How to surrender to Krishna amid the corona virus crisis

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
So today we’ll speak on a topic of immense relevance to all of us. The world is facing probably one of the biggest crisis in recent history. It is the coronavirus.
Amid this coronavirus spreading all over, how do we, how is our Krishna Bhakti relevant to us? How do we surrender to Krishna in such a situation? Can we say that because we are devotees of Krishna, we just do our, just continue our bhakti and Krishna will protect us? Or are we meant to do something specific also? So I’ll talk this in three broad parts. I’ll talk about two dimensions of surrender. Then I’ll talk about how we need to be both resourceful and faithful.
And then I’ll conclude by talking about how we need to present ourselves to Krishna in the present. So broadly speaking, surrender, often we have certain conceptions of surrender. So the word surrender sometimes has a negative connotation.
Say there is a fight going on between two people and say one person is defeated or one army is defeated. That army general raises the white flag of surrender. So surrender often has a negative connotation of reluctant, often resentful submission.
That is definitely not the mood of surrender when we talk about surrender to Krishna. So that is a voluntary submission of our will, a voluntary offering our heart to Krishna. Just like when two people are in love with each other, two people love each other, then one person wants to do one thing, the other person wants to do other thing.
So one of them might say, OK, whatever you say, I’ll do it. That’s because there is love over there. So it’s a voluntary offering of our heart.
That’s surrender. And how is the surrender expressed? When you think about surrender, is there any devotional character that comes to your mind? Who is the standard? What is the standard example of surrender in the Bhakti tradition? Yes. Hanuman.
OK. How does he surrender? Yes. OK, excellent.
He does only for Lord Ram. Thank you. Any other example of surrender? Arjuna, Bali Maharaj, Prahlad Maharaj.
OK. If you want a visual image of surrender, whose image comes up when you talk about surrender? Draupadi. Yes, isn’t it? Draupadi, what does she do? Raises her hands up in surrender.
So we could say there are two distinct aspects of surrender which are illustrated by two characters. So one aspect of surrender is Draupadi with her upraised arms in helplessness, in helpless submission to Krishna. And at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna also tells Arjuna to surrender.
Arjuna says, yes, I will surrender. Krishna says, sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja, in 1866. In 1873, Arjuna says, yes, karishye vacanam tava, I surrender to you.
But Arjuna doesn’t surrender by raising his hands up. He surrenders by raising his bow up in readiness to fight. So these two are distinct.
One is Krishna, I am helpless. You please help me. I surrender to you.
Please protect me. The other is Krishna, I will do your will. So, now Hanuman’s example that you gave us now.
Hanuman is, I will do your will, oh lord. If you can say Prahlad’s example, he prays, folded hands, whatever you want, let it happen. So basically, there are two, these two, Draupadi and Arjuna express two distinct aspects of surrender.
We could call as diligence for Krishna and dependence on Krishna. So dependence on Krishna. Krishna, it’s not in my control.
I just surrender to you. I depend on Krishna. But the other aspect of surrender is also diligence for Krishna.
Krishna, I will do my best for you. I will do what I can with my full preparation. So among Draupadi and Arjuna, who is exhibiting dependence on Krishna? Draupadi.
And Arjuna is exhibiting diligence for Krishna. So they are in different situations. And based on their situations, they are doing different things.
So what is the difference in their situation essentially? That’s it here. That in any situation in our life, there are some things in our control and some things not in our control. So when things are not in our control, that is where there is dependence on Krishna.
And for the things that are in our control, there has to be diligence for Krishna. And both are ways of expressing our devotion to Krishna. So now in the case of Draupadi, what had happened? First she had tried to reason with the Kuru assembly to stop them from doing what they were about to do, the horrible thing.
Then she had tried to use her physical force, physical strength to stop Dushyasan from doing his heinous act. She tried everything she could. Now it is nothing was in her control.
So then it is dependence on Krishna. In the case of Arjuna, on the war field, what had happened? He was a warrior. He was, although officially not the commander of the Pandava forces.
Nrishtadyumna was the commander. But he was the foremost warrior among them. And army’s rise or fall defended significantly on him.
So Krishna wanted that war fought because the people in the opposite side were adharmic, were vicious. They were lawbreakers, they were terrorisers. And they had to be punished.
So then fighting, fighting competently, that was in his control. So Arjuna takes up his bow to rise. Raises up his bow, that means what is in his control, he will do wholeheartedly.
So basically, both of them can express surrender. That means surrender by doing what is in our control diligently and by submitting to Krishna’s will for what is not in our control. Okay, you take care of it, Krishna.
How? If you take a simple example, say suppose, now I’ve come to give this talk. Now even if I want to speak on dependence on Krishna, I need to prepare for that talk. About 20-25 years ago when I started speaking for the first time about Krishna’s message, one of my guides gave me 10 point guideline about how to speak in public for Krishna.
