Staying steadfast amid confusing situations
[Talk at East London, UK]
Video:
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Thank you very much for coming today in the evening and I will speak today on the topic of staying steady in the most provocative situation. I will talk this in three parts, first I will a broad understanding of how we need a compass or a map in our life and why it is difficult to find one, I will talk about how scripture provides us something, direction and then we will talk about how we can apply it in our lives. Now, we human beings inherently need a sense of purpose or purpose to move forward.
So, whatever we do in our life, if we feel that everything is static, say if we are driving and driving and driving and we find the destination we started off the destination was 30 miles away, we have driven for 30 minutes and still the destination is 30 miles away, start wondering what is happening, if I am driving then I should be moving forward and getting to destination, so just as when we are driving we need a sense of purpose and a sense of progress, a sense of purpose means, where I want to go when I am driving, even when we are driving, some of us may drive for fun, I just want to see the city around, but there is some purpose over there, I want to see the good sides in the city, so we need a sense of purpose and we need a sense of progress, so in our day to day life also if these two things are not there, if I don't have particular direction where I want to go, in terms of our education, in terms of our finances, in terms of our health, in terms of our relationships, in terms of our spirituality, our bhakti, we need a sense of direction, without that we just feel as if life has become pointless and not only do we need a sense of direction, a sense of purpose, but we also need a sense of progress, if we have direction, but we feel I just can't move in that direction, say if somebody wants to become a great musician or a singer, but they are tone deaf, they just can't understand ABC of music, then they try and try, nothing seems to be moving forward, so when there is no progress also, we start feeling disheartened, why am I doing this, suppose somebody is trying to be a calculator or a mathematician, if we don't say, say we are studying and studying and not figuring out, so this sense of purpose and progress is integral for us to move forward in life, now when we are driving, we have say, this is a landmark over here, I pass this landmark, I pass that landmark, but suppose we were going on an ocean, now people travel in boats and ships, it's more for pleasure purposes, usually we use planes to go long distances, but either way, say if we are in an ocean or if we are in the sky, and if we don't have a good navigation system, then it appears as if we are just moving and moving, and if we are high up in the sky, and if we didn't have any navigation, then you would feel the sky around is not changing at all, I am just moving, sometimes we sit in the plane next to the wings, then if you look out of the window, the plane appears to be just going for a stroll, it hardly seems to be moving, because it has to have a sense of motion, now you have a background in relationship with the ocean which is there, but the sky is so vast, and when you look at the sky, you look at the wing, you feel as if you are just moving very gently, if air is high enough, you can see the ground, and when you can see the ground, you are moving very fast, so basically we all need in our life a sense of progress, but in our life journey, not simply like robots we have, going in an ocean, or in the vast sky, and sometimes we feel as if we are moving forward at all, or sometimes we feel I don't even know which way to move forward, so normally if you are going on a road, and the road is straight, there is no problem, but if you come to an intersection, then oh left or right, we have to make a decision, and if you don't have a map, you don't have some guidance, then you don't know what to do, so similarly for us, normally when we go in our life, there is usually some structure in our life, we are in some relationship, have some responsibilities, we have some problems, professionally, personally, interpersonally, they determine largely how we function, we have a job, we have family, we have children, and we know what we are expected to do, but sometimes in our life, we come to intersections, and then at that point, what am I to do, so in the Bhagavad Gita, at the start, Arjuna comes in such a interesting way, Arjuna's question at the start of the Gita is not simply should I fight, if that were the only question, then that is just a context, the Bhagavad Gita would not have had relevance thousands of years ago, the question which Arjuna asks in the second chapter, the 7th verse is, पुच्चामित्वां धर्मसंभूरचेतः I ask you, पुच्चामित्वां धर्म, what is dharma, dharma here doesn't refer simply to a religious code, dharma essentially means the right thing to do, it means the thing keep us in harmony in life, the thing that is in harmony in life, sense of purpose and progress, so what was conflict, at the start of the Gita, basically Arjuna was torn between two dharmas, he had his Kshatriya dharma and he had his Kula dharma, Kshatriya dharma means he was a warrior and warriors are martial gods, so they sometimes have to fight to protect, we are averse to violence and to bloodshed, at the same time we recognize even if we want to keep peace, keeping peace we need a peace keeping force, so force means something forcefully applied over there, sometimes we have to fight, so Kshatriya dharma was at that time to fight, especially against those who were aggressors, so here he had to fight to protect the rule of law, but he also had another dharma, that is he was a member of a particular family, a particular dynasty, he was a Kurunandana and his Kula dharma was that he has to protect his family members, so now normally he could do both these duties, but in this situation the aggressor were his relatives, so normally we are meant to protect our relatives, normally if somebody attacks us, we are meant to protect ourselves, but if somebody, that person is attacking us, so which dharma does he follow, the Kshatriya dharma or Kula dharma, so this is a situation where he was just disowned and that's why he says that नहीं प्रपश्यामि पनुद्यार् यच्छोकमुच्छोशनमिन्द्रियार् अवावासप्तनम्रुद्यार् राज्यं सुराणामपिचाद्धात्यं says that, नहीं प्रपश्यामि पनुद्यार्, I do not see in any way any relief coming from it, it's like earlier said, we are driving, distance meter is still 30 miles, what is the point of driving, the way I am moving in my life, Kshatriya at that point was one marker of success in a big kingdom, another marker of success was to rise to the heavens and attain heavenly prosperity, either this earthly or heavenly marker of success, says neither means anything, यच्छोकमुच्छोशनमिन्द्रियार् why, because such distress is