Seek not moments of devotion – seek momentum in devotion

[Congregation program at London, UK]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. I’m grateful to be here amongst all of you today evening. And as mentioned, I’ll speak today on the topic of Seek not moments of devotion, seek momentum in devotion.
I’ll explain first what I mean by this topic. All of us are innately looking for happiness. And even when we come to a spiritual path, at that time too, we seek happiness.
And especially in today’s world, the word spiritual is quite cool. People want to be spiritual and they say that I want to have spiritual experiences. I just came from America, I was there for two and a half months.
So I was in Las Vegas and there the devotees asked me to speak on the topic of spiritual but not religious. So this is one of the largest growing groups of people who self-identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. They call themselves as BNR.
So their idea is that spirituality is very good. Be open-minded, explore some higher aspects of life and have some experiences. But they think that being religious means being narrow-minded, being dogmatic, having to believe in some ideology.
That I don’t want to do. But I want to have experiences. So this idea of wanting to have some special experiences, see something special, feel something special, do something special.
These are moments that everyone looks forward to. It’s not just people who are in this spiritual but not religious group. They want some special experiences in life.
And even when we are practising bhakti, we also look forward. Sometimes when there is a beautiful darshan, a very special kirtan, we may go to the holy place, Vrindavan or Mayapur, there are some special sublime experiences. So these are all what we could say as our moments of devotion.
And we long for these moments of devotion. At the same time, spiritual growth is not just a matter of experiencing some moments. It is actually a matter of inner transformation.
So this is the material level of reality and this is the spiritual level of reality. And there is a process from rising to the material level to the spiritual level. Sometimes while we are at the material level also, we may experience some special moments.
So that is like a glimpse of what lies in the spiritual path ahead. But along with that, it’s important that if you want to not just have occasional spiritual experiences, but a steady spiritual realisation, then we have to rise from the material level of reality to the spiritual level of reality. And that requires steady, committed practise.
We need to move from the material level to the spiritual level. That is what momentum is about. Momentum means we are moving forward in our spiritual journey till we ultimately attain Krishna, till we become absorbed in love for Krishna.
So when we come to the spiritual level, at that time, not only will we have moments of devotion, we will have constant devotion. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Sanjay is giving his realisations. Tattva samsmutya samsmutya Sambhadam adbhutam Keshavarjuna yo punyam Hrishyamichi muhurmaho Rajan samsmutya samsmutya Roopamadhyadbhutam ahre Vishmayo me mahan rajan Hrishyamichi punha punha So in 76th and 77th verses, 78th of the 18th chapter, the last verse, in the two penultimate verses, twice he uses the word Hrishyami.
I am thrilled. And he is not just thrilled, occasionally, muhurmaho, again and again. So the next verse is punha punha.
Same point. I am constantly thrilled. And what is the source of this being thrilled? Two things he says.
One is, I am remembering. Tattva samsmutya samsmutya What is he remembering? First he says, I am just remembering the message of the Gita. Sambhadam adbhutam This amazing conversation between Keshavarjuna yo punyam Between Keshava and Arjuna.
There is a conversation of the Gita. And what is the conversation of the Gita about? It is not just some abstract philosophical conversation. Ultimately, the substance of the conversation is devotion to Krishna.
I am remembering Krishna. Roopamatya adbhutam hare he Then Krishna, who was the charioteer of Arjuna, suddenly revealed his Vishwaroopa. And how amazing it is that that form which subsumes the whole universe, that form is also manifested on a chariot.
So, even when Krishna Even when Krishna is within the universe, the universe is within him. Krishna is within the universe on the chariot. Chariot is one tiny part of the whole universe.
On that chariot, on one part, he is standing. But even when Krishna is standing, within the universe, the universe is within him. So how amazing is this? Think about this and thrill.
So here, he is talking about the state of being thrilled constantly. But this is through attaining the spiritual level of reality. There is a fundamental difference between how people think of spirituality and how the Bhagavad Gita defines spirituality.
Many people nowadays think of spirituality as anything that makes them feel good. Anything which makes you feel peaceful, which makes you feel calm, which makes you feel nice. That is spiritual.
So some people may just go to some beautiful mountain area, look at the sky, look at the rivers, look at the greenery. Such a spiritual place. Well, it can be.
It depends on consciousness. But spiritual, here what people think of spiritual is simply a state of the mind. So before I was introduced to Krishna Bhakti, around 25 years ago, I was searching the spiritual path.
So I had gone to one spiritual programme. And this teacher, he was, he told us, now I will give all of your spiritual experience. So all of you, please close your eyes.
And, that you are sitting on the banks and feel the waves of the river, a sweet rustling sound is there. In your ears, you can feel the breeze of the mountain. You can feel the soft grass under you.
In front of you, you see a huge mountain. On top, there are clouds which are touching the top of the mountain. The greenery of the mountain and the dark colour of the clouds are merging together to create a serene sound.
You are breathing in the fresh air. All the stress from your body is going. You are peaceful.
You are joyful. You are spiritual. And at that moment, you are spiritual.
There is a loud car crash outside the room. Bang! Bang! So, actually till the end, many of us are feeling very good. So yes, so what the idea over here is, that if we can just go into a state of mind which is peaceful and calm and nice, that is spiritual.
So yes, that peaceful, calm, good feeling is a result of being spiritual. But just being that, feeling that way is not necessarily spiritual. Sometimes somebody may go and watch a comedy show and they may laugh and laugh.
Is that spiritual? Not necessarily. So basically, here people think that spirituality or being spiritual is a state of mind. If your mind goes in a particular state, if you are having a particular experience, that means you are spiritual.
It can be. But spirituality is not just a state of the mind. It is a state of being.
State of being means our consciousness currently is at the material level. When the consciousness rises to the spiritual level, that is when we become spiritual. What do I mean by the consciousness rising to the spiritual level? The Bhagavad Gita explains in its first teaching that beyond the body is the soul.
