world. But, our overall happiness level will rise up. So, I told about the graph of consciousness.
The waves will become less, less turbulent. And secondly, the graph will slowly be moving upwards. Where our happiness level will increase.
So, in general, if you want to look at our spiritual advancement, we have to see from a more long term perspective. Long term perspective means, what were my values 5 years ago? What were my values 10 years ago? And, what are they now? Sometimes, some children are not eating food. And, the mother might say, you take this milk, you will become strong.
And, the child drinks a glass of milk and then takes a tape to measure. Have I become strong? It doesn’t work like that. You have to keep drinking regularly milk.
And, then you will become strong. So, similarly, it is not that, okay, I chanted today, now the desire has gone off. Or, that negative thing, you know.
It happens gradually. So, just as growth has to be measured, growth is incremental. It is happening continuously.
But, the result, the manifestation of growth to our perception is not continuous. At a particular point, oh, you know, 6 months ago, I couldn’t lift this weight. Now, I am able to lift this weight.
I have grown. So, like that, the same difficulties which we are facing now. If we think, 10 years ago, if this difficulty had come, what would have happened? How would I have responded? And, now this difficulty has come, how am I responding? We will see that our maturity is greater.
Our capacity to deal with difficult situations is much higher. And, that indicates that we are advancing. The process of bhakti is evolutionary.
It is gradually taking us up. But, the result of bhakti is revolutionary. So, thank you very much.