From sentimentalism to sentiment 1 – FEEL acronym – Firmness and Education
Just one second.
So thank you very much for coming today afternoon. And I will speak on this topic from sentimentalism to sentiments. Sentimentalism basically means that our actions are driven and determined simply by our sentiments, by emotions.
I feel like doing something so I do it. If I don't feel like doing it, I don't do it at all. I was born and brought up in India in a Brahmin family and some of my relatives were quite ritualistic.
And when I was in school I could see that especially one of my aunts she was so fearful of things. If this happens that means this will happen, if this happens that will happen, if this happens that will happen. And she lived almost I felt as if she was always living with fear of the unknown.
And she would in her own imaginative way ascribe some meaning to something. This has happened like this, that means this is going to go wrong. This happened, this is going to go wrong.
And none of those would happen but still when she would keep doing like this I would get annoyed. Why is she so sentimental? And to some extent experiences like that made me somewhat reserved in approaching my own religion, my own tradition. I went through a phase of scepticism, even atheism in my college.
But then when I met devotees when I was studying my engineering I found that here there is so much systematic education and logic and analysis which formed the basis of devotion. I was amazed by it. I could clearly see that the devotees were very devoted to the Lord.
Their lives were dedicated to the Lord. But at the same time I did not see any of the sentimentality or the insecurity that I had seen earlier and which I had associated with religion and devotion. So that was the time I started studying the philosophy more and over the years as I have been observing people within the devotee community, outside the devotee community and finding that this is a journey which every one of us has to travel from sentimentalism to sentiment.
Sentimentalism as I said means that if I feel like doing something I will do it unlimitedly. I know just a few days ago one devotee called me and told me that actually throughout the year I have not been chanting. So during Karthik every day I am planning to chant 96 rounds.
So I asked him, how can you chant 96 rounds? He said, I just lost my job so I don't have anything to do. So then I wrote back, I messaged back to him, I said that I pray that you get the spiritual strength to move forward in your life. I did not tell him that I appreciate, I did not discourage him because I would have to explain to him why he should not chant 96 rounds.
But I did not tell him that and when people, we get attached to something, this is what I want to do. Then we get so carried away by that then we just start thinking that anybody who is discouraging us is opposing us and we start thinking that they are opposing my devotion also. So therefore, yes, it's good if sometimes we can increase our japa but actually japa is like our bhakti, japa and in general our bhakti is like our food.
We can't take food for one month and then starve for 11 months in the year. It has to be regularly taken. So sometimes if we intensify our devotion because of some inspiration that is good but there has to be a steadiness in the devotion also.
So sentimentalism can distract us in our devotion in various ways. I'll talk about that. Now what is sentiment? Sentiment refers to an emotional connection that is expressed through commitment.
Definitely emotion is involved. Sri Prabhupada translated bhakti as devotional service. Bhakti is ultimately an emotion.
It's a sentiment but it's not just a sentiment. Yashodamaya is not just absorbed in love for Krishna. She is absorbed in love for Krishna but she is committed to the service of Krishna also.
She does everything meticulously for the service of Krishna. So from sentimentality where we are just driven by our feelings here and there to sentiment where we have emotion for Krishna but we also have commitment in our relationship with Krishna. So that is a journey which we all need to traverse if we want to experience authentic devotion.
Sri Prabhupada would often quote the verse Shruti Smriti Puranadi Pancharatviki Vidin Bina Aikanti Ki Harer Bhakti Utpata Yaiva Kalpate If our bhakti is not directed according to scripture then bhakti can simply create a social disturbance. It will not lead to any spiritual transformation. It will simply disrupt society.
So I'll talk about social disruption later. But the idea of scripture is that we don't want to be sentimental but we do want to experience sentiments. We want to have attraction, devotion for Krishna.
So I'll talk this in four aspects of this journey. I'll use the acronym FEEL So F E E L So we want to move from fickleness to firmness. Then we want to move from, many people want some experience.
I want to experience something. But we don't want just experience we want education of what it is that we are experiencing and how we can experience it steadily. So in the first part I'll talk about commitment.
Second part I'll talk about scripture. Then from exhibition to expression. Here I'll talk about the role of rituals in the practise of bhakti.
How we can adopt rituals to become spiritual and not become ritualistic. And last part, from lamenting to learning. Here I'll talk about how in our devotion itself, sometimes we become pessimistic.
And sometimes the Bhagavad Gita philosophy might make it seem as if it's pessimistic. This world is a place of misery. So from those getting into caught by those negative emotions we learn and rise towards higher spiritual emotions.
So in the first part I'll speak about this too and then we will have a short break and then I'll speak about the next two. We will have some time for question answers towards the end of each session and if you have any questions in between you can note them down and we can discuss them towards the end. So from fickleness to firmness.
So this is the first part that we are discussing now. Whatever we will be discussing that will be highlighted in yellow over there. So our feelings are very fickle by nature.
And if we keep doing whatever we like we end up disliking ourselves. I like to do whatever I want to do. Now there is a difference between doing what we like and doing whatever we like.
Doing whatever we like means at one moment I like this, next moment I like that, next moment I like that. I'll talk about doing what we like a little later. But whatever means our, say, with respect to eating.
We all have certain food preferences. Certain foods we like, certain foods we don't like. It's just individual and natural.
But if somebody keeps eating whatever they like and whenever they like then that will spoil their health. If we just indiscriminately eat because we like to eat some things. Say if somebody is diabetic and they start eating a lot of sweets then they'll fall sick.
Not only will they fall sick, afterward they'll feel embarrassed that I got myself into so much trouble. And we will, when our health gets spoiled, when our body balloons out, we will feel angry with ourselves. So if you see in today's world, self-loathing is a common psychological problem.
Self-loathing means people just don't like themselves. External they appear very proud. I am confident, I am proud, I am so great.
But internally they are disappointed with themselves. They are disgusted with themselves. Why? Because they just let themselves be driven by feelings.
Just do this, do this, do this. Say for example, if we are studying, we are studying something on a computer, maybe reading some lessons. And then at that time some notification pops up.