And the last point was depend on Krishna. And in bracket, depend on Krishna, but only after you have prepared. If I don’t prepare and if I come and say I’m dependent on Krishna, that’s not dependent on Krishna.
That is irresponsibility. I have a service to do and I need to do my service well. So basically, for the things that are in our control, we need to do our best.
So from my side, I need to prepare as well as I can. But then if somehow the mind starts feeling afraid and says, what if people ask difficult questions? What if you are not able to answer the questions? Then depend on Krishna. That is not in my control.
What kind of questions people are going to ask, that’s not in my control. For what is not in my control, depend on Krishna. For what is in my control, be diligent for Krishna.
So, satatam kirtayatoma yatantasya dhrudham vrathah. So this talk about devotees 9.40 in the Bhagavad Gita. That yatantasya dhrudham vrathah, the endeavour with determination, which is very significant.
Krishna is not saying, they just depend on me. He is saying the devotees endeavour with determination. Endeavour with determination is diligence for Krishna.
So we have this combination of dependence and diligence and surrender is a dynamic dance between the two. Sometimes we are dependent on Krishna or for some things we are dependent on Krishna. For some things we are diligent for Krishna.
Now how does all this apply in our context today? So this diligence and dependence, we can translate into two things. The second part of this talk will be, be resourceful and be faithful. Be resourceful.
That means we have to look at our situation and identify what is in our control. Now life is very dynamic and that’s why what is in our control and what is not in our control also keeps changing constantly. So we need to observe, okay, what is in my control and be resourceful to observe that, learn that and do that.
So for example, now with this whole coronavirus scare spreading, then there are some essential precautions that the medical experts tell us and we need to take those precautions. So the Israeli Prime Minister in national address said that all of us should now adopt the Hindu namaste instead of the shake hands. So it is recognising the value of that.
So this is something which is in our hands to do. So if we don’t do what is in our hands and say I depend on Krishna, that is not dependence on Krishna. That is irresponsibility.
That is foolishness. So the idea is there are necessary risks which we have to take, but there are unnecessary or foolhardy risks which come because we are careless. So we identify what is in our control and then for that we have to be resourceful.
Okay, what is in my control? Maybe I am very careful when I go to public places where all kinds of people come, especially when I am at airports or whatever. I wash my hands regularly. These are important things which we need to do.
And we may say this is just mundane precautions. No, but if our intention is to serve Krishna ultimately, if our life is devoted to Krishna, then everything that we do is a part of our service to Krishna or can be a part of our service to Krishna. So that dependence on Krishna or that surrender to Krishna is expressed through our diligence for Krishna.
So whatever precautions we can take, we should take. So many temples across the world, at least in America, in UK, in Europe, they have shifted to the Sunday programme on Skype, on Zoom. We don’t want to stop glorifying Krishna.
We don’t want to stop hearing about Krishna. But if it is risky to do it directly, then let’s do it indirectly. Indirectly means physical proximity is a risk, but we don’t have to have physical proximity to have a spiritual connections.
So that’s precautions which we need to take. So there is diligence for Krishna. I think we are resourceful and identify what is in our control.
Sometimes nothing is in my control, I just give up. No, we have to use our intelligence and we have to be resourceful. In fact, this resourcefulness can be taken to a highest degree in the bhakti principle of Manas Puja.
Manas Puja means that we can worship Krishna in our mind. I suppose we are sick or we are somehow not able to come to the temple. In our mind, we can visualise entering the temple.
We can visualise offering a worship to the Lord, bowing down, offering garlands, decorating the Lord. And if done sincerely, this can also lead to our spiritual growth. This will also please Krishna.
Of course, Manas Puja is to be done when direct Puja is not possible. If it is possible, we say we will do Manas Puja. Then that is we are just fooling ourselves.
Because the genuineness of devotion, of love is that we want to offer the best that we can to our beloved Lord. So if we can’t offer ourselves physically by coming in front of the Lord and offer obeisances, offering worship and offering prayers, offering our devotion, then we offer it mentally in our heart. But if we can do more and then we do less, that doesn’t signify our devotion.
So be resourceful is one aspect. So even if nothing is in our control, we can at least we can offer our thoughts to Krishna, that which is in our control. So we can be resourceful at that level also.
And then there is be faithful. Be faithful means that we understand what is in our control and what is beyond our control. So what is beyond our control is not out of control.
It is in Krishna’s control. There is a plan and even things might seem to be chaotic. There is a plan working out through it all.
Imagine a small child is on the mother’s lap lying down and the mother is weaving some cloth. The cloth is over here and the child is watching the thread comes from up, the needle comes down, goes up, comes down, goes up. Now from the bottom when the child sees it, it just appears to be a disorderly threading.
