When bad things happen to good people 3 – 5 Ts for dealing with suffering Bhag 1.9.17

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so today we come to the last part of this three part series on facing adversities when bad things happen to good people so I will do a quick recap before we move forward the journey we have been taking is in the first session I discussed about the purpose of philosophy philosophy is basically to help people make sense both at the level of emotion and reason that means we just told you to give an explanation but we give an explanation that uplifts others and then in the second session we discussed about broadly what do we focus in the philosophy because philosophy is to make sense so then we discussed specifically about causality, causality means causation which is the cause to focus on so we discussed that any event that happens can have multiple causes we discussed broadly three causes God’s will free will and evil and understanding which factor is playing what role will help us to determine what to do and in that connection we discussed the focus is not so much in why bad things happen to good people but when bad things do happen to good people what do good people do so today we will be focusing on the solution so cause means we are discussing about cause of suffering hap is not happiness it’s happening so whatever happens happening is there in our life so cause of distress so I had written some poetic verses summarizing the previous sessions somehow it got deleted that’s why I was typing them again so let me seek to be learning not labeling philosophy is meant for helping not judging for all those who are in distress let my words bring hope not stress supreme always is your will protect me from evil guard and guide my free will so my will is to do your will this is a summary of yesterday and yesterday’s class we want that our will becomes to do the lord’s will my will is to do your will in fact that is a paraphrase of the last line of the bhagavad gita karishye vacanam tava I will do your will simple definition of surrender surrender is that let my will become your will so let’s look at today how we move forward in this particular verse Bhishmadev is telling Yudhishthira Maharaj tasmad idam daivatantram that this whatever has happened it’s interesting and very significant the specific word that Prabhupada uses that all this is within the plan of the lord Prabhupada is not translating that all this is the plan of the lord there is something which is the plan but there is something within the plan now what is the difference between something being the plan and something being within the plan tasmad idam daivatantram this is within the arrangement of the lord so what that means is that yesterday we discussed how because we have free will say if this is the lord’s will now our free will can go in the same direction as god’s will it can go in a different direction it can just go round and round it can also go in the opposite direction this is generally the way our free will can go now of course evil generally goes in the opposite direction there is no confusion for evil so there is a saying that the problem with the world is that the wise are doubtful and the foolish are confident so people who are materialists hedonists are completely you can say pure devotees of materialism those people are completely convinced if I just get this much money or I get this much fame or if I get this relationship and this enjoyment I will be happy so we as devotees have doubts if I surrender to Krishna will that actually lead to my welfare will Krishna protect me, will Krishna guide me so the problem is that the wise are doubtful but the foolish like we discussed the other day there are people who are wise and there are people who are otherwise so those who are otherwise they are confident the English word is cock sure they are completely confident without any doubts so anyway so what happens is our free will goes in many different directions so we would like to align our free will with God’s will so when something happens so when an event happens whatever happens if we consider yesterday we discussed how God is the supreme controller but that does not mean he is the sole control, people have free will so whatever happens how do we see it so everything is God’s plan that is one way of looking at it now if everything is God’s plan then do people have free will or they don’t have free will so the other way to understand is that like Prabhupada says everything is within God’s plan there is another way to put the same thing there is God’s plan in everything there is some plan of God in everything what is the difference that sometimes people may do bad things and those God doesn’t want them to do those bad things they do it by misusing their free will and we don’t want to just talk about people sometimes we ourselves may do bad things because we make mistakes we are fallible human beings and sometimes we have anarthas where we knowingly do misdeeds at times but it is not that any mistake or any misdeed can be ever so big that it can completely disrupt and devastate God’s plan God’s plan is expert enough that it can work even through our mistakes so to better understand this what it means is that if we consider GPS say if we are driving a car and the GPS says turn right and we turn left now what does GPS do it reroutes and tells us ok go this way does the GPS say you didn’t obey me get lost no it doesn’t can any turn be so bad that GPS abandons us after that now if we are in some remote areas where there is no internet coverage or that part is not mapped by GPS it could be a problem but GPS is also God’s positional system so no wrong turn can take us out of that GPS so everything is within God’s plan means even if somebody has turned left when GPS wanted them to turn right GPS still has the capacity to reroute and get them back on the right track of course every wrong turn will mean more time, more trouble maybe more expense, more fuel, so there are costs of mistakes, wrong turns are not something to be completely negligent about, it doesn’t matter wrong turns are something to be concerned about but at the same time we shouldn’t be so terrified that if I make a wrong turn I will be doomed forever so even if say we are driving along and some GPS is telling us we should go right but somebody tells us no no we should go left right and we follow them and we go left then it is not our mistake it is their mistake we can say still it is our mistake that we listen to them but still we are not thrown out of the GPS like that no wrong turn takes us out of it so now for us wrong turn means it could either be a mistake mistake is this sort of carelessness or inattention or it could be a misdeed misdeed means something we have done because we have lower desires we know what we are doing because of greed or envy or lust or anger we do something but either way everything is within the plan of the Lord so generally speaking within the material vision when things happen there are only two ways we can look at it they are things are in my control or