When spiritual life gives poison instead of nectar – 1

[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Adelaide, Australia]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
I’m grateful to be here amongst all of you today. And here we are discussing the churning of the milk ocean, pastime.
So, the poison has been avoided. The milk, the nectar-like gifts have started coming out now. The nectar has not yet come, but the wonderful gifts have started coming out.
So, I’ll speak broadly on this pastime. And I’ll speak on the theme of how, when spiritual life gives poison instead of nectar, what do we do with that? The Bhagavad Gita, its 18th chapter, describes three kinds of happiness. In 18.37, 38 and 39, it describes happiness, goodness, passion and ignorance.
In fact, the 18th chapter itself, Krishna analyses the various components of action in terms of goodness, passion, ignorance. So, 18.20 to 22, he talks about knowledge in the three modes. Then 23 to 25, he talks about action in the three modes.
Then 26 to 28, he talks about the doers in the three modes. Then this one flow was 30 to 32, he talks about intelligence in the three modes. 33 to 35, he talks about determination in the three modes.
And all this, what is the knowledge that we have, what is the determination that we have, what kind of work we are doing, all this is meant for getting happiness. So, the last part, which Krishna talks about, when analysing the three modes in the 18th chapter is happiness. And he describes what is the nature of the happiness in the three modes.
First, let’s begin from the ignorance. In 18.39, he says, So, he says, it is just illusion from beginning to end. There is no positive happiness at all.
Simply, like a person, Krishna says, one example, he says, it is laziness. He says, No. No.
Somebody is lazy. And laziness, actually there is no pleasure. It is simply the illusion that I have avoided the trouble of hard work.
So, when it is simply illusion from beginning to end, that is the happiness in the mode of ignorance. So, if you consider the phases, if this is the experience, actually there is no positive happiness at all. It is simply illusion from beginning to end.
In the mode of passion he says, विषयेंद्रिय सैञ्योगात्य तदग्रेहम्रतोपमं परिणामे विषयमिवतत् सुखम्राज्यसंसुतम् विषयेंद्रिय सैञ्योगात् By the contact of the senses with the sense objects, when pleasure comes, he says, that tastes like nectar in the beginning, but poison in the end. So, when somebody eats a lot of food, it may taste very good when it is in the tongue, but then after that, if you eat a lot, that may cause digestive problem, that may cause various health issues. So, it tastes like nectar in the beginning, poison in the end.
In contrast, pleasure in the mode of happiness he says, तदग्रेहम्रतोपमं परिणामे अम्रतोपमं तत्सुखम् सात्विकम् प्रोक्तम् आत्मभुद्धी प्रसातजम् It tastes like poison in the beginning, but nectar in the end. And this is आत्मभुद्धी प्रसातजम्. This will lead to the development of spiritual intelligence.
So, Krishna, he says that, when we look for higher happiness, the nature of that happiness is, that it will be like poison in the beginning. That means, say, if somebody wants to learn a particular skill, somebody wants to learn cycling. Now, initially, well, cycling may fall, it may slip, it may be embarrassing, it may be hurting.
But, if they learn it, then it’s a new skill development, then it’s wonderful to ride along. So, learning anything valuable in life requires us to go through a phase of poison, when we realise that we don’t know. And when we have to acknowledge that we don’t know.
But once it is done, then it’s very pleasant. So, this applies to the learning of generally any subject. Say, if you are living in a foreign country, say, where the language is different.
Say, in South America, the language is Spanish. And then, if you have to learn Spanish, it will be difficult initially. But, if you avoid that poison, then you have to always depend on someone else for the communication.
If you learn that, take the trouble, then things become easier. So, in that sense, when spiritual life gives us nectar instead of poison, that is just following the predicted pattern that Krishna has given in the Bhagavad Gita. Spiritual happiness is a higher happiness.
And it will taste like poison in the beginning and it will taste like nectar in the end. So, now, what do we mean by the poison? At one level, we understand that poison means that we are attached to worldly pleasures. And we are told to give up those worldly pleasures.