It’s coming up, coming down. But to when the cloth is inverted. Oh, there is a beautiful design over here.
Maybe it’s a birthday gift that the mother is giving for the child and it’s a muffler and on the muffler, the mother has written the name of the child. But what has happened from below, the child doesn’t see, just see needle coming in and going out. Similarly, we see things from a lower perspective right now.
Our perspectives are limited and because of that, we might see things are just happening in a disorderly way. So, tasya nubhihito rajan. Nishram Bhagwatam said that everything is within the plan of the Lord.
Vishnu Pitamah says to Yudhishthir Maharaj, assuring him that everything is within the Lord’s plan. Tasya nubhihito rajan. So, even when for us things, this is, why is this happening? What is this happening? What is that happening? We understand Krishna’s plan is still operational.
And now things will be orchestrated for our ultimate good. That means sometimes some bad things happen and we don’t have to imagine that there are no bad things. Everything is good.
No, bad things do happen in life. But Krishna is so expert that he can bring good even out of the bad. Can bring good even out of the bad.
So, that’s why when we find things are not in our control and they seem to be going haywire, we need to be faithful. So, be resourceful to find out, understand what is in your control and do the best that you can. Be faithful when things seem to be careening out of control, know that they are still, Krishna’s plan is still working.
So, now this combination of being both resourceful and faithful, we see this in Arjuna’s example. Arjuna heard from Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna told Arjuna, fight and attain victory. In 11.33 he says, तस्मात्तमुत्तिष्ठ यशोलभस्व चित्वाशत्रुन्भुंश्वराज्यम् समृद्धम् मयैवैते निहतःपूर्ममेव निवित्तमात्रं भवसव्यसाची तस्मात्तमुत्तिष्ठ अरजिनारायिस यशोलभस्व Attain victory.
By my arrangement, your enemies have been killed. निवित्तमात्रं भवसव्यसाची निवित्तमात्रं Just be an instrument in my fight. It’s significant when Krishna is telling Arjuna just be an instrument.
He also calls him सव्यसाची. सव्यसाची means one who is ambidextrous. Ambidextrous is one who can fight equally well with both hands.
So the idea is Arjuna is very competent and perfection of Arjuna’s expertise is to become an expert, to become an instrument in the hands of the supreme expert. So Arjuna’s ability is not denied. Arjuna’s ability is directed by Krishna.
So in today’s world, there are medical professionals who are trying to do research. They are trying to find out how can this be cured. And ultimately it is in their hearts, Krishna is there as the paramatma and Krishna is guiding them.
And when they find something, it is their credit. But it’s also we understand it’s not just their credit. It is Krishna guiding through them.
So we see Krishna’s hand all around us. So now Arjuna at one level knew from the Gita that Krishna has arranged, my enemies will be killed. And that gave him confidence.
But that confidence did not lead him to passivity or complacence. Krishna has arranged for all these enemies to be killed. And then I’ll just sit back and relax and the arrangement will happen.
No, I have to be an instrument and he fought. Every single day Arjuna would make careful plans. Every day it would be a gruelling, exhausting fight.
And there were painful reversals. Sometimes Abhimanyu at one time, 13th day especially, Abhimanyu was killed. Devastating for Arjuna.
But he persevered through it. So the idea is Arjuna heard the Gita, he got the confidence from the Gita. But he used his Gandiva to fight wholeheartedly.
So the Gita gave him knowledge and faith that what was beyond his control, Krishna is going to orchestrate that. But what was in his control, he has to do it and he did that. So similarly, we have Ishwara Prabhupada’s example.
Ishwara Prabhupada when he came to, went to America at that time, on the coast of America, in Butler, Pennsylvania when he was there, when he was nearing New York basically, at that time he observed the American coastline. Observing the American coastline, he composed a song called the Markine Bhagavad Dharma. And in that song he says that, my dear Lord, please make me a puppet.
He says that, you must have brought me here for some purpose. He says, Aache kichu karja tabe aeyanu mane, nahe keno anibenu ae ugrasthane. There must be some reason, my dear Lord, why you brought me here.
Otherwise, what purpose do I have to come here? At one level, we might say that he had come to here, come to share Krishna’s message there. He had come to carry out the instruction of his spiritual master. Then why is he saying you must have some purpose? Karja, you have some purpose for me.
The idea is, it was for Prabhupada, he had not even ever gone out of India. And now he had come, spent almost more than 50 days on a, not a cruise ship, not even a passenger ship, it was a cargo ship. It was an exhausting journey.
He had also fallen sick along the way. He got heart attacks in fact, not just minor sickness. So through it all he came and when he came, he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do.
So he said that what was, it was not in his control, Krishna you must have some plan for me. That’s why you brought me here. But then, although he doesn’t know what exactly he is going to do or where exactly he is going to do it, but he knows what he is going to do.