devouring my senses, is devouring my consciousness, says, hey, my loved ones, if my relatives are dead, and because they died, I become the cause of their death, then who is responsible for this, because Arjuna is disoriented at the start of the game, so this disorientation is so great, that in public, in front of everyone, he is brought down to tears, normally, even if we are distressed, we don't cry in public, we try to cry in private, and especially warriors are trained not to show pain, because war is cruel, can you recognize this, let's say, two boxers are fighting, and then one boxer just blows a punch, say a punch to the jaw, and the other boxer bounces, oh, that means this is a warrior, so then strategy in fighting is hit where it hurts, hit where it hurts, say, like in cricket, the bowlers know that this batsman can't handle a bouncer, then all bowlers will ball bouncers to him, isn't it, so warriors are trained not to show any weakness, not to show any, if they show any pain, that means it indicates weakness, so Arjuna was a trained warrior, yet he was brought to a situation of so much pain, that, he was crying in public, in front of everyone, why, because he couldn't fight this war, so we all have certain sense of purpose and progress, but sometimes we feel, hey, this is not worth it, but if I get this, but by doing this, am I really going to get anything out of the war, and when this happens, life is tough for everyone, I have travelled across the world many times, and I have met many, many successful people, and in the world's eyes, they are very successful, but scrape a little below the surface, everybody is working through their own tragedies, somebody might be a super multi-millionaire, multi-billionaire, but maybe their marriage has broken down, maybe their child has a drug headache, maybe their parent has forgotten them because of Alzheimer's, everybody is working through their own tragedy, and sometimes we start asking this question, is life worth it, we are going through all those struggles, is it worth going through all those struggles, what am I getting by this, in general, nobody likes pain, but what we dislike the most is purposeless pain, if you are walking along the road, and a thorn pierces our foot, now if we are afraid now that I might get some tinnitus or something, we go to a doctor, and then the doctor says, in terms of sensation, the injection and the thorn are the same, but we avoid them, because the injection is purposeful, none of us in life can avoid difficulties, can avoid pain, but if we have a purpose that makes that pain worthwhile, I will take that injection, but I can avoid the disease, this time Arjuna feels, what is it, when he comes, is fighting really worth it, and he at that time, I don't feel like that, now he doesn't say I won't, what he says is, unless I get answers, I am not going to move forward, so we all face situations in our lives, when whatever direction we are moving in, we say, is this really worth it, sometimes we are working at a job, and then we have a boss who is, there are two kinds of people it is said, some people bring happiness wherever they go, and some people bring happiness whenever they go, so if our boss is troubling us, we start feeling, is this really worth it, if we are in a relationship and other person starts troubling us too much, should we continue this, even if we are practicing spiritual life, and then we start experiencing some difficulties in spiritual life, then we start, is this really worth it, so that, what really counts in life, that question comes up for us, in the normal course of life, it may not come up, because we move along according to a normal routine, as a normal schedule, but we are going on the road, going forward, but when you come to a crossroad, at that time you feel, is this worth it, for example, if you have come for a class, now you have come, you want to sit for an hour or so, but say, after this class, you are going to another class, then you think, I want to stay for this class, when you come to a crossroad, at that time you evaluate, not only where should I go, but should I go anywhere at all, should I try to go ahead in this direction, so Arjuna has this situation, that he has two dharmas, and say for example, doing his Kshatriya dharma, he feels the price is so much, that is it really worth it, he feels it is not, and thus he asks Arjuna, now what is dharma? Now one of the first verses in the Bhagavad Gita is its conclusion, do you know what is the conclusion of the Gita? Which is the verse which is offering the conclusion? Yes, let us recite it together. Thank you, so Krishna is speaking this verse towards the end, I was invited for a Gita program, Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita, and before my talk, children who were reciting some verses from the Gita, so like this, children are beautifully welcomed over here, so like that they were reciting the verses, and then they recited various verses, and then they came to this verse, and when they recited this verse, I was very surprised, so what is the difference? Adharman, so I did my class, and after that I asked the organizer, this verse is Sarvadharman Paritra, how did it become Sarvadharman Paritra? So then this organizer said, actually, he quoted some Gita scholar, and he said, Krishna has come to establish dharma, dharma samsthapanartha, sambhavan yuge yuge, Krishna has come to establish dharma, this is in 4.8 in the Bhagavad Gita, how can Krishna tell anyone to give up dharma? So he said, actually, this is that scholar's theory, that traditionally when the Bhagavad Gita was written down, in the past, you didn't have the printing machines, so you had to do handwriting of the Gita, you had to replicate it, so while replicating it, somebody forgot the A, so it was originally, it was Sarvadharman, but somebody forgot the A, so it became Sarvadharman, and now we are again adding the A, what was forgotten? So, now there are some, there are some, you could say, understandable misunderstandings, so now, it's a reasonable argument, but the point is, Arjuna was already a person, so for Arjuna, he was not a person, who was likely given to temptation and go towards dharma, so his question was not, should I, he was not like a sinful person, who has to be told, don't do anything wrong, he was a virtuous person, so when Krishna tells Arjuna, Sarvadharman parityajya, so the point here is not that, we should do wrong activities and do the right activities, that's okay, so what he is telling over there is, that, oh Arjuna, we all have different roles, so we could say, dharma in this context, Sarvadharman parityajya says, we are certain, all have different duties, but what Krishna says is, that if sometimes our duties conflict, like Arjuna's Kshatriya dharma and Kula dharma were conflicted, so at that time, he is not telling Sarvadharman parityajya, he says, the point is, mam ekam saranam vraja, sis saranam vraja, actually