they are out of control and if they are in my control we feel confident we even become arrogant everything is going according to my plan and they go out of control then we become diffident we even become devastated oh what is happening everything is falling apart but for us so say trying to have everything in control thinking that everything is in my control is rajas to think that everything is out of my control is tamas so but sattva and beyond then in bhakti is that things are in divine control now I also have to play some part and I also need to get a handle of how things are going but this is the vision broadly of sattva that there is a higher plan that is always working in my life and so how do we act in particular situations that is a broad thing we will be discussing today so the first thing that I will talk about how do we do God’s will what does doing God’s will mean is that God’s will technology is evil not necessarily so we will be discussing broadly how here Yudhisthira is being told by Bhishma anatha nathapahi prajaprabhu this is within the Lord’s plan and then now you what do you do you take up the responsibility of ruling these people need you right now the war has already happened now it is for you to take responsibility for alleviating the distress that has been caused by the war so when we are in a particular situation how do we find out what is the Lord’s plan so I will talk about this in two broad terms first is transcending and then is tackling so transcending means first whenever we are facing any situation let us try to connect with the Lord mam anusmara yudhya cha so transcending is mam anusmara and tackling is yudhya cha is fight so in life we have to face different situations to tackle those situations first we transcend now what does transcend mean sometimes we use the word transcend as if just completely neglect and that is not the point of transcending transcending has basically understanding within it that transcend means to go beyond that is the literal meaning of transcend so our vision goes beyond the situation generally speaking what happens is if we consider most of the times when we face a problem so if you are facing a problem if I am here then what happens is the world appears very big for us and even if God is there God appears very small ya ya God is there but he is there enjoying on the altar I am facing all this trouble in this world isn’t it? Krishna is playing flute and dancing with the gopis but here this person is making me a slave what am I going to do right now for us God seems to be very small and the world seems to be very big but when we pray to Krishna, when we chant his holy names when we immerse ourselves in bhakti transcending basically means there is an immersion in bhakti immersion or absorption so then what happens situation may be the same but for us the world becomes smaller and God becomes bigger so this is something which is vital before we can face the problem if we think that oh this problem is so big and where is God right now then it won’t we won’t be able to face the problem with any kind of God consciousness now of course from a practical perspective the problem may be very serious so when I am saying the world the world becomes smaller doesn’t mean we become irresponsible or negligent about the problem but we understand that even this problem is within the plan of the Lord in that sense God becomes bigger for us and in general when we do sadhana the purpose of sadhana is not just to fill our attendance in some register or to meet a certain numerical count in our meditation it is at least for a few moments everyday during our sadhana we need to bring our consciousness in the presence of Krishna and get that realization that Krishna is a bigger reality that ya this world is there all its problems are there all its temptations are there but Krishna is the bigger reality and when we get that realization see the world can have both it can distract us in two broad ways there is pleasure and there is trouble so often we talk about how the world’s pleasures are too small they are tiny and we want to realize that so that we don’t get allured by them and that is true and we focus on our sadhana for that purpose if we stand strongly then we won’t be tempted by maya but it’s not just see we may sometimes be tempted by maya but the nature of the world nowadays is that while we may sometimes be tempted we are more often threatened by maya threatened means this problem is so big or this person is doing like this this has happened over there that has happened over there so there is so much insecurity in the world nowadays and for most people when they come to spirituality it is not to protect themselves from temptation often that is our focus and it is important the two go together the more we think the world’s pleasure is big the more the world’s trouble will also become very big for us they are two sides of the same coin but when our focus becomes on telling people give up the world’s pleasure why then what is the pleasure in my life that’s what they start thinking our focus should be that it’s like trouble and pleasure they are two sides of the same coin and we need to understand what people’s need is so most people want relief from trouble that’s why when they do some meditation they do some kirtan they may not understand what is actually happening I feel good by this but what is actually happening is they are coming in the presence of a bigger reality a reality that is forever unchanging and because of that the problem doesn’t appear so big it starts ok it’s not that big I can deal with it so this realizing that God is a bigger reality and we are a part of that God we are always parts of Krishna we often use this philosophically to refute Mayavada that we will never become one with God but it has much more psychological relevance for people today psychological relevance means we are always parts of God means we are always parts of God’s plan that there is always some part for us in God’s plan we will never be thrown out of God’s plan so when we understand God is bigger it is not just God is bigger but I am also a part of God it’s like say if there is a skyscraper building and I am a tiny person over here facing that then that building can seem towering but if I am in a helicopter that is going above that then what happens if I am airlifted above that if I go way above that then the building doesn’t appear so big so our Krishna consciousness is meant to elevate us above so then the world’s problems don’t appear that big to us so that’s the first part of transcendence is about gaining that experience that remembrance that Krishna is the bigger reality so when we do that that remembrance is for that realisation remembrance of Krishna is for the realisation that Krishna is bigger than the world much much bigger than the world and then that I am a part of Krishna that means I have a part in Krishna’s plan so to some extent when we get this conviction that yes I have a part in Krishna’s plan I may not be able to see what is the plan right now but I have a part in Krishna’s plan so transcending