From anartha nivrtti to artha pravrtti

From anartha-nivrtti to artha-pravrtti 1 – Understanding Anartha

Chaitanya Charan das from Chaitanya Charan

From anartha-nivrtti to artha-pravrtti 2 – Understanding Nivrtti

Chaitanya Charan das from Chaitanya Charan

From anartha-nivrtti to artha-pravrtti 3 – Understanding Artha

Chaitanya Charan das from Chaitanya Charan

https://www.facebook.com/watch/chaitanya.charana.das/?ref=embed_video

From anartha-nivrtti to artha-pravrtti 4 – Understanding Pravrtti

Chaitanya Charan das from Chaitanya Charan

Yeah thank you all for coming especially you I seek your blessings so that I can see something worthwhile the topic which I speak primarily for my own application so the topic is from anarchy to anthropology and we have four sessions So, I will be taking four sessions on each of these themes.

One session on Artha, second on Nivritti, third on Artha and fourth on Pravritti. So, we will try to analyse each of them step by step way. And we will continue towards the Artha Pravritti.

Krishna is the Param Artha, which means supremely, supremely meaningful reality. And Artha Pravritti is attraction towards Krishna. Artha Pravritti is detachment from worldly things.

So, Anartha Pravritti is also one stage in Nivritti, which often lasts for quite a long time during the Artha Pravritti process. We will discuss that also. So, I tend to speak a little fast in between.

So, if any of you find that I am speaking fast, please just raise your hand and let me know. So, I slow down at that time. Sometimes I just start with it.

I have a sticky on my computer saying, speak slow. When I start speaking fast, I forget to look at it also. I was in Los Angeles last year after I went from here.

And Aminah Malar, Aminah Malar attended my class. And after that, I asked him, any suggestions? So, he gave me a card, slow down. So, keep this card with you always.

So, of course, unfortunately I lost that card. But I kept that instruction in mind. So, feel free to just tell me especially.

Sometimes when I am speaking a long sentence, the last part of the sentence I just go fast. I will be happy to repeat that if it's unclear. So, let's begin with Anartha.

Yeah. Who's operating this? Where is it? Okay, sorry. So, Anartha.

Let's begin with semantics. The word Artha has three different meanings. Artha can mean meaning.

What is the Artha of this? In Sanskrit, we have some synonym that is called Shabdaartha. So, Shabdaartha, what is the meaning of this word? So, one meaning of the word Artha is meaning. Another meaning of the word Artha is also purpose.

Krishna is meant to be our supreme Artha. He is the supreme purpose of our life. And Artha also means money or value.

Like we have Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha. So, Artha is money or anything related to monetary matters. In India, the finance minister is called as the Artha Mantri.

Artha is finance. So, when we take it from this perspective, Anartha refers to that which has no meaning, no purpose and no value. Now, in the Anartha's, usually they are analysed in different ways.

But the Bhagavad Gita talks about the three gates to hell. So, Krishna talks about Kama, Krodha and Lova, Lust, Anger and Envy. Often we talk about the six enemies.

So, Aditya, Vishya, Envy, Illusion, Lust, Anger, Envy, Pride and Illusion. So, these can be referred to as Anartha's. And also, Bhaktivinoda Thakur in his Vajendra Ramasya as well as in Haridamsa Tantra talks about Anartha's in somewhat different ways.

He talks about misconception which can also be called as Anartha's. So, misunderstanding our own identity, misunderstanding God's position, misunderstanding our relationship with Him. So, Anartha's in terms of specific analysis, they can be analysed in different ways.

The important thing is that more than the analytical specifics, we can focus on the principle. The principle is that which actually has no ultimate meaning or value or purpose, but that catches us, that captivates us, that is Anartha. And from the perspective of Krishna Bhakti, anything apart from Krishna, anything Krishnayitara, anything which takes us away from Krishna, which we do not see in connection with Krishna, that would be an Anartha.

The Bhagavatam in Chatushloka defines maya as vrute artham yat pratiyeta na pratiyet chatmanam tam vidyad atmano maya yatha bhasa yatha dhamah that anything disconnected from Krishna, anything vrute artham yat pratiyeta, the word artha comes over there also, that which seems meaningful, na pratiyet chatmanam, but we do not see any connection of it with Atman, that is what Atman refers to in the Supreme God Krishna, the Absolute. vrute artham yat pratiyeta na pratiyet chatmanam this is all, pratiyet is appearance, that which appears meaningful, but that which doesn't appear to have any connection with Krishna. tam vidyad atmano maya, that is actually known as maya.

And maya attacks us, that is illusion which attacks us through various misconceptions. The Anarthas are those which disconnect our consciousness from Krishna. And from that perspective, actually for us in the condition state, Anartha appears like Artha.

It appears to be very meaningful, very valuable, and in fact that becomes the purpose of life for people. Somebody who has become an addict, somebody who has become an alcoholic, they sometimes value their alcohol so much, that they are ready to risk their job, they are ready to hurt their family members, they are ready to ruin their health, they just get completely overwhelmed by it. So that which is actually valueless, that appears to be not just valuable, but supremely valuable.

And Krishna talks about this in the Bhagavad Gita when he says in 16.11 that, kaamopabhog paramah etavati vishchitah. He says kaamopabhog, the enjoyment of worldly pleasures, paramah. Paramah is, this Prabhupada has said that this is the prime necessity of life.