Our friend on Facebook has changed their cover photo. Okay, what photo have they put? I want to see that. We click notification and go there.
And then there we see, there are 5-6 other notifications are there. We click that. One click, one click, one click, one click.
And then if we keep clicking, whatever we like. Hey, this looks good, this looks good, this looks good. Then at the end, 2, 3, 4, 5 hours may go away.
And suppose we had some important work to do. Say, next day we had an exam. I was actually in Brisbane.
And there I came to know that all over the world there are students who face a lot of stress. And sometimes students become suicidal. So, what happened there was this boy, very good student and he was preparing for his exam.
And the next day was his exam. It was a critical exam for his career. And he started studying at night somehow.
He started clicking on. He wanted a break. He started looking some YouTube video.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Just went on and on. He just lost track of time. And he spent 8 hours.
Like something like 10 o'clock or something. Night he started surfing. He forgot to sleep.
And then at 6 o'clock, early morning, 7 o'clock we had exam. I realised I wasted 8 hours. What did I do? And then he became so angry with himself that in that anger he committed suicide.
So, yeah, it's stupid to do that. But to do suicide just because one has wasted some time, it's even worse. So, generally, when we become angry, we become angry when we dislike something.
We loathe something. We hate something. Anger which is directed outwards leads to violence.
Anger that is directed inwards leads to depression. It leads to inferiority complex. Ultimately it leads to suicide.
So, when I feel so angry with myself that I feel I can't live with myself. Obviously, we will have to live with ourselves. But at that time we feel, I'll just end my life.
So, we can end up disliking ourselves. And because many people today don't have the sense of commitment to do any particular thing. Keep changing, keep changing, keep changing.
Then they end up disliking themselves. Now, our feelings are very powerful forces. But they are fickle.
And because they are fickle, if we just go along with those fickle feelings, we will not be able to do anything constructive in our life. One common feeling which drives everyone is love. And people say, I'm in love with someone.
They're ready to fight against the whole world to fulfil their desire for love. Now, the word love can have many different meanings. So, here I talk about five different meanings which can be there of love.
Suppose somebody says to another person, you don't love me. Now, what do you mean by you don't love me? That means I have certain expectation from you that you give me your time, you give me your attention, you give me your you give me some respect, you care for me. So, there you don't love me means that you are not, that love refers here to expectation that is not being fulfilled.
Somebody may say, I'm in love. I'm in love with so and so person. That means that's an emotion that I'm experiencing.
A strong emotion. Sometimes you may say that that person is so lovable. That person is so lovely.
That means there is so much attraction to that person. Everything is related. There are two people over here.
Love as an expectation means it is something which I expect from you which I'm not getting. When you say that person is lovable, that means that person has some qualities by which I feel attraction for them. When I say I am in love, that means that person may be attractive but the focus is my emotion.
I feel so much love for this person. So, I have that emotion of love. Now, love of course can also be a sensation.
When people have physical intimacy, they say we are making love. That's a sensation. Beyond that, love is also dedication.
Dedication means that when there is love, there is commitment to the other person. So, in today's world, quite often people talk about love only in these first four terms. I have fallen in love.
When you use the word fall in love, what it means is it's almost like it's involuntary. If I put my foot on a banana peel, I'll slip and I'll fall down. So, when you say fall, it refers to something which is completely involuntary.
I saw somebody and then I got attracted. I fell in love. Yes, there can be an attraction but the important thing is not whether there is just an attraction or not.
Sometimes in movies, you may see that one person sees another person and they feel like electric current going through their body and they say, oh, there was love at first sight. It's fine, that kind of sensation might be there but the important thing is there may or may not be love at first sight but what is there after many sights? So, actually for a relationship to begin, if it's just some initial attraction that can be a positive but if emotion is all that is driving people, then when we say we fall in love and then after sometime you fall out of love. It's involuntary.
People find the other person attractive and after sometime they just stop finding that attractive. In fact, nowadays, brain scientists, they are researching emotions and basically our emotions don't come from the brain but they are expressed in the brain through the secretion of certain chemicals. So, what brain scientists say that whenever there is romance, the romance has roughly a shelf life of 9 to 18 months.
That is when we get attracted to someone, when we come in the presence of that person, those hormones get secreted and we start feeling some emotions but after sometime, those hormones are no longer secreted and then those feelings don't come. They stop coming. It's biological.
And then after that, we start seeing, first initially two people fight against the whole world. I can't live without you. And then afterwards, I can't live with you.
So, the whole problem here is that it's driven solely by emotions. Emotions are required in every relationship but we can't allow a relationship to be driven only by emotions. So, love as dedication means that we consciously choose to love someone.
That means that yes, everybody has a positive side, everybody has a negative side. And we consciously choose to focus on the positive side and we consciously choose to do the actions that will express the love. Consciously doing those actions, gradually that love grows.
So, this idea of love as dedication is very much lost in today's ethos of excessive romanticisation. So, most people, they look at love in the first four terms, first three and when the fourth is not satisfied, then they just quit. And this dynamic of love as dedication applies even in our spiritual life.
When you practise bhakti, sometimes you may come to a temple and you feel so good. Come to the temple and we look at the deities and we feel something special in our hearts. Sometimes we start chanting and we feel so good.
We just chant and the holy name seems to be resonating in our head and we feel absorbed, we feel strengthened. We feel as if chanting should never end. And some days later, we feel as if chanting never ends.
It is just going on and on and on. Sometimes while chanting we may take our beads out of the bead bag. Instead of 108, has somebody put 1008 beads over here? So, if our bhakti is also simply driven by emotions, then sometimes we feel like practising bhakti, sometimes we will not feel like practising bhakti at all.
Now, interestingly, Prabhupada explains in Nectar of Instruction that devotional service is not sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy. Its substance is practical activity. That imaginative ecstasy, coming to the temple and we feel something.
Oh, I feel so good when I come to the temple. That's fine if you feel good. But it is not just some imagination or some speculation.
Devotion is, its substance is practical activity. We do the activities that express devotion to Krishna. And by this dedicated practise of bhakti yoga, gradually pure spiritual emotions will develop.
