How obstacles become opportunities – Hanuman’s burning tail

[Talk at St Louis, USA]
Video

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
I’ll be discussing today on the topic of how obstacles on the path of a determined devotee become opportunities. And we’ll talk this based on the Ramayana and the story of Hanuman in Lanka. So first, let’s look at certain principles that we can understand.
Then we will see how those principles are demonstrated in the Ramayana and come back to some conclusion. All of us, we are at some level or the other looking for happiness in life. At the same time, if we look at what really satisfies us, even if we look at our own life backwards, we will find that it is not just a life of passivity and lethargy.
If somebody told you, OK, for the rest of your life, you just don’t do anything. You sit at your home, watch comedies, watch movies for the rest of your life. If you have a lot of hard work to do and we want some break, we might think that’s nice.
But after some time, we’ll want a break from that also. We want something. If we look at our lives, broadly speaking, we want something stimulating to do.
Now, stimulation can come at one level simply by some passion. I mean, in entertainment, what happens is we are passive recipients of the stimulation. But that is just one kind of stimulation.
Another is where we do something challenging. And we like to do something challenging, say, people, even when they’re sitting and playing some, say, sports are played for enjoyment. But sports are not just played for enjoyment.
People exercise, people train and they try to do some excel in some way. Even that which we try to do for enjoyment, we want some challenge in that. Say, if even if somebody is playing a crossword puzzle or playing some cube or playing some chess, it’s an intellectual challenge.
So even for there is no even pleasure without some sense of challenge. So, of course, then we can say there are different kinds of pleasures. But in general, when we want pleasure, it’s usually with some kind of challenge that we like to meet.
There are some problems which you just don’t like. Say, somebody is not good at language. And then you tell them to solve a crossword puzzle.
Now, it’s a challenge. They can’t see the challenge because they feel it’s a burden. They don’t like it.
But somebody who likes language and then crossword puzzle. Oh, I have to do it. The point is, we want some challenge in life.
Now, if it’s something which we like to do and there’s a challenge in that, it becomes enjoyable. Conversely, if we look at problems in our life, see broadly, if you look at our life journey, this is our life journey. Two things we meet on.
Sometimes we get pleasure and sometimes we get trouble. Sometimes we get problems. Now, if you look at the trouble that we face in our life, psychologists have found and this is also a time tested truth that there are two ways we can face trouble.
One is that we can be resentful about it. We can be, why is this happening to me? Why this problem? Why this problem? Why this problem? And resentment just weakens us. Now, being resentful is like driving a car with the brake pressed.
All that happens is a lot of noise and a lot of fuel consumption. But the car doesn’t move forward. Like that when we are resentful about some situation, some problem we are facing, resentment simply exhausts us.
But it doesn’t lead to anything constructive. However, in a difficult situation, if somebody voluntarily, OK, now I’ve got this problem, they voluntarily take up. Let me see how I can deal with it.
Let me see what I can do about it. When we accept that problem, we may not have wanted that problem, but now that it has come, OK, put aside the resentment and start working on it. Suppose sometimes we have some project deadline or something like that, say at work or something, some work, just keep putting off, keep putting off, keep putting off.
And then finally, the deadline is so close that you can’t put it off. Say, maybe most of us do this when we are studying for our exams. We put it off, put it off.
And then now there’s two, three days or one week for the exam. Now you can’t put it off anymore. Then you sit down and study.
And then you study for hours and hours and hours. And although in a sense it’s exhausting, it’s a lot of anxiety in it, but then you get things done. Now, how many of you work on deadlines? Most of us in Rajoguna, if there were no deadlines, what would happen is practically nothing would get done, isn’t it? Very few things would get done if there were no deadlines.
So now after we start doing something, you know, deadline bound, so all along we are dragging our foot along to doing it. I don’t want to do this. You know, dragging our feet is a phrase.
When parents want to take a child somewhere and the child doesn’t want to go, the child doesn’t move the feet only. And the parents are dragging, dragging. So it’s like that, dragging the feet.
So then we drag our feet along and doing something. But eventually we start doing it because there’s no alternative now. I cannot avoid it.
So then we start doing it. And we start doing it. We realise, hey, this is not that bad.
I can do it. And then usually toward the end, as we start completing it, if only I had a little more time, if I started a little bit earlier, I would have done it well also. So once we start doing something, eventually we, often our mind makes the trouble seem to be much bigger than what it is.
So again, with respect to trouble, as I said, we can have a resentful attitude or we can have a purposeful attitude. OK, I have to do this. Let me take this up and do it.
So if we have a purposeful attitude, we grow by it. We learn, we grow, we improvise. But if we have a resentful attitude, we just stagnate.
We stagnate and exhaust ourselves. Now, when people are resentful, when they wake up in the morning, the only thing they think of is, when can I sleep again? When they are resentful, there is practically nothing to look forward to in life. Oh, this is bad.
This is bad. This is bad. This is bad.
So it’s not a very pleasant situation to be in. So basically, we all, if we can take up some challenge in our life, then that is a healthy stimulation that enables us to grow. Now, of course, when problems come, sometimes some problems seem to serve a purpose.
But why is this problem coming? Most of we are not actually afraid of pain per se. Nobody likes pain. But what we really resent is purposeless pain.
Say, if there is some tetanus infection in the atmosphere and the government or the medical community issues a statement. Everybody, please take a tetanus shot. Now, we all go to the hospital and we take a shot.
Now, it’s painful to have a pinprick into our body. But we go there and we pay for it. But we are just walking along the road and some thorn pricks us.
We feel annoyed, we feel angry. Why is this thorn here? So in both cases, the sensation is the same, something pricking our body. But in one case, we see it as purposeful.
In another case, we see it as purposeless. So, the point I’m making over here is, if we have a purpose, we don’t want even pleasure which is purposeless. If we have something purposeful, in that something challenging, something purposeful, I want to do this, I want to solve this thing, I want to learn this, I want to do this.
Within that, the pleasure we get is deep and it is fulfilling. And even in trouble, we can face the trouble if there is some purpose that we see. Now, problems are there in the world for everyone.
The world is a tough place. I’ve travelled across the world. Many of you may also have travelled.
If you get to talk with people, even very successful people, if you scrape a little below the surface, everybody is working through their own tragedies. Somebody has lost a loved one. Somebody has got some debilitating disease.
Somebody has got serious, serious mental health issues. Everybody is in trouble. And the world is a place which puts everyone into trouble.
But we can have the strength within us to take that trouble and move forward purposefully. Now, what happens is atheism. Atheism doesn’t remove any problems.
Whether you are atheist or atheist, whatever problems are there in the world, they are there for everyone. Atheism doesn’t remove the problems. It just removes the hope that the problems have a purpose.
Because in the atheistic worldview, there is no purpose for life, ultimately. We are born, we live for a few years, few decades, and then we die. And that’s the end.
It’s like our existence is like a tiny flash in which there is some bag of protoplasm that is just flapping around. And afterwards, between two infinities of nothingness, we exist for a short while. What is the point of that? On the other hand, if we have a theistic worldview, a devotional worldview, then we understand that actually there is a purpose to life.
The purpose is that we are all on a journey of spiritual evolution. Our consciousness is meant to evolve towards the infinite, towards Krishna. Expand our capacity for wisdom, expand our capacity for love, ultimately attain Krishna.
So whatever problems we face in our lives, they all have a purpose. That does not mean every problem is good. Problems can sometimes be bad and bad things happen in life.
But there is good that can emerge from it. And there are broadly, when we talk about problems, there is something called as moral evil and there is natural evil. Natural evil means suddenly a storm comes up, earthquake comes up.
We don’t, with our vision, we don’t see a personal agent behind it. But moral evil is where some person is bent on destroying us. Somebody acts like our enemy, like our rival, they are backbiting against us.
They are spreading malicious rumours or sometimes some people, they are out to physically attack and kill someone. Sometimes people have irrational hatred towards a particular individual or even a particular community. So basically, when somebody is out to get us, at that time, to maintain this point, even this has a purpose.
Why is this person against me like this? Why is this person out to destroy me? What can I do? But even through that, they may create problems for us, but even through that we can grow. So if we see, if we ourselves have a purpose, then even if others create problems in our way, the problems will obstruct us, they will trouble us, but we will move onwards. It’s like, say, if you are moving on a small cycle and then a big tree falls on the way.