You see that gratifying the senses is the prime necessity of life. And all that etavati vishchitah, certain about it, as certain it proposes. So one European thinker, he said that, the problem with the world is that the foolish are confident, that the wise are doubtful, and the foolish are cocksure.

So, those who are trying to pursue God, they have doubts, does God really exist? Does God really care for me? They have doubts. But those who are illusioned, those actually foolish, they are completely confident. They are cocksure.

If I just get this, then I am going to enjoy life. So that is the power of illusion by which that which is anartha appears to be anartha. That which is actually having very little meaning or value, that which is having very little meaning or value, that appears to be extremely meaningful and supremely valuable.

Now how does that happen? Chasing illusion becomes so familiar. Just take once, twice, thrice, and as you keep doing it, it appears to be reality, the only reality. So, chasing illusion means that, as I said, for a person who becomes addicted, say, to alcohol, at that time, that becomes what they live for.

The moment they wake up, when can I drink next? So, the specific illusions that we may chase may be different, but that becomes the driving purpose of people's lives. And thus that becomes the reality for them. So, anartha, it is, when the anartha, now here there is a point which comes up, when we talk about, say, lust or anger or greed, now are they just misconceptions which we as conscious beings have, or are they objective things that are present inside us? That means, when a person, say, gets angry, so is anger just an emotion that we experience sometimes, or is anger some objective reality that exists within us? Actually, it is both.

Yes, anger is an emotion that we experience. And, say, I feel angry. That means that is the time when I am getting angry.

But at the same time, that anger is not just an emotion, it is also, you could say, a disposition or an inclination that is formed in the mind. That's why when we talk about this in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that, when he's talking about karma, which can be translated as lust specifically, it can also be understood as any self-centred desire. So, he says that it is located, Krishna talks about it as having objective reality.

He says, indriyani mano buddhi asyadi shraani jyoti. It's situated in the senses, the mind, and the intelligence. So, to reconcile these two, on one side, it is anger or pride or lust.

This is the emotion that we feel, but it's also an object that is present within us. The reconciliation of these two is that, the reconciliation is that it's an object that is present within us. And when it is present, the emotion is felt more quickly, more intensely.

Say, for example, a child who is below puberty, then for that person, lust is not present inside. It is there in a dormant state in the mind, but at that time it is not activated. Some people get angry about some things, and you don't get angry about other things at all.

So, anger is an anartha that is present within us, and when we get angry, at that time that anartha makes its presence manifest. So, it is not just an emotion that we feel, and we can say, don't get angry. I will not get angry.

Yes, as far as emotion is concerned, we can try to resist the emotion, and we need to do that. At the same time, because it's an objective reality, it's an object that is present within us, it will have its influence on us. And so, if anger is present within someone, then, for that person, resisting the anger becomes much more difficult.

Say, to give an example, going back to the example of alcoholism. Now, we could say anybody can get the desire to drink alcohol. But in an alcoholic, what will happen? The conditioning is there.

That means there is not just the desire they feel to drink. It is also that there is that inclination that is present. And that inclination is something very strong.

So, I will be using two metaphors throughout this class, throughout these four sessions. So, one metaphor is the metaphor of a floor. So, if the floor is inclined in a particular way, then as soon as water falls on the floor, then the water is naturally going to flow this way.

And if that's not the case, the water should not flow this way. Now, if I am in a particular house and somebody is in another house, in my house, the floor is not inclined like this. In somebody else's house, the floor is inclined like this.

So, as soon as the water falls in my house, it will not get flowed like this. But if the water falls in somebody else's house, it immediately starts flowing this way. So, it flows because there is an inclination of the floor.

So, say for example, somebody is short-tempered. Anger is an emotion that everyone can get at different times. But some people who are short-tempered, they become verbally abusive, they become, and they assault physically.

They just explode at times. So, in their case, you could say their mental floor is inclined in that direction. And so, now when water falls anywhere, it's going to flow in some direction.

So, when any of us is provoked, there is some emotion that comes up because of that provocation. But if the mental floor is inclined in a particular way, then the water flowing in that direction is natural. And unless something else is done, it is inevitable.

So, the anartha is what we could say, anartha reshapes our mental floor so that our consciousness naturally flows in that direction. And in this way, when we keep chasing illusions, when we keep chasing a particular object, then the consciousness naturally gravitates towards that object, towards that intelligence. And that's how the anartha appears to be like earth.

That which is actually meaningless, but because the floor has become inclined in that direction, so we just naturally think about it and think about it as being valuable, very desirable, very meaningful. This is how the anartha works. Now, I think I talked about chasing illusions.

Now, what is the illusion here? The illusion is that once we indulge in something, we are initially allured by pleasure. Oh, I'll get so much pleasure. But after some time, it is not so much that getting it gives us pleasure, rather not getting it causes pain, causes distress.

So, alcoholics, if they are trying to recover from their alcoholism and they relapse, they relapse not because they want to get high, but it's just they want to feel normal. So, that means, initially, going back to the mental floor example, initially, I wanted the water to flow in this way. I wanted the water to flow for whatever reason.

We thought this object is desirable, I want to enjoy it. And we indulge in it. But after we indulge in it a few times, the material pleasures, but they always have this law of diminishing returns.

So, if somebody offers us a gulab jamun, first gulab jamun is delicious, second gulab jamun, third gulab jamun. Somebody offers five gulab jamuns, ten gulab jamuns. You also take some.

At that time, it is not because we are concerned about them, because now it is law of diminishing returns. I don't want so much though. So, that way, over a period of time, the pleasure goes down by repeated indulgence.