And that is difficult. So, that, distancing ourselves from those worldly pleasures, that requires effort. So, there are two different, there is abstinence and there is transcendence.
Abstinence means I have a desire to engage in something but I abstain from it. I want to do it. I feel like doing it.
But I know it’s not good for me, so I will avoid it. So, in abstinence, there is a sense of deprivation. When there is transcendence, one has just gone beyond it.
There is no sense of deprivation at all. So, for example, if somebody is an alcoholic, say there are two people and this is their home, this is their office. And along the way, there is a bar.
One of them is never drunk, the other is regularly drunk. So, when both of them pass by, the person who is drunk regularly, as soon as they start passing by, they should drink. No, I should not.
I should not. So, there is so much tug of war that goes inside. And one has to, if that person wants to become sober, there is abstinence that is required.
So, in abstinence, there is a desire but we refrain from it. Whereas, the person who has never drunk alcohol and no inclination to drink alcohol, that person may not even notice the bar. So, there is transcendence to the desire for alcohol.
Transcendence does not necessarily mean anything spiritual. Transcendence simply means to go beyond. That person is beyond the reach of that desire.
See, sense objects in this world, we can say have a gravity pull to them. And this gravity pull, just like if I keep an object, say if I keep this phone, if I drop it, I won’t drop it. But if I were to drop it, then it will fall.
And if I take my phone and I put it here, and if both the phones have the same weight, both phones will drop. And they will fall at the same pace, at the ground. But, whereas, similarly, in this world, the sense objects have a gravity pull.
And they pull our consciousness towards them. And say, if I have to lift this weight, I want to lift this phone and make sure that it doesn’t fall down, I have to hold it. Then I need to put in effort.
This phone is of a light weight, it doesn’t require much effort. But still it requires effort. Instead of a phone, if it’s a big suitcase, the effort required will be much more.
The pull with which the earth attracts a particular object, that depends on the weight of that object primarily. But with respect to sense objects, the sense object, its pull on us varies from person to person. It’s not a universal value pull, it’s a differential pull.
Why differential? Because that pull is determined by how much impressions are present within that person. So, as I said, somebody is alcoholic, they will feel the pull much stronger. Somebody is sober, they will not feel the pull so much.
So, same way with respect to different food items. If somebody is a South Indian, if they hear we have masala dosa for breakfast, immediately the pull will come. If somebody is a Punjabi, we’ve got parathas, immediately the pull will come.
So, now everybody needs food and that’s why there is a natural pull towards food in everyone’s minds. But the pull towards selective food, that is stronger for some people and lesser for some people. So, abstinence means the pull is there and we are resisting the pull.
So, transcendence means the pull itself is not there. Suppose an object escapes, goes outside of the earth’s gravity pull. Then when a spacecraft is outside the earth’s gravity pull, it does not require any effort to keep it there.
Within the gravity pull, it will fall back. Outside the gravity pull, it will not fall back. Similarly, purity.
When we get purity, that means we go out of the gravity pull of the particular sense object. And here we are talking about when spiritual life gives poison instead of nectar. That’s the theme.
So, when we start practising spiritual life, we need to give up certain sense objects. Because they are against our devotional principles. And they exert a gravity pull on us.
And we have to resist that gravity. And that resistance is what is felt as poison. That resistance, the energy required, the willpower required to resist the pull of the sense objects, that is the poison.
And this will be felt differently, with different strengths and for different durations. Somebody may have been eating meat before coming to bhakti. And initially they start practising and they think, how can I give up meat? Maybe for a few days, the craving stays, few weeks, they start practising bhakti and they get the higher taste.
And then the craving goes away. If they see somebody eating meat, we have many conditionings and many attachments. But very few devotees feel a strong irresistible craving for meat.
Prasadam is both spiritually and practically a higher taste. So, what has happened? We go out of the gravity pull of that desire. So, when we go out of the gravity pull, then the poison ends.