What will happen? You will just be stopped. But if you are driving a big truck and you are going fast and you are going towards something very important and the tree has fallen on the way, you could just barrel on and the tree will be knocked out of the path and you will keep moving on. So if we have a strong sense of purpose, that gives us momentum.
And by that momentum, we can barrel through obstacles. We can keep moving ahead through obstacles. So we will see how Hanuman, he went through various obstacles without becoming disheartened.
Although he was in enemy territory with someone out to get him. And in this case, the theme which I was going to focus on is that I talk about both pleasure and trouble. Actually, the pleasure, if it involves some challenge, it helps us grow.
The trouble, if we see it as purposeful, that also helps us to grow. So sometimes malevolent people, people who are out to get us, the very problems with which they try to hurt those who are devoted, those problems actually empower the devoted and they backfire against them. That’s the principle we see through this story.
So Hanuman’s appearance in the Ramayana is probably among the most dramatic appearances. Of course, every character in the Ramayana is dramatic. But Hanuman is, he appears first in the Kishkindha section of the Ramayana and then in the Sundarkand he takes over.
And by the time he leaps into Lanka, you can see that although it is Ramayana, for the large part of the later half of it, it’s like Hanumayan. It’s not Ramayana. There’s so much about Hanuman.
In fact, in the whole Sundarkand, Ram is only at the beginning and the end. It’s all about Hanuman’s activities. So Hanuman single-handedly leaps to Lanka, penetrates, finds Sita and consoles her.
And then finally, he decides that now I have completed my service. Now let me do some extra service. So sometimes we may decide to do some extra service, but we do it after we have completed our service, not before.
Somebody tells us, can you cook rice? We have a festival. Can you cook rice? I think, OK, yeah, rice. It’s good.
I will cook sweet rice. And you start cooking sweet rice and you have sweet rice, but there’s no rice on it. Sweet rice is nice, but first cook rice.
That is the essential food. And sweet rice is also nice, but that’s a desert. So, you know, we may want to do some extra service, but first complete the allotted service, then do the extra service.
So Hanuman does that and he thinks, what should I do? He thinks that, let me warn Ravan. Let me see if Ravan listens. And also, let me look at the military formations.
Hanuman is also a warrior and warriors understand that, we have to understand the enemy’s strengths, the enemy’s weaknesses, what kind of soldiers they have, what kind of military formations they have. So he wants to observe it all. So what he does is, he starts disrupting the forest, the jungle-like, the garden-like forest where Sita is kept.
And then Hanuman, to stop him, Ravan sends one by one. First he sends an elite band of soldiers, Kinkaras. Then he sends one of his foremost generals, Jambumali.
And then he sends another set of generals. And he sends his own son, Aksha. And one by one, Hanuman overcomes all of them.
And finally, he sends whom? Indrajeet. And Indrajeet is the brahmastra which captures Hanuman. And Hanuman is captured by that.
Now Hanuman has a benediction which no one knows about. That the brahmastra, it acts on him to bind him, but only for a finite time. And whenever he wants, after that he can release himself.
So he is bound. Now as soon as he is bound, the demons, they have him as a captive and they start humiliating him. They are dragging him through the streets and they take him to Ravan’s court.
And they take him to Ravan’s court. Hanuman, throughout all this, as he is being dragged along the streets, he is observing the whole Lanka’s encampment. How is it? So he is observing and learning.
And then finally, he comes into Ravan’s court. And there, naturally, the Rakshasas think, Oh, this monkey, he has caused so much disruption to us. So he may be scared.
He says, we will release you soon. But tell us who are you? And why have you come here? Why did you cause so much disruption? So he says that Ravan has already concluded that this monkey is very powerful. Because somebody can kill Jamumali, somebody can overpower Maksha.
He cannot be ordinary. He says, who are you? So Hanuman says, I am the servant of Sugriva and I am the messenger of Rama. And I will speak something which will be for the good of all of you.
Initially, when he sees Ravan, he is impressed to see Ravan’s opulence in Lanka. There is so much gold all around. And Ravan also looks so powerful.
And Hanuman’s first thought is, if only this Ravan had been virtuous, he could have become a protector of the gods. Even when those devotees, they see somebody, even if that person is presently demoniac, devotee always tries to see the spiritual potential in everyone. Of course, we can’t only see the spiritual potential.
We also have to see the present action. Some people say, see everyone equally. Yes, equal disposition, equal vision is good, but equal action is not good.
Say, somebody might say that, OK, all living beings are souls, all living beings are equal. But there is a difference between, say, a cat and a tiger. Although you could say they are both in the same species in biology.
But if a cat is nearby and we clap, the cat will go away. But if there is a tiger nearby and we clap, we will go away. So, Hanuman, he sees the spiritual potential, but he also sees that this person is presently acting demoniacally.
And then he gives a stern warning. He briefly tells the whole story of Ram, how he has descended to fulfil the purpose of the devatas and how he has overcome Tataka and Subahu and then Khar and Dushan and Kabandha and so many other demons. And he says that not even a hundred Ravanas will be able to fight against Ram.
Nobody can stop Ram from coming and rescuing Sita. Oh, Ravan, if you know what is good for you, heed this advice. Return Sita.
That is the only way. Return Sita to Ram and beg his forgiveness. That is the only way for your safety.
Now, Ravan is a king. He is sitting on his throne in his kingdom. And he is used to giving instructions.
He is not habituated to being instructed or being advised. Actually, it is a very unsafe position to be in if we are in a position only to give instruction and not take instruction from anyone. What happens in that case is that some people just become so self-centred.
Some people are very short-tempered. They get angry very quickly. And then they have to take some anger management lessons or anger management courses.
Now, they are so self-righteous. They say, I don’t need any anger management course. You just need to learn to stop making me angry.
So, they outsource the responsibility for their anger. Now, yes, we all face provocative situations. But there are limits.
Normally, different people respond to anger in different ways. Or when they are provoked, some people, they just give silent treatment. They don’t talk with anyone only.
They stay silent. Or some people just answer in grunts. Or they just are very uncommunicative.
Some people, when they get angry, they start banging things. Whatever they keep, they take a plate and keep banging it down. Do a lot of noise which conveys their anger.
Some people, what happens? Their tongue loses its break when they get angry. And they just attack. And just speak such things.
Hey, what are you speaking? Some people, it’s not just verbal, they might even become physically aggressive. Start throwing things at each other. Throwing so many guns.
Now, of course, nowadays, you know, some people have guns. And then some road race, some people might take a gun and shoot. So now all this is anger.
But what happens? All of us have certain, based on our culture, our consciousness, our circumstances, we have a certain limit to how we express our anger. And if somebody says, I did a retreat in Brisbane and burn anger before anger burns you. So there’s how many of you feel that you can’t control your anger? So, OK, any of you, I would put myself.
I said, yeah, there are times. But if somebody says, I can’t control my anger. But is that really true? So suppose you’re working in your office and your boss suddenly gives you a lot of work.
Now what will happen? You feel angry. But will you control your anger? Yes, isn’t it? So who is going to yell at their boss? We feel angry and we may yell after the boss has gone away. But we all have the capacity to control our anger.
Nobody can say, I can’t control my anger. It is just that do we have enough impetus to control? But when the anger comes out, based on our culture, our upbringing, we have certain limits. No matter what happens, however angry I get, this is what I will never do.
So those who are demoniac, so the divine and the demoniac, everybody has anger within them. But just the limits of how the anger is expressed, that varies. The divine might just not talk or might just walk away.
They also get angry. But those who are demoniac, they might become verbally abusive, physically abusive. So they have, the limits for them are very, very less.
They may have no limits. So basically we are, very few people will be free from, entirely free from lust or anger or greed or these things. But we are defined by what are our limits.
Even when this gets provoked, how far do I go? In the case of Ravan, he was in a position of power where he felt that nobody had any authority to challenge him. How dare anyone challenge him? How dare anyone instruct him? So just hearing those words of instruction, what happened is, that made Ravan angry. Who are you to instruct me? Upadesho hi murkhana prakopaya nashantaye.
