Hanuman Jayanti talk – Balance ability with maturity

[Talk at Washington DC, USA]

Video

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hanumanji, yes.
So, let’s start with the prayer to Hanumanji. Mano Javam Marutha Tulya Vegam Jitendriyam Buddhimatam Varishtham Vatatmajam Vanara Yothamukhyam Sriramadhootham Sharanam Prapadye So, I will explain the meaning, and then we will recite once again, and then we will have the discussion. Mano Javam Marutha Tulya Vegam So, he can move as fast as the mind, and as fast as the weight.
Extremely fast. Jitendriyam Buddhimatam Varishtham That he is the lord of the senses, and not only his senses, but he is very intelligent. Buddhimatam Varishtham.
Best among the intelligent. And then, Vatatmajam. He was born from Vayudeva.
Vatatmajam. And he is Vanara Yothamukhyam. Although he was not the official leader of the Vanaras, but he was the strongest among the Vanaras.
And unto that, Ramadhootha. His greatest heroism happens when he goes all alone into Lanka, as a messenger of Ram. So, he is defined, that is his defining, Ramadhootham Sharanam Prapadye.
And to that, Ramadhootha, I surrender. So, let’s recite once again. Mano Javam Marutha Tulya Vegam Jitendriyam Buddhimatam Varishtham Vatatmajam Vanara Yothamukhyam He Ramadhootham Sharanam Prapadye He Ramadhootham Sharanam Prapadye Hare Krishna So, today I will speak on the topic of how ability needs to be balanced with maturity.
So, we will talk about story of Hanuman and we will analyse this broad lesson. The Ramayana is a timeless classic. In fact, few books in world history have had as much influence on humanity even according to secular scholars, as has the Ramayana.
Almost, more than for a millennia, a quarter of the world has been inspired by the Ramayana. And of course, the Ramayana is the journey of Ram. Ayyan refers to journey, Ram refers to, of course, the Lord Ram.
So, the journey of Ram. But even in the Ramayana, the most beloved character in many ways is not Ram. It is Hanuman.
There is a portion of the Ramayana that is recited most often whenever it is recited. Which is it? Sundarkand. And one characteristic of Sundarkand is that actually Ram is almost absent in the Sundarkand.
Only in the beginning he is there when he sends vanara, dhoota, preshaka, Rama. These are various names from the Naam Ramayana. Naam Ramayana is a compilation which describes the whole Ramayana in a series of 108 names.
So, right in the beginning, I will recite some names throughout this class. So, you can also repeat after me. vanara, dhoota, preshaka, Rama.
vanara, dhoota, preshaka, Rama. So, vanara, dhoota, as his messengers, preshaka means to send. That Ram, he sent the vanaras as his messengers.
And in our movement, we have a senior leader named Hanumath Preshak Swami. So, that means Hanumath Preshak, one who sent Hanuman. So, in the Sundarkand, Hanuman is, Ram comes in the beginning when he is sent by Ram.
He sends Hanuman away to search for Sita. And then at the end, when he comes back. But the Sundarkand centres on the heroism of Hanuman.
And the soundarya of the Sundarkand, this beauty of the Sundarkand is that there is the greatest presence of Ram in the absence of Ram. Especially the emotional climax of the Ramayana comes when the servant of Ram and the consort of Ram meet in separation from Ram. In the Ashoka Vatika, where they meet.
There, there is the greatest presence of Ram in his absence. So, Hanuman is an extremely beloved, worshipable devotee. And of course, today I won’t speak on the Sundarkand.
Today I’ll speak a little bit about the incidents before the Sundarkand. So, it’s interesting that Lord Ram is told about the glories of Hanuman after he has experienced those glories. That means, actually when Ram is searching for Sita, it’s an urgency, it’s an emergency.
They don’t have time to sit and discuss stories at that time. But then, when Ram comes back to Ayodhya and he is ruling. At that time, Agatamuniganasamstutraama Can you repeat? Agatamuniganasamstutraama So, various sages came there.
And one of the sages who came was a special sage, Agastya. Now, Agastya is an extremely powerful sage. Almost like Narada is everywhere.
So, Agastya comes and tells the story of Hanuman to Ram in the Uttarkhand. After the whole action is over, then, what is their background? He comes to know about it. So, Hanuman is actually born, you can see he has double parents.
The past was a time when there was greater interaction and intersection between the celestial realms and the terrestrial realms. Gradually, we could see that there are three levels of reality. The earthly level and the terrestrial level.
Above us, where the devatas live, is the celestial level. And above that is the transcendental level. So, because Kali Yuga is such a deeply contaminated age, so because of that, the earth has been quarantined from the rest of the universe.
Suppose somebody gets an infectious disease. So then, what happens? They have to keep a distance. About 15 years ago, I had TB.
So, at that time, I would have a mask around my face so I would give you classes. So, because the earth is contaminated, so it has been quarantined. So, the interaction between the higher levels of reality and the present level is not that much.
So, Hanuman is at the earthly level. His parents are Keshari and who? Anyone knows? Anjaneya. The son of Anjaneya.
And at the celestial level, he is the son of Vayu. So, I won’t go into the mystery of how that happens. But basically, he is very powerful.
And as he grows up, generally, children are mischievous. So, Anjaneya, when she has a child, she puts him in the forest. In the forest, Keshari and Anjaneya, they are Vanaras.
So, Vanara, the word, what it means? Va-nara. So, it has different etymologies. Va-nara means, is that a human? So much like a human.
Or it could be Vanara. Those humans who are human-like but living in the forest. So, they are not ordinary monkeys.
They are an evolved species who, if you see the hierarchy, they in many ways, the hierarchy of being, if you see in the Puranas described, the Vanaras are in some ways above the Manavas. So, they are, and we see, the Vanara is also able to do, Hanuman is able to do things which humans are not able to do. So, but still they live in the forest.
And she is looking for some food to get for Hanuman when he is a small baby. He is hungry. So, she puts Hanuman in the forest bed.
In a safe place. But Hanuman is restless. And now to be restless is, ok, it’s a challenge for parents, if a child is very restless.
You keep a baby at one place and then you come back and the baby has disappeared. Where has gone? So, now at least babies, you know, they can crawl, they can’t walk about, they can’t run. So, they have not gone a very far distance.
But if somebody is restless and powerful, that’s a very troublesome combination. Isn’t it? So, she just kept Hanuman for a short while and Hanuman just didn’t go into the next room. What did he do? Zoom! He jumped into the sky.