That there are two distinct natures. na sato vidyate bhavo na bhavo vidyate sathah upayor vidrishton tas tvanyo sattva-darshivye In the second chapter, the 16th verse, Krishna talks about this. na sato vidyate bhavo That, that which is temporary, the material, it has no endurance.
It constantly keeps changing. na bhavo vidyate sathah That which is eternal, it has no cessation. It just stays on and on and on.
This verse is actually telling a very profound truth. That the material world is constantly changing. So right now, say I am looking at you, you are looking at me, you are sitting on a chair, I am sitting on a chair.
Now we think this chair is a firm, solid object. You think that chair is a firm, solid object. Yes, it is.
But it is also not. In the sense that everything is constantly changing. In our own body, cells are dying, cells are being reborn.
So, just as if we look at a candle, when we look at the candle, we see a flame continuously. But actually, there is no such thing as a continuous flame. As the wick of the candle is burning, the burning causes the flame to appear.
For us, the flame appears to be continuous, but the flame is not continuous. It is, as some wick particles are burning, they are causing the flame. Then as those wick particles die out, then other wick particles burn, and that causes the flame.
So the flame is constantly changing. But to our eyes, it appears as if it is constantly the same. It is just the same.
This is an optical illusion created because the change happens so subtly and so swiftly that we don’t perceive it. Another example, more common, of this optical illusion is, say, Diwali firecrackers. Suppose somebody lights a stick, and it’s a sparkling stick they light, and then they start moving it round and round.
As they keep moving it round and round, what happens? It appears to be a circle. Now, is it a circle? No, it is only one stick which is moving. But if it is moved fast enough, before our eyes can shift, and see from here to here to here to here, actually, it just moves on and on.
That’s how the illusion of motion is created. Now, there is a real stick. The stick is not false.
The stick’s flame is also true. But the idea that the flame is a circle, that is not true. So, another example could be a movie.
When we see it on a TV theatre or a movie theatre, when we go and see, actually, there is no such thing as a continuous motion. There are scenes which are changing at a very high speed. There is one picture, say, the hero and villain are fighting.
So, both of them have raised their fists and they are fighting. Next moment, the hero’s fist has moved forward. The villain’s has moved back.
So, there are hundreds of pictures within a minute. And these pictures are flashed so fast that it appears as if there is motion. So, now, just as the movie is simply a sequence of high-speed motion, a sequence of images move very fast so that they are continuous.
Same applies to the world also. The world is constantly changing. But because this change happens at such a level, so we don’t perceive it.
In fact, there are some schools of thought, especially some Buddhistic schools of thought, they give this example that just as the candle, because when it is constantly changing, there is only an appearance of reality, but there is no reality. So, they say, similarly, actually there is nothing real in this world. Everything is an illusion.
It is just an appearance. Now, the Bhagavad Gita does not agree with this understanding. It says that there has to be something real.
The way it appears to be is not what it actually is. There is a real flame. There are real photos.
The photos are real, but the way they appear to us as a movie, that is not what it is. Similarly, the world is real. It exists.
And not only does the world exist, even if we say, there is no such thing as a flame existing, it is only a perception that is an illusion. But then the question comes up, who is the perceiver? For a perception to be true or false, first of all, there has to be a perceiver who is real. If there is nobody perceiving it, then who will say that this is true or this is false? In a computer, in a multiple choice exam, is the answer right or wrong? The answer itself may be right or wrong, but there is somebody who gives the answer, somebody who tests the answer.
So, our conscious perceptions may be an illusion. Let us say, there will be a mirage and I will see it to be water. So, my perception, which is done using my consciousness, that is an illusion.
Our conscious perception may be an illusion, but our consciousness itself is not an illusion. If consciousness were not there, no perception would be possible. So, just by this simple thought experiment, what we understand is that there are two levels of reality.
There is the internal material reality, which is changing constantly, and there is the internal reality of consciousness, which is observing it all. So, now, there is the observed reality and there is the observer. Interestingly, there is a link between the two, that the world is out there, whoever is observing is in here.
But there is something in between the two. To understand what is there in between, let us do a thought experiment. Wherever you are seated, you will close your eyes.
And you close your eyes, and with me you can take three deep breaths. One, two. Now, with your eyes closed, try to see what is in front of you, what appears in front of you.
Because your eyes are closed, you cannot see what is physically out there. But still, there is as if a screen inside you. And on that screen, various objects may appear.
Either you might see this room, you might see your home, your car, your loved one, your phone. Similarly, various images may come and go on that inner screen. Or, it may be that you see just a dull gaze of colours on that inner screen.
Whatever it is that you see, you see it on the inner screen. Now, while you are observing this inner screen, try to take a step back and catch sight of who it is that is observing that inner screen. Try to take a step back and see who is the observer of that inner screen.
Try to look at the inner seer. No matter how many steps you take back, you can’t, no matter how many steps you take back, the inner seer steps back with you. What you are looking for is what you are looking with.
That inner seer is you, the soul. That inner screen is the mind. You can take one deep breath.
Thank you. So here, the point is that the world out there is projected onto our inner screen. And then we see what appears on the inner screen.
Say, right now you are hearing and I am speaking, so you are looking at me, so I appear on your inner screen. But at the same time, say if a door opens in the background and you hear the door opening and if you are expecting someone to come, then immediately a door opening and the door zooms up on your inner screen. Who is coming? So basically, we connect with the world through the screen on which it appears.
Now the thing, why am I talking about this? That inside us, there are two things. Inside us, there is the inner screen and there is the inner seer. The physical world, we could call it the outer scene.
So the outer scene, the inner screen and the inner seer. When the three come together, that is when perception happens. So if I am speaking to you right now, if suddenly you start thinking of something else, then you may say, what did I speak? You may ask your neighbour, what did I speak about? So what has happened? The inner screen has started going somewhere else, seeing something else, hearing something else.
So, when people say, I talk about that thought experiment, the projection experiment, which the spiritual teacher had done. Now think of a mountain, think of a river, think of a breeze. What were they doing by that? They were trying to get a nice image on the inner screen.