Prabhupada said, especially in the west, in the 1960s, when he came to America, he went to Europe also, and that was a very unusual period, it was the counterculture, so the history is, when people, who were already practicing, practicing Sarvadharman parityajya, they had given up their duty for education, they had given up their duty for family, they had given up their duty for taking up a job, you know, they had just given up all duties, Prabhupada said that, all of you are already doing Sarvadharman parityajya, I taught you how to do mam ekam saranam vraja, so the point is that, Krishna is not just telling, give up your duties, Krishna is saying that, when two duties seem to conflict, don't obsess over this duty or that duty, just recognize that beyond the duty, there is ultimate purpose, okay, should I go on this road or this road, understand the direction in which you are going, and that direction ultimately is, mam ekam saranam vraja, ultimately, what makes life worthwhile, what makes all the difficulties that we go through, purposeful, is that, we are all progressing towards the ultimate reality, towards Krishna, so what the Bhagavad Gita ultimately tells, is that, it's like if you are in the, if say somebody is in a boat, or a ship, and they are looking at the stars for guidance, but sometimes, stars also don't have guidance, the stars also keep moving, but then there is a pole star, which is the true north, which always stays fixed, even if you are using Google maps or GPS for traveling, if the particular area has a lot of development, then you come to a particular, you are going to a particular place once and you come, you see, there is no building here, there is a building, what happened, so if our reference points themselves are changeable, that is very difficult, when we need a reference point, it is not changeable, so we all have certain roles, certain duties, and they are important, but ultimately, important because, they are all connecting us with Krishna, so Krishna is like the true north, the pole star, and he is the one who never changes, so Krishna is not telling Arjuna, in this case in the Bhagavad Gita, that you just don't worry about your family, that is not the point, Krishna says, you have a duty of taking care of your relatives, you have a duty of fighting your children, both of these are ultimately meant, to help you evolve towards the divine, and to help others evolve towards the divine, so we are all on a journey of spiritual evolution, we are all meant to move towards Krishna, now when we are trying to move towards Krishna like this, so how do we move forward, so we all have certain responsibilities, certain roles, and those roles if we do them responsibly, we move forward, but some of the roles conflict, at that time, so Krishna tells us, look for the true north, now how do we look for the true north, ultimately it is through service attitude, service attitude means, that Krishna, whatever situation you are in, I am your lord, and I am your servant, so oh lord, how can I serve you, when we go through very complex, or very difficult situations, at that time, it is important, to sort of decrease our time frame, decrease our time means, that, say, in a normal course of life, you may think that, if I continue at this, then after 4 years I will get this degree, if I continue at this job, after 5 years I will get this raise, I will get this position, we think of the big picture, and it is important to think of the big picture, also, but, when we are going through great difficulties, at that time, we just need to focus on the next step forward, one step forward, one step forward, because, sometimes we move forward with street lights, and the street light shows the full way ahead, sometimes the street lights go off, and we need our own flashlight, the flashlight, will not show as much as the street light, but the flashlight can show us just one step, one step forward, one step forward, and if we keep taking that one step, one step forward, each step we take, the flashlight will show the next step, we take the next step, so similarly, when we are going through difficulties, we start thinking, this situation, is so difficult, I don't know, say somebody, say if somebody is very sick, and then the whole family is, everybody is centered on trying to take care of that person, but we don't know whether that person is going to be cured or not, how long is he going to stay sick, and then how do you move forward with that, and then, at that time, it's important that, we focus on small steps, means, okay, for this next, for this one day today, can I do the, can I just be the best that I can, if one day is too much, for the next hour, now, trouble, so much going on in my life, sometimes, problems seem to be so big, that they can like bury, bury us under the ground, just crush us completely, so if, we want to get crushed, we have to, divide that problem, into manageable steps, that means, okay, just for the next hour, then move forward steadily, now Krishna tells Arjuna, what it means is, that, at this stage, your purpose is, and okay, that's the truth, and okay, this road, this road, I'm not sure, okay, just take one step, one step, one step, so, when we are in great difficulties, if we just decrease, our working frame, it's like if you have to eat watermelon, if somebody just gives a full watermelon to you, eat it, what do you do, isn't it, you can't eat it, sometimes life gives us a big watermelon, so then, we are hungry, and the watermelon is there, but, we need to have patience, first let me find a knife, and then cut it, cut it, so if we have, problems, which, we don't know when they will go away, so it's like a nagging burden constantly there, then one thing we need to do is, just, decide, if we are dealing with it, our family is dealing with it, don't, think about, talk about, the problem constantly, everybody knows the problem is there, and we have to deal with it, but just make a plan, every day, maybe 15 minutes, half an hour, we will strategize, plan, and remaining, we all have to do certain things to deal with that, but if we keep thinking about it, keep dwelling on it, it will become bigger, and bigger, and bigger, so there are some things in our life, where it's like say, when we are driving, at time, we are not putting in much effort, but say, if, we are, going, and we are rowing, and rowing, and rowing, and it seems as if, we are not moving only, then we will start thinking, why am I rowing, so for us, some situations are like this, when we are rowing, and rowing, and we don't even know, whether we are going to move forward, say, as I said, if somebody has a disease, which is, which is, which is not being cured, it's worse, if it's not even diagnosed, sometimes, if, say, if you go to a doctor, and the doctor says, you know, the kind of symptoms you have, I have never heard anyone having this, well, that's not a very pleasant thing to hear, our ego might think, I have