He saw high up the sun and he thought the sun, it is morning, it is not the blazing sun, it is the rising sun. He thought, oh, this is a nice shiny fruit. And he just jumped up to try to reach that and catch that fruit.
And as he was charging towards it, now, as we grow up, to some extent, we come to know about our inabilities. Many people feel, I have many hidden talents. But the problem is, they are hidden even from me.
But as we grow up, we all, we all become aware of our inadequacies. Every one of us is struggling with many painful inadequacies. We have a particular role where we have to do something, we just don’t have the ability to do that.
So, initially, when children are there, they don’t even know what they can’t do. So, he just saw that fruit and jumped up. Now, a more adult person said, you can’t reach the sun.
But he saw it, he jumped for it. He had that power because he is the son of Vayu and he had celestial power. So, he started bounding towards the sky.
He is bounding towards the sky. So, at that time, an eclipse was about to happen. So, Rahu was also going towards the sun.
So, Rahu was going to cover the sun. That’s how he brandishes his power. But, when he saw, Hanuman saw, that oh, I want this fruit and this creature also wants the fruit.
So, he just tossed Rahu. Now, nobody had treated Rahu like that. When Rahu comes, people get scared.
Rahu is bound and the whole cosmic order is being disturbed. He immediately went to Indra. And he said to Indra, actually, what is happening over here? He says, you are the head of the gods.
You are meant to maintain the cosmic order. It’s like, Indra is the head of the gods. Generally, if there is a problem, there are different levels at which the problem can be escalated.
Say, if you have some, you have got some phone and phone is not working, you do approach customer service. And then if the particular attendant doesn’t solve it, then you escalate it to a higher level. So, like that, Indra tries to solve the problem first.
If Indra can’t solve, then it is escalated to Brahma. If Brahma can’t solve, then it is escalated to Vishnu. So, here, first they go to, he goes to Brahma.
And when he goes to Brahma, what happens? Sorry, he first goes to Indra. He says, okay, let me see what is happening. And then, meanwhile, Hanuman starts charging towards Surya.
And Surya gets alarmed. He says, who is this? Surya also goes to Indra. He says, has a new Rahu been created? What is going on over here? And Indra says, who is this disturbance? And he starts charging in his chariot towards Hanuman.
And Indra’s chariot is also shining. So, Hanuman thinks, this is a small toy. This is another toy.
So, he changes course from Surya towards Indra. And starts charging towards Indra. Now, Indra thought that this might be some upstart who is just making some mischief.
And he will run away when I come. But he was shocked to see Indra running towards him. So, he also, what is this? He just took his thunderbolt and hurled it.
Now, Hanuman was powerful. But he was still a baby at that time. So, that thunderbolt just hit him.
It hit him straight on the face. And he got knocked out. Scratched on the ground.
Now, Vayu saw this and Vayu buffered his fall. But, when Vayu saw that, he was completely emotionless. Almost not breathing also.
So, Vayu became furious. And he said, yeah, he was doing mischief. But, you don’t have to kill him because he is doing mischief.
That’s just outrageous. And he got so angry, he stopped all the circulation of air. We, when we live in the world, we often don’t realise how dependent we are on things outside us.
For our very existence. So, if suddenly the air stops, within moments we would die. So, it is like, first there seemed to be a cosmic disruption, but now this was like a cosmic emergency.
If nobody can breathe, how will you live? And then, as I said, there are different levels of escalation. So, now immediately what happened? If you have a complaint against Indra itself, Indra is the party who has done wrong. So, immediately the escalation went to Brahma.
And Brahma came running down. And all the devatas also came to Vayu. He says, don’t stop breath like this, don’t stop the air like this.
He says, as long as my son’s life air is stopped, I will not have any life air for anyone. So, Brahma came and he understood what had happened, when Vayu explained to him. And Brahma just went and gently moved his hand on the forehead of Hanuman.
Just by that touch of Brahma, who is a very powerful person, Hanuman got healed. And he came to consciousness. And, he was relieved.
At that time, Indra and others still had questions. Who is this being? How could he jump up like this and go into the sky and reach the celestial objects? So, then Brahma seeing the question on their face, he says, listen, you devatas, I will tell you about this Vanara. He said that this Vanara is going to do extraordinary service to Ram.
All of you are terrorised by Ravan. Now, Ram will be countering Ravan. And this Vanara will grow up to become the closest servant of Ram.
Bless him profusely, so that he will assist Ram and do your work for him. On hearing about Hanuman’s destiny, all the devatas were relieved and delighted. And then, they said, Surya here himself was scared to see Hanuman.
Suppose, somebody very hefty looking person comes, and they are simply charging towards us. They are scared, who is this person? Has he come to rob me? Is he a terrorist robber? And then we come to know, actually that is the security guard of our building. How wonderful! More power to you! Because you are probably protecting me.
So, like that, Surya said that, I bless you with one ten thousandth of my effulgence. And Surya’s effulgence is huge. Even that is enormous.
And he said, Surya is not just a source of light in the physical sense, Surya is also a source of light in the sense of knowledge. He says, when you learn the Vedas, I will bless you, so that you can learn super fast. All the Vedas.
Learn proficiently and efficiently. Super fast. Then Indra said that, he saw that his mouth, his jaw had become somewhat misshapen.
It had come out. So he said that, because of his thunderbolt, he said, I bless you that my thunderbolt will not be able to injure you. And he gave his own garlic.
Then, the other Devas were also there. So, Yama said that, Yama has got a staff, which he can bring down the greatest of enemies. He says, you will be immune to my staff also.
Like that, various Devas gave various benedictions. And then Brahma said that, Vishwakarma said that, whatever weapons I make, none of those weapons will be able to affect you. Brahmaji gave a series of benedictions.
He says, you will have the ability to change your form at will. You will have the ability to fly as fast as you desire, going wherever you want. You will have the ability to never get fatigued.
You will be blessed with not invulnerability to my weapon, but only temporary vulnerability. Brahmastra will attack you, but it won’t kill you. Only temporarily it will restrain you.
And in this way, Hanuman was profusely blessed. And, now, as I said, ability is glorious. But still, there was frivolity.
Frivolity is childishness, playfulness, mischievousness. So, see, there are some things which others can do for us. And there are some things which we have to do ourselves.
So, sometimes we want to help someone. We want somebody to do something, and we are ready to help. Now, we can help the unable, but we can’t help the unwilling.