He says in the future verses, he says that I have come here to glorify you, O Lord, so I will glorify you. Bhāgavatera katha se tava avatār, dhīra haya śuṇe jādi kāne bār e bār. That, my dear Lord, the pastimes of the Shiva and Bhāgavatam, the story of the Bhāgavatam is, Bhāgavatera katha se tava avatār, it is non-different from you.
So Prabhupada felt I am not alone, Krishna is with me. And what will, and he says that if people just hear about Krishna to the Bhāgavatam, they will become sober, they will become calm, they will become regulated. So he said that I am going to speak about Krishna.
So one person might come, ten might come, ten thousand might come, a million might come, but I will speak. And so what is in his control? Speaking about Krishna is in his control. How many people will come, where he will get to speak, that is not in his control.
But for what was in his control, he did it diligently. Many of Prabhupada’s early disciples who would meet him in the early days and then later on they would meet him when he would become a world famous spiritual teacher with thousands of people following him and his talks would sometimes have thousands and thousands, 20,000, 30,000 people coming. They would say that Prabhupada, even when he was talking in a private darshan with a few people and when he was speaking with thousands of people, he had the same enthusiasm, same energy, the same seriousness of purpose because Prabhupada was not just speaking to the people there.
He was speaking for Krishna’s pleasure. And whether in the room there are five people or there are 5000 people, Krishna is there. So Prabhupada was glorifying Krishna.
What he was doing, his part he was doing wholeheartedly. That is diligence for Krishna. In fact, Prabhupada would speak about Krishna all day to anyone who came to meet him and for those people who didn’t come to meet him, Prabhupada was speaking about Krishna all night, writing his books.
In future they would read those books. That was diligence for Krishna. But then what would happen? He had no idea.
So he says, I am dependent on you for that. He compares himself to a puppet. He says, Nachao, nachao, Prabhu nachao, se maate.
Kashthera puttali jata nachao, se maate. And he wrote, please make me dance like a puppeteer. A puppeteer makes a puppet dance.
Please make me dance, O Lord. So he said, whatever you want I will do. That means wherever you want me to go, whoever you want me to speak, I will speak.
But I am going to speak about Krishna. Speak about you, O Lord. And how Krishna made Prabhupada dance.
Krishna arranged for Prabhupada to have a magnificent stage. If you look from a historical perspective, it’s amazing what happened. Now most of you are probably immigrants from India or some other places.
So now when we come to another country, often there is legal issues, there is visa. And when Prabhupada came to America, went to America in 1965, Prabhupada said, I am determined to dance for you, Krishna. But Krishna amazingly arranged a stage for him.
What was the stage? Krishna arranged that. That was the time in 1965, just a couple of months before Prabhupada came, America loosened its immigration rules. As I said, Prabhupada got a two-month visa, but he kept extending it, extending it and he was able to extend it for many years, in fact.
And not only that, that was the time when America was in a state of counterculture, where American youth were quite disappointed. Their lives, they had everything that people in material life dreamed for. They had wealth, they had comforts, they had luxuries and they felt there has to be something more in life.
And thus they started rejecting the mainstream culture to explore something else. And they somehow got into drugs at that time, because somebody told them that, some people told them that by drugs you can go spiritually. So, they started taking a drug called LSD.
LSD is a chemical, but they re-Christianed, renamed LSD as anybody who takes LSD joins the League of Spiritual Discovery. LSD. That was their idea.
So, they were thinking like that, but they were simply getting more and more hooked into it. But Prabhupada said that you can become Krishna consciousness, remember Krishna, chant Krishna’s names and you can go higher than what any drug can ever take you. You can stay higher.
So, these people were receptive, like they were not, if Prabhupada had gone in 1955, 1960, they would not have been that receptive. If Prabhupada had gone in 1970s, by that time that counterculture phase had disappeared more or less. So, Krishna, Prabhupada just went there and Krishna had arranged the stage for him.
So, there is dependence on Krishna and there is diligence for Krishna. So, Prabhupada’s diligence, I am going to speak about Krishna to the best of my capacity and dependence, Krishna arranged the stage. So, we do not know in our lives what is the plan Krishna has for us.
So, what do we do? This was the conclusion. You can have your questions after that. Present yourself to Krishna in the present.
We don’t know what the future holds. The present is what we have and what we do is we present ourselves to Krishna. How do we present ourselves to Krishna? By our service attitude.
Krishna, in this situation, how best can I serve you? How best can I serve you? Now, if we try to serve Krishna, what will happen is each one of us grows through that. So, we become more connected with Krishna, we grow spiritually. We have various material shelters in the world.
We have our home, we have our jobs, we have our health insurance, we have our government, say border security, police or whatever and they are all shelters and they all have their place. They all have their importance. So, our situation is like a bird.