But because the habit has been created, the mental floor is inclined in a particular way. So, then, ensuring that the water doesn't flow in that direction requires effort. So, for us, once we get hooked to something, not doing it causes agitation.

So, we think that actually by doing this, I am getting pleasure. And I can't live without this pleasure. But quite often what is happening is, it is not that indulging in it gives pleasure, rather it is not indulging in it that causes agitation.

And when we indulge, we just get some relief from it. And that relief lasts for some time. So, the illusion is that we think it is actually pleasure.

So, Prabhupada writes in 1.4 that, in one's sense of enjoyment, most of the pleasure is in the anticipation of the pleasure. In anticipation, yes, I get it. But actually, it is a drama.

Now, in today's world, the anarthas are always there in mental existence, but the anarthas are aggravated. How are they aggravated? Because the objects that allure us are, they are advertised, they are glamorised, and they are presented to us in a far more aggressive way than before. In surgery, there is what they call as non-intrusive surgery or intrusive surgery.

Now, intrusive surgery is, put some object in the body, cut the body. And that way they try to heal the body. But it is intrusive as it comes in.

So, the anarthas, the sense of objects which allure us, they are actually quite intrusive in today's world. Just intrude into our path. Even if we want to, even if we want to live without getting entangled, but still, the intrusion keeps happening more and more.

And because of this intrusion, resisting becomes even more difficult. Now, if we consider this is the sense, and this is the sense object. And basically the pleasure is when the sense object comes to the sense.

Say, I want to own something, I want to eat something, I want to touch something, I want to exhibit that I have this, I possess this. So now, the sense and the sense object that is there, and when we get the sense object, we get some pleasure. In today's world, what happens is, the sense objects, the best sense objects from all over the world are visible very easily for us.

And not only that, in many ways, they seem to be very easily accessible. So, for example, if you consider greed, then you may just want to purchase things. So, I want to buy this, I want to buy that.

Just like there is alcoholism, there is an addiction called as shopaholism. Shopaholism is where people are just addicted to shopping. Shop, shop, shop, shop, and you will drop.

So now, when people shop like this, what is actually happening? The objects are so easily accessible. And we can just go to one supermarket and we can buy whatever we want. And the main thing that we don't even want.

Just, there is a famous, owner of a CEO, CEO of a company, he said that, if we wait for people to come to ask us, to tell us we want this, he says, we will be waiting forever. Our goal is that we create desires in people. Our goal is that we create the desires in people.

How do you create desires? By advertising. One of my friends is an advertising company, and he told me that for many of the big companies, the advertising, the promotion budget, is several times more than the production budget. So, the promotion budget.

Now, for example, especially, there is, there are medicines for mental health, say antidepressant pills or something like that. Now, in these cases, if we have some physical disease, and the medicines are very easy, we need them and we take them. In the case of mental health, the medicines are enormously advertised.

And that's how people feel. Now, sometimes people can have some serious brain issues because of which they may need some mental health medicines. But quite often, this is a normal human life's ups and downs come up.

And for everything, people take up to it. This is a need which is created. The artificially created needs.

So, under time we saw that the sense objects are exposed more and more to us, and then desire is created. So, first the sense objects become visible, then they are made accessible. And then we feel that they are desirable.

So, first it's visible through the advertisements. So, the accessibility comes through the whole system of having easy money to credit cards, through loans. So, it becomes accessible.

And then when the desire is created within us, then we think, God, this has to be there. So, the anarthas have always been there in the world, the standard way. But in Kanyuga, quite often indulgence in the anarthas is made much, much easier in the past.

So, the ease, their visibility, their accessibility, and their desire, it all appears to be much, much more. And thus people get trapped. And when this happens, the Bhagavad Gita is an example of how a spider, a spider catches something else in its prey, what is that, a moth? Butterfly.

Butterfly. Something which gets the food out of it. And it gets trapped in its own bone, in a cocoon.

Now, which is the entity that gets trapped in its own cocoon? Silkworm. Silkworm, yeah, silkworm. Silkworm.

So, silkworm gets trapped in its own cocoon. So, like that the desires come out of us and they trap us. So, now, this means that we had a storm and when a storm comes, people normally go out of the way.

They don't want to be in the storm, part of the storm. But if somebody, voluntarily or intentionally, puts themselves in the way of a storm, then they just get swept away. So, Krishna also says, indriyāṇā vicharata yenmano anvitye varasya harati prajñā vāyur nāhu nāmbasya In 2.67 he says, that when the senses contemplate on the sense objects, then the storm of desire is created in us.

And when the storm of desire is created, it just sweeps away the intelligence. It sweeps away the person. So, when we know that the storm is going to come, we get out of the way of the storm.

So, like that, the first step in dealing with anartha, is that once we know that this is the path where there is danger, there is temptation, there is, I will get captivated, then get out of the way. So, wherever there is, we all have our vulnerabilities, wherever it is, we know we are vulnerable, we just get out of the way. We put ourselves in the way of a storm, then we will be swept away.

And, the difference, however, is that, normally when a storm comes, we feel there is danger, but if the storm of desire comes, it appears as if there is pleasure. So, because of that promise of pleasure, we go towards the storm. But then, that pleasure is a little bit initially there, but afterwards when the desire catches us, then we also get swept away.

We often end up doing things which we never planned to do. We never intended to do it. But, this is that today the storms, they can be very easily induced in our consciousness.