got a spinal disease, but, you know, okay, if you don't even know what it is, how will it be cured, 16 years ago, I was continuously sick, for one and a half years, and, as, in the evening, I would get fever, it would stay, and the temperature would rise, and it would go down, and again, it would come next day, and we were trying to diagnose, many, many tests, and nothing was diagnosed, and finally, I went to a doctor, and the doctor did some exams, and, then, when I went out, he was looking for me, and then he said, you have got TB, and my first reaction was, thank God, and he looked at me as if I am crazy, but the point is, that at least if you know there is a disease, and you can know how to take care of it, if you don't know what it is, then what do you do, so what happens, all of us, sometimes, in some situations in our life, it is like, we are rowing, but no motion, by saying that, we need a sense of purpose and progress, but in some things, we are rowing, and rowing, and rowing, and we start feeling, is it worth it, because nothing seems to be happening, so at that time, we need to have, at least some other thing in our life, which, if we are rowing, we seem to be moving forward, that's why I said that, if a big problem is there, we do what it takes to deal with it, but don't keep dwelling on it constantly, don't keep talking about it constantly, because, it is there, it is there, so okay, this problem is there, we will deal with it, we will do what it takes to deal with it, but let the remaining life go, and at least in the remaining life, if we are moving forward, okay, I am doing this, and here, this part of my life, no matter how much I row, nothing seems to be happening, but if that part seems to be happening, in every walk of our life, then, we become so disheartened, that nothing is working, so, but instead of that, what we need to do, have some direction in our life, where we are actually moving forward, and if we have that understanding that, we are all connected to Krishna, and ultimately, Krishna has a purpose for our life, and that purpose is, at least in our particular relationship, when I say for example, we are trying to take, we are seeking, we are trying to take, but, that is not working at all, so in a particular relationship, we are trying to, work on that relationship, but nothing seems to be happening, so we find more in this, so, gives us a vision of a bigger purpose, that yes, I am not just trying to do this, I am not just trying to deal with this person, ultimately through the situation, or relationship, ultimately, I am connecting with Krishna, I am trying to move towards Krishna, and, when we talk to Krishna, actually, whatever we do, Krishna, every step that we take towards Him, He notes that, and He rewards that, so when we are connecting with Him, no step goes in vain, in the Vishnu Sahasrana, there are two names of Krishna, which are Vishnu, Animesho, Swagai, Vachaspati Rudarathi, so Animesho and Swagai, these are seemingly opposite names, so one who never blinks his eyes, and one who blinks his eyes, so the explanation given over there is that, Bhagavan Jaya Bhushan has written a commentary on the Vishnu Sahasrana, and there he says, when it is said, Lord Vishnu is Animesho, that means, that, whenever anybody is striving to do something, at that time the Lord unblinkingly, notes even the smallest service, He is unblinking, sometimes we do so much for them, and they remember only the things we didn't do, but, Vishnu is not like that, Animesho, He also says, but He also blinks His eyes, so what that means is, Bhagavan Jaya Bhushan says, that while we are trying to serve the Lord, if we commit some mistakes, if we accidentally do something wrong, the Lord just blinks His eyes, and He overlooks the mistakes, so in that way, He is always with us, and the example is, when Purana tried to come to kill Krishna, now Krishna closed His eyes, He, because She had come with inimical attitude, so at a material level, Her action had a consequence, but at a spiritual level, the Lord saw the service attitude, and He reciprocated with that, Oh, you want to give me milk? I'll take you to the spiritual world, where you can eternally give me milk, Ahokiyamsthanakalakrutam, Vishnu Bhagavatam says, that Jigamsaya, that one who came out of envy, that the Lord made him, into His own dance, so, with respect to the Lord, when we try to give Him milk, at that time, every single thing that we do, it comes, because, that is transcendental, circumstantially, sometimes we do something, and things don't move forward, but transcendentally, things are moving forward, and how do we know that things are moving forward? If, we are focused, primarily, on the situation, if nothing is happening in the situation, we will get disheartened, but if you understand it, ultimately, my purpose is to connect with Krishna, then the situation will get resolved, but, we will still feel satisfied, I did my part, and you did your part, and Krishna is satisfied by this, sometimes, we achieve something wonderful, and still we don't feel satisfied, we feel empty, we feel frustrated, sometimes, we try, we are not getting success, but still, the contentment can be that, Arjuna, Arjuna was a student to whom Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita, Sanjay, also repeated the Bhagavad Gita, to whom? Dhritarashtra, now, when Krishna spoke the Gita to Arjuna, Arjuna, accepted, Arjuna was transformed, at the end of it, he said, I will do your will, in significance, I did not say, I will fight, because, it is not that he said, I will give up my Kula Dharma, and I will do my Kshatriya Dharma, his vision has risen, he says, I am not a Kshatriya, I am not a Kuru Nandana, I am actually a soul, I am a body of Krishna, and I am meant to serve him, so, I will serve him, in this situation, I will fight, the way I serve him, so, I will serve him, that way, but, the important thing is, his conception is, I will do your will, but, now, Dhritarashtra, heard the same Bhagavad Gita, he, did not say, oh, Krishna, I will do your will, his heart, did not change, now, when his heart, did not change, does that mean that, Sanjay, speaking the whole Gita, to Dhritarashtra, was in vain, it was not in vain, because, Sanjay, at the end of the Gita, he says, he is absorbed in Krishna, in 1876 and 77, last five verses of the Gita, describes Sanjay's consciousness, I have a whole seminar, 1874 to 78, what Sanjay's consciousness is, after hearing the whole Gita, but, here, he says, that, in 1777, Rajan Samswitya, Samswitya, Sambhadham, Keshavarjuna, Yo Punya, Rishyamicha, Mohar Mohan, some jubilant Rishyam, I am thrilled, I am delighted, Pachasamswitya, Samswitya, Roopamachyam, Udhutam, Vishmayo, Mimha, and Rajan, Rishyamicha, Punah, Punah, because I am thrilled, he says, I am remembering Krishna's message, and I am remembering Krishna's form. And these two things are giving me such a thrill that I am enlivened at every moment.