Krishna said, yathat agre vishyam eva pariname amritopamam. That it tastes like poison in the beginning but like nectar in the end. So, when does the poison end and when does the nectar begin? The poison ends when we go out of the gravity pull.
As long as we are in the gravity pull of the sense objects, we will feel that poison. And now, what is the nectar over it? Actually, in spiritual life, I will talk about cycling or swimming or whatever, the learning language that is there. The ease with which we can handle things or handle our affairs.
That ease is the nectar over it. In spiritual life, the nectar is attraction to Krishna. sarasi janayane sa shankha chakre murabhiti ma viram asva chittarantam sukha tarama param na ja tu jane hari charana smarana mrute na tulyam Krishna Krishna Maharaj in Mukunda Mala Sutra says, O mind, please keep delighting in that lotus-eyed lord.
sarasi janayane sa shankha chakre That lord who has a shankha chakra with him, a conch and a wheel. murabhiti ma viram asva chittarantam He is the defeater of the Muradi man. Just don’t stop delighting in him.
Why? Why don’t you stop? sukha tarama param na ja tu jane I do not know any pleasure better than this pleasure. What is that pleasure? hari charana smarana mrute na tulyam hari charana smarana The remembrance of Lord Hari’s lotus feet, that gives me so much nectar that there is no pleasure comparable to that. So, if we are enjoying something, if we are eating a delicious feast, and somebody says, let’s go there, let’s go to another place and have some food.
Oh, this food is good. I don’t need anything else. If we are reading a very interesting book and somebody says, why don’t you read this book? This is nice.
I don’t need anything else. So, normally if we are doing something, we will give it up only when there is something else necessary to do or something else is more attractive. So, he says, there is nothing more attractive than lotus feet of Lord Hari.
Just keep remembering. So, when do we start feeling remembrance of Krishna as nectarean? That is, when our devotion for him becomes strong. Krishna is always nectarean.
But, if our consciousness does not contact with Krishna, then we don’t experience the nectar. Say, if we are in a nice kirtan or beautiful darshan, we behold the Lord and we feel some sweetness, some joy. But just before that, before we come to the temple for darshan or kirtan, say, we had a quarrel with someone.
Then, that thought is going on in our mind and our consciousness has gone over there. Because the consciousness has gone over there, therefore, we can’t focus, we can’t connect. Suppose we are drinking a glass of sweet rice.
But, it should be drunk from above. It’s poured like this and it’s going to come into our mouth. And as we are drinking, just as that sweet rice is about to fall into our mouth, somebody swishes our mouth.
And just spills all over. The sweet rice is delicious. But, we can’t drink it.
Because it’s not entering into our mouth. Similarly, if the stimulus connected with Krishna does not enter into our consciousness, then we cannot experience Krishna. And if we don’t experience Krishna, we don’t feel the joy.
So, the experience of Krishna happens through the connection with Krishna. And the connection with Krishna requires two things. One is attraction for Krishna and detachment from other things, renunciation of other things.
So, currently we have a little attraction towards Krishna, but we have a lot of attraction towards other things also. So, we feel Krishna is nice, but Maya is also not bad. So, because of that, we keep alternating.
And because of that, the result is that there is some pleasure, but when the contact with Krishna is not established, then the discipline of bhakti starts feeling like a burden. But when the contact with Krishna will start being established, that’s when we will experience it. So, for us, at our stage, because we have to give up the sense objects, that’s one kind of poison.
And another thing is, we have to keep practising bhakti, even though our consciousness is not connecting with Krishna. And that discipline can also feel like burden. The discipline is itself not poison, but in that discipline, what happens is, we are not able to connect with Krishna.
Often devotees ask, why does my mind wander while chanting? Well, it’s a problem with me also, with everyone. But I often answer that, actually, it’s because we are not chanting. What do you mean? Actually, if you see, the soul is here, the mind is here, the body is here.
In the body, there is a tongue. When the tongue is chanting, the mind is wandering, and the soul is thinking, which of the two to do? Which of the two to do? So, should I wander with the mind, or should I chant with the mouth? So, normally the three should be in one line, but often the three are in three different tracks, and the soul keeps choosing. Maybe this, maybe that.