And if you get nice, peaceful, good images on the inner screen, that is what they call as spiritual. But actually, the inner screen is the mind. Whereas, it is the inner seer who is spiritual.
The inner seer is the soul who is different. And that soul is who we are. That soul is indestructible.
That soul is transcendental. That soul is beyond this world entirely. The example is given, the statement is made, this is 30.32 in the Gita, and 33.34 gives examples.
That this soul exists beyond time. Everything in this world exists in the fabric of time and space. But, exists beyond time.
It exists beyond space. The modes are what create the substratum of everything that exists in the world. So, space also exists as a product of the modes.
That atma is param, is transcendental, is beyond. It is situated in the sharira, in the body, but still, it is transcendental. It is, the soul itself doesn’t do anything, and the soul is not bound by anything.
And then two examples are given for this. At this time, there is a sky, which is high up in the sky. The sky is vast and unaffected.
In the sky, sometimes there will be clouds, sometimes there will be fog, sometimes there will be smog. Now, in the sky, many things will come and go, but the sky itself remains unaffected. So, similarly, the soul is beyond everything.
And whatever emotions come inside us, whatever stimulations come outside us, they are coming in that sky. But the sky itself is not affected. Just like, there might be a big storm, but, even if there is a storm, the sky itself is not affected by the storm.
The storm is in the sky, but the sky is not affected by it. And the next example it gives is, the Gita gives is that, just as the sun illumines the whole world, similarly, the soul illumines the body with consciousness. So, now this is also an interesting example.
The sun is far away from the earth, but, the sun illumines the earth and it activates the earth. But the sun is not on the earth. The sun’s rays are projected onto the earth.
similarly, Kshetram, Kshetritha, Krishnam, Prakashyati Bharata, Krishna says the Kshetri, that is the soul, illumines the Kshetra, that is the body. So, right now, the soul is present in the body, but the soul is not not restricted to the body. The soul is different from the body.
So, just as the sun by its rays activates things on the earth, when the sun rises, the flowers start blooming, the birds start chirping, nature wakes up, similarly, the soul is what activates the body. But still, the soul is different. So, understanding this soul is actually spiritual realisation.
So, becoming spiritual is not just getting nice images on the screen inside us. Becoming spiritual means realising that we are the seers of that screen. And of course, this is spiritual realisation, but the Bhagavad Gita explains that the soul is a part of the whole and that whole is Krishna.
So, Krishna is eternally existing beyond this world and he is right next to us. But through whatever we may go through in life, we may go through ups, downs, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, Krishna is always there with us in our hearts. And, to the extent we become connected with Krishna, to that extent, we stay at the spiritual level of consciousness.
So, basically, becoming spiritual is a state in which we, our consciousness rises from the outer world. Till now, I took this metaphor in a horizontal way. There is the outer scene, there is the inner screen and there is the inner seer.
Now, we could take this in a vertical way. There is a multi-storied building. So, the ground level is physical reality.
Do you call in UK ground level or first level? Ground level. In America, they call level one, level two, level three. So, ground level is physical reality.
If there is a two-story building, the first level would be the mental reality and the second level would be the spiritual reality. So, people think that okay, if you just can get nice images on the mental level, that will make you peaceful. But, it may make you peaceful temporarily.
But, the nature of the mind is this thought will pop up, that thought will pop up and sooner or later some agitating stimuli will come about. We can’t really entirely control what appears on the inner screen. But, if we understand that I am different from this inner screen, that I am the inner seer, different from this, then, no matter what happens in the outer seal and no matter what appears on the inner screen, we can stay peaceful.
So, we rise to the second level in the building and then that’s the spiritual level. So, there is a process for climbing up. So, that’s what seek moments of devotion would mean.
Moments when I feel very good. That means some nice things appear on the inner screen and I feel so good about it. It’s nice if we get it.
But, momentum in devotion means we rise from the ground level to the second level. We get into elevator and we keep the elevator moving and it rises and rises and rises till it comes to the spiritual level, second level. Come to second level, that is where we are peaceful.
That is where we are joyful. Brahma, Bhuta, Prasannatma, Nashochati, Krishna says in 18.54, we come to the Brahman level and at that time we go beyond hankering and lamentation. You see, often we feel I have this problem, I have this problem, this is not working out, that is not working out.
There are specific things which don’t work out. But, if we consider, most of our life goes in those three things at the mental level. Hankering and lamenting.
Hankering means, oh, I want that, when will I get this, I want that. It may not just be things, I want to buy a new phone, I want to buy a new house, it could be relationships, I want a new partner, I want a child, I want this person to become like this, I want that person to become like that. So, we are hankering, this should work like that, that should work like that and we are lamenting, oh, why did this happen, why did he act like that, why did he speak like that, why did he do like that, or it may even be, why did I do like that.
So, most of our mental energy goes either hankering for something desirable or lamenting about something undesirable. And no matter what we are doing practically, we may be working at our home, cleaning our home, we may be driving a car, we may be working in our office, whenever we are not consciously engaged, so if you are driving a car and it is a very crowded situation, then we will be forced to pay attention and navigate the path. But it is a long clear road, then our mind starts wandering.
And most of its wandering, it goes towards either hankering or lamenting, oh, when will this work out, or why did this happen like this. And basically the mind goes either to the future or it goes to the past. And that way it keeps us dissatisfied.
So, some people say, okay, bring the mind to the present, whereas again this has the idea of mindfulness and live in the present. Be here now. It is a good thought.
Don’t lament about the past, don’t hanker about the future. That’s good. But sometimes, we want to live in the present, but sometimes the present is just boring.
There is a survey done of people about their mental states, especially in the western world. 5% of the time people are happy, 5% of the time people are unhappy, 90% of the time people are bored. So we say live in the present, but we just, what do we do in the present? We have to have something stimulating, something interesting to do.
And live in the present, we are not always positive. Somebody is very sick and in great pain, we tell them live in the present. Live in the present means I will have to live in the present.
much pain. So live in the present, it’s a valid point, but we live in the present, but we don’t live for the present. We live for some higher purpose.