He did not get that external success in terms of persuading Rajdhara, but just by speaking the Gita, he moved closer to Krishna. His remembrance of Krishna became deeper and thus he felt enriched. So, for all of us, when we are in situations where we don't seem to be moving forward, we don't even know why we should move forward.
So if you understand, I am meant to serve Krishna. And we do our best in that situation. And what will happen? We will have contentment with us.
Krishna travelled across the world. At one level, he was phenomenally successful. He built 100 temples, wrote 70 books.
However, the nature of the world is, the more we do something, the more needs to be done. Once a temple is built, so then you have to manage the temple, then you have to staff the temple, you have to run the temple. So there is, even in Prabhupada in 1977, when he was there, there were so many things happening across.
And there is so much more to do. But when Prabhupada was asked, towards the end of his life, do you have any last desires? And normally when somebody is departing, you ask him, do you have any last desires? The philosophical idea behind that is, the soul also needs emotional closure. Now physical closure means when the body is breaking down and a person is going to die, the physical closure is going to be there.
If there is no emotional closure, then what happens? Even if the body is no longer there, the soul will keep hovering around the body. That's why many times it happens that when a person is near death, say somebody had a big quarrel with their son or their daughter and they never talked with each other for many years. Then, but they want some resolution towards the end of their life.
Then, they may be near death but they don't depart. And then if somehow that relative comes and they talk and they reconcile, then the person departs. So we also mean emotional closure.
So the idea behind asking somebody if they have any last desires is that, ok, help them to come to an emotional closure along with that physical closure. But Prabhupada, as Prabhupada said, kuch one person is responsible. It is like sometimes if you are going in a relay race, we play our part, say we run a particular distance and then the torch we hand over to somebody else.
So Prabhupada had run a long distance. Prabhupada had run a distance which nobody can run. But it is a relay race.
He says, kuchi, I have done my part and others will continue So, for him, because his contentment was not just in what is done externally, but what he had done internally. He was a servant of Krishna. Even his unknown Swami, just going along in the streets of Vrindavan, still he was a servant of the Lord.
He travelled across the world. Millions and millions of people who became inspired by his presentation of the Lord, they came back to Vrindavan. He said, kuchi chani.
So, he was able to gain, he showed through his example for all of us, how we too amidst difficult situations, where we don't seem to be moving forward in our life. If we have that sense of the true north, I am a servant of Krishna and with respect to Krishna, I just keep doing my best. Even if circumstantially I don't move forward, intently I keep moving forward towards Krishna.
And that will give us the inner contentment that will make life be available, that will make difficulties purposeful and ultimately will make our existence supremely fruitful. Because through all these struggles, we will go closer to Krishna and ultimately we will So, I will summarize. I spoke on this topic of how to stay steadfast amidst provocative situations.
So, I started by talking about how we all need a sense of purpose and progress in our life. Without that, it's like driving but not moving forward. Life becomes tough for all of us, sometime or the other.
If we are driving on a normal road, we can keep driving. But at a crossroad, we start asking, where should I go? I don't want to go anywhere at all. So, like that, we go through the normal routines and roles and responsibilities.
But sometimes, we come to a crossroad and we start asking, is it worth it? What will make this worth it? So, Arjuna came to a crossroad at the start of the Dharma. His Kula Dharma and his Kshatriya Dharma. His warrior Dharma and his family duty.
Pulling him in two different directions. And he felt that nothing is worth it. Even a kingdom in this world or a kingdom in the heaven is not worth it.
So, he was overwhelmed, crying in pain because of that. So, at that time, Krishna told him that expand even the big picture. We have various roles but ultimately, we have one goal.
We are so many parts of Krishna and whatever we do, it's meant to connect us with him. And to move toward Krishna, at one level, we have the big picture, but then we have the small steps. So, when the street light goes off, we need to use the flashlight to move forward.
But where do we move forward? For that, we need to move north. So, sometimes in our roles, we are rowing, rowing, but we are not moving forward. We are trying to find some treatment.
We are not getting healthier. So, we are working on relationship, but nothing is moving forward. So, it's like the path seems to be blocked, but we have to look at the true north and see how I can move forward.
So, the service attitude will be able to help us move on when nothing seems to be moving on in our life. And at such times, what we do is, if we have a problem that is constantly bothering us, divide it into small manageable steps. Don't think about it constantly.
Decide a particular amount of time when you think about it and remain in line. When in one walk of life, we don't seem to be moving forward, we needn't stop moving forward in other walks of life. Let other life go on in the best of our capacity.
And eventually, we'll find that even if the circumstances change and we do move forward or the circumstances don't change, still, by our purpose of moving toward Krishna, of trying to serve Krishna, we will get a sense of inner contentment. Krishna is unblinking in noticing the smallest effort that we do and he compassionately blinks and overlooks any mistakes that we do. So, for us, just as Sanjay got contentment because he was focusing on serving and absorbing himself in Krishna, although Dhritarashtra did not get the message.
Similarly, circumstances, even if things don't change, transcendentally, the connection with Krishna will give us strength. This is Srila Prabhupada. Through the time and circumstances, nothing was moving forward.
And the time and circumstances were enormous things for him. Through them all, he remained fixed as the Lord. And thus, at the time of the departure from the world, he had no unfulfilled desires.
Along with the physical closure came emotional closure because he was always spiritually connected with Krishna. So that sense of purpose and progress in our life can come if we make Krishna the ultimate goal of our life. And through Krishna's attitude, keep moving our oars one step at a time towards him.
When we do that, then whatever difficulties come in our life, Krishna will help us go through all those difficulties and ultimately attain him. Whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through. We all have different kinds of karma and we can go through difficulties because of that.
Whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through. Whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna! Does anyone have any questions? I mentioned that whatever happens in our life, what if we don't have the courage to move forward all the time? As I know, so many people tell me, what if we don't have the courage to move forward? Yeah, it's said that change happens in our life when the cost of staying where we are becomes more than the cost of moving forward. See what happens, we are all doing emotional trade-off. To change any situation is very difficult.
So when I say I don't have the courage to move forward, but then is the situation I am in comfortable? I might say it's comfortable, but there is also a price to pay in just letting life drag on and not doing anything about it. In general, there is a principle of, you could say human psychology, but it's also a principle of spirituality that when we face difficulties, there are broadly two options for us. Either we resentfully, fretfully try to just either dodge them, avoid them and drag our feet through life or the other is we gird our muscles and try to face it.
And say two people might go through similar difficulties. Person who purposefully takes on the difficulty, generally even if they are not able to solve the difficulty, then they will be less stressed. So if somebody just lets the difficulty make them completely apathetic, then they will be more miserable.
It's like sometimes some people fall sick. Then sometimes because of this, they become so irritable, they start snapping at others, yelling at others. And now they are sick and their caregivers become sick of them.
Now we cannot cure the sickness, but to some extent at least we can change our behavior at that time. It's not easy, but still if somebody is in pain, we understand they are in pain. But if they start creating pain for others, then it's not that they are creating pain for others, they are actually themselves in pain.
So sometimes life doesn't, it's not a choice between a good and a bad option, it's like a bad and a worse option. But what happens is our mind confuses us about which is bad and which is worse. That means in this situation, oh this is a terrible situation.
But trying to make some change, we feel it's too difficult, I will not do it. But actually not doing any change is what is worse. So ultimately, it's not just staying with dragging on like that, that is only worse than things.
So it's like, this is a whole different concept, maybe I will speak it elaborately in another class, but I will just mention it briefly. See ultimately when we talk about faith in God, what does it mean? It means that, say if this is a situation of order in our life, things are going on well, and then suddenly chaos comes up, things seem to be falling apart. So ultimately faith in God means that, okay this was order, and then chaos has suddenly come in my life.
But through the chaos, a better order will emerge. That is the faith that life ultimately moves purposefully. Specifically why something happens, why this person did like this, why this happened to me, why I acted like that, specifically we are not able to figure things out.
It might seem chaotic. But beyond the specifics, there is, life is moving purposefully. So it's a simple example we can have.
Now, say if a woman is pregnant. I was in Canada, at a devotee's place. It's a new devotee, a new person is becoming a devotee.
So he had a construction company. And his slogan was that, our homes, houses are as comfortable as your mother. Now, he probably doesn't know the third canto of Bhagavatam.
Now in the Bhagavatam third canto, it is described how the embryo is in great pain. Now, when I do a little bit of research, I talk with some devotee doctors, those who deal with pregnancy. So now, what he is thinking, the slogan is not entirely wrong.
Because biologically speaking, nature has earned the womb in such a way that it is a conscious space. It is, there is, you know, there is amniotic fluid and various things by which, as comfortable as possible, the mother's womb is like that. Now, of course, it's comfortable if we consider the womb, the baby to be like a biological bag.
There are no excessive jowls and socks. But if we consider the baby is a conscious person and is constricted in that space, it's not very comfortable. It's not painful.
But the point I am making is, when the mother is pregnant, she is safe inside. So that is order. But then there is pregnancy.
Or otherwise there is delivery. Then what happens is chaos. Now, labor pains can be very difficult.
Sometimes it can be hours and hours on. Now, from that order, there is chaos. Now, within that chaos, suddenly this pain came, why that pain came, why this and that.
We don't know all that. But through that chaos, order is going to come. It is, the child is going to come out.
And then new life is going to come into the world. So for all of us, when we go from order, through order to chaos, then if we have that faith from that chaos, order will come out. Now, how long that will take, we don't know.
How much pain it will be there during that process, we don't know. But through that order, chaos will. Now, through that chaos, order will emerge.
A higher order will emerge. So if we have that faith, then… So it's… It's not easy to move through that chaos. But if somebody doesn't move, now say, the baby gets stuck in the womb, then you cannot go back to the previous order.
The baby can't stay in the womb. But if the baby doesn't come out, then there is immense pain. So like that, we are all evolving.
We all have a certain conception of life, that's like the womb in which we are staying. But then life shatters that conception. Then we need to evolve and get a better, more evolved conception of life.
So we will go through that chaos. But if we understand that, although staying in the situation may not require any effort, but this is also taking a place. And the prize of trying to go through the situation, to try to be the best that we can be, that might seem a lot, but actually, that will make the situation more bearable.
That will make this difficulty, that will make it purposeful. Then we can get that. We might not have that courage, but we can get that courage to take small steps forward.
And if we just decrease the frame of success, rather than thinking, if I succeed in doing this, only then it is success. No. If one hour, did I just do the best that I could? Even if it didn't change the situation, yeah, I did the best that I could.
Then sometimes if the world doesn't encourage us, we have to encourage ourselves. Good job. Thank Krishna.
Thank you for helping me to do this. Let me move on. Even if we don't change the situation, at least we are making sure that we are making the situation worse.
Okay? Thank you. Very good. Hi Krishna.
I have two questions. You know the example you gave, of what you face in difficulties in life. Is it a karma, or is it something challenging that Krishna gives to the devotees? My second question was the example you gave, of someone at work, and there is a boss or a manager, and you talk to that person, how much Krishna is showing to the devotee, and do we have to be tolerant, or is it a karma? That's where I am a bit confused.