So, for us, what happens? We just keep uttering the sound, but our consciousness is elsewhere. And then, we can’t connect with Krishna. Then we don’t experience the taste of the holy milk.
But when there is attraction to Krishna, then there is absorption. That absorption means satisfaction. Now, this is the broad, you could say, principle of the poisoning nectar.
But beyond that, we practise bhakti in the material world. And in the material world, there are various factors that come into play. If you look at the broad story of the Bhagavatam, the Bhagavatam is… All the stories of the Bhagavatam centre on how different people face difficulties.
They underwent distress. The central storyline of the Bhagavatam is Parikshit Maharaj being cursed to die in seven days. We see there are different kinds of stories in the sense that different people face distress because of different reasons.
So, Parikshit Maharaj was cursed to die because of minor offence. It was disproportionate amount of punishment that was given for a small transgression. The principle of justice is that the punishment should be proportional to the crime, not proportional to the outrage we feel at the crime.
Shringi felt outraged. How dare you do like this? And he cursed. So, our outrage is not a reliable parameter.
And sometimes, when there is no outrage, then no punishment may also come. But actually, a wrong is a wrong. So, punishment has to be proportional.
When that is not there, then it’s unfair. So, Parikshit Maharaj, for a small transgression, he got a huge mistake. Huge punishment.
If we look at, if we move by canto by canto, I don’t have time to go through all the cantos, but if we consider 6th canto of Rudrasura, again, it was not even a mistake. He is laughing at Lord Shiva sitting with Parvati. But it was not a laugh of derision.
It was a laugh of astonishment. He was not criticising. Astonished? How is this? If, suppose somebody is giving a class on how to avoid diabetes.
And then, while talking about how to avoid diabetes, they have a whole table full of sweets. And they are eating the sweets and they are saying, how to avoid diabetes? This is odd. So, Lord Shiva was talking about spirituality and he was talking in a way with Parvati sitting next to him.
It seemed as if he was very attached. So, it was a laugh of amazement. But unfortunately, Parvati took it as a laugh of criticism, of derision.
What kind of hypocrite is this? It’s not hypocrisy. Major cause of misunderstanding is that we can only look at people’s actions. We can’t look at people’s intentions.
And based on our own conception of people, we infer what someone’s intention is from their action. And generally, if we like someone, even if their action is wrong, we say, must have been disturbed. That’s why he did that.
And if somebody we don’t like, we say, I told you he is like that only. So, what happens? We do inference from action to intention. And this inference is often wrong.
Sometimes people jump. There is a high jump, long jump. Sometimes people jump from a high mountain top just for the sense of adventure.
They jump out of a helicopter to get some thrill. And sometimes jumping are more dangerous than others. But the most dangerous jumping is jumping to conclusions.
So, what happened? Parvati saw this and she jumped to a conclusion. And Chitraketu is criticising my lord. Think of the ghost.
So now, for him, it is not even a mistake. You can say it is a case like alien polite to laugh. But it is not like a mistake that deserved him to be cursed to become a demon.
But even in these two cases, at least we could say that there was some mistake. The punishment was disproportionate. But still there was a mistake.
But if we look at two more cases, 7th canto talks about Prahlad Maharaj. So, generally, Prahlad Maharaj, he suffered because of his devotion. He is the son of a demon.
And if he had lived the way his father wanted, he would have had no suffering. So, most people go to God to get relief from their problems. But in this case, for Prahlad, going to God was the cause of his problem.
So, this is most difficult to deal with. And in 8th canto also describes a similar pastime. Bali Maharaj was a powerful ruler.
And when he decided to give charity to Lord Vishnu, who came as a brahmachari, because of that he lost everything. So, in this case also, it was his dharma, it was his devotion that caused him such tribulation. In the case of Prahlad, it was his disposition.
His devotional disposition. In the case of Bali Maharaj, it was one action. But in such cases, where our devotion itself seems to be the cause of our trouble, then it’s very, very difficult to persevere in our devotion.