Yes, the present is an opportunity, the present is what is in my control, the present is what I want to focus on, but what am I living for? What is the purpose of my life? That purpose is something which is missing. If I just say live in the present, that purpose is bigger than the present. And ultimately that purpose is to love and serve Krishna.
That is our internal purpose of our existence. We are souls who are parts of Krishna and we are meant to love and serve him eternally. And whatever we do in life, it is all meant to help us love and serve Krishna.
So, our families, we take care of our family members, they are not just our family members, they are souls who are parts of Krishna who are interested in our care and we serve them as a way of serving Krishna. Our jobs, our talents, our abilities, our resources, they are not just ours, they are given to us as gifts. Paurusham Rishu in 7.8 in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, I am ability in human beings.
So, our abilities are gifts given to us by Krishna. And they are meant to be used in a more of service to him. So, karmanatam abhyarja, siddhim viddhi manava, by your work worship him.
Now, some people translate this as work is worship. Now, that is not what the Bhagavad Gita teaches. If work were worship, then the donkey would be the greatest worshipper.
The donkey works very hard. Now, this is not to minimise or trivialise work as worship. Work as worship is a valid, we could say, social ethical principle.
Work as worship means every form of work should be respected. Whatever work a person may be doing, those people should be respected for the work they are doing. So, in that sense, to infuse all labour and all labourers with a sense of dignity, work as worship is a valid principle.
But work as worship is not a philosophical principle. If somebody is a thief and they say robbing banks is my work, so am I worshipping when I am robbing banks? Somebody says, okay, begging is my work. So, am I worshipping when I am begging? No, not exactly.
What Krishna says is, by your work, worship Him. So, we do our work in a mode of worship to Him. So, what this means is that for all of us, whatever we do, it is meant to be done with a higher purpose.
So, going back to that earlier example, there is the inner screen and there is the inner seer. And next to the inner seer is the supreme seer. That supreme seer is Krishna.
That supreme seer is the one whom we are always seeking. We seek relationships in this world, we seek possessions in this world. For us, it means happiness is just one purchase away.
Happiness is just one relationship away. Happiness is just one purchase away, one relationship away, one change away, maybe one increment away. If you just get this, I’ll be happy.
But what happens? Happiness is just one purchase, one increment, one relationship away and that’s how it stays all the time. No matter how many relationships we develop, no matter how many purchases we make, how many increments we get, still that’s how happiness stays. So what is happening? What we need is not just good scenes in the outer world or good images in our inner world, on the inner screen.
What we need is the connection with Krishna. When we get that, that is what we get. Whatever is attractive in this world, the Bhagavad Gita says it reflects a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness.
yanyadvibhuti mansattvam shreemadurjitam evavah tattva devah gacchantvam mamate jonshya sambhavah That whatever is attractive, some people speak very nicely, some people sing very nicely, some people look very good, some people are so smart in their manners and their dealings, now all this is attractive. But where are they getting this attractiveness from? It is not just their attractiveness. It is Krishna’s supreme attractiveness manifesting through them.
So to the extent we understand, okay, there might be some nice scenes out there, I can get some nice images on my inner screen, but the source of it all is the supreme seer who is right next to me in my heart. And to the extent I connect with him, to that extent, I have become sublimely peaceful. I have become sublimely joyful.
And when we understand this and when we connect with Krishna das, that’s how, that’s when we become spiritual. Truly spiritual. So for us, when we practise the process of bhakti, bhakti is a process by which we rise from the ground level to the second level.
And when we keep steadily practising bhakti, then we realise that we rise steadily towards the spiritual level. And that is where we experience steady joy. So we need, sometimes we get some moments of devotion.
Sometimes nice darshan, nice kirtan, nice katha, oh I feel so spiritual. It’s good if we feel spiritual. But that feeling spiritual is not the essence of spiritual life.
Sometimes we feel spiritual, sometimes we don’t feel spiritual at all. Our feelings will come and they will go. But if we keep steadily practising bhakti, we will rise to the spiritual level.
And when we rise to the spiritual level, then those feelings will be steadily with us. That’s why Sri Prabhupada translated bhakti as not just devotion but devotional service. It’s committed service.
In a committed way when we practise bhakti then we move towards Krishna. Sri Prabhupada in one lecture says what is Krishna consciousness? Think of Radhakrishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan. Prabhupada says in this lecture, Krishna consciousness means when we come to a temple, when we look at the deities and we feel Krishna is asking us what are you doing for me? We are all servants of Krishna, we are meant to serve him.
So we have a relationship of service with Krishna. What are you doing for me? Then Prabhupada says you are Krishna conscious. Most people they come to a temple and ask God what are you doing for me? This problem solve this or that problem I have not solved it till now.
Yes, of course Krishna does help us in our problems. But ultimately our eternal relationship with Krishna is a relationship of service. So this means what? We are not telling Krishna, Krishna arrange for these nice scenes in the outer world, get these nice images in the outer world.
We are not telling nice scenes in the outer world. So we want to seek momentum. Momentum means by committed practise we move on wards.
If a car is moving fast, it is not just moving at that speed but it has got a momentum. And then even if some obstacle comes, it will just knock over that obstacle and move. If a cycle is going along the road and some log has fallen along the road, then what happens? The cycle comes and then it hits the log and the cycle falls away.
But if there is a big truck which is moving fast and there is a log along the road, what happens? The truck comes, the log gets knocked off and the truck moves on. Similarly for us, in our life, there will be obstacles, there will be like logs on the path of our life. If we are practising spiritual life steadily, then we will have momentum.
And by that momentum, the obstacles will be knocked aside. But if we are not practising spiritual life steadily, sometimes we practise, sometimes we don’t practise, we will feel sometimes like practising and sometimes not like practising. That is fine.
Our feelings will go up and down, but we keep practising. If we are ourselves not practising only steadily, then the truck starts, stops, starts, stops, then it comes to a log, it doesn’t have much momentum. So for us, when obstacles come, if we have momentum in devotion, then the obstacles won’t stop us.