Now, when we commit ourselves to anything, gradually just by that commitment, the attachment develops. Many people want the attachment first, and when the attachment is not there, it goes away, they give up the commitment. But in bhakti, the idea is commitment comes first, attachment will come gradually.
Krishna tells in the Bhagavad Gita, mayi asakta manah partha yogam yunjan madhashrayah asamshayam samagram mam yatha gnyasasi tashvano. In 7.1 he says that yogam yunjan madhashrayah by practising the process of yoga, taking shelter of me, gaining knowledge about me, what will happen? You will come to the level of mayi asakta manah. Your mind will become attached to me.
Actually, from the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita to the sixth chapter, there is a gradual progression, where from karma yoga to gyan yoga to ashtang yoga, and ultimately it culminates in bhakti yoga. And Krishna says in 6.47 that yoginam api sarvesham madgate na antaratmana shraddhavan bhajate yo mam same yuktatamo matah that the topmost yogis are those whose mind is constantly absorbed in me. And this zenith, this summit which we have attained, which 6.47 has described, Krishna describes in 7.1, which is the next verse, an alternative way of getting to that.
So one way to get the mind attached to Krishna is through the long and laborious process of ashtang yoga, karma yoga, gyan yoga, ashtang yoga, then coming to bhakti yoga. Otherwise, just by practising bhakti, gradually we'll come to the level of the mind getting attached to Krishna. So when, so one aspect of moving from sentimentalism to sentiment is to move from fickleness to firmness.
That our feelings will just keep driving us here, there and everywhere. But we understand that I cannot count only on my feelings. I have to become committed.
I have to be firm. And as Prabhupada says, practical activity, the substance is that we have to practically serve Krishna. And by the practical service to Krishna, we will slowly move towards Krishna.
Guru Das was a senior disciple of Prabhupada and he writes in one of his Vyasa Puja offerings, that when he was in charge of Vrindavan project in the early days of the movement, and we didn't have a temple there, but he was sent to Vrindavan and Prabhupada came to Vrindavan. And he had read in Krishna book, he had heard in different places. So about how wonderful Vrindavan is.
And he went to Vrindavan, thinking now my spiritual master is going to come here to Vrindavan and maybe he'll tell me some special esoteric pastimes of Radha Krishna and I'll come to know so much about Krishna. And he came from Vrindavan to Delhi to receive Prabhupada and Prabhupada was very grave at that time. He came down from the airport.
In those days, in the pre-9-11 days, you could actually go right up to the airport. You may have seen up to the aeroplane practically. You may have seen many times in the Prabhupada videos.
Prabhupada is coming down from the ramp and devotees are there itself greeting and cheering. So he saw Prabhupada coming down. Prabhupada was looking very grave.
So I think Prabhupada must be absorbed in thoughts of Krishna. I should not disturb him. And then as the devotees are walking, they got into the car and they are going through the car and Prabhupada is chanting, looking out, chanting.
Prabhupada must be remembering Vrindavan and Krishna and thinking, you know, maybe Prabhupada will speak some words of some divine pastimes. And finally as they were in, Prabhupada was chanting gravely, contemplating as they entered Vrindavan. And the first word Prabhupada spoke was cement.
Cement. He says, how are you planning to get cement to build the temple for Krishna? So now, at one level it was a disappointment, cement. But then Prabhupada gave a class and Prabhupada actually gave a series of classes on nectar of devotion.
And Prabhupada said that our devotion to Krishna is by how we make arrangements for people to come to Krishna here. So yes, Prabhupada, there are times when Prabhupada was so absorbed in Krishna that he would sometimes sing Jai Radha Madhava, he would just go into ecstasy. But Prabhupada's devotion was primarily seen through dedication, through practical activity.
So it is, there is the aspect of absorption in Krishna but that absorption comes by purification. I'll talk about purification a little later but purification requires dedication. So whatever service we have, when we do it in a dedicated way to Krishna, in a committed way, then by that gradually the pure emotion will emerge.
So that's why the firmness in our service is vitally important for us to go towards Krishna. So let's go to the next part now. So we are discussing the acronic fee.
Just now we discussed from fickleness to firmness. Then we'll discuss the second part now, from experience to education. Experience means people often want to feel good.
I want some spiritual experience. I want to go somewhere special, experience something special, feel something sublime. Yes, all that is good.
If you get such experiences they are blessings of Krishna. At the same time we need the education to understand how we are to move forward in our spiritual life. That's why, if you see, now when we experience some emotions, we experience some feelings, where are those feelings coming from? Sometimes there is a pastime of sometimes people, some people are called sahajiyas.
Is it not visible? Okay. So some people are sahajiyas. Sahajiyas means that they actually have no emotion for Krishna.
They have no genuine devotion but they make a great show of devotion. So in traditional Indian society those who have exhibited emotions of devotion, often they are considered very great saints. If somebody cries on taking darshan, on doing kirtan, must be a great saint.
And yes, those who are great saints, they will cry. But sometimes some people imitate that. So one easy way to get tears in your eyes is to just put some onion near your eyes.
So there are people who do that. They get ground onion powder and as the kirtan is going on, that powder looks just like their skin. And then they rub the powder and then they apply it on their eyes and in one moment they are normal, next moment tears are coming in their eyes.
Oh such a great devotee having so much tears. So sometimes the emotions are faked completely. So there is a story in Chaitanya Charita Amrit that there was a snake charmer who was playing the music which is associated with Krishna's dance in Kaliya.
So there is a particular music. So he was playing that and there was a snake which was moving its head and then when Haridas Thakur was passing by, he heard it he became ecstatic. And when he started dancing in ecstasy, everybody around started appreciating and admiring and watching.
And then Haridas Thakur went away after that. The next day again that snake charmer had come and then some man came and he started dancing in ecstasy. And the snake charmer just took a stick and started beating that person.
Hey, what are you doing? And then immediately ecstasy disappeared completely. Ecstasy was replaced by fury. So by fury, by anger.
So now sometimes the emotions may be just coming from the physical level. They mean nothing spiritual. The soul is spiritual but the soul's consciousness comes through the mind, through the body, to the outer world.