Why should I do this? We all do things because we want some happiness. And something that promises us happiness instead gives us distress. Why should I continue doing this at all? This is where we need proper philosophical understanding.
Proper philosophical understanding means that if we look at things only in terms of their immediate cause, we are having an incomplete picture of reality. Normally, when we go to God, if we see, we are here, our problems are here. And we think God is somewhere here.
So, atheists think God doesn’t exist to me. Pious people think that God exists and God should come between me and my problem. Sometimes in a movie, say somebody is trying to run and a truck is charging towards them to run over them and kill them.
At that time, suddenly, some hero comes and stops the truck with his bare hands. Oh, this hero saved my life. So, like that, we feel problems are rushing down towards us.
And what happens? We want Krishna to come in between. Krishna to come in between and stop and protect us. That’s what people go to God for.
Most of the people who come to Krishna are because they want some relief. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says there are four kinds of people who come to Him. Which are those four kinds? The distressed, the wealth seekers, the inquisitive, the wise, the knowledgeable.
These are the four categories of people who traditionally come to Krishna. In Kali Yuga, there are four categories of people who come to Krishna. The distressed, the distressed, the distressed and the distressed.
Even if people have some inquisitiveness, their inquisitiveness can go towards hundreds of things right now. Why will they become inquisitive about Krishna? Recently, a few days ago, there was Guru Purnima. So, one devotee sent me a picture, a mime of somebody going down before Google.
Google, you are my guru. Whatever I want to learn, you will teach me. So, even if people have inquisitiveness, people will go to hundreds of places.
Now, if people want money, today, people feel I can get money by so many means. Or do I need to go to God for it? So, distress is what impels people often to come to Krishna. Krishna, please protect me from the distress.
Now, if we feel that Krishna is up there and Krishna is not coming in between, the problem is coming, bearing down on me, bearing down on me and Krishna is not doing anything. We feel, does Krishna care? Does Krishna exist? But imagine, we are praying to Krishna, please help me. And this truck is bearing down on us.
And we find Krishna is driving that truck. What? God is supposed to protect me. Why is God doing this to me? So, when something like this happens, this, at that time, to meditate faithfulness to God is the most difficult.
So, in the case of the gopis, it is like that. The gopis leave everything for Krishna. You see that, at night when Krishna played the flute and called them, the gopis said, all our family members stopped us from going, but we left everyone and came.
And now when the gopis came, it was not just going once to meet Krishna. By that act of going towards Krishna, they were rejecting everything that gave them security and identity. A woman who lives in a conservative society, the woman loses her chastity or even the woman is considered to be unchaste.
She has no place. The gopis were risking their everything to go towards Krishna. And, what happened? Krishna left them.
They gave up everything for Krishna, and Krishna disappeared from their Asaharayana. And when the gopis left, they had no guarantee that, in fact, there was almost certainty that their family members would not take them back. And now Krishna has also left.
So, for them, Krishna was the cause of their distress. It was unbearable. And even at that time, the gopis remained devoted to Krishna.
That’s why the gopis demonstrate the summit of devotion. And eventually when Krishna comes back, still, the gopis ask Krishna at that time. When Krishna appears, they fervently sing the Gopi Gita, and Krishna comes back.
Then, when they are asking Krishna, they are angry with Krishna at the one level. Suppose you have a child, and the child runs away from home. The parents have frantic anxiety, and finally the child is found.
And when the child comes back, at one level, the parents are furious. How dare you run away like this? But the parents are also afraid to express their anger. If they express their anger, the child may run away again.
So, you don’t know what to do at that time. So, the gopis are like that. They are angry with Krishna.
How dare you leave us like this? In the middle of the night, when we have left everything for you? At the same time, they are afraid. If they become too angry with Krishna, Krishna will go away. So, they indirectly ask Krishna, that Krishna, if… You know, there are different kinds of lovers.
We love some people, and they love us back much more than what we love them. Some people, we love them, and they love us back as much as we love them. Some people, we love them, and they don’t reciprocate at all.