That momentum will help us overcome the obstacles and move forward. This kind of commitment is required in every field in life. Sometimes we feel like practising.
There is a Nobel laureate author, he was asked do you write every day or do you write when you are inspired? He said do you write only when you are inspired? He said I write only when I am inspired. And I make sure that I am inspired every morning at 9 o’clock. Now what does this mean? That means that inspiration is something which we can’t always rely on.
But what we can rely on is our commitment. Sometimes we inspire, sometimes we not inspire. We keep writing, then good writing comes.
Sometimes good writing, sometimes not so good writing, but we keep moving forward. So similarly in our bhakti we need that steadiness. Sometimes we feel like it, sometimes we don’t feel like it.
The steady commitment is there. Then even if some obstacles come, we will be able to go over them. The obstacles will come, but the momentum of our devotion will help us to overcome the obstacles.
I will conclude with one incident. Last year when I had gone to America, I was at one airport and I had come a little late to the airport for the flight and was hoping to get the security quickly. As I got to the the security suddenly said, loud alarm.
Before I could understand what happened, there were almost six or eight security people with their guns pointing at me. What happened? They said that when my crutches were passing through the security device, they had activated a high explosive alarm. So, they said that because they got a high explosive alert, they took a separate chamber and then I was a little annoyed initially because I thought I will miss my flight.
I was getting late. They brought the crutch and said that the crutch has a high explosive alert. I said that we have to break the crutch.
I was initially annoyed but now I was getting alarmed. I had this habit that I love the Bhagavad Gita. So, I keep reciting the Bhagavad Gita in my late times.
So, it just happened that I was trying to talk with him, reason with him, just not paying any attention. So, at that time it just happened that I was reciting the Bhagavad So, I came to 18.61. Krishna says that I am guiding the vanquish of all living beings who are situated on a machine made of material nature. So, as I recited this verse, suddenly this thought came in my mind that I have travelled to so many countries, so many cities, in each flight hundreds of things could have gone wrong, but Krishna has guided me through all of them.
I think I am a soul, I have gone through so many lifetimes in the past. When we leave one body and go to another body, we don’t even know where we are going. This is the destiny where I am going.
But Krishna has guided me through it all. Krishna guided me through this also. Just the thought immediately brought some calmness.
As I brought that calmness, I said, Krishna, I surrender to you. I prayed in the mind and surrendered and suddenly at that time, this particular security in Charlie was there, his boss came over and said, what is going on over here? He said, we found a high security alert in this country, so we have to bring them. So he looked at me and said, okay, I’ll take care of this.
And then he said, okay, what is the problem? I said, no, this is a crutch. I have gone through so many countries, so many cities, I never had any problem. He looked at the crutches and said, it’s openable, can we open it? So, yeah, I thought there’s no need to break it, you can open it.
And he opened it. And then he put his finger inside, he got a probe and started pulling things out from there. And some dirt came out of it.
He said, what is this? He said, this is dirt. He said, what is it doing over there? Dirt is there in the crutch, what do you mean? So, what happened was, just before coming to America, going to America, I had gone to Vrindavan. And in Vrindavan, I had just gone to bathe in the river.
Jamuna had gone inside the crutches. And because the Jamuna is highly polluted, so, the dust also had high metal content in it. So, the high alert explosive was actually the dust of Vrindavan.
So, I thought, yes, the Vrajya Raja is truly the explosive. If we get attached to the dust of Vrindavan, it’ll explode all our attachments. It’ll make us attached to Krishna permanently.
So, actually, at that particular time, it just struck me that the thoughts were going in one direction. I was annoyed, I was alarmed, I was agitated. But suddenly just that remembrance of Krishna is with me.
Krishna is guiding my mind. Just calm me down. It’s not that I’m always that spiritual.
I speak about spirituality, but I also have my struggles, I have my attachments, I also go through anxiety and worry. But somehow, at that particular time, just that thought came and it was, for me, it was a profound spiritual experience, the way things worked out. So this was not just a spiritual experience.
Yes, it was, at one time, I experienced it. But, my understanding was that because I studied the Gita, I recited the Gita, at that time that was stimulating the thought. So when we keep practising Bhakti steadily, then even when some obstacles come, Krishna will give us the guidance how to overcome those obstacles.
If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles, Krishna says. So, if we are just looking for some nice moments in life, I want to feel spiritual, I get moments of devotion, moments of nectar in my life. Now, having guns pointed at you is not a very nice moment.
But, actually, that time, remembrance of Krishna comes and that’s how we get special experience of Krishna. So that’s why, what we look for is not just to make our inner screen nice. Sometimes in bhakti, we have to do activities, we have to take up responsibilities, and we have to do some responsible services that may agitate our mind.
You do this, you do this, why are you not doing this, get it done properly on time. Responsibility means can also lead to spirituality. So, spirituality is not just about a nice peaceful state of mind.
Spirituality is about being connected with the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna. And that connection can sometimes happen amidst anxiety, it can happen amidst fear, it can happen amidst great problems also. Actually, Prabhupada was building a Juhu temple in India.
At that time, there was this Mr. N who was a scheming politician. He wanted to take the money and keep the land also. And then the devotees were trying to construct a lot of obstacles.
So, at one time, the Maharaj came to Prabhupada and he said, Prabhupada, these land dealings are causing me so much anxiety that my japa is getting disturbed. And Prabhupada replied, even my japa is getting disturbed. Now, he was taken aback.
And then Prabhupada said, your anxiety for serving Krishna will take you to Krishna. Your anxiety for serving Krishna will take you to Krishna. Because ultimately, we have a relationship with Krishna.
And in the relationship we experience various emotions. Sometimes there is joy, sometimes there is fear, sometimes there is anxiety. So, all the emotions, spiritual life, is a rich emotion filled life.