But sometimes at the physical level, something may be the stimulus of emotions, the trigger for the emotions. And we can't know initially where our emotion is coming from. So it might just be coming from our own past impressions.
Some people may come to a temple and say some of us, if you're from India, in our childhood we may have worshipped a particular form of the Lord. Maybe we worshipped Ram or we may have worshipped Krishna or we may have worshipped Balaji or worshipped Vitthal. And then we hear some kirtans associated with that form of the Lord.
We feel a special connection. And that's natural because we have that impressions from our childhood. So one devotee came and asked me recently, he says that whenever I hear kirtans of Vitthal, Vitthal is a form in Maharashtra, he says I feel very connected.
So he says, should I take initiation in Gaudiya Vaishnavism or should I go to the Varkari Sampradaya and take initiation there? Because we worship Vitthal over there. He said that actually the emotions that we experience right now, they may simply be cultural. They may not be spiritual.
What do you mean by cultural emotions? Because that is our culture from the past. So whether we are actually remembering Krishna and feeling their emotion or we are just remembering the sweetness of our childhood and feeling their emotion. Just like if we meet a childhood friend after many many years and we start recollecting our childhood, we may feel some tears.
So we can't really know. We don't have to minimise any emotion that we experience in relationship with Krishna. But we don't have to maximise it also.
If some devotee says that Krishna came in my dream yesterday. So now can Krishna come in our dreams? Obviously. Who can stop Krishna from coming in their dreams? If Krishna wants to come, he can come in anyone's dreams.
But the important thing is that yes, Krishna can come in our dreams and that's wonderful if he comes in our dreams. But our spiritual advancement depends not on what Krishna does but on what we do. Because it's we who have to redirect our heart towards Krishna.
Krishna is eager to take us back to the spiritual world. So yes, if Krishna comes in our dreams, that's wonderful. But the important thing is not what happens in our dreams but what we do after waking up.
Isn't it? After waking up, if that feeling that Krishna came in my dream that intensifies my devotion. Then actually it's uncool. It's favourable.
I accept it. So once a devotee told Prabhupada that Prabhupada, you came in my dream and told me to take LSD. You told me to take LSD.
And Prabhupada said it was not me. It was Maya in my garb. Just as Ravana came in the garb of a sadhu.
So when some feeling is coming, it's very difficult for us to know from where it is coming. Now sometimes Krishna can come in the dream also. The emotion can come from a spiritual level of reality also.
But we can't know in advance or we can't even know when the experience is happening, where it is coming from. What we can focus on is where that emotion is taking us. Is that emotion, if acting on that emotion, if I act, will it take me towards Krishna or will it take me away from Krishna? If it takes me towards Krishna, it is favourable.
If it takes me away from Krishna, it is unfavourable. So that education we require to understand what will take me towards Krishna and what will take me away from Krishna. And that education comes by study of scripture.
When we study scripture, then we understand these multiple levels of reality. There is physical reality, mental reality, spiritual reality. And we want to rise towards the spiritual level of reality.
So by study of shastra, we can actually ensure that our emotions raise us upwards to higher level of consciousness. So there is this two aspects. There is our mind and our intelligence.
There is our emotion and there is our reason. So bhakti yoga balances both of them. Our emotion is directed and regulated by reason.
Reason here doesn't simply mean logic. It means scripturally guided reason. It is vichar.
So when our emotion is directed and regulated by reason. So this essentially means that when we feel some emotions, as I said, directed. That I direct it in such a way that I feel the emotion, but I direct it so that it takes me towards Krishna.
Emotion is directed and regulated. Emotion also needs to be regulated because the emotion can become like a hugely oscillating pendulum or a big sine wave with ups and downs, crests and troughs. So there has to be regulation so that we can move towards Krishna.
If there is no regulation, then one day we will be driven fast towards Krishna and the next day we will be driven fast away from Krishna. Because emotions have that power. So we have to have the reason to balance that.
in the Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's past time when Haridas Thakur, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had gone to Vrindavan, at that time he had one of his associates with him, Balabhadra Bhattacharya. And then Balabhadra, he heard that some people in Vrindavan were discussing that actually we are seeing Krishna. Krishna is there on Kaliya.
And people would go at night and say, oh we can see the jewels of Kaliya. And we can see Krishna dancing. So when Balabhadra heard this, he said, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, I want to go and see.
I want to see Krishna. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he, the CC says, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, Premera Chapat. He slapped him.
He says, don't you know in scripture says that Krishna doesn't appear in Kali Yuga. Krishna has appeared earlier. And then, he is a little taken away.
He said, I want to go and have darshan of Krishna. He thought Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will come and have darshan. But then after that, sometimes some Rajivasis came over there and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked him, he says, there is this idea that Krishna is coming in Yamuna and dancing on Kaliya.
He says, oh no, no, no, no. They said, actually what happened was, there was a boatman who would go in a boat at night to catch some fish. And he had a lamp which was at his feet.
And people thought that as the boat would move up and down, they were like the fangs of Kaliya. And when he was standing above, they thought it was Krishna dancing. So, if, what happens is that when people are driven only by sentiments and the logic or reason is not there, then people can very easily get misled.
There was a European thinker, he said that India we consider to be a poor country, but actually as far as gods are concerned, India is the only millionaire. India is the only millionaire. So, there are so many gods.
There is supreme god, there are demigods, and then there are semigods. Semigods means, say me god. I am god.
So, somebody does a miracle, somebody does something which nobody else is able to do, and people start telling that this person is god. And so many people start worshipping anybody and everybody as god. So, this is, there is no proper scriptural guidance.
That emotion of devotion is there, but where to direct it, there is no reason involved. There is no scriptural guidance and that's why people get sentimental. So, emotion has to be directed and regulated by reason.
Regulated means, yes, we want to respect anyone who is saintly, but we cannot over-respect and consider a human being to be god. So, that regulation of emotion has to be there which will come by reason. Conversely, reason alone is cold.
Reason and logic is cold. Reason has to be animated and permeated with emotion. When we do logical analysis, our purpose is not just to analyse Krishna.
