The biggest scarcity in the world that is fuelling the anxiety epidemic globally – Chaitanya Charan

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
In the world. There are many different scarcities. I’m coming from India.
In Nepal. There was a devastating earthquake. And there is a great shortage of food.
And other resources. Apart from that there may be some areas. Where there is shortage of water.
There is shortage of. Medicine. There are various kinds of shortages in this world.
However. The greatest shortage. Is.
The shortage. Of a satisfying object. Of thought.
People. Don’t have anything. Satisfying to think about.
And because of. Not having a satisfying. Object of thought.
People are in constant. Anxiety. But tomorrow I’m going to give a talk.
The anxiety. Epidemic. We have.
Abandoned. Material necessities. Yes there are definitely people.
Who don’t have any of the material necessities. But even the people. Who have material necessities.
Quite often. They don’t have a satisfying object of thought. And whatever we think about.
Often that ends up. Increasing our anxiety. Increasing our agitation.
And. That’s why. The fundamental need.
For getting satisfaction in life. Is to have a. Satisfying object of thought. Just as.
When. We want to build a family. One of the first things that we require is a home.
So whenever. We go out. We may have to go for a job.
Or some work or school. Or whatever shopping. We come back home.
And we feel comfortable. We feel secure. We feel safe.
When we return home. In fact that’s why. Feel at home.
Feel at home means feel comfortable. So we create a home. For our body.
But what about a home. For our consciousness. A home for our thoughts.
A object of thought. Where. When we think about it.
We feel at home. We feel peaceful. We feel secure.
We feel satisfied. So the Bhagavatam states. The same example is used.
Pantha is path. Pantha is one who travels on a path. So it’s a traveller.
A weary traveller. After a long journey. Swasaranam yatha.
When such a traveller comes back home. That traveller feels so peaceful. So joyful.
So comfortable. So safe. So it is said that a purified soul.
Dhautatma. Here also the same root word is used in this 5.7. So one who has been purified. Dhautatma Purushakrishna.
Such a person. Krishna padamulam namunjati. Such a person never gives up the lotus feet of Krishna.
Why? Mukta sarvapariklesha. Because by meditating on Krishna. One becomes free from all anxiety.
Not just anxiety. Any kind of distress. Mukta sarvapariklesha.
That is the speciality. Of Krishna. Of making Krishna.
Krishna. As the home of our heart. As the home of our inner world.
I write articles. Sometimes I write poems also. One of the poems I wrote is from an article.
Smiling faces crying hearts. In materialistic society people celebrate. By cheers.
They have drinks and they say cheers. So quite often. This is just a facade.
Their hearts are filled with fears. Their hearts are filled with fears. Their minds are pierced by desires.
Their minds are pierced by desires. They are on the verge of tears. And they say cheers.
So from the external point of view. It may all seem very comfortable and cozy. But internally.
There are these two forces. There are anxieties and there are desires. Which rip us apart.
And they don’t allow us to be peaceful. So we meditate on Krishna. Not just as a provider of things.
That is one level of meditating on God. That we go to God and God. As Prabhupada would say that.
The Christians pray that. Prabhupada was respectful to Christians. At the same time.
He would point out that the mainstream version of Christianity. Doesn’t focus much on God. It focuses on man.
So father thou art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread.
Now there are some Christian theologians. Who explain that bread has a very sophisticated meaning. But for the common people it is just that.
Oh father give us our daily bread. So Prabhupada would say yes it is good. That people are going to God for bread.
But then such a prayer. Shows not their love for God. But their love for bread.
So if I can get bread from some other source. Then there is no need to go to God. So of course.
Anyway we go to God that is good. But we. We undersell ourselves.
When we go to God. For anything material. Because that material thing.
Cannot actually provide a shelter. Cannot provide as I said. A satisfying object of thought.
And this is. The. Common place mysticism of bhakti.
The mysticism is generally thought of something. Extraordinary and special. But bhakti makes.
Mysticism common place. How is that? That anybody who chants the name of Krishna. Anybody who hears the past tense of Krishna.
Anybody who meditates on Krishna. Can experience. Some kind of uplifting.