But because it is connected to the eternal spiritual reality, Krishna, so all these emotions are at the level of eternal spiritual reality. So, when we seek momentum in devotion, trying to steadily practise bhakti, then we will be able to go over whatever obstacles come along our way and ultimately we will attain a spiritual level of reality where devotion will become the constant source of spiritual fulfilment for us. So, I’ll summarise what I spoke today.
I spoke about the topic Seek Not Moments of Devotion, Seek Momentum in Devotion. I started by moments of devotion means some people just want to feel spiritual. I want to be spiritual but not religious.
I don’t want to practise anything but I want to experience something special, something deep, something sublime. Wanting to experience that is good but what is that experience? We talked about how in today’s world people think spiritual is a state of mind. That, okay, you project your consciousness onto a nice mountainous natural scene and then it’s spiritual.
But we discussed that spirituality is not a state of mind, it is a state of being. To understand that we talked about how the material world out there is constantly changing. The atoms of this mic are changing, the cells of our body are changing.
So just as the particles of wick that burn and create a flame they are constantly changing. Or just as the Diwali lighting is constantly changing, moving from one place to another. Or as the images on the TV screen are constantly changing.
But they appear to be unchanging because of the persistence of vision. Similarly the material world appears to be there. It is real but the way it appears to us is not real.
It is constantly changing. But we can say that the flame is not real. The flame is an illusion.
But the observer of the flame has to be real. What a consciousness perceives can be illusion but the perceiving consciousness itself can’t be illusion. So to understand this concept of the thought experiment where there is the outer scene, the inner screen and the inner sphere.
The outer scene that we see is the physical level of reality. The inner screen is the mental level of reality. The inner sphere is the spiritual level of reality.
So most people think to be spiritual means to get nice images on the inner screen. But to really be spiritual means to realise that we are beyond the inner screen also. We are the inner sphere who exists beyond the fabric of time and space who is eternal and indestructible.
And this inner sphere is eternally related with the supreme seer. And to the extent we realise this relationship between the soul and Krishna, to that extent, we become spiritually thrilled. And no matter what we do in life, on the inner screen, mostly two emotions predominate, hankering and lamenting.
Our mind goes to the future and when will this happen, when will this happen, and to the past and why did that happen, why did that happen. So now people say live in the present, that is good, but we need to live in the present but not live for the present. We need a purpose bigger than the present to live for.
And that purpose is to serve Krishna, to grow towards the spiritual level where we become eternally connected with Krishna. We can go towards Krishna through our direct devotional activities of bhakti sadhana and through our family responsibilities, through our work responsibilities. All of them can be used to move towards Krishna.
Work itself is not worship. Work is worship is an ethical principle. Philosophically Krishna says work or with your work, worship him, worship the Lord.
And then I talked about how there is a building, we want to seek moments of devotion means that we get nice images on our inner screen. Seek momentum in devotion means we move steadily from the physical level to the spiritual level of reality. Our consciousness is on the outer sea, we get it to realising that I am the inner seer.
And for that we need committed practise. Whether we feel inspired or not, we commit ourselves to the practise of bhakti. Then that committed practise creates momentum.
Even if the truck is moving slowly, but it is moving steadily. When an obstacle comes, we will knock it over. Stopping, starting, stopping, starting, then the truck will be stopped by the lock.
So like that when obstacles come in our life, if we have momentum in devotion, then not only will we overcome the obstacles, but sometimes those obstacles will become the sources of the deepest spiritual experience for us. Although externally we may seem to be in anxiety or even agony, but internally we take shelter of Krishna and we get a deep spiritual experience. As it happened to me when my crutches were found with some high explosive alert substance.
Similarly for us, when we commit ourselves to the service of Krishna, Prabhupada said, to be Krishna conscious means to think Krishna is asking me, what are you doing for me? And our anxiety for serving Krishna will take us to Krishna. So rather than looking for moments of devotion, when everything feels very good, they come, wonderful, but we don’t look for them. What we focus on is, we seek momentum in devotion, steadily practising bhakti and then we will not just have a moment of devotion, we will have an eternity of devotion.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. All devotees are doing a lot of praise for the recovery of Shri Nityananda Maharaj.
So I am requested to say a few words about him, so that we can pray for a more intense moment. I have been studying the history of ISKCON. Some devotees asked me to write a book about the history of the Krishna consciousness movement.
I am not sure whether I will write that book, but I will study the history. So our movement started in America. Then Shri Prabhupada went to India, and many people were very favourable in the sense that many people became life members, many people helped Prabhupada build temples, but not many people became committed followers at that time.
But now if we see, our movement is strongest in India, and in that sense from the generation of Shri Prabhupada’s time and now, there is a radical change. And this change has happened primarily because of the leaders of our movement in India. And among them, J.P. Kamaraj is one of the most prominent.
Of course, he is not just leader in India, he is leader all over the world. But Maharaj went to Bengal and took up the responsibility of heading the Mayapur project. Extremely challenging project.
And among all over India now, in Mayapur and Bengal area, there are hundreds and hundreds and thousands of devotees. There is, you could say, an explosion of devotion. It’s all inspired by Maharaj’s efforts to share Krishna Bhakti with everyone.
So whenever I have interacted with Maharaj, he is so enthusiastic, so accommodating. So I have met him two three times. Many times, but on close quarters I have interacted with him two three times.
So I met him once in Bhaktivanta Hospital. He had come for a check-up in Mumbai. And I talked with him.
And I gave him some of my books. And just before that I had been to Bahrain. Now Bahrain is in the Middle East.
As of now, in the whole of Middle East, that is the only country where we are allowed to practise bhakti openly. All the other Muslim countries, you can practise your religion, but privately. But in Bahrain, we can practise bhakti publicly also.
We have officials contemplating in Bahrain. Now much of Bahrain, so when I went to Bahrain I was three evenings, almost every evening there are 200-250 devotees coming for programmes. On week evenings also.
So much of Bahrain is actually reclaimed land. There is an ocean over there and land is reclaimed from there. So at that time I told Maharaj, Maharaj, just as in Bahrain there is a lot of reclaimed land, similarly by your mercy lot of souls are being reclaimed in Bahrain.