No. Which kind of lover is the best? So, now, you know, sometimes, some devotees want to criticise someone. And they… they describe everything about that person except that name.
And if somebody says, no, I didn’t mention any name. But everybody knows who is being talked about. So, it’s like that.
Krishna also understands the gopis are talking about me. But then Krishna tells over there, oh, gopis, I left, not because I rejected your love, but because I wanted to raise your love to the highest level. In that separation from me, you experience the zenith of devotion.
So, to raise your love, I reciprocate. I not only reciprocate with the love, Krishna says that actually your love is so great that I cannot reciprocate with it. That even in the day of Brahma, I cannot repay you for the love that you have offered me, for the service you offered me.
I am indebted to you. So, Krishna says, I am reciprocating. But the reciprocation is by raising you to a higher level.
And that will happen through my separating myself from you. So, here, of course, Krishna gives the gopis an explanation. And that explanation solace them to some extent.
But in general, for all of us, the Bhagavatam demonstrates this, that in spiritual life itself, there is some distress. Because we have to give up worldly objects and we have to pursue bhakti practise. But sometimes our spiritual practises themselves seem to be the cause of our distress.
So, at that time, how to be graceful, how to persevere, that is what the Bhagavatam demonstrates. And the gopis, for them, Krishna comes back and explains. For us, the distresses may come because of various reasons.
And I will talk about this in tomorrow’s class. And I will continue this series tomorrow also. But suffice it to say that when spiritual life turns to poison, it is not that spiritual life is poison.
It is not that spiritual life is going to permanently give us poison. Actually, the poison is a phase. Sometimes that phase may appear to be long, interminably long.
But that poison doesn’t last forever. And Krishna has a purpose. Krishna has a purpose which we may not be aware of.
Or we are running away from that truck and it seems Krishna is driving that truck. What else? Is Krishna causing this problem? Suppose we are walking along the road and we see a person just charging towards us with a fist raised about to hit us. And we are loud.
This person, why is he trying to hit me? And as the person charges towards us, we panic. And then suddenly, the person goes by us. And bang! And we look around and see there is a thief behind us.
Who is about to attack us from behind. And this person who came charging was actually not attacking us. That person was about to attack that thief.
So now that person who is charging towards us, that person is speaking. Warning us. Watch out! Watch out! But suppose that person speaks in a language different from what we understand.
Then daily, watch out! Watch out! This person is threatening us already. So what happens? That person who is coming to protect us may appear as if that person is threatening us. And because we don’t know the language, then we feel as if that person has come to attack us.
But in time, we understand this person is actually protecting us. Similarly, when Krishna comes in our life, some problems seem to be coming, but Krishna also speaks. He speaks within our heart.
He speaks to us through shastra. He speaks to us through guru sadhu shastra. He speaks to us as a chaitya guru.
But sometimes we just don’t understand his language. So the whole process of bhakti is to do two things. Is to give us faith that Krishna has a plan.
And gradually, by the practise of bhakti, Krishna also gives us not just faith, but Krishna also gives us understanding, by which we will be able to see what is Krishna doing to us, what is Krishna’s plan for us. And that will help us move towards Krishna. And that is life’s ultimate purpose.
So tomorrow I will speak on acronym PURE. Four ways to understand what Krishna’s purpose may be when some distresses are coming in our life. I will summarise now today’s class.
I spoke on the theme of when spiritual life gives us poison instead of nectar, how do we deal with it? I started by talking about what is this poison. I talked about happiness in three modes. And happiness in passion is nectar in the beginning, poison in the end.
And goodness is poison in the beginning, nectar in the end. What is that poison? Generally speaking, it is two things. The poison is that the sense objects pull us towards them.
And we have to resist that. Like lifting up our weight for a long time, it is strenuous. So like that, abstaining from sense objects is strenuous.
And we need abstinence till we attain transcendence. Abstinence means an object is in the gravity pull of a bigger object. And has to be lifted up.