Our purpose is to love Krishna. Once one devotee asked one of our sannyasi gurus, he said that you know the Krishna Leela in which Krishna was prophesied to appear as the eighth son of Devaki and he would kill Kamsa. And Kamsa, because of fear, he decided that I will first kill Devaki only.
Then he said I will not kill Devaki because when Vasudev promised him that I will give whatever children are born to you. So, then one devotee, one boy from IIT asked if Kamsa was afraid of Devaki's sons, then why did he put Vasudev and Devaki in the same prison cell? He could just have kept them separately. So, then the Maharaj gave the answer Kamsa did not have an engineering brain like you.
Now, of course, there is a reason over there. The reason is that Kamsa, he had earlier defeated the gods also. He had earlier fought and defeated the gods that had made him very proud.
And later on, when the Akashwani came, initially he was very fearful, this 8th child will kill me. But then when Vasudev pacified him, then he thought that I have already defeated the gods, now I will defeat the word of the gods also. That means they have made this prophecy that the 8th child will kill me.
I will let that 8th child be born and I will kill that 8th child. And he had that arrogance that I can falsify the word of the gods. So, in that way, there is a reason.
But if you get too caught in analysing everything in Krishna Bhakti, then we may miss out on the point of Krishna Bhakti itself. Somebody may ask, Krishna you say lifted Govardhan Hill. How did he, he is a small person with a little finger, how if he lifted up a whole mountain, how did he find the centre of gravity of Govardhan? To put his finger right there.
You know, if say, if I have to hold this phone on one finger, now I can't even lift it on my little finger. But even if I want to, I have to place it right at the centre so that it gets balanced. So now, how did Krishna find the centre of gravity? Krishna doesn't have to find the centre of gravity, because he is the source of gravity.
He has divine omnipotence. Gravity is a principle that acts because of him. Krishna says in 15.14 Bhagavad Gita that he manifests in the earth and by his potency, the earth and the various planets float in the sky.
So if we become too logic, if we just get driven too much by logic, then we will miss out on the essence of bhakti. So sometimes some people give too many symbolic interpretations of things. So that symbolic interpretation, it may aid in some intellectual analysis.
But we, but Krishna is not a symbol. Krishna is a living, loving person. And we need to love Krishna.
So reason has to be animated by emotion. It has to be permeated with emotion. When we approach Krishna, we don't just want to have academic knowledge of Krishna.
We want to have personal knowledge of Krishna so that we can love him. There is knowing about God and there is knowing God. What is the difference between the two? Knowing about God means that we have a lot of academic information about God.
It's like say, there is a small child who is a little sick. Then the mother takes the child to the doctor, to the physician. Now as far as the physical parameters are concerned, what is the blood count, what is the heartbeat, what is the platelet count.
So many physical counts are there, physical parameters. Who will know that more? The mother or the physician? The physician. But who knows the child more? Mother.
Because the physician knows about the child. The mother knows the child. The difference is that the physician is seeing the child primarily as a physical machine.
And okay, there is something wrong with the physical machine, I have to fix it. Whereas the mother is seeing the child as a person. A person to be loved.
Similarly, when we approach Krishna, we want to approach Krishna as a person. We want information, we want to know more and more past times, we want to know more and more about Krishna. But we want to connect with Krishna.
There are academic scholars, one of the biggest scholars on Hinduism, especially in Krishna Leela, is a person who is born in a Brahmin family and he is a big scholar, he has three PhDs in Krishna's history of Krishna's past times, in the texts about Krishna, the culture that has arisen from Krishna and he is an atheist. He studied so much about Krishna but there is no attraction to Krishna. So why? Because all that is just a job for him.
All that is just a way to earn his money. So therefore, we don't want this kind of knowledge. We don't want logic which is devoid of emotion.
So we are talking here about from experience to education. Experience means I do whatever feels good. But education means we try to understand what is the nature of reality.
So if we consider, if we are driving along a road and we see that, hey this part of the, this scenery looks very good, let me drive this way. Hey that scenery looks very good, let me drive that way. Now if we just keep driving wherever the scenery looks good, we won't get to any destination.
Isn't it? If we have a map and if we are going to a very beautiful scenic place, then we may sometimes pass through a deserted land also. But the map will help us to get to that beautiful scenic place. So without education, we will just be like in a journey wherever, whichever direction looks good, we will go there.
This feels good, let me try this. This feels good, let me try that. That feels good, let me try that.
But eventually we will not reach our destination. So education helps us understand that there is physical reality, there is mental reality and spiritual reality. And there is a process of bhakti yoga by following which we can rise from physical reality to spiritual reality.
From the experience of the material world to the experience of Krishna. So now, the Gita offers us this guidance. The Gita is a book of bhakti.
By the same time, the Gita repeatedly tells Arjuna to become equipoised. Don't be elated when there is happiness, don't be dejected when there is distress. So if we say bhakti is full of emotions, isn't it? So why is Krishna telling Arjuna repeatedly to be equipoised, equipoised.
Be calm, be stoic. So that is because Arjuna's emotions in the Bhagavad Gita are coming in the way of his service to Krishna. His service to Krishna is that he has to fight a war to establish dharma.
But for him, at that time, his emotions are coming in the way. Because of sentimentality, how can I fight against my relatives? That's why Krishna tells Arjuna, calm down, calm down. Be equipoised.
Don't get carried away by your emotions. So for us, there are material emotions, there are spiritual emotions. So the emotions that come in the way of our service to Krishna, we have to keep them aside.
Nourish the emotions that elevate. The emotions that raise us upwards towards Krishna, we nourish those emotions. We strengthen those emotions.
And we starve the emotions that degrade us, that drag us down. In the Ramayan, when Ram, Lakshman and Sita go to the forest, at that time, Lakshman is like a typical angry young man. Such an injustice has happened to Ram.
And he in fact wants Ram to protest. But Ram is very stoic and serene. And then, when Bharat comes with a full army, Bharat has come to beg to Ram to come back.
And he thinks, if I am a younger brother, my older brother may not listen to me. So to add weight to his request, he gets the elders, the citizens, the courtiers, a huge army. We all want you to come back.