Those who are foolish, when you give them instruction, what happens? They get angry. Who are you to instruct me? And he said, this arrogant monkey, kill him. Now, initially, when he had been brought in, Ravan’s first impulse was, kill him.
He has disrupted my gardens and he has killed so many of our soldiers. But his general professor said, wait, wait. Let’s find out who he is.
Why did he come here? Let’s get that information. Ravan said, yeah, makes sense. But then again he was ordered to kill him.
So then Vibhishan intervened. And Vibhishan said that if he has come as a messenger of Ram, the courts forbid us from killing any messenger. So, I know, Ravan is still so angry.
But he didn’t act like a messenger. He said, he has destroyed our garden and he has killed so many of our soldiers. So now Hanuman, he decides to play around.
And he says, actually, after I have leapt across the ocean and came all the way, I was so tired and so hungry. So I was just looking for some fruits. And in my eagerness to look for some fruits, I jumped from one tree to another and the trees fell down.
And now when the trees fell down, the soldiers, instead of asking me what I wanted, they came and started attacking me. And I had to defend myself. So he says, whoever I killed, it was only because they were trying to kill me.
So I acted only for self-defence and survival. Ravan did not like this turn of events. And he thought, he still wanted to punish Hanuman.
He knew Vibhishan still was right. So, OK, he needs to be punished. Let’s punish him by burning his tail.
Monkeys are very attached to their tails. They are proud of their tails. So let’s burn it.
Now this burning, he had multiple purposes for that. First is that it was very painful to have a part of your body burnt. See, if there is fire nearby and if at that time, we would keep safe distance from the fire.
But if somebody takes our hand and tries to push it in the fire, we will try to fight back instead. But if somebody tries to consciously burn a part of our body, it can be horrifyingly painful. So, first of all, just the burning would be painful.
Secondly, his plan was that after that, he would be permanently mutilated. And especially for somebody who is a warrior, who is heroic, to have that kind of mutilation would be humiliating. And to increase that humiliation with his tail burnt, Ravan’s plan was let him be paraded in all of Lanka.
So that everybody learns what is the fate of anyone who dares to cross the king of Lanka. So it was a diabolically cold blooded plan to cause a lot of pain. And then they executed that plan and then they got cloth, they got cotton, they got fuel, oil and then they slit the tail.
Now Hanuman was ready to bear that pain. He knew the tail would burn, it would be painful. Now his plan was, he had already come in and his plan was now, although everybody thought that he was still bound, he was no longer bound.
The Brahmastra was not acting on him. He had already sensed that. His plan was as soon as they set the tail on fire, he will immediately break free, escape and go.
And during that time when his tail would be set on fire, he was ready to tolerate it. Now whatever was happening in the court of Lanka, that was like the happening place. So everything that was happening was breaking news going everywhere.
So when this decision was made from the court, there was like a network of messengers who told in the Ashok Vatika. And in the Ashok Vatika, Sita came to know about it. That Hanuman has been captured and Hanuman’s tail is going to be burnt.
So at that time, Sita prayed, Oh Agnideva, don’t let the fire scald or burn Hanuman’s tail. Whatever punya I have, please let that act to protect his tail from being burnt. So Hanuman on his side was ready to tolerate the pain.
And when the fire was set, he could feel the heat and he was ready. And as he was waiting, suddenly it is burning, burning sensation. The heat was there and suddenly he felt there is no pain.
There is fire all around him. He could feel the heat of the fire, but he could not feel any burn by the fire. He looked around, what happened? He saw that actually the tail is on fire.
The tail was burning in the sense that there was fire around the tail, but he felt no pain. He thought about it. He was also intelligent.
This must be, now he had his mystic powers, but he had not tried to do anything at that point. His plan was just to escape. But when he realised this must be, Sita must be praying for him.
Because of that this is happening. Because of Sita’s prayer, although this tail is burning, it is not burning. So it’s like normally if a candle burns, the candle burns and the candle gets exhausted.
But here his tail was burning. It was neither hurting nor was it getting reduced to ashes. It was just burning.
And what happened was that he had a long tail and all the tail had been tied with cloth and with cotton so that he could catch fire. So the flames spread all around his tail. And now Hanuman saw an opportunity.
This fire will now backfire. That fire, it is not burning him now. So now he can use it to cause damage to Lanka.
And he just, as he was being tied and the monkeys were trying to drag, the Rakshasas were dragging him out of the forest and they were saying, why is this monkey not feeling any pain at all? What is going on? The tail is burning. So then suddenly as soon as he had got out of the palace, out of the court, into the middle of the central building of CBD of Lanka, so Central Business District of Lanka which was there, he came there and there just leapt off. And he leapt up, all those who were around him, guarding him, tying him, holding him, they all just flew off.
Such was the force of his jump. And he went right near the building. And he went on top of the building and his tail started moving.
Now much of Lanka was golden. Now gold does not burn very easily. In fact, one of the ways of testing gold is that if you heat the gold and all the alloys that are there in it, they melt away.
Gold has a very high melting point. So it does not catch fire very easily. And much of Lanka, some of it was golden, Ravana’s palace was golden, some of it was gold plated.
But whatever it was, Hanuman just kept moving his tail and soon the whole building caught fire. And as soon as the building caught fire, Hanuman looked around. Now he immediately jumped to the next building.
And the demons were so shocked initially, how did this monkey escape? And they tried to charge near him, but the fire was burning so fiercely they couldn’t get to him. And by the time they got near him, he had jumped to the next building and then the next building and the next building. And not only had Hanuman broken free, but now he was causing havoc among the Rakshasaar forces.
And when Ravana heard it, he just came out of his palace. He went to his terrace of his palace from his court and looked around and saw all around him there were buildings which were burning. So Ravana was so infuriated, what is this? He said, catch that monkey.
And before anyone could reach him to catch him, he would just jump and go to another building. And he was so fast and he was so fiery that nobody could come near him at all, no matter what they tried. And one by one by one by one, Hanuman started setting all the nearby buildings of Lanka on fire.
So as he was setting this on fire and everything started burning, it was like a whole conflagration. Hanuman was aided by Agni and by Vayu. What did Vayu do? Vayu is the wind god and wind god is the father of Hanuman.
So what happened was when a forest fire comes, the wind can be a terrible thing. Now if the fire is small, then the wind can extinguish the fire. But if the fire is big, then the wind spreads the fire.
In fact, that is how the principle is even for, this is an example also given for love and separation. As I said, the separation makes the heart grow fonder. And that is the principle of Gaudiya Vaishnavism also.
Sometimes when we are separated from Krishna, our bhakti increases. So separation is like wind and love is like fire. So when we are separated from the Lord and the gopis are separated from Krishna, their love for Krishna increased.
Because separation was like the wind. And the fire of their love grew stronger and stronger and stronger. But that is not always the case.
What happens otherwise, if our love is small, if our bhakti is tender and we say, OK, I go away from the association of devotees. Then that separation will not make our devotion stronger. What will happen? It will extinguish.
If the fire is small, it will get extinguished. They say, so separation makes the heart go fonder for someone else. If there is too much separation for too long, then it doesn’t necessarily make the heart grow fonder.
So here, as the wind started blowing, everything, one by one by one, everything started burning. And as Hanuman was burning Lanka, Ravan was infuriated and he just couldn’t do anything. Because Hanuman was so fiery and so fast that whatever anybody tried to do, nobody could reach and eventually the demons became so fearful.
Who is this being? They had already thought that this is not any ordinary being. How could an ordinary being be so powerful? But now they thought, is this Rudra who has come to do the destruction? Is this Yamraj who has come to punish Ravan? Is this Indra who has come to take revenge? Because Ravan had offended all the gods at different times. So who is this being? Just couldn’t digest it.
And then finally, as Hanuman started burning all of Lanka, then Hanuman came to the edge. There is a border wall of Lanka. He stood on the border.
And he started surveying. Much of Lanka was on fire. And the demons were running here and there.
Now what was Hanuman trying to do? Hanuman, his purpose was not simply to destroy. It is said that war can often be avoided not just by peace but also by deterrence. Deterrence means that if a person understands that this person is also strong, this person can also hit back, then the other person gets subdued.