Say, sometimes, it happens, let’s say, we are trying to drive a car, start a car, and the car doesn’t start. Does it happen here sometimes? Not so much. In India, it happens.
Then what happens? If the car is not starting, then some people who are nearby, they come and start pushing the car. And the person inside tries to steer the wheel, move the gear, and outside people are pushing, and everyone together, they get the car to move. Now, suppose the people from outside are pushing, but the person from inside has gone to sleep.
Then, no matter how much you push, or worse still, if the person inside is pressing the brake, then the people outside, why should we keep pushing? So, we can help those who are unable. If the car is not moving, we can help it to move. But if the driver itself doesn’t want the car to move, we can’t help.
So, what happened over here was that they, the point I’m making is there are some things which we can do for others, but there are some things which they have to do for themselves. So, ability can be given. But maturity has to be chosen.
Maturity has to be cultivated. So, Hanuman had ability. From birth itself, he had extraordinary ability.
And with all these blessings, he got even more ability. But along with that, what did he have? He had no ability. His childish playfulness was there.
And, what happened because of that? Now, he had got one experience. He tried to jump to the sun and he got a, he got a, you could say, slightly malformed jaw. That’s how his name becomes Hanuman.
So, actually there are many different etymologies for Hanuman also. One of them is that one whose jaw, Hanu, is prominent. Man means prominent.
Hanuman, Man is pride. Hanu is destroyed. So, one whose pride has been destroyed.
Now, here what it means is, there are different ways of understanding this. One is that, yes, he is, the thunderbolt was thrown upon him and he thought that I can go to the sun or I can go to the Indra, but he could not. But that is not what it refers to.
The pride can be destroyed in two ways. One is by humiliation and the other is by humility. Humiliation is where somebody wants to be proud, somebody wants to be arrogant, but somehow people don’t respect.
Somehow, nobody recognises them. Not only they don’t recognise, but they disrespect. So, humiliation is ego frustrated.
Whereas, humility is false ego rejected. When a person has humility, they don’t delight in parading how big I am, how great I am, how glorious I am. Their joy doesn’t come in that.
When somebody has humility, their joy comes in their own purposeful contribution. I want to do some service. I want to do some contribution.
I want to do justice to my abilities. So, a person who has humility is not a pushover. Humility, a humble person is also purposeful.
They can also be firm when required. But, humility simply means you could put it this way that humility means to not let our ego come in the way of our purpose. So, if we are going for say distributing books or we are going to share Krishna Bhakti with someone, we are giving a talk, sometimes many people will come, many people may respect.
Sometimes, nobody may respect. Our purpose doesn’t depend on our ego. We will still share Krishna’s message whether many people come or few people come.
So, when we say Dhanuman’s one whose pride has been destroyed, it is in which sense? Humility or humiliation? Humility. He is consciously chosen to subordinate himself to Ram and Sita. Although, he is a great and powerful person, he consciously has chosen that I will be the servant of Ram.
Vanar is Ramadutam, messenger of Ram. So, that is another meaning of Dhanuman. So, Dhanuman now he knew enough that I should not fiddle with this celestial bodies.
Sometimes, when we don’t get what we want, what we get is what we call experience. When we don’t get what we want and what we get is what we call experience. So, suppose somebody has drunk some milk and it is hot the tongue gets burnt.
Then what happens? Then even if you give them butter milk, they will blow it before drinking. So, Dhanuman had learnt from experience that I cannot play with these celestial objects. So, he did not fiddle with them anymore.
But still, that frivolity was there. So, now he was in the forest and what to do? So, generally there is no no fun in mischief if nobody sees the mischief. If we are in a home and there is silence, you can say it is cold and it is peaceful.
But if you have children at home and it is peaceful, then it is not golden, it is suspicious. What are the children up to? So, now Dhanuman he had this childishness and he had to do some mischief. So, in the forest what to do? So, normally he found that there are many sages and he started interfering with them.
When they would make some sacrifice, he would steal away sometimes the ghee for the sacrifice, sometimes steal away the wood, sometimes he would steal away their deer skin, sometimes he would just be a nuisance to them. Now, the sages also knew about Dhanuman’s power. They knew if we do something to him, sages are known to be sometimes short tempered.
They can give curses. But they also knew if we can give a curse but then again our air will stop. Isn’t it? Why you will again get angry? So, they don’t want to cause any harm to Dhanuman.
But still they wanted to do their duties. So, they were thinking what to do? How to scour Dhanuman? They went and told his mother and father. So, now what happens is that when children are very small, the parents can be like Arjuna.
They stand bow and arrow to protect the children from all dangers. They can protect and restrain the children. But as the children start growing up, especially when they become teenagers, then what happens? They have a mind of their own.
And I was at the airport. I was looking at various books. Some of my books are also in the airport stalls.
So, I was looking and I saw one book whose title was Where Did My Child Go? So, I thought maybe it’s like a mystery novel of a child getting abducted or something like that. But then I saw it was a parenting book. And what was it about? That, you know, my child was so sweet and nice and now become a teenager.
Where did my child go? Who is this uncommunicative, disagreeable, sullen person who has replaced my child? So, teenage is a very turbulent phase. Children also try to discover who am I? They are too big to simply identify themselves as my parent’s child. But they are not big enough to have their own identity.
They don’t have a career. They don’t have a job. So, they are always thinking, who am I? That’s why it’s natural that we go through that phase.
So, what happens is that, as I said, initially, the parents will guard their children like Arjun. Guard them from the world and guard them from themselves also. From their own downside.
But once the children go into teenage, then the parents sometimes have to become like Draupadi. What can you do? Surrender. What can we do? So, Keshari and Anjani, they said, what can we do? They tried to restrain Hanuman, but just couldn’t.
Just couldn’t. Hanuman was just so restless. And, it’s one thing if somebody is restless and arrogant.
But Hanuman was restless and sweet. So, Krishna was also like that. Krishna would do all kind of mischief and then he would come with such a sweet, innocent face that whoever would be angry would lose their anger.
So, they didn’t know what to do. And it was exasperating for the sages because they had to do their duties. So, then finally, they came up with a plan.
They said that the problem is not with Hanuman. He is a child and children are mischievous. But the problem is he is like a child who has too much power.
Who has too much ability right now. So, what we need to do is take away his ability. In today’s world also, this is what has happened that through technology, we have all got a lot of power.
Through technology, we can just click a few buttons and get a movie from anywhere, get a news from anywhere, contact anyone from anywhere. We have got a lot of external power. But, external power without internal power can be dangerous.