And that's why we need to be careful. Now, another, now, there are a couple of more points, we can have some discussion or some questions. So, quite often when we indulge in something, sometimes we may do something intentionally, sometimes something may just be unintentional.

So, there are two situations. One is where, there are materialistic people who just desire to enjoy. They want to accumulate things.

They want, if somebody is proud, I read one book, astonishing, I have never seen a book like this, in the acknowledgements, he says, the first acknowledgement is to me. Because I worked so hard to write this book. Now, obviously, everybody knows that you wrote the book, but acknowledgement is to acknowledge others, not yourself.

So, some people are, some people are proud and they delight in their pride. Others are proud, but they say, you know, I should not show off to you. They are trying to resist the pride.

The same with any anarkha that we have, that we can be fighting it, or we can be fuelling it. So, all of us, sometime or the other, when we are battling with our anarkhas, we will relapse. That's just the way we grow, even when we are trying to overcome it.

So, now, when we relapse, sometimes it may be intentional, sometimes it may be unintentional. And, when it's intentional, of course, even then, rectifications are possible. But, how do we differentiate between what is intentional and what is unintentional? So, broadly speaking, we can look at it before the event, just during the event, and after the event.

So, if before the event, there is preoccupation. If an alcoholic is, say, an alcoholic is trying to recover, an alcoholic is in. And, while trying to recover, they are going to some counsellor, addiction counsellor, and then they say, I didn't want to do this.

But, then, there's all this preoccupation. Now, if we are attached, in one sense, the preoccupation with our attachment is definitely going to be there. But, there is preoccupation in terms of, I want to fight this, I don't want to do this.

So, when can I do this? So, there is constant preoccupation in the sense that, when can I do this? That preoccupation indicates that what happens is premeditation. That's what it indicates. Then, also, there is premeditation.

Premeditation means that when the opportunity presents itself, one plans, how can I do this in a way in which I'll not get caught. And, one tries to do cover-up. So, before is this preoccupation, not for fighting, but for seeking an opportunity.

Premeditation means planning in such a way that one doesn't get caught. And then, rationalisation means that even if one gets caught, one tries, everybody is going to get caught. I'll make a big fuss about it.

It just happens. It is the way the world is. This is the way I am.

You can make different rationalisations. So, Krishna several times in the Bhagavad Gita says, So, at a physical level, abstinences, we may need to do that. We need to do that, of course.

But, Krishna says, we have to offer our mind and intelligence to it. So, if the mind is preoccupied, yes, this is what I want to do. I want to do this.

When can I do this? And, there is premeditation. So, mind, we can say broadly that the mind is associated with preoccupation. It's desiring, fantasising, seeking.

And, the intelligence is associated with premeditation and rationalisation. Premeditation means, we plan in such a way that we are not detected. And, even if we are, we rationalise.

We try to defend ourselves. So, of course, bhakti is so powerful that even if somebody is doing something intentionally, still that intention will also become purified over a period of time. But, that may take a long time.

So, going back to the metaphor of the floor, when the water falls, naturally the water will flow in this direction. So, now, sometimes I may, sometimes the water will just spill from my hand and the water starts flowing in that direction. But, sometimes, I deliberately spill the water because I want to make the water go in that direction.

They are two very different things. So, similarly, for us, as seekers, there is a time when we may do something which is undesirable, which is improper, but if it is just a one-time event. So, for example, in the case of Ajami, if you consider, was his lapse intentional or unintentional? What do you think? Unintentional? How many of you say unintentional? Yeah.

Any other answers? Yeah. Actually, it was unintentional the first time. When he actually saw that Shudrani and he started, it was completely unintentional.

He was going for some religious purpose or getting firewood for his father and he got caught at that time. But, after that, when he starts rejecting his own wife, starts rejecting his parents, starts living with her, at that time, others would have told him, you cannot do this. You should not be doing this.

But, he did not do anything like that. So, quite often, it is not the first mistake that gets us in trouble. It is what we do after the first mistake.

For Ajami, that particular lapse was unintentional. So, the mind is very cunning. The mind says, you have fallen in love? So, that way, the first mistake happens.

That's okay. It happens many times. But, what do we do after that? And, this is where we will talk a little bit more later.

But, if we have association of devotees, if we have positive engagements, if we have positive responsibilities, then we don't have the time or the opportunity to perpetuate the mistake. So, usually, for those who are trying to grow the spiritual power, the first lapse is unintentional. The first lapse, the first mistake that happens is unintentional.

But, after that, if it continues, then that is quite often intentional. So, similarly, consider Bharat Maharaj. For him, when he saw that baby deer flowing away in the water, at that time, to save that baby deer, there's nothing wrong in it.

That's just natural compassion. But, that was a good action. But, after that, to think that, now I have to maintain this deer.

That I am the maintainer of this deer, that thought, that was a mistake. That is where he got caught. So, if he was going to think that I am the maintainer, then he had been a maintainer of a deer.

He had been a maintainer of a family. He had already left that. There's a time in one's life when one has to play that role.

He had consciously chosen to give up that role. And now, he was taking up another role of permanency. So, for him, saving the deer was not the mistake.

But, what happened after that? He's thinking that I am the maintainer of the deer. That was the mistake. So, usually, whenever some lapse happens, it usually goes from unintentional to intentional.

When it is intentional, then it becomes much more difficult to overcome. Because, at that particular time, our whole inner world is consumed by that particular craving, by that particular desire. And, when the inner world is consumed, then it is not so easy to resist it, to overcome it.