If one part, if the two countries are hostile, and one country keeps continuously doing one atrocious activity, one terrorist activity, one incursion, one aggression, this, that, this, that violence, then if the other country just keeps, OK, let go, let go, let go, let go, then what happens? That country keeps doing again and again and again and again. So, you know, deterrence is what? If you hit me, I will hit you back. And I can hit you back harder than what you can hit me.
Now sometimes this can just lead to an endless conflict. Now you hit me back, I hit you back, and it is going to go on and on and on and on. But if it is understood in general, that you, if you hit me, I will hit you back, and the other person will hesitate to hit back.
So, deterrence is required. See, for most people, it is not, we may not do wrong if we are evolved because we know that the wrong thing is bad to do. I should not do this.
But most people are not at that level. Most people will not do wrong because they don’t fear the wrong so much as they fear the consequences of the wrong. So, if there are no consequences of the wrong, then they will keep doing the wrong again and again.
So, therefore, the deterrence means that if you do this, you will get this as a result. So, if somebody does not have that, that power in their lives, that if you mess with me, there will be consequences. It’s not that I want to, I don’t want to make getting back at you as my, as the mission of my life.
But if you mess with me, there will be consequences. And what happens? The world is a place of exploitation. And we don’t want to be aggressive, but we want it to be assertive.
To be aggressive means, you did this to me, I do this to you, and you do this to me, and I do this to you, and it just becomes, goes on and on and on. And people just get completely consumed. So, that is in Rajyoguna.
There are three things. There is being passive, being aggressive and being assertive. Being passive is in Tamoguna.
Whatever you want to do, I just accept it. And people start treating us like, they walk over us. They exploit us.
They take us for a, they just take us completely for granted. They abuse us. But if you become aggressive, then what happens? The small things can become very big.
You did this to me, and I do this to you, and you do this to me, and I do this to you. And eventually a small conflict can become catastrophic. So, we can’t be aggressive, but we can’t be passive either.
That is assertive. Assertive means, this is important for me, and don’t mess with this. Everybody has their conditionings, and everybody will make some mistakes.
So, yes, we can’t get back at people for everything that they do. And that’s not worth it. But there are certain things that are important for us.
If we have a particular purpose in our life, then we need to focus on that purpose. When somebody is coming in the way of our purpose, we have to create boundaries. So, being assertive is important.
So, Hanuman was not just being mindlessly violent. His point was to create, to provide deterrence. Now, if you mess with Ram, this is what you are going to get.
This is a sample of what you are going to get. So, sometimes, small act of aggression can stop a bigger aggression. Oh, you can hit me back like this? No, let’s not mess with you.
Now, of course, this is not a universal formula. With respect to, it’s not that, now, when somebody is being assertive and somebody is being aggressive, that is something which has to be very carefully decided. But the point is that his violence was not mindless.
And he, in that setting fire everywhere, as he was sitting and observing the havoc that he had caused on all of Lanka, at one level he felt, yes, mission success. But then suddenly, he got a thought, if this fire had spread to Ashokvatika, what if Sita is burned in this fire? What a fool I am. What did I do? How could I have been so careless? And as he was berating himself like that, horrified, he thought that some harm might have befallen Sita.
Suddenly a celestial voice came, Sita is safe, not feared. And Hanuman felt relieved. So, although Hanuman used this strategy of setting Lanka on fire, and this is often given as an example of anger being used constructively.
Hanuman is an example of using anger for doing service. But there is always the possibility that we may overstep. And that’s why Hanuman, as soon as he comes to his senses, hey, have I overstepped? Let me be careful, let me be careful.
But because he had that virtuous intention, so Sita was not harmed. And then he decided that let me give one last demonstration. And he expanded his form and his tail was blazing above him, standing like a flag behind him, the burning flag.
And then he roared or actually says, I am the least of the servants of Ram. If Ravan doesn’t return Sita, thousands and thousands of monkeys like me will soon march into Lanka and destroy it completely. Return Sita or this fire will come up again and destroy all of Lanka.
And saying this, he just pressed down on the border wall where he had been standing. And as he leapt up, by first pressing down, he sprang up, the whole wall collapsed. Hanuman flew into the sky.
From there he flew into the sky, went down into the river, extinguished into the ocean. The sea extinguished the tail and then he flew, he leapt back and all the way back to Lanka. So Hanuman, what did he do over here? He went into Lanka without a single weapon.
He had to leap across and he travelled light. He travelled light, no impediments, no weights. But he went into Lanka without anything.
And what did he do? It’s one thing to fight against an enemy and you, the enemy have weapons, you have weapons and then use your weapons to overpower the enemy. It’s quite another, say the enemy has weapons and you turn their own weapons against them and shoot them with that. That requires far more expertise.
So Hanuman used all the resources of Lanka itself. He went in with nothing, he came out with nothing. It’s only determination.
What he used, the cloth of Lanka, the fuel of Lanka, the buildings of Lanka, the fire lit by the soldiers of Lanka and then he burnt Lanka. So it was a complete disaster for Ravan. In sports like hockey or football, there is something called a self-goal.
So the goalkeeper or the fielders are meant to protect the opponent from hitting a goal. But if that player himself, the defending player himself hits a goal, that’s utterly stupid. So Ravan, when he tried to set Hanuman’s tail on fire, like he hit a self-goal.
But then what Hanuman did was, he took that opportunity and instead of one he hit a hundred goals over there. It was a devastation. So for Ravan, initially his pride was so great that nobody can penetrate into Lanka.
But the fact that somebody has penetrated into Lanka, that was itself a source of anger for him. But only this one person penetrated into Lanka, he destroyed my gardens. He destroyed so many of my soldiers.
He came and chastised me in my court. And then he broke free from the bonds that I had tied to him. And then he used the fire that I had lit to hurt him, to hurt me.
So it is one after another after another, like a series of slaps on the face of Ravan. Ravan was totally humiliated by that. And the purpose was not to humiliate him.
The purpose was to caution him. So although Hanuman, he had no idea this is how things would turn out. Now for him, he had gone simply to serve Ram.
And after completing the service to Ram, of giving a message to Sita and taking a message to him, he could just have left. He had a desire to do a greater service, more service. And that more service got him into big trouble.
He was captured and he was bound, he still was set on fire. But because he remained determined to serve, he was determined, he was resourceful. How can I serve in this? How can I serve in this? How can I serve in this situation? And an opportunity came up.
And through that opportunity, dramatic things happened. So that which is an obstacle, that which is meant to destroy him, he turned around and he destroyed his opponents by that very thing. And this principle applies in our lives also.
Whenever difficulties come in our lives, if we see those difficulties, we don’t let those difficulties dishearten us. But if we keep persevering, keep persevering, then the Lord will transform those difficulties into opportunities for our growth. Those difficulties will themselves become strengths for us.
When Srila Prabhupada came to America, at that time, America was going through what was called as the counterculture. The counterculture was a period where after the Second World War, America suffered the least damage because no war happened directly in America. And America supplied weapons to all the allied countries.
So they got a lot of money. So America became very prosperous after the Second World War. And those youth who were born, those children who were born at that time, they came to their teenage and youth by the 1960s.
First World War was from 1941 to 1945 roughly. Then, so by the 1960s, they were 15, 20. And they are born in prosperity.
And they feel there is something more we need. What is this? Ok, earn money, have a house, have a family, have a career. We want something more in our lives.
What more is there? And they started exploring. And somehow through that they got into drugs. And many of them became unfortunately very degraded by that.
When Prabhupada came to America, he had, you could say, the toughest audience. These were not pious people interested in reverentially knowing about God. The only regulative principle of the hippies was to break all regulative principles.
So they were, see, in general, from the western, from the traditional dharmic perspective, the more we move towards the west, people are considered degraded. But the hippies were considered degraded even by western standards, not Indian standards. So now to speak to them, to convince them, to persuade them, there was an article in the early days of 1966 which came out to Prabhupada.
He said that Swamiji is talking about God to the world’s toughest audience. These people have completely rejected everything. Rejected all kinds of authority.
Prabhupada says in the lecture that the hippies had already done sarva dharman pariptya. They had given up their duty to their family, to their own careers, even to their personal hygiene. But he said, I came and taught them how to do maha mekham sharanam.
So that, which is very difficult, what happened, that became Prabhupada’s glory eventually. It’s very difficult to reach those people. Very, very difficult.