We are all like small birds. We have wings, but we have not used our wings to fly. And we are seated on a branch and that branch has become our home.
But that branch, when that branch starts shaking, the bird starts panicking, this branch is shaking, I’ll fall down, I’ll die. But when the branch starts shaking and the bird starts fearing, I may fall and die. That’s when the bird starts, what do I do? And then the bird starts discovering, oh, I have these wings and with these wings I can fly.
So, as long as the bird is comfortable on the branch, the bird may not even try to fly. So, like that, we are spiritual beings and our capacity for spiritual understanding, for spiritual realisation, for understanding that we are eternal beings, we are meant for eternal life beyond this world, that capacity is our wings. But as long as we are in a materially comfortable situation, we never exercise our wings.
We just stay where we are. I am comfortable over here. And when we stay comfortable, at that time, our wings not only stay inactive, they start atrophying.
So, sometimes the branch starts getting shaken. When the material shelters that we have, they start getting shaken. Then what happens? That’s when, what am I to do? How am I to move on? That’s when we start discovering our wings.
So, it is, it is times like, dangerous times like these when we are reminded of spiritual truths. See, our bodies are virus proof, but our souls are virus proof. No virus can ever endanger the soul.
So, in 222 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, nothing, 223 he says, nothing material can ever damage the soul. So, we could add in that list, no virus can contaminate, disease or destroy the soul. So, we are that spiritual being.
And to the extent we learn spiritual truths, we assimilate spiritual truths, we apply ourselves to spiritual practises, to the extent we start realising it. So, if we go, now a bird can live on the branch, and eventually the branch, eventually the bird falls to its death. But when the bird is still young, when the bird is still has energy, and then the branch starts shaking, that’s when the birds are discovering its wings.
So, similarly for us, when we go through troubles, there are some troubles which are just unavoidable, they come upon us. Instead of trying to escape the trouble, instead of resent the trouble, we see that as a necessary trouble for our growth. So, the shaking up of the branch within us is a necessary trouble.
Why does it do? It forces us to discover our wings. So, beyond our destructible bodies lies our indestructible soul. Beyond the fear and the panic that may be there at the material level, there is peace and plan at the spiritual level.
The soul is a part of God and Krishna has his plan going on. So, we start realising this. If we go through the necessary troubles with spiritual understanding, then we go beyond unnecessary troubles.
What do you mean by unnecessary troubles? The unnecessary trouble is the continuation of the cycle of birth and death. It is our continuing material existence. Today, there is great fear of the virus.
Yes, there is a reason to be cautious. But at the same time, each one of us has to die someday or the other. Our bodies are perishable.
Like if you buy a product from a shop, the product has an expiry date, which is written over there. Our body has an expiry date, it is just not visible to us. So, we are all going to die one day.
But before we die, if we become spiritually conscious, if before we die, we learn to devote ourselves to Krishna, if before our death comes, we learn to make Krishna the foremost object of our love, then what will happen? Then at the time of death, our body will fall, but our soul will rise. Sometime there is an action movie in which, say, a hero is tied to a car and the villain starts the car and pushes it toward the cliff. And he pushes it toward the cliff, then it is going toward the cliff, going toward the cliff, going toward the cliff.
It falls down and it is destroyed. And the villain, yeah, yeah, yeah, the hero is destroyed. But what happens? Inside, the hero is trying to free, free, free themselves.
And the hero frees himself and as the car is about to go off the cliff, a helicopter comes from above, it throws a rope, it throws a rope down and the hero has freed himself. The hero catches the rope and the car crashes and the hero is saved. Now, this might happen in some action movies and you might say it is laughable.
But actually, for us, that is how, for those who are devoted, death is like that. The body is like the car, the body is going to go off the cliff, it is going to crash. But if we strive to free ourselves from our only attachments, then at the time of the death, we are free.
And then Krishna extends his hand. teśā mahaṁ samuddhata mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt bhavāme na chirād-pārtha mayyāveśita-cetasām Krishna says, if you become conscious of me, I will lift you up from material existence. So that is what Krishna is eager to do for us.
And we all want to prepare for that. So, our wings need to grow before the branch under us breaks. Our soul needs to awaken before our body perishes.
And situations like these, crisis like these are like shock treatment. They jolt us out of our spiritual stupor and they force us to wake up. So, if we wake up and we take shelter of Krishna more intensely, then whatever happens, good or bad, Krishna will be with us, guiding us through it, to take us towards our ultimate goal.
Krishna is our greatest well-wisher. And life may send us through great difficulties. But Krishna can convert those difficulties into opportunities for us.
And Krishna can take us through even the most hurtful situations to a better place. Now, whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through. Whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through.