So, now, the redirection begins with realisation. Rishabh Prabhupada, when he was giving a talk to one of the first Ratha-yatra festivals, he gave a talk to some Hippies. Most of them were people who had come to that programme.

And then, he said that all of you are not much appreciated in America. You are considered Hippies. And, you are considered frustrating.

Rishabh Prabhupada said, but I appreciate you. Human life is meant to be frustrating. Only when there is frustration, then, he said, there will be Atharva-to-Brahman-yatra.

Then, you can enquire about the situation. So, all of us, in our life, at some time or the other, we get some experience that an Anartha is an Anartha. This is beingness.

Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? I shouldn't be doing this. What is the point of it all? So many questions. Actually, for us, that in the commentary to Atharva-to-Brahman-yatra, Ramacharya, there is almost a 100-page commentary.

And, he analyses what is it that begins the Brahma-yatra. What is it that makes a soul start enquiring about the spiritual world. And, he gives various reasons for it.

one of the reasons is that one realises that this world, whatever I think is pleasurable, is not pleasant. I thought it would give me enjoyment, but it's not giving me enjoyment. So, this realisation, we all get it at times, but it doesn't last for long.

Because, I talk about this more when I talk about Nirutti, Anartha-Nirutti. The moment of frustration, the moment of, there can be a moment when re-variation happens. If, you can contemplate, and then, you can look for some other way.

Otherwise, basically, if we consider our existence to be like a two-story building, there is material and there is spiritual. So, when I don't get what I want in the first level of the house, then, naturally, if I know that there is a second level, and I know that there will be a better happiness available, then I'll go there. But if that doesn't happen, then I'll just look somewhere else at the first level.

So, we don't get pleasure in one material object, and then we look for something else, at the material level, again and again. So, when the frustration happens, a lot of factors are there, but they're understanding that there must be something more in my life, which I should look for. So, most people, everybody experiences dissatisfaction at the material level.

But most people look at the material level at the same level. People seek more sense pleasure. Whereas, we are meant to seek more than sense pleasure.

More than sense pleasure. Is there something more to life? And that enquiry can happen for different people at different times. So, for that enquiry and for that redirection, there are broadly three factors.

One is that one is frustrated with what is available at that floor. Second is, one comes to know that there is a higher floor. And the third is, somebody shows the way to the higher floor.

So, there is, that means, this will be the, I talked about two metaphors I am using. One is the floor. One is the inclined floor.

And the second is that the two-story building. So, this is the second metaphor that at the material level, there is frustration. That's the time when you start, I want something more in my life.

So then, that time, if I come to, so first is that there should be some frustration with disappointment, frustration, disillusionment with whatever we are getting at the material level. Then there has to be knowledge. There must be something more to that.

There must be some other dimension. And then, there also has to be a process, which is given by somebody. So, when all these three come together, then we rise from the lower level of consciousness, from the material level to the spiritual level.

So, anartha is about, we're talking about at this stage, that which is meaningless. And we understand it. We recognise it to be meaningless.

So, the time when we realise this, that is actually important for us. And it is not that it is only one time. We all get realisations of this periodically.

We have some conception of this as an important point, I want to achieve this. And then I achieve it and then, what is so great about this? What is so great about this? So, those moments are actually very important for us. But, if we don't cherish them consciously, those moments of realisation, then they just pass away.

And then again, we'll keep looking at the same level, same level of reality. So, at the present level of reality, at the present level of consciousness, we pursue certain things. And when we realise, whatever I am pursuing here, this is not real.

That moment, whenever we get that realisation, if we cherish it, it will stay. Other than, go away, because some other temptation will come. So, Prabhupada talks about this as smarshan vairagya.

Smarshan vairagya means, somebody goes to a crematorium and they get some realisation. This world is temporary. But then, after they come out of the crematorium, they come back to their home, they go to their office, and they forget everything.

So, at that time, it doesn't mean, if we contemplate that, and then, we cherish that. Cherish not in the… These moments of frustration are not something which are which we would like to naturally remember. But, if they can prompt us to a realisation, then that can help us to move onwards in our life.

So, actually, when I do this seminar, we usually have some exercise, where for 5 minutes, we have paper and pen, where people can write down their own experience. I don't have to share with anyone, but just write down. So, we may not be able to do that, because we are just a short seminar, but this is something which you could yourself do later.

So, when was the time when whatever we thought of as anartham, we realised, this is not really anartham. This is an anartham. I thought this was so important.

It is not that important. There must be something more to it. So, those moments of realisation, they are very valuable to us.

And, when those moments come up, then if we remember that in the future, the same temptation will come, I am not going to go in that direction, because that remembrance will be there. So, what is that which we thought of as anartham, but we realised it to be anartham. So, the experience can be very valuable.

So, for me, since my childhood, I had two or three main things. First was that, academically, I wanted to become a topper. I wanted to be number one in my class.

Second is that, I wanted to become an author. Third is that, I wanted to become a speaker. So, all three were fulfilled, and all three I was frustrated.

In the sense that, the desire was fulfilled, but I realised that there is no fulfilment in that. So, when I, my author, there is a prominent newspaper in India, Science of India. The world is number one newspaper.

So, there is a speaking column over there, which is a spiritual column. And since my childhood, I used to read that column. So, I thought, I used to think, one day I will write in this column.