That's why he has gone there. But when Lakshman sees and Lakshman, he has come with the whole army, he gets so angry. He says, that wicked son of Kaikeyi, he is not satisfied by seeing just you go to the forest.
Now he has come to the forest with the whole army to kill you. But he doesn't know that he will have to meet my arrows. And he will die today.
So Ram says, why are you so angry, Bharat? Lakshman, why are you so angry? He says, you know, Bharat's love for me is as much as your love for me. He says, is it that you, in a rush of sentiments, you, in a way of sentimentality, you came with me to the forest, but now seeing the austerity of the forest, you are feeling, feeling too difficult and you are getting agitated and you are taking out that anger on Bharat. If that is the case, then don't lament.
He says, when Bharat comes here, I will ask Bharat to stay in the forest with me and you can go to the kingdom and rule the kingdom. Lakshman feels very mortified by it. And finally when Bharat comes and begs, Ram, please come, please come.
And finally he says, if you cannot come, then you please give me your sandals. And he takes the sandals, put them on his forehead and then carries them. And today there is some wealthy patriarch who dies and he has two sons who are fighting for the inheritance.
If one brother takes out a sandal and gives it to the other brother, the other brother will probably pick the sandal and beat the brother. So when Lakshman sees how much devotion Bharat has, he feels extremely mortified. And then after that when Ram and Lakshman are sitting in the forest, Lakshman in his innocence and guilt and he feels remorse when he asks, he asks Ram, why do I get angry so quickly? And Lakshman and the elder brother pats him on the back and says, don't worry, you are sentimental.
He says, you are sentimental. Then Lakshman asks, are sentiments bad? Ram says, no, sentiments are not bad. Sentiments are very good.
Sentiments are the ornaments of life. But we need to choose those sentiments that take us towards Dharma and not those sentiments that take us away from Dharma. Dharma is the right course of action.
We need to choose those sentiments that take us towards Dharma and not choose those sentiments that take us away from Dharma. So that means we have to have the education to understand what is Dharma and which emotion will take me where. So this education is what the Gita provides.
So in Arjuna's context, his emotions are obstructing him in his service. And therefore, Krishna tells Arjuna, just calm your emotions down. Stay calm.
Stay calm and do your service. But ultimately, the Bhagavad Gita also talks about ecstasy. The devotee is delighted in discussing about Krishna.
So there is that spiritual emotion. But the spiritual emotion cannot be suddenly attained. So when we are practising bhakti, we need to choose and nourish the emotions that elevate us and we need to resist and starve the emotions that degrade us.
By doing this, we will again rise from sentimentality to authentic spiritual sentiments. So I'll summarise what I spoke and then we'll have a break. I spoke about the journey from sentimentalism to sentiments.
Some people become superstitious and fearful because of their conceptions of some unknown out there causing danger to them and they remain overwhelmed by sentiments. So that kind of sentimentalism or sentimentality is unhealthy for spiritual life. Sentiments means, in the sense of dedication to Krishna, that is very good.
So I talked about the journey from sentimentalism to sentiments using an acronym. What was that acronym? Feel. And what was F? Fickleness.
From fickleness to firmness. Thank you. So I talked about, if we keep doing whatever we like, we end up disliking ourselves.
We just keep eating. Then we may just lose our health, lose our figure and we start hating and disliking ourselves. Keep eating anything and everything at any time.
We keep just surfing on the net. Then we start loathing ourselves. I wasted so much time.
Talk about this boy who committed suicide because of surfing excessively just before an exam. Then I talked about how our feelings are meant to be… Feelings will keep us fickle. We need to become firm.
I talked about many different meanings of the word love. I talked about five different meanings. Does anyone remember? Love can be attraction, emotion, sensation, expectation, dedication.
Thank you. So now, most people get carried away by the first three senses. I am in love.
But most people, when they don't get the fourth, you don't love me. Then they just give it up. So love can be a sensation that comes upon us.
Love can be an attraction that we feel towards someone. Love can be emotion that rises in our heart. But for love to be sustainable, it has to be an action that is expressed through dedication.
We consciously choose to commit ourselves to someone. So even if we see something about them which is not so likeable, we focus on that which is likeable and most people think that the attachment should come first and then they never come to the level of commitment. But for any sustainable relationship, the commitment comes first and through the commitment, the attachment will come.
So Prabhupada says bhakti is not just imaginary ecstasy or sentimental speculation. Its substance is practical activity. So by the process of bhakti yoga, by doing sadhana bhakti, we will rise towards making our mind attached to Krishna.
Then second part was in the acronym field, E was? Experience to education. From experience to education. So experience means whatever makes me feel good if I keep doing that, we keep searching for experience.
Like while driving, we just look for whatever sight looks good and go in that direction. But education means we have a map and we know where we are meant to go. So without the education, we will get carried away by whatever emotions may come even in our devotional life.
One day we will practise bhakti enthusiastically, next day we will just give up the practise. So we talked about primarily that there is knowing God and there is knowing about God. So you want to know God as a person.
So emotion needs to be directed and regulated by reason. And conversely, reason needs to be animated and permeated with emotion. So when there is this balance of reason and emotion, then the bhakti leads to spiritual transformation, not social disruption.
We talked about various people who imitate advanced emotions. We talked about different triggers of emotions. Emotions may come from the body, the mind, the soul or from a combination of any of these.
It's very difficult to know where an emotion is coming from. We should look for where the emotion is taking us. And scriptural guidance will help us understand that.
And the Gita offers us this guidance that we should be, at our sadhaka stage, unemotionally emotional. Unemotionally emotional means we, in an objective way, evaluate in an unemotional way, we evaluate the emotions. And if the emotion is taking us away from Krishna, is taking us away from dharma, as Ram, Kausha and Lakshman, then we put aside that emotion.
We starve that emotion. Whereas the emotion takes us towards Krishna, then we nourish that emotion. So thank you very much.
Are there any questions or comments? Yes, please. You can speak, I'll repeat it. Just speak the question, I'll repeat it.