when we do this then after that so first we turn our eyes towards the Lord let the Lord come into our, through our eyes into our heart, let the Lord get entrance into our heart then he will entrance our heart, entrance means enchant, captivate our heart so then from that place of inner security that Krishna is with me I am with Krishna then we can tackle the problems of the world so what Bhishma will speak here after is that, that same Lord is here with you next verse he will say and he will also say that he will give his own example saying that he says he says that just look at me because I was unflinching in my devotion to the Lord therefore he has now come to me at the moment of my death now we may say how can a devotee say that I am a pure devotee that is not a matter of humility but he is saying that I was one pointed in my devotion so he is not saying this to glorify that I am a pure devotee he is saying that because I stuck with the Lord I can see the Lord’s plan now in my life when I had to fight against all of you when I could do nothing, when Draupadi was being disrobed when I couldn’t help you when all of you were being persecuted now what was that what was the plan of the Lord I had faith in the plan of the Lord but now I can see what is the plan the Lord is with me and he is going to be here when I am going to depart from the world so he is not using himself talking about his one pointed devotion, steady devotion to glorify the principle of devotion not glorify himself but what does he say face the situation that brings us to the second part that is about tackling the problem then after that so how do we tackle the problem now broadly tackling can be done in three broad ways often we think of tackling in bhakti only as tolerating its a problem tolerated and yes tolerating is important but it is not the only thing to do in bhakti there is also transforming so tolerate when we are tackling the situation when we are tackling the situation we could be just tolerating the situation, we could be transforming the situation or we could be transferring ourselves from the situation I don’t want to be in this situation at all and I just quickly give examples of each of these and we will elaborate afterwards but we can see the Pandavas initially when Bhima was poisoned and he survived Bhima was enraged, he said I will teach this Duryodhana lesson, how dare he try to kill me like this but Yudhishthir said you know let’s not do anything right now let’s not split the family apart maybe Duryodhana was feeling insecure, maybe if we are nice with him, we will be alert but we will not provoke right now we don’t know now will Bhishma support us will Bhishma support us or not Dhritarashtra is unlikely to support us so when Bhima was poisoned the Pandavas tolerated it now after that if we consider the they they were again tried to be burned by the Pandavas in Varnavarth so at that time what they did do ok this Duryodhana is too evil, he is too much against us let’s just get out of here now when they survived the fire they could have gone back again to the kingdom but they did not do that so the fire at Varnavarth, they just went away from there they became incognito why because at that time the thinking was that the first a small poisoning, it’s not a small thing but still it could have been done by Bhima alone by Duryodhana alone but the entire scheme to have them sent over here to have there as the housekeeper or butler or whoever, the person who was going to burn the house to have a plan this elaborate Duryodhana’s father must also be in it so they decided just going back there would mean just courting danger again so they didn’t know what was going to happen but they decided let’s get out of here I don’t want to be mixed with this they transferred themselves and they waited for the situation to become more favorable, they didn’t know how it will but then Arjuna won the hand of Draupadi and then now they were no longer just orphans they had a mother but because they had no father or protector they are practically orphans, they are no longer orphans practically speaking, now they are the sons-in-law of a powerful king and therefore Draupadi would have objected if the Pandavas had not been given their rights so then Dhritharashtra called them back but again Dhritharashtra tried to double deal and told them go to the Khandava which is a barren wilderness it was unfair, like a father says I am going to be fair and I am going to give two companies, one company to each of my sons but one company is flourishing, the other company is about to be bankrupt and it’s fair in name only you know to call such a division fair is an insult to the word fair but the Pandavas again agreed let’s transfer, let’s go there but then what did they do they transformed Khandava into Indraprastha and then finally when Draupadi was dishonored Krishna was dishonored and Krishna came as a messenger the Pandavas decided enough is enough now, we have to fight a war so the Kurukshetra war it’s interesting the Kurukshetra war was fought not just because Draupadi was dishonored, Draupadi had been dishonored terribly that was 13 years ago but once Krishna was dishonored Pandavas decided that this person he is not going to reform so he has to be stopped so these three are all approaches in Bhakti we see Prabhupada also for example when Prabhupada was in India and he was trying to share Bhakti in India and working tirelessly but it was not working then Prabhupada transferred himself to America he said okay enough let’s not worry too much about over here but then when Prabhupada was in America he was staying in initially he was sponsored by Gopal and Sally Agarwal and he was staying in their home and they had meat, even beef in the same fridge in which Prabhupada was keeping his bhoga now Sally Agarwal had some understanding, he said Swamiji we have only one fridge, we are sorry about this and Prabhupada said think nothing about it now how can Prabhupada say that because for Prabhupada he soon sized them up and he recognized that they are not interested in becoming devotees so his focus was not on preaching to them it was just a temporary residence for him so that he could reach to more interested people so Prabhupada tolerated that but imagine if any food like that would have been there found in a fridge of his corn Prabhupada would have become Narsimha Avesh so there is a time to tolerate now if you consider later when the Juhu land was being threatened there are two similar situations in Jhansi Prabhupada had a property and in Juhu Prabhupada had a property both start from J also but in Jhansi when there is a conflict Prabhupada said forget it but in Juhu Prabhupada said if he wants to steal Krishna’s land he will have to go over my dead body so Prabhupada fought Prabhupada transformed the situation so why this difference because in different places Krishna can be best served in different ways so now we can look at practical reasons in Jhansi Prabhupada felt that this is a small city these people are more religious they are more pious than spiritually committed so he said its not worth