Okay. So, when we face difficulties, is it that it's our karma coming to us, or is it some challenge that we have to face for growing? The two are not mutually exclusive. Both can go together.
This is a big subject. See, basically, we as devotees, sometimes we understand some philosophical point, and we, like in a simplistic way, try to apply that philosophical point everywhere. So, what I mean by that is, say, we hear that, by philosophy, that the problems that we get are because of our past karma.
Now, is that true for all problems? Say, in a cold night, somebody eats a dozen ice creams, and in the next morning, ice cream! It's terrible. Now, was that because of past karma? Well, yes, past karma is karma. The whole idea is that, there are causal boxes in which we can fit a particular situation.
Causal boxes means what? If right now, you're sitting here, and this light goes off, you could say, did somebody accidentally lean on the switch and turn it off? That's one causal box. Another could be that, oh, bulb got spoiled. It's another causal box.
Another could be, has the power gone off in the house itself? It's another big, another causal box. Causal box means, I'm seeing a particular effect, and I'm trying to understand what cause caused it. So, the same effect can be caused by other things.
So, there can be, one particular incident can be fit in various causal boxes. You could even have that there is a power failure in this part of London. That's why this has gone.
Or you could have, actually speaking, if a solar flare comes from the sun, and enters the Earth's atmosphere, this happens once in about a hundred years. Why? It can happen once in a hundred years, right? All the electrical, electronic equipment on the Earth will stop working. So, you know, this bulb going off can happen because of the sun.
You can extend the causal box that big also. Now, normally if a bulb goes off, we don't think a solar flare has come. No, we use our common sense to understand which causal box to fit a particular situation in.
So, similarly, for us to move forward in our lives, we need to find out what situation we are facing, which is the most constructive causal box to fit it in. Now, some situations are just not changeable. No matter what we do, we just, we can't do anything about it.
We just have to live with it. So, then we just have, we may say, okay, this is my past karma, I have to live it out. So, that might be a causal box in which we have to tell where a situation just demands acceptance and there's practically nothing you can do about it.
Say, for example, somebody finds cold weather very difficult. But, say, they're working and now their job or family has got them, say, to London here and much of the year is cold. When at least some part of the year is cold, what do you do? You start to live with it.
So, when something is completely unchangeable, then we can increase our acceptance of that by putting it in that causal box. This is because of past karma, let me accept it. But, you could, sometimes we say that the situations that come in our life, it's like, not just past karma causes it.
It's some unpredictable combination of present karma and past karma that brings the situation in our life. So, like I talked about the same example, somebody eats, say, somebody eats 10 ice creams or 10 ice creams. Now, with respect to food, some people, their bodies are such that they just eat a little bit inappropriately.
Then they become sick or their body balloons out. They just gain too much weight or so many things go wrong. And there are some other people.
So, in that case, what has happened? Even a small, like a 1%, 1%, so sometimes the situation might be that, 1% present karma, 99% past karma. And you get the result. That means one small mistake over here, small dietary indiscretion and a big problem.
Some other people, they treat their tongue like a conveyor belt. They just eat anything and everything and still they stay healthy, they stay slim, nothing happens to them. So, it's like, in that case, by their past karma, they are meant to have good health.
So, most of their situation is determined by the past karma. And what they do now doesn't make any difference. So, for them, even if there is a little difference in eating or a big difference in eating, no big difference.
For somebody who has a little difference in eating, big trouble. Isn't it? So, for us, we have to see the situation and put it in the most constructive causal box. So, there is a situation which requires acceptance primarily.
Then just consider that this is because of past karma, let's accept it. But if there is a situation where we need to take initiative, where we need to go so that we can make a difference, then we can see that the situation is like a challenge. You know, I can do this, this is not easy for me, but sometimes it's not that the other person is troubling us.
Sometimes some people just trouble us for no reason. And we just can't do it, we have to live with it. But sometimes some people, they have certain expectations for us and we know that what they are expecting is good for us, but we feel it is too difficult.
At that point, maybe we take that as a challenge. And yeah, it's difficult, but this is good for me, let me do it. Let me try to grow in this direction.
So, when we see a problem as past karma and see it as a challenge, that depends on what causal box we put it in. And that's why using our intelligence, we need to frame the problem properly. You had a question? Did I answer your question? That's fine.
When it comes to small children, you know, they are always right. Isn't it? Thank you. In your example, you said that there are two roads.
When you go to a junction, there are crossroads beside which way to go. But many times in our life, it's not just two roads. It's many roads.
There are a number of things. See, if you take spirituality in one side, the things that we learn is that we need to do whatever the Krishna wants us to do. So, first of all, we don't know what kind of service we can do for Krishna.
There's a number of services. Right now, we don't know. There's so many types of services.
What is good service for us? What can we do? Is that really good? Is that what's meant to be good? That's that one side. On the other side, you have a family to take care of. You have to clean the family.
And the family, if they are willing to carry on with the services, that's fine. But many times, they don't. They both are in different directions.
And it's not just that. So, then you've got a career. And you've got your money for your finance.
You've got your mortgage. And you've got your children. And so on and on.
It's many different directions and many, many different roads. What is the right path in this case? So, we've got limited time here. So, what is correct? Okay, good question.
Yeah. Even if you want to serve Krishna, there are so many ways in which you can serve Krishna. How do you know which is right? And then, similarly with our family, there are so many dynamics.
Sometimes they are favorable for bhakti. Sometimes they are not. And we have our career.
We have our children. So, life puts us so many positions and options before us. See, broadly, firstly, there are two conceptions of bhakti.
One is exclusive and the other is inclusive. Exclusive bhakti means that we come to a temple. We do some japa.
We come to satsang. And that is bhakti. Now, this is important because these are the activities which are directly connected with Krishna.