So, I will summarise. I spoke today on the topic of how can we surrender to Krishna amid the coronavirus crisis. And I talked about, should we just depend on Krishna and let everything be taken care of, or should we just, how should we respond? So, I talked about surrender has two dimensions.
We talked about two images, Tirupati with appraised hands, Arjuna with appraised bow. So, there is two dimensions of surrender are dependence on Krishna for the things that are not in our control and diligence for Krishna regarding the things in our control. So, we need to be resourceful to understand what is in my control and focus on that.
And we need to be faithful that even if things which are beyond our control seem chaotic, that Krishna has a plan. Even if the threads seem to be in a disorderly pattern from our perspective, there is a beautiful design being drawn from above. Krishna’s plan is working even through the bad things that happen in our life.
And then I talked lastly about how we need to present ourselves to Krishna in the present. That means whatever situation comes in our life, Krishna, how can I serve you right now? You are my lord, I want to be your saviour. How can I serve you? And if we keep that attitude, then sometimes there will be diligence, sometimes there will be dependence.
I talked about Srila Prabhupada, he was determined to speak about Krishna and he was dependent about what kind of setting he would get for pleasing him, speaking about Krishna. And Krishna arranged a magnificent stage by which his dance reached the whole world. And we are all spiritual beings, but we are caught in material, our attachments are caught in material things.
So, we are in a car which is going to crash sooner or later. So, we are all going to die. But before our body crashes to death, our soul needs to become free.
Then if we disentangle ourselves from our worldly attachments, Krishna will come and rescue us from that crashing car. But for that to happen, sometimes we need to be shaken. If we just become complacent and comfortable in our worldly situations, Krishna shakes things up sometimes.
So, we are like birds who have hardly ever used our wings. So, when the branch shakes, that’s when we are forced to look at our wings and activate and use them. So, our wings are our spiritual awareness, our spiritual realisation, our spiritual attraction toward Krishna.
And when our various shelters, our wealth, our comfortable situation, they shake, that’s where we are forced to develop the wings. So, if we go through the necessary trouble of looking beyond our immediate comforts and activating our spiritual resources, then the unnecessary trouble of facing the trauma of death and rebirth again, that can be avoided and we can attain Krishna. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? I have two questions. Number one is, we said we need to know what is in our control and there are two ways to be resourceful.
We need to do our duty and we need to be faithful. And we mentioned that to know what is beyond our control will be orchestrated by Krishna for our ultimate good. For me, I think it is seemingly bad happening now is in Krishna’s plan and it’s probably, it’s ultimately for our good.
My question is not from the macro, but micro level now. My day-to-day running, the day-to-day life of Hari Gohi. If everything is in Krishna’s plan and that’s how it is, how do we decipher, how do we make out what is necessary trouble, i.e. that Krishna has given me this trouble for me to reach somewhere? That’s one.
How do I distinguish that? Is this the case or that it’s happening because of my desires which are misfiring? Or it’s a punishment of my past life karma? Good question. So if we are facing some troubles, are these necessary troubles which are in Krishna’s plan or are these because of our own desires we are creating those troubles or is it reactions to our past because of which those troubles are coming? In general, it’s very easy when we apply philosophy to get into paralysis by analysis. It’s analysed so much, so much, so much.
It’s like once there was a centipede, a hundred feet, a centipede was dancing, dancing very gracefully and a spider couldn’t dance like that. Spider came and said to him, why you dance so gracefully? I want to know. How do you move after you move your 66th foot? How do you decide whether to move your 70th foot or your 75th foot? He started thinking and he stopped doing.
So he just couldn’t dance after that. So we don’t want to get into paralysis by analysis. So that’s the first principle.
So we just understand that I have a relationship with Krishna and that relationship is based on service. So we focus on service to Krishna and during the course of our service to Krishna, if any trouble comes, we see it as a necessary trouble. Now we may say everything that I do is not a service to Krishna.
I have my own desires. Yes, now Krishna doesn’t unrealistically expect that all our desires will be purified off immediately. But we have to see if a particular desire, fulfilling a particular desire is causing too much trouble.
Is this really worth it? Say, for example, if you like to eat some food, it’s prasad. I want to go and buy this food. I want to cook this food and I want to eat it.
Well, that’s not a very demanding desire. Okay, just do it and move on. But if somebody decides that I want to have a big house and that I will have a big altar, then I’ll worship Krishna in a big way.
But to get that big house, I have to work at a job, which is far away from the association of devotees, which requires me to work for 14 hours and I don’t have any time to chat. I’m doing it for Krishna. But then what is happening? Is it worth it? It will take me away from Krishna.
So, if we have certain desires, we have to see, whatever we get by the desire, is it worth the trouble? And if it’s not worth the trouble, then okay, then give it. See, whatever is desired for Krishna shouldn’t be desired more than Krishna. I may desire to do something for Krishna only.