it my Guru Maharaj said we want to build temples in big cities first so Prabhupada said its not worth it but when it was Juhu it was India’s financial capital it was land which Prabhupada expected was going to become prime property as the city expanded Prabhupada wanted a base in Juhu so Prabhupada fought over there so all these three are valid approaches sometimes when we focus too much on tolerating bhakti means tolerating no its not that simple yes we all especially could do more do better in life by tolerating more as the world is becoming more and more westernized what happens is the whole idea is if something doesn’t work change it so there are times when there is a problem there is a problem sometimes we have to change ourselves so that we can grow and bear the problem but sometimes we have to change the situation now generally the eastern approach whether it is India or China it is change yourself, tolerate it that has been the general emphasis the western approach is more change the situation however either approach can be taken too much towards the extreme if change ourselves becomes too much then there is passivity we just don’t do anything at all if we change ourselves change the situation too much then there is instability so both extremes need to be avoided and we can’t reduce bhakti with only changing ourselves but we also as a part of our service to the lord we want to change the world at least change some corner of the world so both are important parts of bhakti so we could say tolerating is a part of change ourselves and change the situation that could be both transforming or transferring transforming means I will stay in the situation and I will fight the situation and change it or I may decide that this is not worth fighting I don’t want to get involved in this so it will transfer us transfer can be just physically we go to a different place transfer can mean that we just change our department and do some other service any of these approaches are valid provided first we have done transcending if there is no transcending first then what happens without transcending all three will be problematic then tolerating tolerating will only lead to resenting we are tolerating and each time we are filled with resentment how much am I to tolerate and then we are tolerating and one day a volcano will explode so if we are only tolerating we cannot go on forever so unless we are able to appreciate there is some bigger plan over here there is some bigger purpose being served tolerance doesn’t mean just oh things are bad let them stay bad the idea of tolerating tolerating has two distinct aspects to it tolerating is keep small things small so that we can keep big things big so keep small things small so that we can keep big things big so both of them are related and when we keep big things big we can also keep small things small say we are doing a job and we don’t like the work we don’t like the colleagues we don’t like the boss but say we urgently need some money and the job pays well and you say I’ll tolerate this why? because the big thing right now for me is the money that I want so if there is no big thing for us and we are only tolerating that will be suffocating then we won’t be able to function in our lives so tolerating without understanding there is Krishna and Krishna has some plan over here to stay connected with Krishna to serve Krishna I am tolerating then similarly if we focus on transforming without first transcending then we will become revengeful you did this to me I am going to show you how powerful I am I am going to punish you so it will all become like getting back at the other person so now it’s interesting like I mentioned yesterday also that Krishna doesn’t even mention before the Kurukshetra war any of the atrocities done by the Kauravas because Krishna did not want Arjuna to fight with a mood of revengefulness the war was fought to bring Dharma into the world it was not to take Badla, it was not to take revenge and that’s why Krishna says Nirvairaha Sarvabhuteshu have no enmity towards anyone he says in 1155 so transforming without first transcending will make us very revengeful and that’s not very helpful and transferring will become like running away oh you know this problem this situation is difficult I run away from this situation that situation becomes difficult I run away from there also so when we are transferring the point is not that we are so much running away from that situation but we decide that in this situation there is no way I can move towards Krishna so we are moving away from that situation not just because that situation is difficult but because that situation is making it almost impossible for us to serve Krishna so Prabhupada went from India to America not because he was disgusted with India not because he was frustrated with India Prabhupada came back to India and he made his base in India and spent large amount of time after 70s in India Prabhupada went away not out of frustration he was not running away from India he was seeing that for him to share Krishna’s message initially at least India was not the right place so first transcending and then tackling now which would be the right situation among these three things is it transcending is it tolerating is it transferring sorry is it transforming, tolerating, transcending how do we decide in our particular situation now for Yudhishthir Bhishma is guiding him and Krishna is also there but it’s significant that how the Bhagavatam depicts the situation it is not said that when even Krishna is not able to persuade Yudhishthir that is not seen as Yudhishthir’s rebelliousness how whimsical God is telling him and he is not listening that is not the mood over there why? because when something is to be done especially something major somebody has to commit their life to doing it somebody tells us take charge of a temple that is not doing well if we have a lot of ego I have become a temple president but if we have a realistic intelligence this is going to be a huge headache going to be a huge challenge do I really want to take it? we have to commit ourselves to that even a small department that is troublesome even one person who is having some troubles and we are told to guide this person we may think do I really want to take this so the thing is that for Yudhishthir to take up the responsibility of ruling ruling the kingdom in this case did not mean it is ruling a flourishing kingdom it is like somebody is told do you want to become the president of Ukraine now now Ukraine after so much war is utterly in shambles and it is a huge challenge to rebuild the kingdom the Pandav kingdom is not that bad but it was the war was devastating so for him he had to be convinced himself yes so it is not seen that Yudhishthir is not ready to take a particular service it is not seen as his defiance rather the way Bhagavatam takes it is that he needs to be persuaded now it is of course Krishna’s arrangement by which Krishna lets Bhishma become the instrument for persuading but the point is when we have to take a particular course of action if we get some instruction