But when Prabhupada reached them and Prabhupada transformed them, that was a crowning glory for him. That audience was the most difficult. When he reached them and transformed them, everybody, whether it was in America, people were astounded.
Now how is Swamiji transforming these drug addicts and these people who are into drugs? He is transforming them and making them into saintly devotees. How is this happening? So, by Krishna’s arrangement, Prabhupada faced an extremely difficult situation when he came. But because he persevered in that difficult situation, that difficulty eventually transformed into his glory.
Similarly for us, if we just purposefully persevere, as we all face difficulties in life, there is no one who doesn’t have any difficulties. But if we see, whatever difficulties are there in my life, even if they are coming by just nature’s arrangement or they are coming because of some person doing something to me. But if we just, we are just purposeful, we keep moving forward.
I am going to be fixed in my service to the Lord. How? I do not know. We just keep moving one step forward, one step forward, one step forward.
If we keep doing, Hanuman did not go in with a complete master plan of what is going to go in Lanka. He just took it one step at a time, one step at a time. So similarly, if we just maintain our determination to serve the Lord and then take one step, one step, one step, one step.
Sometimes difficulties may come in our life and the difficulties can seem overwhelming. Now when those difficulties seem overwhelming, instead of becoming disheartened, we just focus. What can I do in this situation? Oh Krishna, how can I serve you in this situation? If we ask this question, that question will become like a flashlight for us.
Okay, I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
We can either ask for, why is this not happening? Why is this not happening? Why is this not happening? Hanuman had no facilities. Sometimes we feel that, oh, if only I had this facility, I could do this. If only I had this ability, I could do this.
If only I had this resource, I could do this. So yes, facilities are important, but more important than facility is spirituality. Spirituality is, essence of spirituality is service attitude.
Do I really want to serve? If I have the desire to serve, even if there is no facility, facility will be created. Even if there is obstacle, the obstacle will turn into an opportunity and we will be able to move forward. So by the Lord’s grace, opportunities will emerge through obstacles.
Obstacles may enable us to discover our own strengths. I’ll conclude with the last metaphor. How sometimes obstacles help us to discover our strengths.
When a baby elephant is tied up, the ropes tie up the baby elephant and the baby elephant can’t do anything. But as the elephant grows, then if the elephant has something very desirable it sees in front of it, maybe some delicious food or a mate or whatever, the elephant pulls against the ropes. And when the elephant pulls against the ropes, as it pulls and pulls and pulls, initially if something is not very attractive or desirable, elephant will think these ropes are too strong, I can’t overcome it.
But if there is something which the elephant desperately wants, or if there is fire all around the elephant, and the elephant is tied by a rope, then it’s a matter of life, it will pull. And the more the elephant pulls, there is internal realisation of its own strength. And there is also external expression of its strength.
If it’s tied to like a big pole or a big tree, the elephant may think, I can’t pull this down. But if we try, if we try determinedly, the elephant tries, then it can bring down that tree and it can move out. So the elephant is also surprised, oh I have so much strength.
And people around are surprised, oh I have so much strength. So by Krishna’s grace, we can be tougher than what we think we are. By Krishna’s grace, when Krishna is with us, we can realise that we have the strength that we didn’t know we had.
So it is only when the obstacles come that we discover our strengths. It is, if Hanuman did not have to leap across Lanka, he would not have known his strength. Jambavan told him, but he was told because it was needed.
The obstacle was insurmountable otherwise. So if we focus not on the obstacle of why this is a big problem, we focus on our purpose. Krishna, I want to serve you.
How can I serve you? If we have that purpose and we discover by Krishna’s grace, we discover strength that we did not know we had. And those are not necessarily our strength, it is Krishna’s strength manifesting through us. And thus we will, through that purpose of devotional intention, through that devotional purpose, the obstacle will turn into opportunities and we will be able to overcome those roadblocks in our way and create a way for ourselves.
Thank you very much. So I’ll summarise what I spoke and then we can have some questions. I spoke today on this topic of how obstacles become opportunities for those who are determined.
I started by talking about how even in pleasure, we want some challenge. Sitting passively and watching movies, comedies, after sometime that will become boring. Even if we do play some sports, we want to challenge in the sports so that we can get some stimulation.
So we are not just interested in pleasure, we are interested in challenge, which when met will provide some pleasure that becomes more meaningful. And similarly, amidst problems, if we are resentful of problems, that problems will exhaust and drain us and make us bitter. But if we voluntarily, OK, this problem is there, we voluntarily accept the problem and then try to find a way through it.
That problem can inspire us to grow. So we are not so much afraid of pain as purposeless pain. A prick by a thorn will irritate us, but a prick by an injection, which is given as a vaccine, the sensation is the same, but because we see it’s meaningful, it’s purposeful, we accept it.
So atheism does not remove any problems. It only removes the hope that the problems have a purpose. But theism and the bhakti worldview helps us understand that problems have a purpose.
The purpose is our spiritual growth, our spiritual evolution, our realisation of our spirituality, our realisation of our connection with Krishna and the strength that can come through that connection with Krishna. And we discussed this dynamic in Hanuman’s life, how Hanuman, when he leapt across to Lanka, he completed his service of giving a message to Sita, but decided to do extra service, to give a warning to Ravan and to do a reconnaissance of the forces of Ravan. But in that, he got into trouble.
He exhibited his strength by killing many formidable generals, but then he got into trouble. And Ravan wanted to kill him, but then decided to humiliate him. But the very thing that he tried to do to hurt Hanuman ended up hurting him.
The tail caught fire, but did not burn. Hanuman used that opportunity to break free and burned Lanka. Hanuman’s burning Lanka was not just mindless violence.
It was thoughtful deterrence. To give Ravan a glimpse of the power of Ram’s, so that, that would deter him from antagonising Ram further. So we don’t want to be passive.
We don’t want to be aggressive. We want to be assertive. And even when he was giving vent to his anger in a healthy way, Hanuman realised, have I gone beyond the limits? Have I set fire to Sita’s safe? So we cannot just justify our anger and say my anger is righteous.
We have to always have some limits and regulation on it. And then I conclude by talking about how the obstacles actually lead to that which is an obstacle will eventually increase the glory of the one who faces that obstacle. So because Hanuman was arrested and he escaped, not only escaped, but he wiped havoc in Lanka.
That is his glory. Prabhupada had to face the toughest audience. Now you could say the most spiritually, culturally unreceptive.
But when he spiritualised them, that became his glory. So for all of us, obstacles can become the impetuses to discover our inner strength and to discover, to express that strength externally. Just like elephant, when it is caught in fire or it has some desire, that’s the time it pulls against its bondage and bonds and its strength becomes discovered.
So if we turn toward Krishna to serve his attitude, how can I serve you in this situation? Then we will discover that the Krishna’s grace, we can be tougher than what we thought we were. If we don’t have that devotional purpose, obstacles and problems will make us bitter. But if we have the devotional purpose, those same obstacles will become impetuses for us to become better.
Not bitter. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
No questions can mean two things. Everything is understood or nothing is understood. How do we deal with angry people? There is weakness and there is wickedness.
Weakness is something we all have. Weakness means there are times when we become weak. When the urge to become angry just comes within us and then it overpowers us.
And then we do something terribly wrong which we should not have done. We speak something, we do things which we should not have done. And then we ourselves feel regrettable.
We feel, what happened? Why should not have done like this? We apologise, we are grateful. We feel bad about it and we acknowledge it was wrong. So basically, we could say that inside us is our conscience and our intelligence.
So the conscience at an emotional level tells us, don’t do this. You feel bad when you do it. And intelligence tells us with a rational way, this is not right.
So these are two inner checks within us which stop us from acting wrongly. But sometimes that urge of anger overpowers both of them. And then we burst out, we do certain things.
So that is weakness. But after that, both conscience and intelligence come back, I should not have done that. So that is weakness.
But when there is wickedness, the conscience has become muted. And the intelligence is used not to control the anger, but the intelligence is controlled by the anger. So weakness makes us hot-headed.
Wickedness makes us cold-blooded. When somebody is cold-blooded, they make a complete, very systematic, diabolical plan. How I can hurt this person the most.
So it’s anger is basically like a hot emotion. Hatred is like an emotion that has become cold, calculative, manipulative. So generally, most people around us, in our normal relationships, they are not wicked.