But, so, now the second part. Now, if sometimes it’s because of my desires, another part is, even the trouble that comes because of my desires or even the trouble that comes because of my past karma, Krishna can use it to teach me a lesson. Krishna can use it to help me move toward Him.
So, rather than worrying too much about where something is coming from, focus on where it is taking us. So, focus on your purpose. And some troubles, say, it’s like I’m going on this path and the path itself is troublesome.
But I have to go on this path. So, focus on how can I serve Krishna in this situation? And whatever troubles come, we see whether those troubles are necessary for us to keep doing our service to Krishna. If they’re not, then we have to decide, is this really that important? If not, then let it go.
If you feel it is important, okay, then do it. But have a sense of purpose and the purpose will provide perspective. What is a big thing? What is a small thing? How do you decide that? It depends on what is our purpose in life.
So, if I’m driving to a particular programme at a particular time, I have to reach a particular time, then I see, hey, that’s a nice shop that has got some good things I want to buy. Should I go and buy it? Well, right now I have to get there. So, this is not that important thing.
It is purpose that provides perspective. Should I do it or not? How important is this? Should I do it now? Should I do it later? Or should I not do it in time? So, we focus on our purpose. We say, Krishna, I want to serve you.
Then Krishna will give us guidance. And life never comes with a guarantee of right decisions. All that we can do is we can get our decision making process as right as possible.
And that happens by prayer, by introspection, by looking back at our experience. And most importantly, within our life, there are certain things which we know we should do. There are certain things which we know we should not do.
There are black, there is white, there is black. And within that there are shades of grey. So, if we do what we know we should do, if we avoid that which we know we should not do, then by that we are showing Krishna that we want to serve him, that we want to come closer to him.
Then in the grey zone also Krishna will start giving us guidance. Or if in the grey zone we make a wrong choice, Krishna will make us aware quickly. And he will be able to come back on track.
So, don’t get into that worry too much. If each trouble, why is it coming? Focus on the service to Krishna. At least with respect to things we know and don’t, we know what we should do, start doing those.
The meaning will gradually become clear. What you are saying is, in a nutshell, this focus on the goal and everything behind will rearrange itself to push you in that direction. But even if it doesn’t rearrange, we may have to rearrange also sometimes.
But we will get the intelligence to rearrange that. Thank you. Anyone else have a question? Yes, Pram.
My question was to make sure that we are taking responsibility in what we know. We are just completely surrendering to Krishna, it’s all up to you. Sometimes when we are taking responsibility, the mind in my hand is very strong.
We end up thinking that we are the viewers and that we are in control of what is happening. Based on some of the decisions, we might be very intelligent or very strategically planning. How do we avoid that? Sometimes when we take responsibility, we start thinking that we are in control and that we are the doers.
So how do we avoid that? We are certainly the doers. But we are not the sole doers. So in I think it is 1816 Krishna says that tatraivaṁ sati kartāraṁ ātmānāṁ kevalaṁ tuyaḥ paśyaty akṛta-buddhitvān na sa paśyati durmati hi So ātmānāṁ kevalaṁ tuyaḥ If you think that I am the sole doer, that is apaśyata-buddhitvān.
That person is not able to see properly. So we are the doers, but we are not the sole doers. So we do our, even with respect to speaking right now.
I am planning, using my intelligence, trying to exercise my voice cords. But if I get a sore throat, I won’t be able to speak. So the bodily instrument is not in my control.
So what we desire and then Krishna sanctions and that’s how it happens. But we are the doers and what is in our control, we have to do. So to think of ourselves as the doers is not the illusion.
To think of ourselves as the sole doers is the illusion. So we understand our place and purpose in the overall scheme of things. It’s like say in sports there are individual sports and there are team sports.
Say boxing, tennis, individual sports, cricket, soccer, rugby, baseball, these are team sports. So in a team sports, each player is a doer. Each player has to perform.
But it is not that one player’s performance alone leads to victory. Similarly for us, we are working, we have to do our part. Now when we start thinking that I am the doer.
So one way to avoid that, that feeling is to look at the times when we tried our best and still things didn’t come out. So if I am the doer, then why couldn’t I do it at that time? Or another way is that if we are honest with ourselves, there are sometimes, we can see sometimes when we really didn’t do much and still good results came out. So many other things fell in place.
In fact, even if you look at your own life, if you look at our own lives, whenever we do anything which is successful, suppose it’s even spectacular, we will realise that so many other things fell in place at that time. So I didn’t do those and other things fell in place. That’s how I was able to do those things.
So in that sense, if just a little introspection will help us realise that we are not the sole doers. So we say that Krishna has given me some capacity to do certain things. He’s given me some ability, some energy, some talents, and I need to use it in a service.