So this is Maharaj’s mercy that many of us have got an illusion, but by the mercy of Shri Prabhupada and his dedicated followers, it has all been reclaimed from the ocean. So we pray, that is Swamiji has told Maharaj, to recover and we gallantly serve Krishna’s mission. We continue to do that.
When Maharaj had that terrible stroke, most doctors had said that it’s very difficult to recover from this stroke, but he not only recovered, he continued to travel all over the world. So at that time there was an article about Jaya Patakam Maharaj. At that time there was a tennis player who had a bad injury and he had recovered from it.
So he was called as the comeback king of tennis. So I said, as I read that article, Maharaj is the comeback emperor of his court. Jaya Patakam Maharaj ki Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya feel like studying, as the adult also does not feel like studying.
But what is the difference is that a child is driven primarily by their feelings. But as we grow up, when you become adult, we still have our feelings, but we also understand that the importance of things is not always reflected by my feelings about them. And even if I don’t feel in a particular way, still I will do it.
So that sense of importance comes to us by our intelligence. Now, many times working in a job, in office, we do not feel like doing the job. But we understand it’s important.
This is how I’m going to earn my livelihood. This is how I’m taking care of my family. This is what puts bread on the table.
I have to do this. So there, because the result is very immediate, we need to earn a living. So even if we don’t feel like doing it, that importance is very much registered within us.
But in terms of spirituality, if we don’t practise, what is the big difference? It is a big difference, but the difference is not felt immediately. One day I don’t read, one day I don’t chant, what difference is going to make? It’s going to make a difference, but it’s not felt immediately. That’s why we need our intelligence to be even stronger for our spiritual growth.
So with our intelligence, we understand why this is important. So most of us have become, physically we have become adult. And with respect to our material responsibilities, we have become adult.
But with respect to our spiritual life, we are still like infants. We’re still driven too much by our emotions. Just like a child may stop studying because they don’t feel like it.
Similarly, we stop practising bhakti because I don’t feel like it. But the more we study and the more we nourish our intelligence, then we become spiritually also like this. And then our spiritual practises don’t depend, we won’t let our spiritual practises depend only on our feelings.
We’ll continue them with our determination, even if the feelings are not right. Determination means that we keep our intention above our emotion. It’s like, I feel like it, I don’t feel like it, but this is what I’m going to do.
So to the extent we nourish our intelligence, it becomes easier to continue on. And the last thing would be that we try to find out if these are things which I like to do. And this is the circle of bhakti.
We try to find an intersection between the two. And in that intersection, if we situate ourselves, it becomes easier to start off. Say, if I like to sing, and there are nice kirtans, then I hear the kirtan, I sing the kirtan.
My feeling goes along with me. There’s something which we like to do, then in that situation, the emotion goes along with us. The emotion helps us to move towards Krishna.
In some situations, the emotion may oppose us. But if there’s something which we like to do, and something which is a purview of devotion, then doing that is an easy way to again regain momentum when it has gone down. So by association, by intellectual conviction, and by finding out the intersection between what we like and what is the realm of devotion, by finding a devotional activity which we also like to do, we can maintain or regain our momentum.
Okay? Thank you. Any other questions? Yes. Yes, one minute.
Yes. Okay. Yeah.
Yes. So I said our anxiety to serve Krishna will take us towards Krishna. Does that mean all anxiety will take us towards Krishna? Let’s say if you’re feeling, if you’re trying to form a relationship with someone, dating, but you don’t feel connected, and you feel worried whether I’ll find a good partner or not, and I get anxiety because of that.
But that doesn’t seem to take us towards Krishna. Yes. The point which I was making when I said your anxiety for serving Krishna will take you towards Krishna, the point was Prabhupada was saying over there that just because you’re feeling anxious, don’t think you should give up your service to Krishna.
Serving Krishna is a whole package. And the package is centred on having a relationship with Krishna. So now relationship with Krishna is, Mother Yashoda, she loves to feed Krishna.
But sometimes when Krishna is carried away by the Bhutasura demon, she’s in great fear. But that is also increasing her remembrance of Krishna. So with respect to Krishna, whatever be the emotion, that is like nectar.
Because it is reminding us of Krishna. So when the remembrance is joyful, it is like sweet nectar. When the remembrance is causing anxiety, that is like bitter nectar.
But it’s still nectar. Now with respect to our situation and our various emotions that we go through, yes, anxiety is simply a result of uncertainty. If I have to catch a flight, and I’m not sure whether I’ll reach in time or not, then I’ll have anxiety.
So anxiety is simply a part of life. In life there is uncertainty, and that’s why there will be anxiety. So the problem is not, another word for anxiety would be fear.
Fear is not the problem. It is fearfulness that is the problem. What is the difference between fear and fearfulness? If I’m looking down from a ten-storey building, I look down, I feel a fear if I fall down.
And that makes me cautious. So that fear is actually a protector. And if a child is peering down a ten-storey building, a child feels no fear.
And the mother will feel great fear. Hey, come back, what are you doing? So fear is in one sense good, because it can protect us from danger. But suppose, when I look down the ten-storey building, I felt some fear, I come back home.
Now I’m sitting peacefully at my home, but still my mind keeps weeping. Oh, look down that. What if you fell down? You thought what will happen? Then it is not fear, it has become fearfulness.
So when there is a danger, fear at that time is a healthy response. But when that emotion comes, even in the absence of danger, then that makes us fearful. Now for most of us, the dangers that we face usually are not that physical, like say falling off a ten-storey building.
Our dangers are we may lose our job, a relationship may not work out. Now these are not one specific moment of danger. It’s like a nagging, a nagging uncertainty that is there constantly behind us.
So in such a situation, we will feel fear. But what we need to do is, we need to understand that we are bigger than our situations and our emotions. We might talk about the inner, inner screen and the outer scene.
So the situation might be problematic. I want to form a relationship, it’s not working out. I’m feeling some fear.
That is natural. But I am not the situation. If we look back at our life, sometimes when I do some workshops, I do this thought exercise.