It can be dangerous. Now, in America, there is a lot of concern that some people have these assault rifles, these automatic guns. And people can be hot-headed.
So, there is a lot of anxiety because there is so much power. But unless there is discipline, if the more outer power we have, the more inner power we need. If we have outer power without inner power, it can lead to enormous damage.
Damage not just for ourselves, but damage even for others. I was in, last year when I had come, I had gone to the sin city of America, which is Las Vegas. So then what happens is, the gambling has been going on throughout history.
But, here when people go, nowadays people have credit cards, and you needn’t have much money in your pocket, but, at best, in the past, if people would lose, they would lose all the money in their pocket. But, you can lose the money in your pocket, you can lose the money in your bank, you can lose the money in your home, you can lose your home also. All, without even getting up from one chair.
So, everything comes ready made. So, the greater technology facility, this is not a problem with technology, it’s a problem with our own mentality. Technology is neutral, you could use it for good, you could use it for bad.
But, the more power we provide someone, if that power, if that outer power is not complemented with inner power, then that outer power can break havoc, it can cause enormous devastation, enormous devastation. All of us get bored, when we get bored, say in the past what we do, we might go to sleep, we might chit chat with someone, we might go for a walk, but now if you get bored, what will most of us do? Go on mobile, and we might decide I want to spend, I’ll just spend 5 minutes, but 5 minutes can become 5 hours, so just click one and then click another and then click another and click another. Whenever anything seems free on the internet, whenever any product is free, we should know we are the product, if anything is giving you to free, then that is a tool to buying us, so buying us means what? That actually we end up getting attached to that, and then we will be, we will be charged for that afterwards, it’s one thing when we, when it’s, if we are cheated, say if we go to a shop and something is worth 10 dollars but we pay 100 dollars for that, we’ll be angry, to be cheated is bad, to be cheated and to not even realise we are being cheated, that is worse, so if I pay 100 dollars and I don’t even come to know that it’s actually a 10 dollar worth thing, that’s even worse, but to be, to be cheated, to not even recognise that we are being cheated and to think that we have got a great deal, that’s worse, that’s the worst, I got a damn cheap deal for 100 dollars, so I am imitating the way people use, people speak, I got such a good deal, so now when somebody thinks like that, they are being the biggest fools, so what happens in the internet is that our time is precious, and when we think, oh, I spent 2 hours, 3 hours, I could watch this movie free, I could watch, I could see this free, I could read this free, yes, we think we are getting it free, but value is not measured only in terms of money, value is also measured in terms of time, what happens every time when we do something, every action is an unwitting commitment to similar future actions, when we do a particular activity, the impression is formed in the mind, and once the impression is formed, we get prompted to do that again, again, and again, and thus what happens is, we think we are getting it free, but we are being cheated, our time is so precious, but just because something is coming free, we casually spend hours and hours on this thing, and then we get attached to it, and even if you don’t want to give it up, even if you don’t want to do it, you can’t avoid it, I remember one devotee told me that he was driving a car, and there was an India IPL matches going on, so he is a devotee, he was in touch with the IPL watching the IPL and then he was driving a car going for some work, and suddenly a truck hit him from behind, and as the truck hit him, his car went round and round, and he realised, I am going to die, but he said the first thought that came in his mind is, oh, I won’t be able to know who won this match, I was appalled, instead of thinking about Krishna, I was thinking about this, so what happens is, we all cultivate some attachments unwittingly, unknowingly, and then we end up being cheated, so it’s like somebody is cheated but they think they got a great freedom, so it’s like that, that we think we are getting a freedom, I am watching it free, but it’s we who are getting attached and getting cheated of the proper use of our human life, so the more technology provides us power, the more we need spirituality to increase our inner power, otherwise we can just get manipulated, we can get lost completely, so coming back to the story, where were we? Does anyone remember? Yeah, they said Hanuman is not the problem, it is his ability that is the problem, so they decided we will take the ability away from you, so in general, we shouldn’t think that most of the times, it’s not people who are bad, in the situation, in the association, it’s the circumstance that makes people do bad things, of course you can say there are bad people also, no doubt, but most of the time, if good people are doing bad things, it is largely because of the situation, or at least we can give them the benefit of doubt, and think that this is because of the situation, so in this case, it is not the external situation, it is the internal situation, he was so immature, so they gave him a curse, by which he forgot about all his powers, he forgot about all his powers, I remember I had gone to a retreat centre, and we were doing a retreat over there, now I post my, I write on the Gita every day, I post article every day, and I have a lot of service on the internet also, so I went there, and then the first thing you notice is, there is no internet, and then I just called some other devotees, I have written the article, I told them to please post the article, and then the next three days, the first for one two hours, it was like, for two three hours it was very annoying, you are disconnected from the world, but then once I got busy, doing the programmes, talking with the devotees, and interacting and then three days just went away like that, and I realised that I didn’t really miss it that much, so sometimes many things we think we desperately need them, but if we have something better to fulfil our life, we don’t need this that much, so sometimes to, just as I was talking earlier about this, we need inner power, one way to develop an inner power is to have a periodic, you could say, digital detox, digital detox, maybe once a week, once a month, for one day, no connection with internet, no connection with social media, so what happens, even if we are not going out of control, that itself will give us some greater control, Hanuman, they decided that, they gave him a curse, they touched sacred water, and just forgot about all his power, now that did not mean he became powerless, he was still a powerful vanara, but the extraordinary power, which was the source of the trouble for them, that knowledge of that power was taken away from him, and when that happened, there is a child who is frivolously spending a lot of money, and then the parents said, actually our shares have crashed, we don’t have any money, the child is poor, they can’t spend any more money now, even if the parents have some share somewhere, the child doesn’t have access, the child can’t spend money like that, so that’s what happened, he had that power, but he didn’t know he had that power, so then he grew up, and then he became a friend of both Vali and Sugriva, but more a friend of Sugriva, and when there was a misunderstanding between Vali and Sugriva at that time, he went with Sugriva to the forest, now he lost only the abilities which were causing him mischief, which were making him do mischief, so he learned