How may we be cynical in our relationship with Krishna?

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. So in what ways can we be cynical in our relationship with Krishna? One thing is to think that spiritual life, spiritual principles are impractical.
We may say, okay, they are difficult for me to apply right now. But that doesn’t mean they are completely unachievable. So if we just think, remembering Krishna is impractical.
Okay, it might be impractical for me, maybe constantly. But at least when I come to the temple, I can remember Krishna. At least when I’m in front of the deities, I can remember Krishna.
When I’m chanting, at least for some time I can remember Krishna. So to think that remembrance of Krishna is impractical, that is also one way of being cynical. To think that nobody is a pure devotee.
Yes, now it’s possible. We can’t go into anyone’s heart and we can’t say they know. I was at an interfaith conference and they were talking about cynicism.
So there was one Christian, he quoted, he said, the last Christian died 2000 years ago. Christ was the last Christian. Okay, you could say that nobody may have the purity, the saintliness of Jesus Christ.
But that doesn’t mean that nobody has it. And for that matter, it’s not necessary for our spiritual advancement that we need to have to meet a pure devotee. Even if a devotee is a little more advanced than us, a little more dedicated than us, then even by their association, by their inspiration, we can move forward.
So to think that there’s no pure devotee at all. Therefore, there is no one whom I should surrender to. I don’t need a guru at all.
That is cynicism. Another way cynicism might come in is to say that, oh, in different ways, many different ways actually. Some people may say, the scripture was written thousands of years ago.
Who knows that scripture hasn’t passed on as it is? Things may have changed. So now, if you want to be cynical like that, you could be cynical about so many things. When we take a medicine from a medical shop, you could say that the medicine came from a manufacturer thousands of miles away.
How do I know that nobody slipped in the medicine, some fake medicine in between the same packets? According to surveys, at least in India, one out of every five medicines is a fake medicine. So it’s possible, quite possible. But then, we are not cynical like that.
We take the medicine, and if it works, it’s good. If it doesn’t work, then we have some questions. So we see that Krishna, he spoke to the Gita to Arjuna, and the result of speaking to the Gita was that Arjuna was convinced about sadhya and sadhana.
That the supreme sadhya is Krishna, and the sadhana is bhakti. Sadhya is Krishna, and we get the definition of parambrahma, parambhava, and he says that. But you are the supreme reality.
And then, karishye vachitantrava. I will do your… that’s bhakti. So, as far as these two core understandings of sadhana and sadhya, what Krishna, what we are hearing from Krishna, Arjuna and God, that we see thousands and thousands of people in the world are getting it today.
By studying the Bhagavad Gita, as well as the Vaishnava Bhagavad Gita. By getting connected with the bhakti tradition even now. So then, we say, okay, I don’t know about all the details, but as far as the conclusion is concerned, the essential conclusion, whatever is the effect of that essential conclusion over there, that is happening today also.
So cynicism can come in. Anything that is… that checks us from moving forward in our journey towards Krishna, that we can say is an effect of cynicism. It could be an effect of cynicism.