from a senior from our spiritual master that is good but eventually we have to internalize that instruction just the instruction may not be a sufficient motivation for a long time when problems come so from instruction generally instruction is outside in and it is helpful most of us in our life situations first of all we may not get a clear instruction we may not have access to our guru we may not have access to our senior devotees even if we have access our problems may be so complicated that they may not be able to guide so instruction is important but more important than the specific instruction to get in a particular situation is the broad principle the principle is that what is the instruction doing if the instruction is coming from our guru we get an indication that it is God’s will now how do we know what is God’s will for us if an instruction is not available and even if an instruction is available there has to be the internalization of that instruction I need to become convinced that this is important this is what I should be doing and sometimes we may have to do the internalization without any specific instruction even for Srila Prabhupada he had thousands of disciples and there are only a few disciples who had regular association and even them it is not that Prabhupada necessarily gave some clear instruction when he departed from the world some of them he did some of them he didn’t and sometimes life changes situations change so they may also have to adapt so the purpose of seeking guidance from the spiritual master is not to outsource our decision making to the spiritual master that’s not the point rather we hear from the guru we learn from the guru and then we learn ourselves how to make responsible decisions so I will talk about three broad things and then we will conclude about how do we decide in difficult situations how do we make decisions so basically first of all there is introspection introspection is about see this I am not going to go detailed into this but this three factors that I am talking about they are based on the 1815 1814 Krishna talks about the five factors of action so the idea is introspection is we understand our own karanam karanam is my senses senses refer to our capacity, our talents, our skills Krishna says the senses are a factor of action he is not literally referring to the tongue or the hands everybody has tongue everybody has a throat but that doesn’t mean everybody can take up the service of being a lead kirtanier it is biologically if you analyze a great singer tongue or throat a throat specifically we might find the muscles might be a little stronger but there is nothing special biologically Krishna is talking about the skills do they have particular talents so first we have to do introspection do I have the capacity to do this then after that is observation observation is where we look at the adhishthan adhishthan is we look at the situation, the place of action the place of action can be it can be the body, it can be the particular place of service now what is the situation, is my capacity or is my skill set, is my talent suited to this particular situation we have to do the observation and by this observation that is the second factor now after that there is we do introspection and then we do observation then we do evaluation evaluation is like how much effort is going to be required over here, cheshta cheshta is endeavour so then we decide whether this is what I can do what is my capacity what does this situation need and how much effort is required over here can I put in that much effort so I have maybe 15 other things to do, this is 16th thing to do or I am going to give up all other things and do it, so the whole point of the Bhagavad Gita is not that ok to do God’s will means just stop using our intelligence if that had been Krishna’s purpose then Krishna could have finished the whole Gita in just 6 words Krishna could have finished the Gita in I am God obey me fight Bhagavad Gita Sampurnam so Krishna’s purpose was not to give a decision to Arjuna it was to give to Arjuna the resources, the wisdom the analytical framework by which he could make decisions himself and we see that Arjuna doing that when Ashwatthama is to be punished Krishna is with Arjuna and yet Ashwatthama Krishna doesn’t tell Arjuna what to do but Krishna decides sorry Arjuna decides and Krishna is pleased with Arjuna’s decision so the point is that we need to look at our skills, we can look at the situation look at how much endeavour is required and based on that we make a decision now will our decision be God’s will in this way well we can’t know for sure but God’s will doesn’t have to be like a one thin line you have to do this and if you are doing this then it’s God’s will God’s will is more like a broad it’s not a it’s not like a it’s not a thin line it is like a broad express way we can be on different lanes for example I’ll conclude with two points about this the Gopis when they cook for Krishna in the spiritual world, when Radharani also cooks for Krishna it is not that everyday Krishna secretly sends a menu I want this, this, this, this no, the Gopis know what Krishna likes the Gopis have their own individuality they feel inspired, ok today we’ll cook this for Krishna and Krishna is pleased by their individual expression of their service attitude so God’s will is a general direction God wants us to come to him to come to him and the actions that bring us towards him will please him so once one devotee Rochan Prabhu asked Prabhupada Prabhupada, everybody has some service so he was in London and London at that time was the capital of Europe for our outreach so devotees from Germany, from Portugal from France all these places they had come and they are all giving reports of how the outreach is going and Rochan Prabhu was there and he said Prabhupada, everyone has something to do for you please give me something to do and Prabhupada said, what do you want to do he said whatever you tell me I’ll do Prabhupada what do you want to do he thought Prabhupada is testing me whatever you want I’ll do Prabhupada said understand our philosophy properly find out what you want to do and do it for Krishna find out what you want to do that means, now this doesn’t mean we defy our authorities and reject our instructions but the idea is we look at our own inner inspiration, we look at our own talents when our authorities give us some instruction definitely we do that but we should also be trying to come to a situation where even if nobody is there to give us any instruction do this and don’t do this nobody is there to do follow up with us still we will be self motivated to want to do something for Krishna not selfishly motivated but self motivated that means nobody has to take follow up did you do this, did you do this, did you do that now Bhaktivedanta took no follow up from Prabhupada isn’t it but Prabhupada was self motivated so if we are given some specific instruction we do that but when we have to make major decisions in our life, we want to see find out what do I want to do for Krishna what are the gifts that Krishna has