I tell people, maybe you can do it. Some of you may like to do it when you go back home. Now if say you’re 25 or 30, look back for the last 3 years of your life and think what are the biggest problems you had 3 years ago.
Then go back 6 years ago. Go back 9 years ago. Do it for 5 years, till 15 years.
And note down the problem. And you will find that actually that problem at that time appeared as if, this is not solved, my life will end. Maybe we will give you an important exam and if I don’t pass this exam, my life will be ruined.
Or whatever it might be. At every situation in our life, we have had problems. And we have survived those problems.
So our mind tends to catastrophise problems. This is going to, it’s going to catastrophise. But when the mind catastrophises situations or problems, we with our intelligence should contextualise problems.
Contextualise means, this problem is a product of this context, this situation. In the past, there was another context, there is another problem at that time. So just as I survived that problem, I will survive this problem also.
So the anxiety about uncertainties of life, that is unavoidable. But we don’t have to be anxiety filled. If I understand that I am bigger than the situation.
Sometimes life gives us trouble, we may be in pain. Say that, we may have to live with pain, but we don’t have to live in pain. Live with pain means, yes there’s a, okay I’ve got some back pain and I feel that pain.
But live in pain means, I’m constantly thinking about it. So my consciousness becomes contained within that. I can’t think about anything else.
So we may have to live with anxiety, but we don’t have to live in anxiety. This part of my life is uncertain right now, so I have some anxiety about it. But my life is not reduced to this thing.
It is important, but my life is much bigger than this. I also have a relationship in the world, but I also have, I am my own person. I have a relationship with Krishna and I have many aspects to my life.
So when we see that one situation, we acknowledge. We can’t wish away anxiety. Then people say, how can we conquer all our fears? No, we can’t conquer all fears.
But what we can do is, we can recognise that we are bigger than our fears. And then we can live with them without them overcoming us, without them overwhelming us. So by our intelligence, when we contextualise our fears, contextualise our anxieties, then we can live with anxiety without living in anxiety.
Thank you very much. Any other question? One last question. Yes.
Is that okay? Yeah, we’ll talk. A layer, okay. Is there any easy way to feel the inner layer? Say that, I talked about the physical, mental and the spiritual.
Yes. Basically, when we try to pursue or explore higher levels of reality, first is the intellectual or the analytical. Through analysis, we understand that there is some observer who is observing.
Scientists have also done experiments. They try to do experiments to find out, you know, who is it that initiates action. I have written a book on reincarnation, Nim’s Divine Reincarnation.
There I talk about this also. A scientist wanted to find out that, now they have found that certain areas of the brain are associated with certain functions in the body. So if I raise my hand up, then a particular part of the brain is activated.
So then they decide to observe. If there is a person, the brain was wired up, he told him, raise your hand. He raised his hand.
What happened? He said, I raised my hand. Okay. Then he told, lower your hand.
What happened? I put my hand down. And then the external probe, they activated that part of the brain. And then, he said, what happened? My hand went down.
Did you raise your hand? I did, you did. And then he activated the probe. The hand came down.
What happened? My hand went down. Did you put your hand down? No. I did, you did.
Now, this is Dr. Wilter Penfield. He is a Nobel Laureate neurosurgeon. I was in Canada a few months ago.
And at the Toronto University, there is a whole section dedicated to him. He is one of the most famous scientists in Canada. So he did this experiment.
And he wrote about, like this and many other experiments, he wrote in his book called The Mystery of the Mind. And there he says, this is a simple experiment, but its implications are profound. So to understand this, this is my computer, and there is a printer over here.
And I have a print button. As soon as I press the print button, the printing hand starts moving. So similarly, the brain centre, the area of the brain, which is associated with the motor nervous system causing the raising and the lowering of the hand, that is like the print button.
So in the second case, so now if my computer is there, I can press the print button, or you can come here and you can press the print button. Now in the second case, in that experiment, it was Dr. Penfield who was doing the experiment. He pressed the print button.
In the first case, who pressed it? In the second case, the observer, the subject was saying, I did not do it, you did it. The subject said in the first case, I did it. So in both cases, the brain was activated and the hand started moving.
But separate from the brain, there is someone else who initiated the action in the first case, and who said I did not initiate the action in the second case. So after doing many such experiments, Dr. Penfield concluded that the brain is like a computer, but it is programmed by something outside of itself. Another Nobel laureate scientist, he said that, Charles Sherrington, he said that the source of consciousness is extracellular.
So simply by analysis also, we can understand that there is something beyond the body, which is the source of consciousness. And if you practise the process of bhakti, so there is analytical understanding, and then there is experiential realisation. So when we practise bhakti seriously, then by the serious practise of bhakti, we rise to the spiritual level.
And it is not that we can internally see, okay, this is a ground level meeting, this is a higher level, I have gone here. Not like that. But what will happen if you are practising spirituality seriously is, at the same situation, maybe five years ago, before we practised spirituality, some anxiety comes, some crisis happens.
We would have crumbled in that crisis. But now, when we are practising bhakti, we feel, okay, there is a problem, I deal with it, but we feel much stronger with it. So where is that strength coming from? That strength is coming from our spiritual connection.
So that strength which we feel amidst difficulties, that is our, that is a realisation of our spiritual side. So say outside it’s very hot, and it’s very hot, and we just come to an air-conditioned room. As soon as we come to the air-conditioned room, we feel relief.
If we go out, again we feel hot. We come inside, we feel relief. So similarly, for us, the world may be filled with agitation.
But if we just bring our consciousness to Krishna, so bringing the consciousness to Krishna is like entering an air-conditioned room. As soon as we think of Krishna, as soon as we focus on Krishna, we will feel relief, we will feel calmness, we will feel strength. So amidst distressing situations, when we focus on Krishna and feel ourselves calmed and strengthened by that, that is also a way to understand and experience that higher spiritual level of reality.
Okay? Yes. So shall we stop now? So thank you very much. Yeah.
So Hare Krishna. So thank you all for coming today afternoon.