Just speak it, I'll repeat it. On Ekadashi, your sense of this life and many previous lives, you know, are cleared, right? Is that, how do we evaluate that? It is totally emotion or is there any reason? Okay, good question. So when we hear say scriptural promises of some great results that may come, like say on Ekadashi, we come free from all sins.
So how do we see this? Is this emotion or what is the reason in it? The scriptural promises are expressions of Krishna's compassionate heart. They indicate the magnitude of mercy that is available. But that compassionate heart should invite, should inspire us to approach him with a repentant and devoted heart.
If we try to, when Krishna is speaking with his heart, we have to reciprocate with our heart. If Krishna is speaking with his heart and we start reciprocating with our head, then that is not proper reciprocation. What that means is that let's consider the Ajamil story.
It is said that Ajamil, he committed, he was a pious, devoted person initially. Then he committed terrible sinful activities and then eventually just chanted one name of Narayan. And he was saved by that.
So now, what is the mood of Shukadeva Goswami over there? What lesson does he draw from it? Does he tell Parikshit Maharaj? Parikshit, you don't have to sit for seven days and hear Bhagavatam. You also go and enjoy and just on the seventh day just chant one name of Narayan. He doesn't tell that at that time.
Prabhupada also says, the mood is, Prabhupada says that he chanted the name once and he was benefited so much. If we chant regularly our japa, will the Lord not benefit us? Will the Lord not bless us? So the mood here is that whenever scripture makes some promises, those promises are not exaggerations. They are not just sentimental claims, tall claims.
But they are indications of the magnitude of the Lord's mercy. Now it is not that in each and every case that magnitude of mercy will be available. It's ultimately a matter of the heart.
How do you actually quantify something like mercy? So the idea is that when we hear such scriptural promises, they should inspire us to intensify our devotion. That is the whole purpose of it. If we use it to evade the process of devotion.
I was in India in a college. I think it was IIT. There I gave a class.
One student asked a question. He said, I read the Bhagavad Gita and I heard that if you remember Krishna at the time of death, you go back to Krishna. So he said then if I live materialistically throughout my life, when I have enough of my life, I'll put a gun on my head, chant Hare Krishna.
Press the trigger. I'll go to Krishna. Now we can't trick Krishna.
Krishna doesn't just say that you have to chant my name, you have to remember me. If throughout our life we have remembered worldly sense objects, then even if we chant the name of Krishna, we'll not remember Krishna. So then if you're not remembering Krishna, we'll not go to Krishna.
The whole idea is that we have to develop our devotion to Krishna by which there'll be recollection of Krishna. So the scriptural promises, we see them as indications of the magnitude of Krishna's mercy, of the benevolence of Krishna's heart, of the generosity of his grace. And we reciprocate with that exhibition of generosity, not by demanding that you give me that same generosity.
It is rather by becoming inspired to practise the process of bhakti ourselves so that Krishna will bestow his mercy on us also. Now how exactly he'll bestow his mercy, that is up to him. Krishna's mercy is causeless.
Now causeless doesn't mean that it doesn't have a cause. It means it doesn't depend on a cause. It is not proportional to a cause.
What does that mean? Prabhupada gave an example that once the devotees were going on a morning walk and there was a man who was feeding the ducks, throwing some crumbs of food, grains to the ducks in the lake. And there was one duck which was quacking very loudly. Quacking, quacking loudly and this man was giving more crumbs to that duck.
So Prabhupada said, this is Krishna's mercy. He said now the man who is giving the crumbs, he has no obligation to give to anyone. But if a duck quacks more, calls for more, the person may give more.
So now if we are seeking generosity, if we are basically wanting some generosity from someone, we are seeking some donation from someone, we can't demand, you gave that much donation to that person, therefore you should give that much donation to mules. No, beggars are not demanders. Isn't it? Beggars are not choosers.
So but, if we know this person gave so much donation to this person, then I may also get some donation. So let me also approach. So devotee's mood is that Krishna, we see Krishna, the magnitude of Krishna's mercy through the scriptural promises and we don't demand that same extraordinary mercy.
Rather, that gives us faith to dedicate ourselves to the process of bhakti by which we will get mercy. Does this answer your question? Thank you. Does this mean that we can't take scriptural promises literally but they are meant for inspiration? I wouldn't say that they are not literal.
If the incidents are described in scripture, those incidents have happened. Like Ajamil was delivered. So in that sense, it's a literal historical event.
But that doesn't mean that that is a universal thing which has to happen every time. So it is literal at a particular time and it is inspirational at all times. Thank you.
So, yeah. Sometimes we see that there are prayers where devotees are asking for a taste. Taste for chanting the holy name.
Taste in our heart. And that's basically they are praying for some kind of emotion. Is that? Like how do you relate that on a path of bhakti that we pray for taste for chanting.
Are we begging for some emotion? Okay, good question. So if you pray to Krishna for taste for chanting, are we begging for some emotion? See, it's not that seeking some emotion is wrong. It's ultimately we want to experience love for Krishna.
It is that whether we are ready to follow the process for getting that emotion. Like some people say that, oh, you know, what is the use of chanting so many mantras so many times? Just chant once with bhav. Yes, it's good to chant once with bhav, but the problem is there is an abhav of bhav.
Abhav means absence. Bhav is emotion. So there is absence of emotion right now.
Just chant once with emotion and you will get love for Krishna. The scripture does say that. That is like you just shoot once with your gun and you will get the Olympic gold medal.
Yeah, you will get it, but to get that one shot to the bull's eye, the shooter has to practise thousands and thousands and thousands of times. So, praying for emotion is perfectly fine, but we can also pray that we can follow the process that will help us develop the emotion nicely. If somebody says, I pray for the emotion and till then I postpone following the process, then we are making an unreasonable demand for Krishna.
So we are not willing to offer our devotion to Krishna. We are simply wanting to experience some emotion from Krishna. So we are not wanting to serve Krishna.
We want to simply enjoy Krishna. But when we serve Krishna and therein we enjoy Krishna, that is fine. It is not that we are not meant to get taste.
It is not that Krishna wants us to wallow in tastelessness. That is not Krishna's purpose, but it is that there has to be reciprocation. So a devotee prays for taste, but a devotee also prays that let me continue my service even if I don't have taste.