But it’s a continuum. So it’s a continuum, it’s like a spectrum. At the top of it is weakness, at the bottom of it is wickedness.
Now those who are having wickedness, to give forgiveness to wickedness is foolishness. Now suppose some terrorists are on a rampage and they are shooting people. And some police come over there.
And the police sees the terrorist and the terrorist’s weapon has fallen down. And the police says, I’ll forgive you. The terrorists will pick up the weapon and shoot the police only.
So when somebody is at the extreme of wickedness, then the strong action has to be taken over there. So, of course, I’m starting with the extreme, but I’m talking about a spectrum. For most people, if they get angry, but they don’t, they’re not cold-blooded about their anger.
Most people around us, they have weakness, not wickedness. But if wickedness is there, then their conscience, they don’t even feel I did anything wrong. And their intelligence, they use it not to control their anger, but to hurt us with that cold-blooded anger.
Then we need to create distance from them and we need to take some strong action. But on a routine level, generally, if people become angry, it’s best that we try to help them deal with the anger. Rather than saying that this person is here, I am here and this person is attacking me.
We try to see that this person is here, anger as an anartha is here and I am here. So let us both of us help each other to deal with that anger. So that means separate the person from their problematic behaviour.
Then if we label the person, this person is an angry person, this person is a short-tempered person, then we reduce that person to their problematic behaviour. Then what happens? We and they become antagonists. This person is victimising me and I will hit back at them or whatever.
We don’t have to get into that victim-victimiser narrative. At a practical level, we may have to deal with things in an appropriate way. But at least internally, we see the person as separate from their anartha.
They are here, their anger is here and then we try to help them. So I and you, if you are in a close, committed relationship, you see that I and you are both partners and let us try to work on this anger together. So that would mean that this is, of course, I think that if it’s a complete set of weakness, where they also acknowledge weakness and they want to deal with it.
Then we can see them as separate from their problem behaviour and then see how we can help them to deal with it. So one way to do that is that it’s important to know the triggers of the other person and try as much as possible to avoid those triggers. Let’s say if we are going on a road and there is a bump over there.
We are going at high speed, we don’t notice the bump and then suddenly, bump! Then what happens? We get severely jolted. But next time we are going along that road, we will go carefully, slow down. So similarly, if we talk with that, we observe that person, we ourselves talk with that person and then try to understand what are the things that trigger them especially.
What are the things that make them angry? Then when those triggers are coming, we don’t do anything to provoke them further. All of us have some willpower, but our willpower is a finite resource. It’s not an infinite resource.
So if somebody has had a very tough day at work and they come back in the evening and there is something which they have done which is troubling us and then we bring that up to them. They have had 10 annoying or expressing annoying or exasperating things, irritating things that have happened to them and then we bring the 11th one. And then what happens? All the frustration of those 10 things plus this 11th thing becomes a trigger for the venting of all the frustration of all those 10 things.
So then what we need to do is, rather than, okay, this thing needs to be dealt with, but not now. So if we have some healthy channels of communication, that means that if that person is already under stress, they are very close to their triggering point. Then they just tell, today I had a very tough day.
If they can feel confident enough to tell that to us, we have that much closeness, that much open channel of communication, then we also understand that we don’t trigger them at that time. And then if we can have some time, maybe once a week, once a fortnight as appropriate, where we have a heart to heart talk, then what happens? If they have something which is nagging them, if we have something which is nagging us, in a context which is not inflammatory, say maybe the two people, they have some focused time together, they sit and maybe get themselves in a good consciousness, maybe do some kirtan, or hear something, something spiritual, uplifting that calms them. And then after that they discuss the good things of the week or the fortnight and the bad things of that week.
And then see, then what happens? We can see each other without feeling threatened by what other person is doing. If we are ourselves insecure, then that person’s anger adds to our insecurity. So basically what I’m trying to say by all this is, what we can do for that person is, help them manage their triggers better.
Everybody has things which set them off. So first, what we can do is we don’t become a trigger for them. And secondly, if they’re already near the trigger, we help them come off the cliff, not push them further down the cliff.
That way we can help them. But sometimes some people just have to, just go wild. Then it’s best that we keep a distance.
Sometimes you might just have to, they’re just angry and they’re doing things. Generally things which are spoken in anger, don’t take them too seriously. What happens is we sometimes hold, you spoke like that to me and we hold it for the life against them.
How dare you speak like this to me? I have a book on the Ramayana and I have talked about this. Now when Ram had gone to chase after Maricha in the form of a deer, at that time when Maricha spoke in the voice of Sita, what happened was, Maricha spoke in the voice of Ram, Lakshman, Sita, help! So Sita became frantic with anxiety. She said, Lakshman, go and help Ram.
Lakshman said, Ram cannot be in danger. This is simply the demon impersonating Ram. No, he’s in danger, go to help him.
And then what happened is, she in her desperation, she spoke a grievous accusation against Lakshman. You have an evil eye on me and you’ve just been waiting for an opportunity to exploit me. Now Lakshman had never thought about that.
Those words were horribly painful for him. Those words seared him more than the arrows of the biggest demons that he had faced. He just moved away from them just to be.
But there is no description in the Ramayana that Lakshman held it against Sita afterwards. It’s not that after they found Sita and they came back and Lakshman told Sita, you have to apologise to me now. How dare you speak like that to me! So don’t, so the point which I make is, don’t see intention in what is spoken intention.
If somebody’s intention, there is lot of pressure and then they speak something. Don’t see intention in that. So all of us, sometimes situations just bring out the worst within us.
So when something brings out the worst within us, if that is not the way we behave normally, then just in extreme situation of stress we spoke or did something like that, then just as we wouldn’t want other person to hold it against us, similarly we shouldn’t hold it against them. So just understand that sometimes situations can get to even the toughest of us. Be a little understanding.
But if that person starts becoming habitually angry and aggressive and violent or whatever, then we need to create some distance. Then if basically if they want to be helped, we can help them. But if they don’t even acknowledge that I have an issue, they don’t even think I need to be helped, then we need to at that time recognise I cannot help this person.
I have to make sure that I am safe. I keep myself safe. And sometimes then the consequences of their actions have to hit them.
And that’s how they learn. So it’s painful, but sometimes that’s what we have to do. So it will depend a lot on situation to situation.
So I talk about three main points. First is don’t understand the triggers and make sure that we don’t trigger them. Second is see them as separate from their their problems, problematic behaviour and help them as much as you can.
So. And the third point I talked about, there’s weakness, there’s wickedness. I came back to that in the end.
Whenever there is weakness and somebody succumbs, then don’t see intention in what is spoken intention. But if somebody has wickedness, then better keep a distance and protect ourselves. The answer question? Yes.
So Hanuman had determination. Where did he get that determination from? OK, Hanuman had determination. Where did he get that determination from? OK, that’s a good question.
Actually, I think yesterday in yesterday’s class I was going to talk about determination a little bit. Some people say I have no determination. Say somebody is an alcoholic.
And they say I have no determination to give up alcohol. But they have determination to keep drinking alcohol. Somebody says I have no determination to wake up in the morning.
That means you have determination to keep sleeping. Everybody is waking up. Everybody is calling you lazy.
Everybody is giving you dark looks. Come on, wake up and still you are determined to keep sleeping. So nobody can say I don’t have determination.
It is just that in some people the determination is misdirected. So everybody has determination. It is just a question of where it is directed.
And what is determination? Determination is basically you could say it is concentrated desire directed constructed. It’s concentrated. We all have desire, but the desire needs to be concentrated.
So concentrated means if I have 100 desires, if somebody says that. If somebody says, OK, for the next one month, I have set this 100 goals. Well, 100 goals are not goals.
They are a wish list. Nobody can achieve 100. OK, so 2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 5 is enough.
You cannot do too many things. So if there is a wish list, then nothing is going to happen. All of them are simply wishes.
So concentrate. OK, there are many things I want to do. But what are the things which are most important for me? Or what is the thing most important for me? Concentrate.
So concentrated desire. When we concentrate the desire, instead of dissipating it over 100 things, 1, 2, 3. These are things I want to focus on. And then directed constructive.