the Vedas from Surya, and he just by hearing Ram speak, by hearing Hanuman speak, Ram was so pleased, Ram was so pleased, he said this person must be learned in all the Vedas, speaking so sweetly, so elegantly, so wisely, just being in the presence of this person is such a joy, so actually when we speak, we should speak to give others peace of mind, but most of all we speak to give others a peace of our mind, so and our mind is filled with agitation, so we make others also agitated, so Sunday feast class, I am going to speak about Ahimsa, so I am going to talk about verbal avoiding verbal violence, that’s the topic I am speaking on more over there, but Hanuman had that power, and of course he had character, he had virtues, he endured himself to Ram, Ram also realised this is a special Vandana, and then all of them went in search of Sita, Hanuman was very expert, so he buddhimatam varishtam as it is said, he was very intelligent, so there were several difficulties that came up, but through them all Hanuman remained very calm and sensitive, Angad became very disheartened, see Angad was a very young person, and he was made, because he was the son of the previous king, so he was made the group leader, sometimes what happens is that, in India, I sometimes counsel some cricket players, not national, international players, so what happens, sometimes the young person is made the captain, and what happens, the older people feel insecure, why did they become the captain, and the younger person also feels insecure, because I have to prove myself, so now in Angad’s team, there was Jambavan who was like super senior, and then Hanuman was also there, now both of them were, it was a nice team, team spirit was there, but what happens, especially when difficulties come, then cracks start coming, then cracks start coming, so what happened was, they had to come back within one month, but one month was nearly over and they couldn’t find Sita anywhere, so Angad became very disheartened, and Angad said that if we go back, then we will be humiliated, Sugriva may even punish us, Sugriva may kill us for having failed in this mission, Hanuman said what are you saying, Sugriva will not do that, now what do you mean, he said, he had his own brother killed, so why would he not have his brother’s son killed, so Hanuman was very gentle, he was praying, let’s resolve this, it is described in the Naam Ramayana, that Kapivara Santata Samsmrit Rama Kapivara Santata Samsmrit Rama Kapivara Santata Samsmrit Rama Kapivara Santata Samsmrit Rama Santata means always, always Kapivara, Kapi is monkey, Vara is the best of the monkeys, so the best of the monkeys is Hanuman, Santata Samsmrit Rama, he is always remembering Rama, and then what happened, Tadgati Vigna Dhamsaka Rama, Tadgati, I will explain the meaning, Tadgati in their progress, Vigna, whatever obstacles would come, Dhamsaka, by the lord’s arrangement, that obstacle will be destroyed, Tadgati Vigna Dhamsaka Rama, Dhamsaka Rama, so what happens, sometimes we pray to the lord, it’s all dark around, please show me some light, so we are in a dark dark tunnel, and we want to look for some, we want somewhere to see some light at the end of the tunnel, and then we see the light, and then we see that light is of a rushing train, jump out of the way, sometimes when we have a problem and we pray to the lord, and sometimes we find a bigger problem comes up, what’s going on, but sometimes through the bigger problem, a solution comes up, so here there was, Angad was showing a dissension, not knowing intentionally, but just because of disheartenment, he was showing a dissension among the vanaras, and Hanuman was praying, let us let us pray, let us pray, pray, let us pray, let us pray, pray, let us pray, let us pray, let us pray, let us pray, let us So, here Angada when he saw, ok this Jatayu is going to eat me, it’s one thing to know I am going to die, but it’s quite another to know that my body is going to be bitten and torn and eaten.
So, they had a problem and it’s even a bigger problem had come. But Hanuman was still remembering the Lord and then as Angada spoke, Allah, just as Jatayu perished, he will also perish without succeeding in Lord Rama’s mission. As he spoke the word Jatayu, what happened, Samparthi said, oh, what do you know about Jatayu? And then Samparthi told his whole story and Samparthi said, yes, I know where is Sita.
Where is Sita? On the side of the ocean. And the Vanaras were not very far from the ocean. As soon as they came to know, oh, Sita is just across the ocean, they ran there and they ran there jubilant, roaring in joy and then they came to the ocean and suddenly they became silent.
Yes. They thought they have found Sita and then they realised, they are not, they are confounded completely. How do you cross the ocean? And all the Vanaras were looking at each other.
None of them could actually cross the ocean. They all started saying how far they could jump. But none of them could leap that far.
Angada said, I might be able to leap all the way to Lanka, but I don’t think I am going to come back. I won’t have strength. Jambavan said, you are our prince, you should not go.
Jambavan said, I could have jumped across the whole earth when I was young, but now I am a bit old. Now I can’t do that. And through it all, Hanuman was silent.
And Jambavan looked around and then he looked at Hanuman. And then he started praising Hanuman. Oh, Hanuman, do you not remember the blessings that you have? And as Jambavan started speaking to Hanuman, it is as he started speaking to Hanuman, reminding him of his promise, reminding him about his blessings, Hanuman, not only his morale became bigger, his physique also started becoming bigger.
His physique also started becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. And then Hanuman, as Jambavan finished, reminding Hanuman of his lustrous birth, of the great blessings he had got, of the great powers that he had, by that time Hanuman was towering high above everyone else. Not in the sense of superiority, but in the sense of being able to do what was necessary.
And then with Jai Shri Ram, Hanuman roared and just jumped up onto nearby mountain. And from that mountain, he jumped up into the sky, ready to go across to Lanka. So Jambavan played this crucial role of reminding Hanuman of his promise.
Similarly, for all of us, we may have certain material abilities that we know, we may have certain material abilities that we don’t know, we may have, whatever it is, beyond our material abilities that we have or don’t have, we have, all of us have spiritual potency. We are souls. Our spirituality is our greatest strength.
Because once we understand that I am a soul, I am indestructible, I am a part of God, then the world’s uncertainties and anxieties, they won’t disturb us that much. So that knowledge is provided by the spiritual master. Spiritual master and that spiritual master tells us who we really are.
Now in a sense, when we talk about spirituality, we have to become humble, we have to develop humility. Yes, you may think I am very great, but spirituality means you have to understand that I am fallen. But it’s not just that.
Our conception of greatness is I am great because I have this job, I have got this position, I have got this ability. All this is based on externals. But internally, we are great because we are connected with the great.
We are blessed by the great. So life will often bring many problems upon us. But spiritual knowledge helps us understand that bigger than what faces us is what graces us.
Bigger than what faces us is what graces us. What graces us is our own spiritual knowledge, our own spiritual consciousness, our own spiritual awareness of Krishna and his protection. When Krishna is with us, no matter how big a problem it may be, with Krishna we can face any problem that we have.
Arjun, at the start of the Gita, was disheartened. I’ll conclude at this point. That sometimes we are put in a situation where we feel utterly helpless.