given us what are the interests that we have and then we move forward and gradually we will move closer to Krishna in this way so Yudhishthira was the best person for ruling the kingdom he was not necessarily the best person for fighting a war Arjuna and Bhima both were better but Yudhishthira had a heart filled with compassion he was devoted to Dharma so for rehabilitating all those who had been afflicted by the war Yudhishthira was the best person and thus Bhishma told him those who have become orphans those who have become protectionless O Yudhishthira please become their protector so we all in service to Krishna can find out what is it that I can take responsibility for it could be this one person I will guide their spiritual life it could be this one department it could be this one service whatever it is and when we start doing that that will be our offering to Krishna and as we keep doing that we will keep moving closer to Krishna I will summarize what I discussed today that so today’s topic was broadly about that when bad things happen to good people what do good people do when we are facing difficulties how do we know what to do in a particular situation so I discussed broadly three points first was that we discussed the relationship between God’s plan and everything so it is God’s plan we don’t know but it is within God’s plan that means there is God’s plan in everything so we discussed the example of GPS wrong turns are also within GPS GPS doesn’t want us to take the wrong turns but even our wrong turns don’t throw us out of the GPS so what we need to do is that know that we are always a part of God’s plan so for that we discussed about transcending it is broadly to align with God’s plan there is transcending and then tackling so transcending means basically for us initially the world with its problems may be very big and God may be very small but what will happen if we practice bhakti diligently then God will become the bigger reality and the world will become smaller and then we will be able to face that problem with greater perspective so we need immersion in Krishna by which we get that experience that Krishna is the bigger reality that Krishna is bigger Krishna has a bigger plan even if this problem is big Krishna has a bigger plan even in this situation and then after that we tackle the problem now tackling can be done in three different ways it can mean tolerating the situation if without if you are not transcending then tolerating will become resenting if we can be transforming the situation we discussed the example of the Pandavas doing all these things Prabhupada doing all these things it can become revenge you can become revengeful if it is not done properly and then transferring can become running away so our focus should be not so much on whether this situation is troublesome or not the focus should be on how can I serve in this situation and then lastly we discuss okay which of these should we do so for that we observe sorry we do inner introspection first to understand our skills our Karanam then we observe outer situation what is the Adhishtana and then we do evaluation what is the effort required for us and based on that we will move in the broad direction of God’s will so God’s will is actually a more of a direction than a specific thin path we find out what we feel inspired to do for Krishna and then we do that this is last part there is your plan in everything I can perceive this first by transcending toward you may I always be ascending be it by tolerating transferring or transforming thank you very much Hare Krishna do you have any questions Hare Krishna Prabhuji thank you so much for this lecture Prabhuji we see in our daily lives that when we get some idea and we pray to Krishna so that if it is his plan we may implement it and then we also hear that Krishna communicates to us through his devotees and when we take this particular idea to the devotees and devotees also give a green signal and after sometime when we try to implement it and if it fails and all our endeavours go in vain then we question Krishna and how to see the fact is that just because something is Krishna’s plan doesn’t necessarily mean it will be successful Krishna himself went as a peace messenger and is not successful so if Krishna personally exercising, executing his plan may not be successful then what to speak of we trying to execute Krishna’s plan whatever Prabhupada did was Krishna’s plan but where all of Prabhupada’s plan successful even his biggest project his two biggest projects one was the Bhagavatam translation and Prabhupada was so close in the 10th canto and the biggest he fought was for Juhu large number of chapters were remaining but Juhu temple it is just two three months away Prabhupada departed in November the Juhu temple was inaugurated in February, March so basically Prabhupada could have said Krishna just give me a few more months I want to live but when Prabhupada was asked in the final days did you have what is your last desire? Prabhupada said nothing so just because something is Krishna’s plan does not mean that it has to be successful or to put it in a slightly different way that does not mean that we will be the person who will take it to success so Krishna’s plan may be like a relay race and in that relay race Krishna wants us to run and carry that torch from point A to point B but maybe somebody else is meant to carry it across the finish line when the Ganga was to be brought to the earth so many kings worked they performed Tapasya and they lived and died but then Bhagirath was the person who took it across the finish line does that mean all the previous kings were failures? their names may not be glorified but they are recognized by Krishna they are glorious so Krishna’s plan can sometimes run across generations also once Prabhupada was told by one of his disciples Prabhupada you Bhaktivinoda Thakur preached in Bengal Bhaktivinoda Thakur preached all over India you preached all over the world therefore you are greater than all of them Prabhupada became very grave he said never think like this he says a parent is pleased most pleased when their child does something better than them it is by their blessings that I was able to do what I did so in life’s relay race different people may have to run different directions and may be this person one person goes across the finish line so one person may get glory in the world’s eyes but everybody gets glory in God’s eyes so that’s why even when you consider those factors Daivam Chaivatra Panchamum Daiva is the fifth factor even when Adishtanam, Karanam and Cheshta are all there still there is destiny and sometimes things may not be successful so I don’t think we can use success as the sole criteria for deciding whether a plan is working or not because again like I said scripture is complex somebody said Prabhupada said so but Prabhupada also said that if you are selling diamonds and if you are selling imitation diamonds far more people will come to buy imitation diamonds so he said actually you cannot go by numbers that’s the point of that metaphor so we cannot just take one