But I had no idea what to write. Then, when I got into spiritual consciousness, then by Prabhupada's mercy, there is so much philosophy that is there, so much wisdom. So, I started writing articles.

And then, once I just sent an article to, I found that in the letters, I sent an article. And they have a system, where normally, in the active world, if you send an article, then acknowledge you have received it, you have reviewed it. And after reviewing, they will give some comments.

But in this case, they have no system like that. So, I thought probably there must be hundreds of articles. And, and, after that, they thought that, they don't respond.

So, I got no response at all. And then, one day, a guru told me, he said, your article has come in speaking form. I said, what? I was very surprised.

I was initially so elated. I thought, yes, now my childhood dream has come true. I am so happy.

And then, I was in the ashram. And then, I told some other gurus, you know what, my article has come in speaking form. My article has come in speaking form.

So, another guru said, how can I please speak? So, I was taken aback at that time. But then, it struck me that, I was thinking, this is so great, only for somebody else, they don't even know what it is. So, although I was initially disappointed with that particular devotee, why are you doing this? But then, after a while, it struck me, okay, when I was writing the article, actually, it was so absorbing.

I can write this like this, this point is straight like this. But, after the article came out, I said, okay. I found that I was more absorbed and fulfilled when I was writing the article than when I was seeking recognition for having the article published.

So, it's not that I am free from the desire for recognition. Actually, there was an experience for me that in Krishna Bhakti, the results are not as important as the process itself. And if you are absorbed, then that absorption is far more fulfilling than the recognition.

So, naturally, as a human being, we crave for some appreciation, some recognition. But then, that may come, that may not come. And that is not as important.

You don't mind me, that's a big artha. That's what I wanted. But, actually, I find that this was a more fulfilling work.

So, now, when I write articles, even now, when I write articles, I post on GitaDevi every day. So, I look forward to somebody sending a comment. Somebody appreciating a comment, not appreciating a comment.

But, that doesn't matter. I realise that that is just going to come and go. But, the one, one and a half, two hours I write every day, that is the time I look forward to in my whole day.

This is what I want to do. So, over a period of time, for us, the artha is Krishna. And the service to Krishna, the absorption in Krishna, that is called artha.

And there are many other things connected with Krishna, connected with our service to Krishna also. They seem to be like artha. But, they are not artha.

That we get the realisation. So, I'll come back to this in the last class. We can be in Krishna consciousness or we can be around Krishna consciousness.

We can be around Krishna consciousness means that we can be connected with Krishna, but we are thinking of everything other than Krishna while being connected externally with Krishna. So, when, even in our service, even in our devotional life, we all have certain conceptions of what is artha. And if we get an experience that this is not really what artha is, the real artha is Krishna, then that experience is something very valuable for us.

And by cherishing that, we can have that redirection beginning with realisation. So, I'll summarise. So, I talked today about anartha.

Anartha is that which is no value, no meaning, no purpose. But, it appears very meaningful, very valuable and it becomes a driving purpose of our life. That's how the anartha catches us.

So, there can be specific analysis. We can have the six anarthas, vast anger, great anger, bad illusion. Specific analysis can be different, but the universal principle is that anything which distracts us from the supreme artha, from the parama artha, Krishna, that is an artha.

And the anartha, like say anger, is not just a feeling that we have. It's also an object. It's a thing which is situated in our mind.

And it prompts us much more to have that feeling. So, it's like a flower, if the water is flowing, the flower is implying the water will naturally flow. So, when we indulge in an activity repeatedly, then our mental flower becomes inclined in that direction.

And naturally, involuntarily almost, our thoughts go in that direction. So, initially we indulge because we feel there will be pleasure over there. But afterwards, we indulge not so much because we get pleasure, but because not doing it causes agitation, causes distress, causes pain, causes torment.

So, once we understand this, actually there is not any pleasure over there. Then we may look for something over there. The anarthas, the more we indulge, the more we feel that emotion, the more we act on that emotion, that object, that thing inside us, the anartha becomes stronger.

The flower becomes more and more inclined. And to deal with the anartha, we need to move forward, first of all to recognise that this is an anartha. And to me this is meaningful, but actually it is not really.

It is not at all valuable. And the moment when we get that realisation, that is valuable. If we cherish that, that will prompt us towards some redirection.

We talked about how there is a lower level of a house and a higher level. So material level is the lower level. And most people in today's world, there is so much aggressive propaganda of the sense objects.

Even if one sense object doesn't satisfy, another, another, another. And you just stay wrapped like that. But if firstly, this doesn't satisfy and then there is a higher level to this building.

And this is the way to go out. So if we have some amount of disillusionment with the material, some amount of knowledge of the spiritual, and somebody who shows us the path from the material to the spiritual, then the realisation can lead to redirection. And the moments when we get this realisation, this whatever I thought of anartha is not really anartha, that realisation is very valuable.

If we are cherishing it, whenever that temptation comes again, we can reject that and proceed here in our new direction. Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? I've been having a lot of realisations recently about how anarthas cannot really exist.

And in the jastra, I've been noticing how Haridas Thakur defeated the prostitute but he never said no to her. And how when Pralambhasura entered the pastimes of the Dalai boys, Krishna immediately wanted to kill him, but externally he acted as his friend. And in the Gita he says what can repression accomplish? And the Buddhists also say desire nothing, resist nothing.

And I wonder if you can comment on that. The tensing up and the rejection of the non-acceptance of anarthas doesn't, in my life, have not worked. So, saying no to desires doesn't work? The Buddhists also say that desire nothing and then reject nothing, resist nothing.