But bhakti is also inclusive. Inclusive means that bhakti requires an exclusive space in our life. We need some time when we are directly focusing on Krishna.
But bhakti is also inclusive in the sense that it can include our entire life. So, even our career, even our family responsibilities, if we see that the family members are also souls who are for us in Krishna and they are entrusted in our care in this particular relationship, ultimately by Krishna's right. Then, serving them or serving with them, that is also a way of serving Krishna.
Our talents, whatever we have, our intellectual abilities which we are using in our profession, those are also gifts given by Krishna to us. Krishna says, I am ability in human beings. Juna was an archer and he practiced his archery relentlessly.
When he was doing it, he was doing it wholeheartedly. So now, Krishna also says, Through your work, you should develop. Now, some people oversimplify this and say work is worship.
Now, if work is worship, then the donkey is the greatest worshipper. Now, this is not to minimize work. See, work is worship is a good ethical principle.
All work should be given respect. No worker should be demeaned because of the kind of work they are doing. But it's not a philosophical principle.
What Krishna is saying is, not work is worship, but work as worship. Work in a consciousness of worship. So, when we carve out some exclusive time for Krishna in our schedules, that connects us with him.
Then that gives a seva bhav, a service attitude. And that service attitude can then from that sadhana, from that exclusive Krishna bhakti, come permeate into all walks of life. So, even in our relationships, in our career, we act in a mood of service to Krishna.
And, say, if the other person is practicing bhakti or not practicing bhakti, yes, that's between them and Krishna. But if we try to develop humility, tolerance, responsibility, then even we, even if that person is not necessarily taking up bhakti, but we can grow in devotional qualities, even while relating with non-devotees. See, sometimes we learn to be humble by being with people who are humble.
Isn't it? Say, we come to a temple and then everybody, even if they are big people, they are very down to earth, they bow down, we bow down. So, we learn humility that way. But sometimes, people who are not humble, force us to be humble.
So, just be with that person. You can't be if you are not humble. So, we can learn humility in this way.
So, if we see our relationships and responsibilities also as a way for spiritual growth, so we shouldn't have this reduced understanding. If I have more time to go to the temple, more time to do direct devotional service, then I am growing in bhakti. And if I am not able to do that, then that means I am not growing in bhakti.
No, that's not a, that's a very reduced understanding. Yes, through various walks of our life, we can grow. When Srila Prabhupada was in his household life, there is this incident described in the Nilamrit, that when Prabhupada was in Banaras, and he, in his previous life, he was a pharmacist.
So, there was a dispenser, he was a doctor who would prescribe the medicine and Prabhupada would go and give the medicines. They were working together. So, that doctor's interview is there in the Nilamrit, in the Prabhupada Nilamrit, that is his biography.
And there he says, anybody who met Swamiji, he could see that he was a very deeply religious person. But at that time, the main question in Prabhupada's mind, he called him Abhay Babu, he was our Prabhupada, the main question in Abhay Babu's mind was, how can I earn more money? At that time, he had to get married, he had some family responsibilities. So, see, our purpose stays fixed, but our pace can sometimes be variable.
See, it's like if you are driving somewhere, the road is clear, you will go fast. The road is crowded, you will go slowly. So, like that, when we are going towards Krishna, our purpose stays fixed.
But the pace can vary. Sometimes, if in our job, there are some big projects coming up, we might not be able to do as much direct devotional service as is required, as we would like to. So, the pace may be variable, but the purpose remains fixed.
So, if we have this inclusive understanding of bhakti, then we will be able to move forward in all walks of our life. Actually, it is, in bhakti we say, if you love Krishna, then you love all living beings. Yes, because Krishna is the whole and everybody is part.
That's true. But, practically speaking, it is much easier to love humanity than to love human beings. Oh, I love all of humanity.
Yeah, what does it demand from you? It just is a demand. But to love one human being, to commit to one relationship, that requires effort. And that is what will help us to grow.
So, we don't have to necessarily get overwhelmed by the various options. See that through all walks of our life, we are serving Krishna. And regarding specific about, is this service the right service for me? Life never comes with the guarantee of right decisions.
But, what we can do is, just try to get our decision-making process as right as possible. Use the God-given intelligence that we have. Use whatever experience we have and take it forward.
And if we are learning from life that way, we will move forward. And sometimes we make the right decisions. Sometimes we make the decisions right.
That means, oh, I went in this direction, but this was not the best. It doesn't necessarily mean that everything was a waste. Yes, today morning I came from Delhi here to London.
So, it's not that when a plane is coming, a plane appears to us to just be a step from one city to another city. But, according to pilots, 90% of the time, the plane is off course. Its own momentum is there, the wind pressure is there.
But, the plane gets to a destination because there is constant reorientation. So, it's not that constantly you have to be in straight direction. You go off, come back, go off, come back.
That's why when you are driving a car, you need to have the hands on the steering wheel. Because, you have to reorient it again and again. So, for us, it's like that.
You know, we feel the way forward. Okay, I do this always. And, yeah, this is good.
I like it and I do it well also. Let me do this more. You know, this is too difficult for me.
This is too demanding. Okay, I do that now. Now that I have taken it up, I will do it.
But, let me move forward and do something else. So, we have to know that Krishna is an understanding God. He is not just a demanding God.
Of course, there are certain things that Krishna expects from us. But, Krishna knows our situation. And, he understands where we are coming from.
So, just have that inclusive understanding of Bhakti. And, do the best you can. And, we will keep moving forward.
Okay. Thank you. So, thank you very much.
Shila Prabhupada Ki Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki Hithai Gaur Premal Shila Prabhupada Ki So, thank you Arun Prabhu for a wonderful talk.