Thank you. You mentioned about nourish the emotions that elevate and scar the emotions that degrade. Can you give an example? Can you give some other practical examples? So any other situations of say emotions that elevate or degrade us? Somebody does kirtan.
And this is a real life story of an acquaintance of mine. He is a devotee. He is very good at music.
And when he would sing kirtans, he would get so absorbed, so lost in the kirtans. It was wonderful. And he would captivate people with his kirtans.
But he had so much taste for music that sometimes his kirtan would become more of a performance than a participation. That means he would sing such tunes that nobody else could sing those tunes. People just appreciated.
Amazement. Then he asked his spiritual master that I want to learn music specially. And I want to learn music specially.
So he said that he was a brahmachari. So he said I want to go to some traditional teachers in Bengal and how Gaudiya Vaishnava kirtan was done. I want to learn that.
So because he had that interest and desire and talent, so the spiritual master blessed him. And he went for 2-3 years, learned music very nicely. And he came back and he started doing his performance of kirtan group.
But then when he was doing kirtans in the temple, whenever he was doing kirtans, he started singing. Whenever he would do kirtans, he would be very happy. Anyone else would do kirtan, he would sing.
This person doesn't know how to sing. This person doesn't know how to play this instrument. This person doesn't know how to do this.
And eventually he told his spiritual master actually in this temple nobody knows kirtan. So let me do all the kirtans. So now that attraction to music is good.
It's a channel by which we can elevate our consciousness towards Krishna. But what can happen is that same channel which can be used, the emotion of attraction towards music, attraction towards devotional music, that can elevate me upwards towards Krishna. But that same emotion can make me look down upon others.
So if that emotion, that my sense of music, my taste for music, my expertise in music, if it increases my absorption in Krishna, then that is elevating. If it is increasing my sense of superiority over others, then that is unfavourable. So then I have to restrain that.
And the spiritual master told him that Krishna is not pleased just by music. He is pleased by devotion. All the devotees here are expressing the devotion of their heart.
So he told him that you can form your own kirtan mandali and you do kirtan group and you do special kirtans. But don't let this music, don't let your expertise in music make you find fault with other devotees. So our emotions, so here there is the same emotion actually, the taste for music.
So sometimes it may elevate us towards Krishna because it helps us to become absorbed in Krishna. Sometimes it may actually take us away from Krishna because it simply increases our ego. As in making us feel that I am superior to others.
Does that answer your question? Thank you. Yes. So… Thank you very much for regarding how to deal with our senses.
My question is regarding attachment and commitment. You said that from commitment comes attachment. But is there… But I also feel that from attachment comes commitment.
So it could go either ways. Like for a mother who is expecting, the attachment starts and then she gets committed to the well-being of the child. But when you say commitment, it can lead to attachment like let's say you are doing cooking service and it's a commitment and then slowly you get very attached to it.
Yes. But is there something is one better than the other? Okay, good question. Or are both good? So is it that the attachment lead to commitment or does commitment lead to attachment or is one sequence better or both good? The important thing is that ये न के न प्रकार ये न मन्ह कृष्ण निवेशे थ। Somehow or the other fix the mind on Krishna.
So we have to do whatever it takes to connect ourselves with Krishna. If we have some attachment to Krishna that's wonderful. Like I said somebody has taste for music, somebody has taste for philosophy, somebody has taste for cooking.
Some people before they came to bhakti they loved public speaking and now they become preachers and they speak about Krishna. So if we have already some taste which can connect with Krishna. We are attached to something and then we connect with Krishna.
That's wonderful. So is one better than the other? I wouldn't make a categorical statement like that. Whichever works.
If we have an existing attachment which we can connect with Krishna. That's wonderful. And even in our day to day life that if we are doing some service if we are doing some responsibility, doing some profession.
If we can work in a field that we like already then that attachment will make us more committed to it. But not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to work in a field that they like. Actually not everybody is fortunate enough to even know what they like.
So sometimes we have talents and we go through half hour of our life before we realise that I have a talent in this field also. So then we just whatever career we choose, whatever job we do, whatever role, responsibility we have we commit ourselves to it. And from commitment also attachment may develop.
So we could say that the initial attachment that is little there, that is like a snow pebble at the top of a hill. And commitment is like a process by which a snow pebble starts rolling down the ground. As it starts rolling down the slope of the hill, it acquires mass and momentum.
So if somebody has attachment to something and they also have commitment to that, then by that commitment the attachment will become even much greater. The attachment and commitment can be symbiotic. They can both nourish each other.
So we don't have to see them as mutually exclusive or one is better than the other. We start with whatever we have. We have attachment, we complement it with commitment and then we move forward in the nabhakti.
If we don't have any attachment right now, we have a commitment, we start with the commitment and attachment will come by that. Thank you. Should we stop for some time? We can take one more question.
So in this journey of sustainable and lasting form of love, like you said that there are different meanings of love but in order to have sustainable and lasting love it has to be dedicated. Conscious choice by focussing on the good ones. But is the idea behind that it has to be devoid of the other two because I think initially that any kind of emotion or attraction may be the drivers for me to personally put me into that situation.
That is fine. So is it that love has to be dedication alone? It can't be emotion or attraction? No, it's not that these are mutually exclusive. It is just that when there is an over emphasis on one to the neglect of the other, there is a problem.
Yes, if we have an emotional connection to something, if we have attraction to something, that is positive. And that can become an impetus for us to start. But if that alone stays as our impetus for moving, then when that is no longer there, then what will we do? So naturally when a mother has a newborn child, she feels so much just seeing the child, she feels so much love for the child.
But then that love say the child wakes up in the middle of the night and the mother has a long night, a long day, hard work and suddenly the child starts crying. At that time the child is crying, the mother may not feel a overwhelming sensation of love for the child. At that time, you may just feel annoyed.
But she'll still wake up and she'll take care of the child. So the emotion is, emotional attraction is very good to have, but we can't depend on it. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
So, shall we have a break for about between 6 to 6? 6 o'clock we'll start? 5 minutes. So we'll resume at around 6. Thank you very much.