Just having a desire is not enough. OK, how can I work on this desire? What can I do to achieve this? If I say, OK, I want to learn this language. If somebody says, I want to learn 100 languages.
Well, you will not learn anything by that. OK, if I say, OK, I want to learn. I want to learn Spanish.
I want to learn Sanskrit. I want to learn Gujarati, whatever. I want to learn particular language.
That’s one language, that’s concentrated desire. Then directed constructive. How do I move forward in that? OK, maybe I can read this book.
I can go to this teacher. I can join these classes. I can talk with this person.
Directed constructive. And as we keep doing this, it starts growing. So determination like muscles.
When we lift weights, the muscles become stronger. And then we can lift more weights. So we start with whatever determination we have right now.
And then the determination will grow. It will grow. It will grow.
So Hanuman had this very strong desire to serve the Lord. And then he used his intelligence to direct that desire properly. In the prayer to Hanuman, it is said, he is the wisest.
Among the wise people, he is the best. So he was Jitendriya, he was sense controlled, he was wise. So by all that, he could direct it constructively.
OK? Is there some question here? Yes, yes. I would like to say that although I am writing this in the interest of Samadhi, blissful absorption is also free from these pleasures. So for someone of your stature, I find it very difficult to believe that you have selfish desires.
Could that be the right perspective? So we can understand what desires can be termed selfish. For example, somebody may have a desire to grow in their career, right? To pursue their dreams. If somebody wants to evolve in spirituality, I find it very difficult to believe that you may have some selfish desires, because what you are doing, the identification of consciousness, is all inclusive and trying to bring people or trying to help them evolve spiritually.
So, I have written in my blog that I am also struggling with selfish desires. So what does that mean? See, it’s very difficult to know our own motives. Actually, in many ways, we are a mystery to ourselves.
Some people want to read some mystery fiction, lots of mystery novels, but we are ourselves a mystery. In the sense that sometimes we do something and we say, why did I do that? So why did I do that means? Then who did that? You only did it. No, but there’s something, some strange influence came to me and we did that.
So basically there are, we ourselves, our consciousness, our mind is complicated. So, rather than thinking of whether somebody is selfish or selfless, we can see our desires as multi-layer. Multi-layer means, I could say that at least as a overall life direction, yes, my desire is to serve Krishna, to glorify Krishna, to develop devotion to Krishna.
But it’s not that there’s only that desire. From our past conditionings, from our social situation, so many other desires are there. Now, we all try to battle with those desires and try to restrain those desires.
But when we are doing a particular thing, it’s not so easy to understand for ourselves also, why am I doing this? So basically, I write. Now, why do I write? I could say that I want to glorify Krishna. Ok, that’s true, but is that the only desire, only reason? I don’t know.
I like writing. If I had not been fortunate enough to encounter the path of Krishna Bhakti through devotees, maybe I would have been a writer and I would have been writing on some other subject. So I could say that I am writing because that’s what my body and mind are best suited for.
So that’s just my, I’m acting according to my nature. But because I’m on the path of Krishna Bhakti, so I’m writing for Krishna. But then I could also say that I’m writing because I want people to recognise what are talents I have, what are contributions I’m making.
I can’t say that that desire is not there. Hopefully that is not my driving desire. But that desire is also there.
So all these are mixed up. And the way we grow in our spiritual life is by gradual purification of intent. It is not that we start with pure intent.
And sometimes we come to know, oh, this I was doing. Actually, I was doing it for, it is primarily driven by my own self-centred desires. Then, ok, I should not do this.
Or, ok, I was going up this track and I’ll come on this track. So we see that desires, the desires are not uniform, they are multilayered. So, for example, now, many times after a class, if somebody comes and say, I like the class, I usually ask them, what do you like in the class? So now I ask this question specifically to generally to understand that what is it that I speak many points in my class, which points the audience connects with.
And many times through that I learn, what points I can elaborate on more, what points I can address in my future classes. And so that’s my motive. But I was talking with one devotee, one senior devotee, and he appreciated my class.
And this devotee is very incisive. He is known to, what is the word they say, to do open heart surgery without anaesthesia. So it was a great class.
And then I asked him, so what did you like about the class? Why are you fishing for compliments? So I thought, am I really fishing for compliments? Maybe. At least that’s not my conscious objective, but I don’t know. Subconscious, that might be a desire.
I remember one time, one devotee came after class with a broad smile on his face. He says, that was a terrible class. And he had a broad smile on his face.
I was shocked. He was smiling. The terrible class.
That’s what you mean. And then I understood, he actually meant terrific class. So I just used the wrong word.
So the way we become purified, very few of us actually start with pure desire. It is the mix of various motives with which we are serving Krishna. And as we keep serving Krishna, gradually we become purified.
So in many ways, as a speaker, you know, you can, as we keep serving Krishna, we start realising that we are not the doers. Sometimes I prepare a class very systematically. And then when I give the class, throughout the class, the audience is sitting as if, as if, you know, it’s like they are watching a foreign language movie without subtitles.
And then nobody connects with anything. And sometimes I’m just tired and I don’t have much time to prepare and I give a spontaneous class. And people are overwhelmed.
It’s such a brilliant class. Really. So you start understanding you are not the doer.
Not that you are not the doer, but you are not the sole doer. So basically, to conclude this, there was a nice incident of Prabhupada. He had come to a temple and there was a disciple of Prabhupada who was doing kirtan, very sweet kirtan he would do.
And Prabhupada, as if Prabhupada came to temple to take darshan and Prabhupada just patted him on his back and he says, nice kirtan. And now he thought I’ll never get a solution of my spiritual master and he says, but Prabhupada, sometimes I feel proud. And Prabhupada again patted him on the back and he says, what’s wrong with that? And walked away.
Now you may say, what is wrong with pride? Pride is one of the anarthas. It is so terrible. Prabhupada says, what’s wrong with that? Now what Prabhupada meant by that was, it’s not that we right from the starting practise of bhakti will be free from pride.
So we all have pride within us. And sometimes if somebody can sing very nicely and they think I will not sing because if I sing I’ll become proud. But then what happens? They don’t do that singing service.
Somebody else does that service. And then when they are praised, you feel envious. Why this person being praised so much? So that pride comes out as envy.
Another thing is, it’s not that when you think that if I sing nicely, then I will become proud. Thinking like that itself is pride. Why? Because you are thinking you are not proud right now.
See pride is there in our heart already. But what is it that we already have pride, but we have no reason to express that pride. I already have pride, but there is nothing which I have done for which I can be proud.
So it’s not that we are free from pride. So what the cure for pride is not suppression of talent. The cure for pride is purification of hatred.
So yes, I might be speaking about Krishna, singing about Krishna and I might be, it might be bad pride. But after sometime, as we keep doing that service, we will realise that actually whatever praise I might get from others, that is not as fulfilling as just the absorption in Krishna through this service. I once gave a class and I was very absorbed in preparing the class and I delivered the class very well.
And after that class, not a single person came and appreciated the class at all. I was initially feeling a little annoyed, but sometimes by Krishna’s mercy, when I go through some difficulties, it’s like almost like I see myself from outside my body. Now look, it’s like self-examination basically.
And it struck me at that time, while you were preparing for the class, you were absorbed. While you were delivering the class, you were absorbed. And now you are agitated, you are dissatisfied.
I said that actually, even if somebody had come and appreciated, that would have been for a few moments. I might have felt good and then I would have forgotten that. The real purpose of speaking about Krishna is not appreciation from others.
The real purpose of speaking about Krishna is absorption in Krishna. That absorption is what we ultimately want to attain Krishna. And absorption will actually give us far more lasting satisfaction than any appreciation.
Now we get appreciation, we can see that as encouragement. Okay, Krishna has gifted me in this way and this is where I can serve more. But that is not our purpose.
But if I had not spoken, I would not have got this experience, I would not have got this realisation. So, basically, we all may have selfish desires. We don’t know.
We don’t know what is driving us right now. But it is by serving Krishna, by connecting with Krishna, that whatever selfishness is there will be exposed and then it will be expelled. Oh, I was doing this because of, I’m feeling bad because I was doing this for my own glorification and not getting it right now.