Transcendence means the object has gone out of the gravity pull. So a sober person may not have to abstain from alcohol. Just transcend a little bit.
But alcoholic or recovering alcoholic has to abstain. So for different objects, different sense objects, we may experience different gravity pulls. What is poison for whom will vary from person to person.
And we need to permanently resist that. Till we go out of the gravity pull. When the poison will end and the nectar will begin.
Similarly, in the practise of bhakti also sometimes poison is there. The poison is that, actually speaking, the practises of bhakti are joyful like drinking nectar, drinking sweet rice. But our own distracted minds, they go here, there, and everyone is like moving their head away, so that we can’t taste the sweet rice.
So for us to keep our focus on Krishna, if there is a connection with Krishna, there is experience of Krishna and there is joy. But the connection itself is difficult to sustain. The connection will be sustained when we understand that Krishna is supremely attractive.
And other things are not that attractive. But to get that conviction takes time. And during that time we have to pursue it.
That’s again the poison for us. Beyond that, specific situations that we face in this world may also give us poison. And I discussed about various incidents in the Bhagavatam where great devotees face great suffering.
And some, in the case of Parijat Maharaj, minor mistake, huge punishment. Punishment should be in proportion to the mistake, the crime, not the outrage against the crime. And for Chitra Ketu there is almost no mistake only.
Just a misunderstanding which caused that problem. So what are the laugh of astonishment was seen as a laugh of criticism. And we see people’s actions and based on our preconceptions about them, we infer what their intentions may be, which may be wrong.
But in the case of Prahalad and Bali Maharaj, for Prahalad it was his devotion itself, devotional disposition that was the cause of his distress. For Bali Maharaj, it was his devotional action that became the cause of his distress. But beyond that, the Gopis, for them, it was Krishna himself for whom they gave up everything, Krishna left them.
So Krishna seemed to be the cause of his distress. So most people go to God because they want God to intervene between them and the problems that are bearing down upon them. Like a truck is driving on us, we want Krishna to be like a superhero who intervenes.
But if Krishna himself seems to be driving the truck, then how do we maintain our faith? Or that is, actually Krishna is dealing with some bigger problem. Somebody seems to be attacking us, but they are coming to attack those who are attacking us. So like that, Krishna has a bigger purpose.
When Krishna told the Gopis that I left you not to reject your love but to raise your love. Similarly, when there seems to be a problem in our spiritual life or problems because of our spiritual life, Krishna has a purpose. And that purpose and various possible purposes, some of them we will discuss tomorrow.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? In this past time, demigods, they know what is right or wrong. They get attracted to Mata Lakshmi.
Mata Lakshmi is Mohini Murthy? No. Okay, yeah. Okay.
You see, the demigods also get attracted to Lakshmi. Although they know what is right or wrong, similarly we also know what is right or wrong. When we say we get attracted in undesirable ways, I would say that it’s not… See, Lakshmi is the goddess of fortune.
So she is attractive. To be attracted to her is not the problem. What will is one attracted to? That is the issue.
So, in general, you see, the devatas and the asuras, both of them desire worldly pleasures. But the difference is, the devatas seek worldly pleasure within the boundaries of dharma. Vishnu, Bhakta, Smrita, Devo, Asuras, Tarvi, Pariya.
So, whereas the demons, they give up all boundaries of dharma. They don’t care for dharma at all to get pleasure while seeking pleasure. So, in the world, when we become… There are three ways, broadly speaking.
One can get attracted to Lakshmi Devi. One is that… sees her as the supreme goddess. She is the goddess of devotion.
Lakshmi Devi is also Radharani. In our tradition, we see Radharani as the supreme devotee. In fact, Ramadas Goswami says in a prayer that actually, we are the devotees of Radharani.
And because Radharani loves Krishna, so we offer Him some respect also. So, that is the mood of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Radharani is the topmost devotee.
So, appreciating her as the topmost devotee, that is a pure devotional appreciation. That’s wonderful. You want to be attracted to her.