Arjun felt like that, how can I fight against my relatives, against my grandfather, against my elder, my teacher? If I don’t fight against them, then what face will I show to the Yudhishthira, to Draupadi? How will we live? We will be ridiculed. What do I do in this situation? So he just felt helpless. We all can be in a situation sometimes when we feel there is just nothing I can do.
I am so locked in a situation that I am helpless. Have any of you felt like that any time? You feel you are helpless. Anyone? Yes.
Now thank you. So now when we feel I am powerless, we can do, what happens that sense of powerlessness that itself sometimes makes us discouraged. I can’t do anything.
And then we start feeling self-pity. We start feeling sorry for ourselves. We start going into depression.
We start going into resentment. And this whole negativity comes up. So we can jolt ourselves out of that feeling of powerlessness by a counterintuitive question.
Things are terrible right now. No matter how bad things are, can I make them worse? What kind of question is this? Already they are bad, who wants to make them worse? No, that’s not the point. But can we make them worse? No matter how bad situations are, we can always make them worse.
I might be bedridden because my leg is fractured. That’s a bad situation. But I can take a hammer and fracture my other leg also.
Obviously I shouldn’t do that. But the point is, if we can make things worse, then we are not as powerless as we think. If we can make things worse, then we can make them better also.
And to the extent we turn toward Krishna, to the extent we turn toward Krishna and remember Krishna. See, if we just see the world in front of us and see the problems, we feel, this is so terrible, what can I do? Just like all the Vanaras were feeling powerless seeing the huge ocean. So we also will feel powerless, what can I do? But if we turn toward the Lord, then we will remember that I am a soul and Krishna is the whole.
And I am connected with Him. So, that turning toward Krishna is done with the help of devotees. With the help of our Shiksha Guru, Deeksha Guru, other devotees.
Jambavan is not exactly a spiritual master. He is a friend. He is an older friend.
So he is more like a Shiksha Guru or an older friend. Similarly, when we are feeling discouraged because of life’s difficulties, if we have someone who can speak some words of affirmation, who can give us some encouragement, who can give us some enthusiasm, who can give us some illumination, then we will also start feeling confident. We all have big problems in our life.
But, instead of telling the whole world about how big the problems are, we can tell ourselves how big God is. Sometimes we even go to God, but we just keep telling, this is a big problem, this is a big problem, this is a problem I have. Don’t tell God how big your problems are.
Tell your problems how big God is. When we do that, then we will find that we will get inner strength. And with that inner strength, we will emerge.
So for all of us, when we face difficulties, I started the talk by talking about ability and maturity. So sometimes, it is the external helpless situations that force us to develop maturity. Maturity means what? Ultimately maturity.
Maturity means to be able to think of big things. Immaturity means what? A child has a toy and if the toy gets broken, the child starts crying. That’s immaturity.
Things break. You don’t have to cry like that. So, when we are able to think about bigger things, we are aware of bigger reality, then we are mature.
Say, if two people have a quarrel with each other. And then, because of their quarrel, they say, you know, we break this relationship. One of my friends is a marriage counsellor.
She was telling me that the kind of things because of which people break up, it’s ridiculous. She said, I have seen only two kinds of couples. Those who quarrel with each other and those whom I don’t know very well.
So everybody will have some difficulties. But instead of learning to see things in perspective, yes, two people are together with difficulties. But immaturity means to make small things very big.
Make small things very big. So he was telling that one person, one woman came to him and said, I want a divorce. He said, why? She said, my husband took my car without my permission.
How dare he take like this? He didn’t respect her. There are many other things might be going on over there. Still to think that that reason is enough to separate.
It’s childish. So immaturity means to make small things very big. Maturity means to see things in perspective, to keep small things small.
The one principle we can keep in mind is never take permanent decisions based on temporary emotions. Can you repeat this? Never take permanent decisions based on temporary emotions. Our emotions can go mad at times.
And we can’t deny our emotions. They are there and we will feel like that. But we don’t have to take permanent decisions based on temporary emotions.
So maturity means we can see the big picture. And ultimately in the biggest picture we see Krishna. So when we see Krishna, when we are connected with Krishna, that connection gives us security, that temporary emotions and temporary situations won’t shake us that much.
So sometimes when the external difficulty and external powerlessness comes in our life, that is an impetus for us to develop maturity. As we develop the maturity, then whatever ability is required for us to move forward in our life, that ability will also be discovered and we will be able to move ahead in our lives. So I’ll summarise quickly what I spoke today.
I spoke on this theme of how ability needs to be balanced with maturity. I started with the story of how Hanuman was a child, but because he was also a child of Vayu, so he had celestial powers. I’ll talk about how in today’s world there is a quarantine between the earth and the higher levels.
At that time it was not there. So he had the child’s frivolity, child’s energy and he tried to catch the celestial. First the sun and then Indra himself.
So because of that he was knocked out and Vayu got angry and then Brahma and all the devatas blessed him profusely. So when he was blessed in that way, he still had his frivolity. And along with that big ability that he had, it became a big headache for everyone.
So in today’s world also we see that technology has increased our external power enormously. And unless we can develop inner power, we will not be able to use the external power in a responsible way. Rather we will hurt ourselves and hurt others.
If we get bored, we can spend hours and hours in boredom. If we get angry, some people might take a gun and shoot someone. We can do much more things because we have external power.
That’s why we need inner power. And inner power, maturity comes best by spirituality. So just as the vanaras, the sages took away Hanuman’s power so that Hanuman was not the problem.
It was his too much ability that he had was the problem. So generally if some person is troubling us, we don’t have to blame them. We can give them the benefit of doubt and try to see the situation which is causing the trouble.
So even Kesari and Anjaneya couldn’t help at that time. Because Hanuman was too mischievous. So parents can sometimes protect their children like Arjun with the bow appraised.
But sometimes the children when they grow up, just can’t help but become like Draupadi. So we can help the unable but not the unwilling. So Hanuman grew up to become a powerful vanara but not an extraordinarily powerful vanara.
And he still had phenomenal knowledge. And thus he won the heart of Ram just by his speech. So we speak to give others peace of mind, not a piece of our mind.
And then eventually when the need was there, Hanuman was very expert. And when Angad was so in a dissension, he prayed. And through that prayer the Lord helped.
He remembered, Lord said help. Sometimes the Lord’s help comes in the form of a bigger problem. Sampati was the problem but through Sampati the solution came up.
And then where none of the vanaras could jump across, at that time Hanuman remembered. Hanuman was reminded by Jambavan and he got the ability. He regained his ability rather.