Yeah, actually this nivritti is what I'm going to talk elaborately in the second part of the talk, anartha nivritti. Yes, if our focus is on saying no to something, it just doesn't work. For example, if I know there is some electric current in this object, I can decide I will not touch this.

But, when it comes to some at the mental level, to not think of something is also to think of that thing. Is it? So, I can physically not touch something, but if alcohol is, I'm not going to drink. I'm not going to drink.

The mind is so cunning, the mind will just delete the note. I'm going to drink. So, if I'm thinking I'm not going to drink, and I'm still thinking of drinking only.

So, what happens is, if we just focus on this dynamic of this indulgence or resistance. If this is the only two we are thinking about, then resistance is a very difficult system. But then we need, for that's why I talked about a higher level of the building, that's transcendence.

So, transcendence means when we become absorbed in something higher, then we can go beyond this. Now, specifically, which anartha, how one goes beyond, that will vary from person to person. So, whether it is, which particular anartha is, what particular desire is, sometimes the purification may just be by understanding, I say no to it.

Sometimes the purification may be that I understand it, but there is some regulated indulgence. And then after that experience, then we release it. So, the point is that we can't wish away or deny anarthas.

If I have anger, and if I suppress that anger, it's not going to go, I suppress once, twice, thrice, five times, afterwards it comes out like a volcano. All that accumulated anger. So, we can't suppress it.

We have to, normally we think of expressing or suppressing. There is a third option, that is processing. We have to appropriately process it.

And, so, processing involves acknowledging that it exists, and I have to deal with it. And somebody who does not have that particular anartha, they may say, why are you so short-tempered? And they will just not understand us. So, it can be, the specific anartha can vary from person to person, and how that person processes it, that's up to them, and they may take some guidance from some senior devotees, or ultimately it's between them and us.

So, we can't wish away the anartha. It doesn't work like that. So, in case, for some desires, you have to say, we may go out and meet, and we get prasadam, just lose the desire for it.

Some desires go away like that. But if some don't go away, that does not necessarily mean that we have to live lifelong with the feeling of guilt. We just have to deal with it realistically.

This is what I have, and I'll gradually deal with this. And if we are centred on anartha, either in terms of indulging in it, or in terms of rejecting it, we are still centred on that. And from that rejection, again indulgence will happen.

Because still the consciousness is caught up in it. And when I say transcendence is what we have to come to, now with respect to different anarthas, different, all of us, because we are individual, so we may require different processes for giving up that anartha. Somebody may just immediately hear and renounce, somebody may have to go through it and gradually renounce.

It is for going from the level of indulgence or abstinence to the level of transcendence, how we do that, that's an individual process. And for different, for each particular devotee, and for each particular conditioning that we have, it will vary from person to person. Does that address the question? You were describing your vision for your life, and it seems like this is a big part of your nature, but then when we actually look at what's going on with us, it also seems that our anarthas may be part of our nature.

So it kind of comes in baggage. And it's been how long? Probably about a hundred years. Well, it's just there's so deep rooted, it's kind of like a newsletter.

Like you were saying, we've got a slanted store on the floor, but that may have actually even started even at a very young age. Even before we conceptualised how to live our life. It seemed to be the subtle value that came with it.

So I guess my question is that we often hear that you can't change your nature. But then this is a big part of what we need to do to advance. But some of them are a lot more deep rooted.

Some we acquire just by being in a particular culture. Like living in Mayapur, living in America is quite different in terms of the accessibility of different anarthas. You don't get bombarded in India or in Mayapur like you would here.

But some of these things you can stick with people who are here to survive time. If it comes to the people who are here in Mayapur, it's something you deal with in a good way. So are anarthas also part of our nature? And isn't that something which would be difficult for us to address? Krishna said, there is an Indian so-called spiritual organisation which says the essence of Bhagavad Gita is nigraha kinukarishas.

What can repression accomplish? And they recommend indiscriminate indulgence. And they say, by that you will get one day satiated and then you will rise to something higher. And now if you see there is a significant difference.

If you look at this nigraha kinukarishas is 3.34. Krishna is asking sabhav jena konte nivaddha sveena karmana kartum nityasya noha krishasya avasyobhih sabhav jena konte nivaddha sveena karmana prakritim jnanati bhutaani nigraha kinukarishas sadrishim chishtate swasya prakritir jnanavanati prakritim jnanati bhutaani nigraha kinukarishas 3.33.34.35 Krishna talks about nature. And there he says that all living beings act according to their nature. And even the wise act according to their nature.

So, what can the reflection tell us? And then after that he says next verse is kshrayan sva-dharmo vibhuna pra-dharmo bhayaava pra-dharmo bhayaava Act according to your own nature. Because it is better to destroy than acting according to one's own nature than to act according to someone else's nature. Because the other nature is acting according to the other nature is fearful.

bhayaava Now, if this were an indiscriminate justification for everything within us, whatever is there then if you consider the flow of the Bhagavad Gita, next verse immediately Arjuna is asking a question that there is something within me which impels me to think like this. atha kena pariyu kodiyam paapam chavki poom anicchanubhiva arshne balaam And Krishna says that is karma and it has to be controlled. He is talking about how to control karma.

So, nigraha kin karishyasi is actually applied to svabhava. And svabhava refers to the brahman shatriya vishwamitra. So, when Krishna is telling that nigraha kin karishyasi Krishna is telling Arjuna that you are a kshatriya and you cannot act like a brahman.