There could be others as Lakshmi Devi. We see her as the goddess of fortune who will give us a lot of fortune. Now, when she is worshipped in this way, she is seen as a source of material well-being.
Radharani is seen as a source of supreme spiritual well-being. She will give us spiritual happiness. So, Radharani is the energy who gives pleasure to Krishna and she nourishes the heart of the devotees.
So, when we do some seva of Krishna, it is when Radharani takes her service to Krishna, Krishna becomes pleased and Radharani nourishes our heart. But when we want material things from her, that is, we are also seeing her as a goddess. But we are seeing her as a source of material well-being.
Now, that also can be done in two ways. Prabhupada says some people worship Lakshmi alone, but Lakshmi is always with Narayana. She should be worshipped together.
So, Lakshmi puja is done, so at that time people want to see her as an independent goddess. So, that is not so appropriate, but it is not like it is impious. It is still pious, but it is not a proper philosophical understanding.
On the other hand, if somebody wants Lakshmi for one’s own enjoyment, like say Ravana wanted Sita, that is wrong. So, attraction to Lakshmi is not the problem. The problem is what is the way of the attraction.
As long as we are in the material world, material things do matter to us. We cannot just wish away, say our health, our family, our job, our social standing. These things are important for us while we are functioning in this world.
But, if these become the sole basis for our relationship with Krishna, if our relationship with Krishna or with the goddess of fortune becomes just based on whether it becomes conditional to the fulfilment of these, then that is where it becomes a problem. And if we find ourselves attracted to something in an adharmic way, at that time, we just have to understand that this is something just coming because of my past conditions. I write everyday a small article in the Bhagavad Gita.
So, I try to encapsulate the meaning of the Bhagavad Gita verses in short sayings. 5.23, Krishna says that He says, desire and anger will come, but tolerate it. If you tolerate it, oh Arjuna, then you will be well situated.
You will be Yuktaha, you will be engaged in yoga and Sukhi, you will actually be satisfied by tolerating, not by indulging. So, I put this verse as temptations may come, we don’t have to welcome. So, just because a temptation has come doesn’t mean I have to welcome it.
If I understand I have a higher purpose in my life, if we see the mind to be like Maya’s internal advertising agent, or some people just search for advertisements to see what can I enjoy, what can I get. But, if we have now become devotionally purposeful, that means we are not so much interested in so many advertisements, watching this and that. But, say there may be billboards along the roads, but we might just sit and watch the billboard, one day I’ll get this, one day I’ll get that, one day I’ll get that.
But, when we become devotees, when we become devotionally purposeful, we may not spend so much time watching those advertisements, those billboards or whatever. But, just because we have become devotees, doesn’t mean the billboards will stop being there. Doesn’t mean advertisements will stop.
It’s just that we will stop watching the advertisements. So, we can say there are similarly, just as there are billboards, if this is the path of our, say, commute, and there are billboards along the way, we need to stop looking at the billboards. So, similarly, we can say there are billboards inside us.
The mind, as I said, like Maya’s internal advertising agent, the mind will show some billboards. But, if we become devotionally purposeful, then we will notice them, but we won’t obsess about them, we will dwell on them. Krishna says that, it is not perceiving that is a problem, it is contemplating that is a problem.
ध्यायतो विशयान्तमसा, it’s not दृषयतो विशयान्तमसा. So, we will see, but we don’t have to contemplate. So, temptations may come, or propositions may come, we don’t have to welcome.
And that happens, by doing this, higher knowledge and higher taste, which can be encapsulated as purpose, higher purpose. If we have knowledge, that this is much better for me, and then we are practising bhakti, living a purposeful life, then we get some connection with Krishna. Even if that doesn’t give huge amount of satisfaction, but just engagement in Krishna, engaging in some constructive activities, it gives us some pleasure, some sense of achievement, some sense of movement, and that itself can help us abstain from worldly pleasures.
Does everyone see the question? Anything else? Questions or comments? Thank you very much. Vantraj kumar bhagatam ki, Srila prabhupada ki, Gaura bhakta vindaki, Gaura pramodhi.