So for all of us, when we are discouraged in life, we need someone who will encourage us. We may not have mystical power like Hanuman but we all have the power of our spirituality. Our own core indestructibility and our connection with the infallible omnipotent Lord.
So if we have friends, mentors, guides who remind us of this, then we will realise that greater than what faces us is what graces us. That with the Lord’s grace, whatever problems we may face, we can deal with them. Sometimes when we feel that I am helpless, we can ask ourselves, can I make things worse? If I can, then I can make them better also.
I am not as powerless as I think. And the way I make them better is firstly by thinking about the supreme. By directing my thought to the supreme.
Maturity essentially means to be able to see the big picture. Not get caught by small things. So never take irreversible decisions based on or never take permanent decisions based on temporary emotions.
So as we connect with Krishna, when we understand that he is so big and the connection with him gives us more stability, then life’s ups and downs won’t affect us so much. We won’t get disheartened and once we have that maturity, sooner or later the ability to deal with our situation will be revealed to us or will be delivered to us. And that’s how we will be able to move forward in our lives.
So instead of craving that I don’t have ability because of which I am trapped in the situation, I can’t do anything, we can strive for developing maturity. And then we will be able to find a way to accept the situation as well as to alter the situation in due course. So let’s conclude with the prayer which we offered in the beginning to Hanumanji.
mano javam marat tulya vegam jitendriyam buddhimatam varishtham vatatmajam vanarayuthamukhyam kiramadutam sharanam prapadye Hanumanji ki? Jai! Hanuman Jayanti Mahamahotsav ki? Jai! Shri Pramupada ki? Jai! Kaur Bhaktivinoda ki? Jai! Kaur Pramana Are there any questions? Do we have time for questions? Few minutes. Any questions? How do you suffer insufferable fools? See there is physical proximity and there is emotional proximity. That means sometimes by some situations in our life some people might just be there in our life and we can’t do anything about it.
So physical proximity we can’t, sometimes it’s not in our control. We might be in a relationship, we might be working as colleagues or whatever. We might have somebody as a neighbour or whatever.
I have travelled across so many temples and communities and everywhere people tell me there are some people who are like troublemakers. It’s almost like it’s a rule. Every temple should have someone like that.
Every community should have someone like that. Now of course they don’t think they are troublemakers. They think that I am helping everyone.
So there are two kinds of people. Some people bring happiness wherever they go and some people bring happiness whenever they go. So now we cannot, sometimes a physical distance can’t be created.
Now why would we want to suffer insufferable fools? Because we could just create a distance from them but sometimes it’s just not possible to create a distance. So at that time what we need to do is we can avoid emotional proximity. Emotional proximity means what? Generally in every relationship there is an obligatory part and there is a voluntary part.
The obligatory part if we have a sense of responsibility or obligation, the obligatory part has to be done. Say like if a person is working as an accountant in a supermarket. The obligatory part is that they have to take the money and they have to give the bill or whatever transaction they have to do.
Now somebody has put a plastic smile on their face but being courteous, it’s voluntary, you cannot legislate that. So in every relationship there is an obligatory part and a voluntary part. So now the voluntary part we cannot really do unless there is inspiration.
In every relationship there is some contribution and there is some expectation. That’s why reciprocation. I do something for you and you do something for me.
So generally when we say somebody is an insufferable fool, what that means is that there is no contribution from their side. They are not doing anything that we want them to do. In fact they are doing the opposite of it many times.
On the other side we are doing a lot for them. And generally when this relationship becomes strained, when basically expectations are not met. Not just not met, there is a huge mismatch.
Say if I feel I am doing so much for the other person and I feel the other person is doing nothing for me. He is taking me for granted or even exploiting me. Then that becomes a problem.
So now what do we do in such a situation? First is that we don’t have to think that my whole existence is bound. There is an obligatory part and a voluntary part. And in the obligatory part we may have to do, in the voluntary part we can create a distance for ourselves.
Not that we become resentful or rude or like that. But just that we don’t have to be that emotionally invested in that relationship. Generally different relationships work well at different distances.
So we have to find, sometimes we may want that relationship to be very close. But the other person doesn’t want that. Then okay, if the other person doesn’t want that, if we have tried our best, is there some misunderstanding about ours or whatever because of which they are doing that.
If we tried that then okay, whatever distance they wanted, let’s work it at that level itself. So it’s that we can’t, in their relationship also we can’t, they also have a voluntary part. And they have an obligatory part.
So we can’t force the voluntary part. So we can have our own space if we understand that I am not, my existence is not bound. I have a voluntary part and I can create my space over there.
Having said that, we can also try to find out what is it that is making that person insufferable. In general, most people are not bad people. Most people are not wicked people.
It’s often some experience which they have had with us or with someone else because of which they have become negative. So say, you know, say if you and I have signed a transaction and if I give you money in Indian Rupees, but you have never seen Indian Rupees. You only know, the only currency you know is US Dollars.
Then I may give you a big pile of Indian Rupees, but you don’t say, you don’t give me anything. If you give me something worth 100 Dollars and I give you 5000 Rupees for that. It’s proportionate.
7000 Rupees, whatever. But if you have no idea what the currency is, what this currency means, then you’ll say, I gave you so much and you give me nothing. And I’ll say, I’m giving you so much.
Why are you so ungrateful? So what is happening is, the two people are dealing in two different currencies. So similarly, now this currency is an external object. We can easily understand that, you know, if people don’t know the currency, they won’t value what is being given in that currency.
But all of us, we could say we have in our own personality, our own currency. So, for example, some people, they feel very valued and respected when you pay attention to them. Everybody does that, but for some people, it is extremely important.
When you’re talking, if you’re doing multitasking, just get incognito, I’m hearing you. No, you’re not hearing me. So what happens is, now, for some people, it might be that you have to appreciate them.
You have to appreciate them. Speak words of appreciation, that’s very important, otherwise they don’t feel valued. For some people, it might be that, you know, if you tell them I’ll do something, you have to do it.
And if you don’t do it, then they feel, you don’t take me seriously. You don’t take our relationship seriously. You’re not serious about anything.
It’s a small thing. For them, it is not a small thing. So generally, we need to understand their currency.
And how do we understand it? Broadly, two ways. What is it, if we don’t do, they complain and nag incessantly. And what is it, if we do, they appreciate very much.
And sometimes, you know, the relationship has come to such a level, that no matter what we do, they’re not going to appreciate us. Now, if it has come to that level, then we can see if they appreciate someone else. Okay, what do they appreciate about that person? So generally, through appreciation and criticism, we can understand what is the currency of that person.