So, if you try to suppress your kshatriya nature and act like a brahman that will not work. Nigraha kin karishyasi. Now, within the kshatriya nature and within the brahman nature all the four varanas, they will have lust, anger, greed, enmity, and they all have their own ways in which they can express it, in which they can purify it.

So, kshatriyas, they can fight wars, they can live with royal opulence, they can have worldly enjoyment. But, even that is also with regulation, that is also with responsibility. So, the nigraha kin karishyasi is more for the varnik svabhava, the svabhava according to one's varna.

It is not for the angapas. Lust, anger, greed, enmity, pride, illusion. Today, Krishna says, you have to fight them.

He says, trividham narkasidam dvaram narsimatmana. These are gates to hell and therefore, etair muktah kaunteya tamo dwaristhi nahinara, acharatyatma shreyas, tato yatma pramana. When one comes free from these, this is 16.22, when one comes free from these, then one can attain liberation.

So, I would say, within our subtle body, there are the anarthas, which are lust, anger, greed, enmity, pride, illusion. There is also our svabhava, which is brahman, kshatriya, varshini. So, the brahman, kshatriya, varshini, we cannot change that.

As your crude example for this, we can have a Mac computer, we can have a Windows computer, we can have Linux or whatever other computer we have. That's the basic OS. Now, the OS, whatever computer I have, it's very difficult to change that.

But, what I do with that particular operating system, I can go and browse some spiritual sites, I can go and browse some sensual sites. So, now, the basic operating system that we have, that is the svabhava. So, Krishna is saying, a brahman cannot become a kshatriya.

A kshatriya cannot become a brahman. That cannot be done. What can liberation accomplish in that context? Now, beyond that, what do we do with that svabhava? That will vary from person to person.

And that needs to be regulated. So, for a brahmana, forgiveness is recommended. For a kshatriya, punishment of wrongdoers is recommended.

Later on, in the 18th chapter, when he talks about the svabhava, the prescribed duties of brahmana and kshatriya, shamodana-tapasya samodana-tapasya, samodana-tapasya, that's when Krishna is talking about, what is kshatriya? He says, fight and don't run away from the fight. What happened to forgiveness? Prabhupada writes, forgiveness can be an individual principle. But at a state level, the government has to punish wrongdoers.

The government cannot operate simply on forgiveness. Wrongdoers have to be punished. Kshatriya is acting.

Kshatriya has to fight. So, on one side, non-violence, peacefulness, forgiveness is recommended for a brahmana. But aggressive action is recommended for Kshatriya.

So, the specific ways in which lust, anger, greed, to some extent, when somebody is fighting, there is anger over it. It's regulated, but still anger is there. Anger is the channel for dharma.

So, we cannot, there are different degrees to which the lust, anger, different ways and different degrees to which lust, anger, greed can be regulated in the different varnas. But we all have to regulate. But when Kshatriya is saying what can repression accomplish, that is talking more about basic incrimination, basic so how that we have.

That we can't regulate. So, yes, we may, even the lust, anger, greed also come from a previous life, but they can be resisted. How much degree we can resist, that can vary from person to person.

And specific way in which we can resist, that can also vary. But the variation is not impossible. That regulation is, at some way or the other, it is essential.

So, we'll have a break after this question. We can discuss after the next session. Any other questions? So, we said that lust, anger, greed are objects of things.

What does it actually mean? Let me put it this way. I work on computers. I'll give a software example.

Say, there is some site, say, this particular site which is there. If I visit that site, say, there is a site I go and visit that site, I get agitated. That is, I who am doing that.

So, it is my decision, my intention which I am doing. But when we visit a particular site, that gets stored in the browser. It gets stored in the software.

And the next time, say, if I visit a particular news site, say, if I repeatedly associate a type I, I don't know what is called news now, but in the past, if I go to India news so many times, then associate a type I, it will be autocomplete as India news. And if I am not careful, it will just go there automatically. So, there is, on one side, going to that, on one extreme, you could say that, going to that site is my decision.

But on other side, that decision creates a history in my computer, a bookmark or a record, by which I next time automatically go to that site. So, like that, when I feel angry, that is an emotion that I experience. But along with the emotion that I experience, it creates like a setting.

Next time, anger becomes more easy for me. Getting angry becomes more natural for me. So, for example, if somebody never worked as a butcher, first time they would have been killed by an animal.

So, my animal how can I resist? How can I kill this animal? When you kill once, twice, thrice, five times, ten times, he has become insensitive. Once, I was living in Bengal and I have seen that, there were these kids, 8-10 years old, they were chatting with each other and lopping off the neck of chickens. Like, we may cut sabji, they are cutting like that.

Completely nonchalant. So, when we keep doing a particular activity, that gets stored like a setting. So, that stored setting is what I mean is an object.

So, when that stored setting is there, the relapse or the indulgence becomes not only easier, it almost becomes inevitable. You have to consciously check it, otherwise it will become a default reaction. Is that understood? Thank you very much.

You can have 15 more minutes. 10 minutes. Thank you.

So, I wanted to speak to you. I have, I think you guys will be there in the car, an outreach magazine. And, I wanted to show you, because I wanted to take two of the articles you've done.

One from BTG, The Way of Dharma. That's the free will versus pre-determination. That article.

And then the other one was the near-death experience. And, but, I started off with … Does it expand? This is fine.