statement and evaluate solely based on that thank you Prabhuji how can we identify what is Krishna trying to communicate to us in a particular situation how can we identify what is Krishna trying to communicate to us in a particular situation last part communicate through communicate through what in a particular situation particular situation louder and faster I don’t think Krishna wants to micro control us it is not that right now if I speak one word Krishna will you please if I speak some other word every moment I am making some vocabulary choices so is it if I use a word difficult instead of hard Krishna will be displeased and if I use hard Krishna will be pleased see when I travel across the world I stay at devotees homes and many times especially in the western world devotees are concerned about their children they may go off track children often become headaches and heartaches for their parents so then I ask sometimes and parents complain a lot about their children so I have studied western culture and I understand what all temptations and challenges children in the west face even children in westernized society face actually many times parents say parenting in today’s world is very difficult but I would say being a child in today’s world is a hundred times more difficult so many distractions you say my child gets distracted well the whole world is filled with distractions so anyway the point I was making is that is your concern that your child is not listening to you yes nowadays technology is very advanced would you want to replace your child with a perfectly obedient robot no parent wants that some parents say I don’t mind having an additional robot but I don’t want that to replace my child so similarly Krishna doesn’t want us to become like a robot Krishna wants us to use our free will to serve him to please him so we don’t have to be worrying constantly now there are of course broad parameters if right now while speaking I start using some swear words or foul words definitely there are boundaries like I said Krishna’s will is not a thin line but there are definitely boundaries in it so rather than worrying too much ok is Krishna trying to teach what is Krishna trying to teach me in this situation our focus should be on how can I serve Krishna best in this situation and then in that context we use our intelligence but we are also open to Krishna giving us some signals from different places and then we learn there is one devotee who told me that he said I had given this class you know how bhakti is not about outsourcing our intelligence that we have to use our intelligence so he said that he was very depressed because of something and he was actually thinking of ending his life and then he said ok there is some traditional way of looking of you know seeking guidance so he said he just took a book from his library opened it randomly and that opened the page of Chota Haridas Committing Suicide does Krishna really want me to do that so he put that book away he opened another book and then it is said as others have done in the past you should do now he said does Krishna want me to commit suicide so he said I realized that this is not the way to find Krishna’s will now sometimes it can happen that we just open scripture and we find something that speaks to us but that does not mean we give up our intelligence to evaluate Krishna has not given us our intelligence so that we give up our intelligence Krishna has given us intelligence so that we can give him that intelligence back through intelligence service ok Thank you so much Thank you so much for this lecture Prabhuji as you said that there are two terms like internalization and instruction and instruction need not to be followed by internalization need not to be followed by instruction if there is no instruction it may not always come through automatically we have to go through the process of internalization I am saying say sometimes we may get an instruction but we may not feel convinced should I be doing this so that does not have to be seen as a sign of rebelliousness like Dhruva when Narada Muni told him why are you taking this insult so seriously just go back home you are a child and if you think you are not a child you are mature then why is evolved people don’t take insults and honour and dishonour so seriously then again go back home so Dhruva said that what you are saying is true but my heart is wounded right now it just doesn’t work for me please give me some instruction that works for me so he is honest and then when he told him go and worship Vishnu and you will get your kingdom desire for a kingdom so there has to be some discussion ok you want me to do this why do you want me to do this now sometime the spiritual master may insist do this some instruction may be very insistent it depends but my point is even if we are given instruction we have to follow it we may have to deliberate ok how do I follow it how can I follow it when can I follow it Prabhupada was given an instruction by his Guru Maharaj you know English preach in the western world Prabhupada decided that I am a grahastha right now I can’t go for preaching if I do that I have a young family I have a small child it will be unfair to them so Prabhupada decided based on his intelligence that he would try to support the preaching by trying to earn a lot of money through his business but Krishna had some other plan so that internal deliberation vimrishaitad is required but Prabhuji how to recognize that this internalization is manifesting from heart or from mind I don’t think we can differentiate that see we can’t if we start bothering about what is coming from where we will get caught in paralysis by analysis the things that come from inside don’t come with convenient label this is from the mind speaking this is the ego speaking so rather than worrying too much about where something is coming from we focus on where something will take us ok if I do this is this going to take me closer to Krishna is this going to take me away from Krishna so for that we use our intelligence for that we seek guidance from others but looking at the external effect rather than the internal source is much more constructive and Prabhuji as you said there are three ways to tackle situation tolerate, transfer and transform so in these three in every situation all three can be applied or any two or any one there is no like we have to apply all three well see first of all reality is complex so when I was giving these three options they are three broad options but it’s not sometimes we may adopt one part of this one part of that see in one sense every situation that we have to go we have to tolerate some things ok I have this job or I have this service and I might tolerate this person because of that or I might tolerate this thing everywhere we have to tolerate something everywhere we shift something say for example you are sitting right now maybe you are feeling comfortable while sitting maybe you decide ok I need a fan we will go and sit behind under a fan that’s fine so the point is we maintain a service attitude and these three are three