And then, if we start paying them in that currency, we will start, we are doing our part to bring about a change. And it is quite likely that if we start contributing in that relationship, in the currency that they value, then they may well change. And then if we start seeing them changing, then we can slowly start expressing what is the currency that we expect something from them.
Because sometimes, they may feel, I’m doing so much for you, why don’t you value it? So, a husband may say that I’m working so hard, I’m providing so much to my wife, I’m providing such a big house, so comfortable. The wife may say, I just want to spend some time with you, come back home early. The husband says, you’re always nagging me.
And the husband may say, I do so much, you don’t value it only. So both feel dissatisfied because a child, a parent may give expensive toys, you know, very expensive cricket bat, expensive cricket ball, cricket bat. The father may say, I love you so much.
The child may say, I just want you to play with me. Father says, I don’t have time for that. So the child may not want the expensive bat, the child may just want the father to teach me how to play with the bat.
Play with me. So what we have to do is, we try to understand each other’s currency. And if we understand, then it is very much possible that the coldness that is there in the relationship, that will go down.
So if we are in an obligatory relationship, then it’s best to try to understand the currency. And at least if we start contributing in that currency, we can get the confidence that we are doing our part. If they don’t do the part, what can we do? We can’t force anyone.
So then if that happens, then we have to again, as I said, we have to create our own space. And we get our emotional nourishment from other relationships, within the limits of dharma, but other relationships. So sometimes, broadly speaking, the universe will be reciprocal.
That means that if we give love, we will get love. But just that, we may give love to one person and we may get love from someone else. There are some people who may just pay no attention and they give us so much attention and affection.
Some people will do so much and they don’t even look at us. So that’s how it is, unfortunately in life. So we have to find out, we have to, we have to, some relationship will work naturally and some relationship will require work.
So broadly speaking, we should know which relationship is which. And we should have enough interactions which give us strength. So that we can do those interactions which require our strength.
So if we are having only the second kind of interactions where, like some people, as soon as you start talking with them, your breath stops moving. It’s like you become tensed. Every word speaking with them is like walking on a landmine.
What will cause an explosion, you don’t know. So now, if that is the kind of interaction we have to have with everyone throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout the year, we’ll get suffocated. I can’t do this.
Isn’t it? So there are some people who will be like that and we have to be very guarded with them. But we also need to have other relationships where we will get strength. We will get comfort.
We will get the attention, the warmth, the love. And then from this, when we get the strength, we’ll be able to do this. So maturity, I have a whole another class on maturity, loneliness, inferiority complex.
But in that, maturity means to recognise that no one is obliged to fulfil my needs. I’ll repeat this. Maturity means to recognise that no one is obliged to fulfil my needs.
It’s like a small baby cries and the baby expects the mother, the father, some money to come running and feed the baby to take care of the baby. Now hunger is a real need and it has to be fulfilled. Now if an adult feels hungry and the adult starts crying, come on, don’t be a baby.
Now the adult’s hunger is also a genuine need. But the adult recognises that no one is obliged to fulfil my needs. That doesn’t mean my need will not be fulfilled.
But I have to take the responsibility to fulfil my needs. So I have to cook some food, I have to buy some food, I have to stock some food. So similarly, if we are not getting a particular emotional enrichment in a particular relationship, then we have to understand that nobody is obliged to fulfil my needs.
This person is not obliged. So then I have to develop other lateral relationships within the limits of dharma by which I can get my need fulfilled. So then we’ll find that even these relationships with difficult people can actually strengthen us.
Although it’s very difficult to deal with difficult people, but sometimes though they make us stronger, they help us to develop maturity, tolerance, humility, sensitivity. And then that can help us to grow in our life also. So that’s how we can deal with difficult people.
Any other question? Thank you very much. What about negative energy? People who bring negative energy into your life? Yes, I would say the broad and same principles apply. What about people who bring negative energy into our lives? So we need to have other people who bring positive energy and we need to balance that.
So there are some people who bring negative energy. What can you do? There are some people who can find solution to every problem. There are some people who can find problem with every solution.
Now, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, both have their role. So if you’re doing some new project, we need creativity, we need optimism, but then we also need caution.
So those who can see the negative, that’s also strength. But it becomes a weakness only when you see only the negative. So I’m going from here after a couple of weeks to Phoenix.
I’m going to speak in Intel over there. I’m going to speak on the power of the on, on the positive power of negative thinking. The positive power, normally we think about the power of positive thinking, but negative thinking also has its power.
So people who say negative are not necessarily bad. There is creativity and there is cautiousness, caution. Those who are optimistic, they all have creativity, creativity, creativity.
That’s good. But then you also have to be on the ground. Our head may be in the sky, but our feet have to be on the ground.
So what happens is those who are very positive, their head is so much higher up in the sky that they lose their touch with the ground. And people who are too negative, they’re not only feet in the ground, their head is also looking at the ground only. And they don’t look at anything positive.
So we can learn to take whatever negativity they are sending. If there is some something sensible within that, we take that. And beyond that, we just leave it.
OK, this is the nature of this person. So we need to, first of all, have some source of positivity. And secondly, by recognising that the negativity is not a weakness, it is not necessarily a problem.
It is constant negativity that is a problem. And that is their disposition now. Then we can take whatever they say with a pinch of salt, maybe evaluate.
If there’s something sensible in it, that’s OK. Otherwise, just brush it off. So brushing it off is not that easy.
But we have some sources of positivity within us. Our spirituality can also be a source of positivity. Our connection with Krishna, our bhakti, our sadhana, all this can also be a source of positivity.
But negativity, people who bring negativity, rather than seeing them as bad, we see them as excessive. Because if we see them as bad, our whole attitude towards them will become negative. And we don’t want that.
We don’t want their negativity to create negativity within us. So what is it? It’s what they have also strength. But too much of anything good can become bad.
So too much negativity can be bad. Therefore, we need to ration it. They’ll speak a lot of criticism, we just brush it off.
If something makes sense, we can accept that. And overall, if we keep doing this gradually, we will also develop some thick skin. We all, in the path of bhakti, we want a soft heart.
But the soft heart has to be covered with a thick skin. If you have only a soft heart, you will be torn apart. If you have only thick skin, you will tear others apart.
So we need a soft heart and a thick skin. So thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ji.
Yaura Bhakta Vendaki. Jai. Yaura Prema Anandi.