Okay, but am I really doing this? Should I be doing this for my own glorification? How much I want to get by that? Absorption is much better. So, in that sense, rather than claiming that I am driven only by selfish desires or I am driven only by selfish desires, we recognise that our desires are multilevel. And by the practise of bhakti, we will move towards purer and purer.
Does it answer your question? Yes. So, I said Sita was praying for Hanuman, but if Vedavati has taken the place of Sita. Okay, so there is the important principle over there that when Vedavati took that role, she was given all that is required for taking up that role.
And we have to see things from the right perspective. Yesterday I talked about different frames of reference. We can see things in different frames of reference.
So, we need to focus on the right frame of reference or the more constructive frame of reference to understand things. Say, for example, this particular programme. Now, if we take a photo of this programme.
Now, if you wanted to focus on who is the speaker, then you would frame that photo in a particular way. If you want to show how many people had come for the programme, then you could frame the picture in a different way. If you want to show how interested the audience were, then you could frame it in a different way.
If you want to show how is the facility for this programme, if you want to do a future programme, then you would frame it in a different way. If you want to focus on a particular person who had come for the programme, then you would frame it in a different way. The programme is the same, but you can frame it in different ways.
So, in the Ramayana, the principle that there was, in the Valmiki Ramayana, there is no mention of Mayasita. Because the Valmiki Ramayana’s framing is one particular thing. The primary framing of the Valmiki Ramayana is who is a person of ideal character.
And so then, Ram’s ideal character is that he is so, at one level, so self-sacrificing that he gave up his kingdom when his father told him to. But at the same, that’s not weakness. He is also so heroic that even without any support from anyone in his kingdom, he by his own resourcefulness formed an army and he took on the most powerful demon at his times.
And he overcame him and he revealed Sita. So, the Valmiki Ramayana’s framing doesn’t talk about Mayasita because its purpose is one thing, to glorify Ram as an ideal human being. But there is another framing that we can take, that how could the goddess of fortune even be touched by a, she is supremely pure.
How can she be even touched by the impure touch of a wild demon like Ravana? So, now, if that is the frame, if the focus is on Sita’s purity, then we have Vedavati coming into the picture. Actually, it was not Sita who was touched, it was Vedavati who was touched. And she was touched, she was not contaminated, but he had touched her previously and that touch came back to hit him back.
So, if you put a different frame of reference in where it is not appropriate, then you can have all kinds of messy things coming up. Then you could even say that, OK, if Ram wanted Sita, why did he even have to go to Lanka? He could just have gone to Agni and got Sita back. But that’s not the frame of reference.
We need the right frame of reference. Now, normally we say that if we are having some problems, we could say it’s because of our past karma we are having problems. But, say, imagine if a mother has a newborn baby and the baby is crying.
The mother says, oh, the baby is crying because of her past karma. That’s ridiculous. You know, don’t think of that frame at all.
Right now the baby is crying. Your dharma is to comfort the baby. But sometimes it may happen that despite our best effort to comfort the baby, to treat the baby, if somehow the baby stays in pain, then we can put that frame of reference.
So I think this whole frame of reference of Sita being Vedavati, that is talked about primarily to talk about the, to stress the purity of the goddess of fortune. Otherwise, there is no mention of Sita not being Sita but being Vedavati. For all practical purposes, she acted just like Sita.
How to always work in the consciousness of Krishna and not let our anarthas come out. OK. See, our anarthas are like, if you consider, urges.
So these urges have surges. That means it’s not that we are, say, if it’s anger or it’s lust or it’s greed or it’s envy, it’s not that it is always at a high level. It might be there in some people, but still they sometimes go very high up.
Otherwise, they are normal. They are at a manageable level. So now, many times we concentrate all our attention on dealing with that surge.
When that urge goes up, how can I deal with it? But sometimes when that surge comes, we might just be helpless in that. So what happens? If we just focus on that, we’ll become disheartened. I just can’t give it up.
So if we can’t resist our urges, we can still persist between our urges. That means that when that particular anarthas shoots up, we can’t do anything about it. We might succumb.
But what do we do in between? If in between we keep beating ourselves, I’m such a terrible person, I’m so fallen, I’m so fallen, so fallen. Then next time the urge comes, again we will succumb to it. But if in between, we can focus on being conscious of Krishna.
Let me try to be as conscious of Krishna as possible as in between. By that, we will gain strength. And as we keep gaining strength, so there are times when being conscious of Krishna is very difficult.
Our consciousness is completely consumed by worldly things. OK, if we start with that, it will feel as Krishna conscious as impossible. But let’s start with where we can be conscious of Krishna.
Say, if we are sitting in a class, at that time also our mind may wander. But if I’m sitting in a class and I take out my phone and start looking at all the messages and the emails and so many other things, then although it’s possible for me to be conscious of Krishna, but I’m not being conscious. So let’s start with where it is possible and do that as much as we can.
So we could say that our consciousness, there are times when we can be directly conscious of Krishna. There are times when we have to do our work. We are not so conscious of Krishna, but we are not into mayas.
We’re not directly thinking of anger or lust or things like that. And there are times when we are completely consumed by our urges. So if we begin, when we have the opportunity to be conscious of Krishna, we try to be as conscious as possible.
Begin with that. And if we keep doing that, that itself will strengthen us and enable us at other times also to be conscious. And at other times when we are doing our various work and other things, if we can just create some periodic reminders of Krishna, that means maybe after we complete one particular item in our day, we completed some significant item, then we just close our eyes, maybe take a few deep breaths and thank Krishna.
Krishna, I am doing this for you. Even if it is externalising a material work. Let’s say we complete one assignment at our workplace, we complete one thing at our home.
It’s very difficult to remember Krishna while we are doing a thing. But we can remember him before we do it and after we do it. So like that, that will keep us at least a little bit conscious of Krishna.
And then with respect to our urges, I’m going to talk more about this in tomorrow’s class on Inner Power, Sunday Feast. But basically, we have to understand that our urges, they are not going to be at the same level all the time. They rise and then they decrease.
So when they rise, if the mind deludes us in thinking, this is how they are going to be all the time. And then you think, OK, how can I tolerate it all the time? I can’t. And we give it up.
So it’s like when a lion is to be trained, a lion is to be trained, say a wild lion is to be domesticated. The trainer doesn’t feed the lion. And when the lion is not fed, it starts roaring.
It starts roaring very fiercely and it may bang against its cage and it may make such horrible sounds and faces. The trainer may get intimidated. Hey, if I don’t feed this lion, what will it do? Now, although the lion may be becoming scarier, it is not becoming stronger.
Actually, it is becoming weaker. And if that trainer can pass through that phase when the lion is intimidating, then eventually the lion will become weak and it will do what it’s told to do. And then it can be fed.
So when our urges become very strong, sometimes we feel this is so strong and how can I resist it? But we have to recognise that that surge is not going to be permanent. So we just have to endure it during that time. So at that time, if we can find something which we like to do in our Krishna consciousness, at that time, say, if we like kirtan or if we like a particular picture of Krishna, say, and we keep that ready with us, or if we like a particular quote and we keep that quote with us, then read it, remember that quote.
So something which we like to do, if we can do that, then that will give us that redirection of the inner strength. So that way we can even fight when the urge is on top by recognising that this is not going to last forever. Let me just endure it.
If we think this is the level it is going to be for the whole day or the whole week or the whole month or the whole year for the rest of my life, then what will you say? If you think this is going to be for the rest of my life, then we will think, OK, let me leave self-control as a project for the rest of my life. But no, it’s temporary. So that way, by primarily focussing on being as Krishna conscious as possible when the direct opportunity is there, by spiritualising the remaining work of our life so that at least before and after we are Krishna conscious and by remembering the urges, they are temporary.
So we don’t have to become intimidated by them, intimidated by them. We can perceive them. Even if during the surges we fall, still we rise, continuing moving on.
See, we may fall down, but we should never fall away. Sometimes our urges may cause us to fall down. Fall down means we do something which we are not meant to do.
But fall away means we give up the practise of Krishna bhakti. Temporarily our mind, our senses, the world’s temptations, our conditionings may make us do something which we are not meant to do. But after that, again resume our Krishna bhakti and then we can move onwards.
Till we eventually become strong enough to overcome the urges. So thank you very much. Shri Krishna Prabhupada ki Jai! Gaur Bhakta Vendaki!