So even when we think, even when we are the doers in the sense that we do certain things, but still it is Krishna who has given us those abilities. What we think we own is actually just on loan. What we think we own is actually just on loan.
Arjuna was a phenomenal archer, but at one time he couldn’t fight against some cowherd people who didn’t know archery very well. So what happened? He realised that actually I am not, this archery ability is not just mine, it is Krishna’s gift for me. So these experiences can also help us realise this and then we can be responsible about doing our part.
At the same time, be detached, knowing that our part is not the whole. Thank you very much. Shall we stop here? Let me know when we should stop.
Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Every day we are all faced with so many different circumstances.
And they can change minute to minute. I have to drive home and then I need to do some duties and then I need to go to the office and I need to talk to a work colleague and then I need to talk to somebody else and then somebody in the street asking directions, so many things. Every day, all of us, so many circumstances.
Just for some practical application, should we be consciously bringing to our mindful consciousness in every change of circumstance, we should be consciously thinking, Okay, so should we be in every situation, somebody asks us for directions, we are driving a car, we are doing something simple. Should we always be asking Krishna, how can I serve you best in this situation? The important thing is at one level to do what needs to be done. There are two aspects, Bhakti Shila Prabhupada translated as devotional service.
There is service and there is devotion. Service is what we do externally, devotion is what we have internally. Now, which is important? Well, both are important.
But Krishna gives a hierarchy between 12-8, 12-9, 12-10. The highest is if you can do both. You absorb your mind in me and you work for me.
But if you can’t, then try to absorb your mind in me. And he says, if you can’t, at least work for me. So we will say that even if we can’t do devotional service, we can at least do the service.
What I mean by that is, suppose we are speaking about Krishna, directly about Krishna. But even when we are speaking some philosophy about Krishna, it may not be that we are always remembering Krishna. Say if you are asking a question, now I am trying to focus and understand what your question is.
Arjuna, when he was fighting the war, he was not constantly Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. No, it was a serious war and he was fighting with full attention. So it was at a deep level, the intention of the heart and the life was to serve Krishna.
At a surface level or at external level, sometimes the devotion is manifest, sometimes as devotional activity directly. Sometimes it’s not manifested. Now suppose somebody is a devotee and we are talking with them and they start chanting.
I am talking with you. I am a devotee. I want to chant.
Well, if we are trying to do some service together, then their devotion is more constructively manifested at that time by understanding the service and doing it attentively, not just by chanting. So as our remembrance of Krishna should be in complement to our service to Krishna. And sometimes the service of Krishna may require such attention that the remembrance of Krishna may go into the background at that time.
And that’s okay. As we keep practising bhakti more and more, Krishna becomes a greater presence in our life. And as he becomes a greater presence in our life, then he starts becoming more and more in the foreground of our consciousness.
Vishwamitra Thakur in his Gita commentary gives an example. Let’s suppose a householder is working at a place far away from their home. So then they are working for their family, but their family may be hundreds of miles away.
They may be striking some business deals, persuading a client, going and buying something. They are doing so many things and they are trying to do it as well as they can. But in their hearts, they know I am doing all this for my family.
So similarly, a devotee, in their heart, they are doing everything for Krishna. But at practical level, we can try to cultivate a prayerful attitude and think how can I serve Krishna, but that prayerful attitude should enhance our service, not distract us from our service. In trying to be prayerful internally, we become inattentive externally.
You know, if I am driving and while driving I think I should remember Krishna and I take a wrong turn. I have to go somewhere important and I am being incompetent over there. So the remembrance of Krishna is not like some mechanical recollection of some fact.
Somebody asks you, okay, what is the capital of Brazil? I learned it in my childhood, you know, what is it? So it’s not like factual recollection. This, we should remember Krishna, that is more not a factual recollection, but a devotional direction. It’s where our heart naturally goes because we love Krishna.
So when we love someone, it is not that we have to be, it’s like not a mechanical recollection. It’s a continuously our heart goes toward that. And that will happen gradually as we become purified and become more and more attracted toward Krishna.
So do the service as much as we can, as well as we can. And let Krishna’s remembrance gradually manifest. But of course, while doing various external activities, practical activities, we need to also take time out regularly so that we devote ourselves to Krishna wholeheartedly.
If that wholehearted devotion to Krishna is not there, if there is no exclusive time for Krishna, then we won’t be able to do inclusive service to Krishna. Inclusive service means we are doing practically various things for Krishna and at that time Krishna’s remembrance is included as the purpose of our life. The purpose of what we are doing.
But if you just keep doing those things and don’t have time directly to connect with Krishna, you won’t be able to sustain it. So devotion has both these aspects. That is we could say intensive devotion.
We focus only on Krishna and there is inclusive devotion where we do various things as a part of our life with Krishna as the purpose included in that service. Thank you very much.