Just thinking about Krishna. Hearing about Krishna. One feels a sort of strength.
A sort of solace. A sort of satisfaction. And that.
Actually. Indicates to us that. This is.
This is God. Whose shelter I am experiencing. It’s like if there is a small baby.
The baby is. Sleeping in her room. And it’s very cold at night.
The baby is half asleep. And she is very new born. She may not even understand the concept of my mother.
She drinks milk from the mother. She feels very happy when her mother takes care of her. But she may not understand.
She is sleeping. And it’s trembling. And the mother comes along.
And the mother puts a blanket on the baby. Now. The baby doesn’t understand.
At a conscious level. Oh this is my mother. She has put a blanket over me.
But she feels comfort. So. That comfort indicates at the subconscious level.
Yes there is my mother. And she loves me. And her love is manifested.
Through this comforting protective blanket. That has been put around. So when the baby is asleep.
She cannot see or perceive the mother. Similarly. We as souls are spiritually asleep.
And at our current level. Of consciousness. We can’t perceive Krishna.
But. When we experience. Solace.
Strength. Security. Shelter in the remembrance of Krishna.
We can understand that. To be a representation. At our level.
Of Krishna’s love for us. So just as. For the mother the blanket.
And the warmth of the blanket represents. For the baby. The blanket and its warmth represents.
The mother’s love. Similarly at our level of awareness. The security.
The satisfaction. The shelter that we experience in remembrance of Krishna. That is.
Evidence. Preliminary evidence no doubt. Evidence of the love of Krishna.
Which is manifested. Thus to us. So Krishna.
Is the supremely satisfying. Object of thought. And the Bhagavad Gita.
By later on. Describing the qualities of a devotee. In the twelfth chapter.
Uses. Beautiful antithesis. Aniketah sthiramatir.
Antithesis is the placing together. Of two opposite ideas. So aniketah.
Means one who has no home. Niketan is home. Aniketah is one who has no home.
And sthiramatir. Sthiramatir is. The consciousness is fixed.
So Krishna is saying over here. For my devotee. My devotee may not have no home.
Externally for the body. But my devotee has a home. For his heart.
And that home is. My lotus feet. So we practice bhakti.
If we understand. If we associate with devotees. And understand the purpose of practicing bhakti.
Then that is primarily. Because we want Krishna. To become.
The default object of our thought. Sometimes devotees ask. How can I think of Krishna always.
It’s not practical. Yes initially it’s not practical. But we have to begin somewhere.
Just like. When we have a home. Now it’s not that we are always going to be in the home.
But no matter wherever we are. We know I can always come back home. And I can experience shelter.
So like that devotees. There is some time. Like when we are chanting.
When we are hearing. When we are worshipping the deity. At that time we fix our consciousness on Krishna.
And other times our consciousness goes to various places. We have a job. We have family.
We have various concerns. So consciousness goes there. But just as soon as our work is done.
We come back home. So like that we bring our consciousness back to Krishna. So when I said we make Krishna.
The home for our heart. What does that mean? The heart. Is itself not gross.
And making a home for the heart. Doesn’t literally mean constructing anything physically. Rather it means.
Deconstructing. Our. Preconceptions.
Of what is our greatest object of all. Object of love. Now home for the heart means essentially.
The object of love. Whatever we love the most. That is what.
We by default think about. Just a few months ago. The cricket world cup was going on.
I believe the world cup finals was here in Australia itself. So in India when you go for programs. You know there are young people.
They are walking on the street and they are imagining. I am the next Sachin Tendulkar. Moving the bat around and swinging.
So what is happening? Physically they may be on a footpath in India. But mentally they are in some cricket stadium. So whatever we are attached to.
Whatever is our object of love. That becomes. Our default object of thought.
So essentially. Making Krishna the home of our heart. Means that.
We make Krishna the object of our love. The foremost object of our love. And when that happens.
Then naturally. We may think about other things. But our thoughts will come back to Krishna.
So when will this happen? When. It is said over here we invest. Our consciousness in Krishna.
How do we invest our consciousness? Through our mind. Through our intelligence. And through our faith.