broad ways for understanding how best we can serve Krishna so can there be a situation where more than one of them are required possible Hare Krishna Prabhuji Thank you so much for this wonderful lecture so Prabhuji you mentioned two things that we have to transcend as well as tackle situations and you said that transcending has to come first and then we need to we need to tackle things with the basis of transcending however in our own lives as sadhakas we are dealing with these two things simultaneously we are also trying to transcend and at the same time we are trying to tackle but practically how can we do these two simultaneously effectively well it is not that we stop and each time think there is certain training we have certain reflexes that we have and we do things accordingly in a there I was talking more in terms of make big decisions in our life when there is a major distress coming in our life the context of our discussion is that Yudhishtira has to make a life changing decision or at least a life shaping decision should I renounce the world or should I engage with the world so these are major decisions but it is in our normal course of action we normally do whatever is appropriate in that situation and maybe at the end of the day we do some introspection to figure out this was the time when I spoke like this maybe I should not have spoken like this we don’t have to become half hearted or hesitant in our day to day actions so in general for practical things it is not that Arjuna when he was each arrow that he was shooting while fighting was first transcending there is no time for that there is no evidence also that Arjuna was fighting the war Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare war is a serious business and he had to give his full attention to that at that time so that Maa Manusmara was in the sense that his life was dedicated to the service of the lord he was fighting the war because that was his service to the lord and then Yudhishthira was practically happening so it is not that remembrance has to be a conscious activity at every moment definitely at some times we have to have conscious even exclusive remembrance of the lord but in the course of our daily lives it is that there is a broad awareness that I am doing this for the lord’s service but then our focus has to be on what we are doing Vishwanath Jagadagur gives the example that if say a householder has a job which takes them far away from their homes then they may do that job and ok you have to deal with this customer or address this client’s concerns or do this or do that they are doing it all and they have to do it well but at the back of their mind I am doing all this for my family I am doing all this so that I can provide better for my spouse my children similarly a devotee may engage in the world but at the back of the mind a devotee is aware I am doing all this for Krishna’s service and that what is at the back of the mind it should be there at least at the back of the mind it should not go out of the back door so for that we need regular sadhana we need regular association if that is not there then what is at the back of the mind will go out of the back door of the mind thank you any last question yes please do the Matajis have any questions yes Hare Krishna Prabhuji Pranam Prabhuji my my question is self motivated and selfishly motivated the difference I want to actually learn ok so what is the difference between self motivated vs selfishly motivated selfishly motivated means basically what is in it for me what will I gain by it say that means I will do this service if I get honor I get recognition so everybody may be more enthusiastic to do service like Pujari service which brings on the eyes of everyone or giving a class or leading kirtans somebody may not want to sweep the temple or do some other services which may not be visible in the world’s eyes so selfishly motivated is basically what is in it for me I want something for myself from it but self motivated basically means that the motivation for that service does not wait for somebody to tell me what to do that means I if nobody is there telling me what to do I will find out something to do for Krishna so self motivated is that we don’t we don’t need to be told what to do like I will give the example is there is the three levels of disciples they say third classes the third classes they don’t follow the instruction so if you consider there is instruction and there is the intent behind the instruction the third class doesn’t understand the intent doesn’t follow the instruction the second class devotee follows the instruction doesn’t really understand the intent the first class devotee or first class follower follows the instruction but understands the intent much more and focuses on that so for example Prabhupada in 1970s he told his disciples that my Guru Maharaj wanted me to preach in the west and I did that I worked for my Guru Maharaj and preached in the west now I want to preach in India and you help me in that now when Prabhupada said I want to preach in India was Prabhupada rejecting his Guru Maharaj’s instruction no he said what is Guru Maharaj’s intention it was ok not just go to the west and give some classes he wanted to create a thriving community of devotees across the world and Prabhupada had created devotees outside India but Prabhupada felt that they will all need a foundation in India they will need a place in India where rejuvenation will happen for them in fact one of the main purposes of Prabhupada in building big temples in India was so that they could become places for his western devotees to come so the idea was that Prabhupada understood the intent behind his spiritual master’s instruction and he focused, he used his intelligence to see how that intent can be fulfilled so that is the meaning of the self motivated means that ok this is what I was told to do but why was I told to do this if I understand that then if some situation changes then I can adapt and make sure that that intent is fulfilled also so I will give an example Tamal Krishna Maharaj just told to preach in China and he did that to some extent but then at one particular time the Chinese government started clamping down completely and especially China America tensions were there so he just couldn’t go to China at all as an American so then he decided this is the service I want to do but I can’t do it so then he started writing books which could be sent to China Prabhupada’s books were there but Prabhupada’s books were seen as directly religious books they couldn’t get the books in so he wrote some books which seemed to be more non-sectarian and sent those books there then he got into academia his plan was one was he gets an academic degree then with that academic degree he can go into China but his academic outreach became a different outreach in itself so my point is that if the intent is clear then even sometimes some situations may mean the instruction just cannot be followed but if you can fulfill the intent that’s the point so thank you very much Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai