From Passion to Compassion

From passion to compassion 1

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From Passion to Compassion 2 – From religion in passion to devotion in goodness

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From Passion to Compassion 3 – Compassion needs to be felt as compassion

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Hare Krishna, so today we will be starting the series on from passion to compassion and how are the three classes? So, I will be using one driving metaphor for all the three classes which we will have today tomorrow and day after, that how do we understand compassion or how do you understand compassion? So, Prahlad Maharaj uses a well-known verse from the 7th Canto which Prabhupada would often quote. He says that, my dear lord, I am not worried about how I can transcend material existence, how I can overcome worldly illusions. Why I am not worried? Because I am absorbed in your glories.

Instead I am worried about all those people who are caught in material existence, chasing its illusory pleasures. So, in the material world, we are driven by the forces of illusion because they create within us a feeling of deprivation. The forces of illusion make us feel, oh, this person is having so much wealth, this person is having this much, this person is having this much.

And they are all enjoying so much, I am not enjoying. And this feeling of deprivation is what drives us. Chase this, get this, buy this, watch this.

So, passion means that we feel deprived and then we chase after worldly objects. So, even when we have Krishna with us, we feel that, oh, I need this, I need this, I need this. And in that way, we let ourselves chase after one thing after another.

So, passion is a situation when we feel deprived. Whereas, compassion is the consciousness where we feel that others are deprived. We feel that Krishna is so wonderful, Krishna bhakti is so wonderful, that others who are not having Krishna bhakti, they are actually deprived.

And therefore, let me share this with them. So, passion is a state where we feel deprived. And compassion is a state where we feel satisfied in Krishna and we feel others are deprived.

And so, we try to share Krishna with them. So, this is basically the journey. How we move from feeling deprived even while practising Krishna bhakti to feeling that others are deprived and wanting to share Krishna bhakti.

That is the journey from passion to compassion. So, in today's session, I will talk about how passion in terms of craving for material things is undesirable and how we can counter it. In tomorrow's session, I will talk about how we may practise bhakti also in passion.

And how we may share bhakti in passion in the yoga. And in the last session, I will talk about how we can practise and share bhakti with compassion. So, the mode of passion is described by Krishna in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, which is Prakriti, Treya, Udbhava, Yoga.

That the three modes of material nature. And there he says that the characteristic of the mode of passion, 14.12, he states, लोभः प्रवृत्तिरारंभः कर्मणामशिमस्प्रुह रजस्येतानि जायते युरुद्धे कुरुनन्धन He says, lobha, lobha is greed. I want this, I want this, I want this.

लोभः and प्रवृत्ते I should do this, I should do that, I should do that. It's craving to get things and then the working God is there. आरंभः, great endeavour forgetting it.

कर्मणामशिमस्पुह And even if one gets something, after working, still अशिमस्पुह, the desire remains insatiable. The desire doesn't go away, doesn't decrease. रजस्येतानि जायते युरुद्धे कुरुनन्धन This is the characteristic of the mode of passion.

विरुद्धे कुरुनन्धन Oh Arjuna, understand it like this. Especially, this is the characteristic, the mode of passion becomes prominent, dominant in our consciousness. Now, when Shri Prabhupada came to America, he composed the Markini Bhagwat Dharmasam.

And therein he says that, रजस्येतानि जायते युरुद्धे कुरुनन्धन रजस्येतानि जायते युरुद्धे कुरुनन्धन The sweetness of Krishna Bhakti. So, Shri Prabhupada is talking about, not just that the material mode of passion, living in it, causes distress. But it also makes Krishna Bhakti seem not very attractive.

And that is the greatest spiritual danger of the mode of passion. So, materially it just indentures us to endless labour and spiritually it makes us feel that Krishna Bhakti is tasteless. So, now the word passion can also be used in a positive context.

Say, I have a passion for art, I have a passion for reading. So, passion basically means a strong attraction. A strong, deeply felt attraction.

In the Bhagavad Gita's philosophical context, when we use the word passion, it refers to the mode of passion. The rajo-guna, wherein each of these modes have their own characteristics. There is sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna.

One way we can describe these three modes are that some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some people wonder what happened. So, people in goodness make things happen. They think and then they act and they get things done.

Some people in passion, they watch things happen. If they want to do one thing, but in doing one thing, they are not very thoughtful. That one thing leads to some other untoward consequence.

And they deal with that, and they deal with that. Hey, what is happening? What is happening? What is happening? Just watch things happen. And people in ignorance are so paralysed that they just wonder what happened, what is going on.

Just don't see. So, another way of understanding this, there are two faculties we have. The faculty of thinking and the faculty of acting.

So, we think in our inner world and then we act in the outer world. In the mode of goodness, thinking precedes acting. First I think, then I act.

In the mode of passion, first I act, then I think. He speaks on the air. I should have spoken that.

Why did I speak that? So, first we act and then we think. And in the mode of ignorance, we neither think nor act. So, Krishna defines this that, he will talk about three modes.

In 14.11 he says, the characteristic of the mode of goodness is prakasha. sarva-dvareshu dehe smin prakasha-upajayate jnanam yadatada vidyan viruddham sattva-vidyutam So, he says, when all the doors to the body are illuminated by knowledge, by light, the light of knowledge, then that state is the mode of goodness. Now, the doors to the body are the senses.

Does this mean that people are in the mode of goodness, light comes out of their eyes, light comes out of their ears? Not like that. Now, when, he says, illumined, prakasha. Prakasha means light.

But when you talk about light of knowledge. So, for example, if this door is there and around that door everything is dark, then I will not know who is coming in, who is going out. Sometimes a thief may come in.

I am not going to realise it. Some child whom I am supposed to take care, a child slips out, I won't even notice. So, if there is darkness, then what is coming in, what is going out, we can't know.

So, similarly, when there is no illumination in the door of the senses, then what to take in with our eyes or what to do with our actions, that there is no clarity. So, we eat without discrimination, we talk without discrimination, we see things without discrimination and that is a state of lower mode. Lower modes, either passion or ignorance.

In goodness, when there is the illumination, then we can see, and this person looks like a dangerous person, I will not let them inside, close the door. So, like that we process the sensory inputs and decide what to allow inside, what to not allow inside. So, prakasha, illumination is the characteristic of the mode of goodness, Krishna says.

In the next verse, 14.12, he says pravrutti. Pravrutti is action. Person in the mode of passion is defined by action.

You just can't sit peacefully. Keep doing something or the other. Action, action.

And beyond that, Krishna when he talks about the mode of ignorance, aprakasha or pravrutti. Pramada moha eva cha. There is no prakasha, there is no proper illumination and there is no proper action also.

There is not pramada moha. There is intoxication and illusion. So, for example, a person may sit and think and study and understand.

That is the mode of goodness. A person is involved in passionate sports. People get into physical sports where they are slamming into each other, knocking each other down.

That kind of physical running around, that is in the mode of passion. In the mode of ignorance, people just sit on a bed and play video games. And in shooting images on the video games, they think I am a big hero.

So, actually there is neither thinking nor acting. There is simply illusion. So, in the mode of ignorance, basically there is, what we can say, not even material action.

So, there is, even materially, imagine, I will do this, I will do that, I will do that. So, when people watch, when people go and watch movies. Now, usually when you watch movies, maybe there is an action scene, there is a hero beating up some villain, people think, I am there, I am beating up that person.

If a hero and heroine are dancing together, people think, if I was there, it would be so nice. People start whistling. So, what is happening? This is actually eating, sleeping, mating, defending.

They are considered the activities which are common to humans and animals. So, when animals, when humans do only those activities, that is considered animal life. But, getting compulsively obsessed with entertainment is not even animal life.

It is second hand animal life. That means, the people are not even working to get the bodily needs or bodily desires. Just imagine and get it over.

And so, many times when people go and watch movies, they take something like popcorn and pop it, eat it. Why? Because everything is imaginary, something has to be real. So, aprakasho aprurutistha.

In the mode of ignorance, there is neither proper action nor is there proper illumination. Somehow there is some groping for enjoyment. Then, if you broadly understand these three modes in this way, Sri Prabhupada writes in the 14th chapter, Parpod, that in the past, progress was understood in terms of the mode of goodness.

Now, progress is defined in terms of the mode of passion. So, as I said, that prakasha or illumination is the characteristic of goodness. And pravukti, action, is the characteristic of the mode of passion.

So, one of the first books that Shri Bakht Siddhant Singh Thakur wrote, was in Bengali called Bangali Samajikta, Sociality in Bengal. And there he addressed some of the criticisms of British people who had come to India. Indians are such lazy people.

No material, no ambition, no progress. They are so apathetic. So, he addresses that criticism by telling that actually we human beings have two faculties.

There is the karmendriya, the working senses, by which we act in the world. And there are jnanendriyas, the knowledge acquiring senses, by which we observe and learn. So, he says, in the western civilisation, which is largely in the mode of passion, the stress is on the karmendriyas.

Do this, do that, do that. Whereas, in the Vedic civilisation, the stress was on the jnanendriyas. Observe, learn.

So, he says, the sages in India compose huge literature. Mahabharata is 110,000 verses. It is 110,000 verses.

Actually, it is 7 times longer than the two of the longest poems in western literature. Iliad and Odyssey. Both combined together, multiplied by 7 is less than the length of Mahabharata.

So, how about lazy people who have written something like this? It obviously requires hard work. But, the sign of progress in Vedic civilisation was that how much we observe the world and learn was in terms of jnanendriyas, acquiring knowledge. Whereas, in the western civilisation, it is in terms of doing things.

What have you done? What have you done? So, he says that from the perspective of the karmendriyas, progress in the jnanendriyas doesn't seem of much value. On the other hand, from the perspective of the jnanendriyas, progress in the karmendriyas doesn't seem to be of much value. Because the basic reference points are different.

Krishna talks about this similarly in 2.69 in the Bhagavad Gita. He says, यानिशा सर्वभूतानम् तस्यां जागृति संग्यमि यस्यां जागृति भूतानि सानिशा पश्यत ओमलेहे He says that, that which is यानिशा सर्वभूतानम्, that which is night for all living beings, तस्यां जागृति संग्यमि, that is the day for the संग्यमि, for the self-restraint. That which is day for all living beings is night for the self-realised.

Now this verse, if you take it literally, what does it mean? One creative interpretation we could do is, when it is day in India, it is night in America. And when it is day in America, it is night in India. So we could say that all self-restrained people are in India and all self-gratified are in America.

So, when it is day for the self-gratifier, it is night for the self-realised. And when it is day for the self-realised, it is night for the self-realised. But the Bhagavad Gita is not talking about geographical categorisation like that.

So here, the words day and night are used not literally but metaphorically. Day is the time of illumination. Night is the time of darkness.

So when it is said this is the day for the self-realised, that means this is where they see things clearly. This is where they want to act. This is what they look forward to.

Whereas night means, so the self-realised, they want to get deeper understanding of life, of the purpose of life. And thus they want to move forwards. So that growth in our understanding is what they look forward to.

But the materialistic people, what is this? What is the use of the self-realised? What are you doing? How much money are you earning? What are you achieving in life? That is their focus. So, conversely is also true. Materialistic people think, oh you are achieving this, you are running here, running there.

What is the point of it all? When Srila Prabhupada met Ambarish Prabhu, Ambarish Prabhu is Alfred Ford, the great grandson of Henry Ford. So, I was just in Ranchua, so I met him and his family recently. So, he likes to tell his first meeting with Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada came, when he came to me, he was in Detroit, and Prabhupada came there. So the devotee introduced me, he is Alfred, great grandson of Henry Ford. So Prabhupada looked at him deep in the eyes, he says, oh, so you are the great grandson of Henry Ford? Where is he now? Where is he now? So, what Prabhupada meant was, he had so much wealth, but now he has gone to some other destination, the wealth is left over here.

So, he told that. When I heard Prabhupada say this, I realised Prabhupada is a real saint. He is not interested in my money, he is interested in my spiritual well-being.

When people are very wealthy, everybody around them walks on tip-toe. I don't want to offend you. So, when people approach them, we got some donations from them, then we try to flatter them.

But Prabhupada was not interested in that. So, the devotee said, yes, there is wealth, but it is temporary. So, where is he now? We may have a lot of wealth, but how long is it going to last? Things may belong, but for how long? Things may belong, but for how long? So, when we see this from a long-term perspective, those who are selfish, they say, what is this infatuation? Why are you getting so mad after this? See, wealth is needed for living, there is no doubt about it.

But wealth is a means for living. It is not the purpose of living. It is what we live with, not what we live for.

In the materialistic world view, wealth becomes the purpose of living. The more money I have, the more successful I become. And then I want to become more successful and more successful.

And what does that mean? I want to earn more and more. So, this is the difference in the world views of the materialists and the spiritualists. So, now, when a person is caught in the mode of passion, the desires just keep growing.

Karmanam ashamahaspruha. Inessential desire. Get one thing, ten other desires come up.

Get those ten things, hundred other desires come up. And it's an endless process. People talk about a rat race.

Rat race? No. Even if we win the rat race, we still remain rats. No, no, the thing essentially changes.

Achieve one goal and then some other goal to achieve, some other goal to achieve, some other goal to achieve. When I was a student in India, since my early childhood, I had one dream. I wanted to be the topper.

And I was always among the toppers. First, second, third, sometimes the joint first. But I was never the first.

So, I used to study for my exams and I was looking forward. But never at first rank, but always eluded me. And finally, in my third year of engineering, I did GRE.

And at that time, because I liked English from my childhood, one of my hobbies was just to pick up a dictionary and memorise words. So, generally Indians find it difficult to do well in English. So then, when I gave GRE, at that time it was out of 2,400.

I got 2350 out of 2400. Not only was I first in my college, but I was the first in the history of my college. I was the first in the whole state of Maharashtra at that time.

I was in the seventh heaven. Early, late. That lasted.

It was exhilarating. But after some time, I realised, just looking at the marks, there is no pleasure. It's only when someone comes and congratulates you.

Ah, yes, I've done something special. So, somehow it happened that three of my friends forgot to congratulate me. So, first time it happened.

Second time it happened. And third time it happened, I was so agitated. I said, don't you know what I've achieved? Why are you not congratulating me? So, at that time, it's almost like I look at myself from above.

My body. Not a physical out of body experience, but conceptual. And I realised that at one level I was annoyed with them.

Why are they not congratulating me? But then it struck me. This achievement has actually not made me happy. It has made me more dependent for my happiness on others.

In the past, I could just meet with my friends and talk with them and move on with life. Now, when I meet them, there is so much expectation. And when that expectation is not fulfilled, there is agitation.

So, I've not become happy. I've become more dependent for my happiness on others. And that's when it struck me that there must be some other way to happiness.

I can give another exam. I can work very hard. And I might achieve something higher also.

So, but to what point? Again, the same thing, I'll achieve something. Again, I'll depend on others for congratulations, for felicitations. So, where can one get satisfaction internally? That was some of the time when Krishna arranged that one of my friends, who had been much more materialistic than me, he gave me a Bhagavad Gita.

And he gave me the Bhagavad Gita. The first thing I told him, he said, please read the Bhagavad Gita. I've already read.

But then as I was talking with him, I saw that he was so transformed. I felt, maybe I missed something in the Bhagavad Gita. So, let me read it again.

And that's how I started reading the Bhagavad Gita. And then I understood about how at the level of the soul, there is happiness that doesn't depend on anything external. In 6.22-23, in the Bhagavad Gita, he talks about the state of samadhi, of deep absorption.

And there it is said, So, 6.22, Krishna says that, having achieved this, that there is no other gain to be achieved. And yasmin sthito, means situated in this state of consciousness. Even if great distress comes, one will not be agitated.

One will not be disturbed. So, Krishna is telling here, the state of spiritual absorption, once we achieve it, there is no more further hankering for something more. And, there is also no, Krishna is saying, not that there will be no problems, but he is saying, there will be no agitation.

Problems won't disturb us. So, I started thinking, whatever I achieve in my life, will it ever, can it provide these two guarantees? After achieving this, there is nothing more to be achieved. At the material level, whatever we achieve, that guarantee can never come.

And, whatever we achieve, this is going to protect me. After I get this, I will never be disturbed by anything else. No, it also can't come.

It's only when we internally connect with Krishna, and realise our eternal identity as his blissful parts, that's when this will happen. So, this is the truly worthy achievement, which we can pursue. This doesn't mean that we have to stop pursuing externals.

But, those are not what is going to make us happy. They are part of our life, they are part of our profession, we pursue them. But, our ultimate goal has to be this.

So, in the mode of passion, we just keep pursuing one thing and another thing. And, we hope it will give us pleasure. And, it gives us pleasure.

But, it is short-lived. And, when that pleasure goes away, we find it so unbearable, I want more pleasure. And, in this way, in the mode of passion, there can be actually two strong pullings.

One is enjoyment, and the other is achievement. Achievement is also for enjoyment only. By enjoyment, I mean essential enjoyment.

Eat this, touch this, do this, that's enjoyment. And, achievement. I want to become great, I want to become number one, I want to get this gold medal.

Now, both of these are desires driven by the mode of passion. And, both of them promise some pleasure. But, that pleasure is short-lived.

So, Prabhupada explains that as far as the mode of passion is concerned, in sense enjoyment, most of the pleasure is in the anticipation of the pleasure. Oh, I'll get this, I'll get this, I'll get this. I'll enjoy, I'll enjoy, I'll enjoy.

Most of the pleasure is in the anticipation. Suppose somebody is in a desert, lost. And, their throat is burning.

They desperately want water. And, they look up and they see a helicopter coming. About to signal for rescue, they find the helicopter just coming to them.

As they look at the helicopter, they see on the side of the helicopter is written W.A.T.E.R. They feel so much relief. The helicopter lands in front of them. And, after landing, a person in uniform comes out, tall, hefty, well-built.

And, on the uniform, on the sleeves, W.A.T.E.R. Now, I want water. And, they have a big jug. Carrying the jug, they come out.

And, that also, W.A.T.E.R. And, the person approaches this. And, this person just puts his fingers, please give me water. And, then he puts his hands forward.

And, the person takes the big jug, turns it around. And, one drop of water comes out of it. And, the person walks back, gets into the helicopter and goes away.

W.A.T.E.R. So, one drop, what is it going to satisfy? So, sense pleasure is like that. There is huge hype. Oh, I am going to get the pleasure, I am going to get the pleasure, I am going to get the pleasure.

But, actually, when the pleasure comes, it is so little. It is so little that we just can't believe it. And, then people think, maybe I am doing something wrong.

Maybe I am with the wrong person or maybe I don't know some techniques, I have to do this, I have to do that. Some people try to explore. But, it is, the pleasure is only in the anticipation.

There are, Prahlad Maharaj in a verse, he analyses, is there pleasure in material existence or not at all? Sometimes we may say there is no pleasure in the material world. But, then we may say that, yeah, when I eat good food, there is some pleasure. When I see some beautiful sight, there is some pleasure.

When I hear some nice music, there is some pleasure. So, Prahlad Maharaj says that, That, So, he says, Narasimhadev is asking him, Please, oh Prahlad, ask for some benediction. And, Prahlad replies, I don't know, what benediction can I ask for you? Why, there are so many enjoyable things.

He says, these are all, Just hear about the enjoyment. But, when you actually try to enjoy it, It is like a mirage. There is no pleasure.

Somebody says, you have got a young, healthy body, even if you are not enjoying right now, later you can enjoy. So, The body is a breeding place for diseases. So, what enjoyment can you get? But, in spite of knowing this, Even the wise people are not able to give up the pursuit of sense pleasure.

Why? Kama, Nalam, Madhulavai, Shyamayan, Duravai Kama, it is like a fire. The desire is like a fire which burns within us. But, Madhulavai, There is a drop of honey, a drop of nectar over there.

And, that is so intoxicating. Shyamayan, Duravai It just becomes, it is very difficult to get it, But, still it is even more difficult to give it up. Insatiable.

So, in the same words, he is saying two things. He is saying it is like a mirage. Mirage means there is no water at all.

But, in the same words, he is saying that Madhulavai, That there is a drop of nectar over there. So, what is it? So, actually, the illusion is not about the presence of pleasure. There is pleasure in the material world.

The illusion is about the quantity of the pleasure. The pleasure is there in sense enjoyment, But, it is very tiny. It lasts just for a few moments, it is over.

But, the mind imagines it is going to be endless. So, this imagination of the mind is what causes agitation. And, so, these two, the drive for achievement and the drive for enjoyment, These two define the mode of action.

That I want to be the top, I want to be the number one, And I want to get all the enjoyment I can. And this way, the soul gets caught pursuing one thing after another, After another, after another. And, there is, just can't, when we are pursuing a particular pleasure, If we don't get it, it is very difficult to accept that we made a wrong decision.

So, if we pursue it more, I will get it next time. I will get it next time. But, when the little pleasure comes, along with that a lot of craving comes.

So, I once wrote a poem about this. So, their hearts are pierced by desires. Their hearts are pierced by desires.

Their minds are filled with fears. We have desires, and the desires, whether we fulfil it or not, all that causes anxiety, fear. Their minds are filled with fears.

They are on the verge of tears. They are on the verge of tears, and they say cheers. So, in materialistic civilisation, Actually, people are not happy, but they somehow try to put a facade.

I am enjoying. Because, the ego doesn't want to admit that I made some wrong decision. So, yeah, I made the right decision, I just have to work a little more.

So, till then I will put on a facade. But, actually, there is no enduring satisfaction. Some fleeting pleasure is there, but it comes and it goes.

And, not only the pleasure goes, When the pleasure goes, in the pursuit of the pleasure, there is so much entanglement that results. By entanglement, we don't just have to refer to karma. Some people may not say, I don't believe in the law of karma.

I don't believe in future consequences. But still, we may not be caught for our wrongdoings. But, we will be caught by our wrongdoings.

Caught for our wrongdoing means, it is something wrong and some external authority punishes us for that. But, caught by our wrongdoings means, those actions themselves entangle us. That means, somebody takes drugs.

So, yes, if they are taking some illegal drugs, the police may catch them and punish them. They are caught for their wrongdoings. Sometimes they may not be caught.

Say, I am clever enough, I won't be caught. But, if they are taking drugs, each time they take it, the desire becomes stronger and stronger. And, when that happens, they are caught by their wrongdoings.

That desire itself is binding them. Krishna says, in 16th chapter, that, आशा पाश शतयीर बन्धा In 16.12, he says that materialistic people are bound by hundreds and thousands of desires. These are like shackles.

They are like nooses, they drag people. Now, almost all over the world, slavery is reproached, condemned. Even if it exists somewhere, human trafficking is there.

But, in general, slavery is condemned. So, people are mostly free. They are physically free, but still there is slavery, there is bondage at the psychological level.

Psychologically, people are bound and they are being increasingly bound. Suppose, this is the home, this is the house, this is the hostel where two students are staying. And, this is their college.

And, in between, there is, say, a drug joint, where, now one of the students is born in a cultured family. He says, I am never going to take drugs. And, that student just goes by.

No thought, no agitation, just goes peacefully by. But, the other person has taken drugs. And, they should take again.

So, whenever this second person passes by that drug joint, what happens? Maybe, I will go and take some drugs. No, I have got studies to do, I have got to go to college. No, I want to drink, I want to take this.

So, there is this tug of war that goes inside. So, what is happening? As that person goes by that drug joint, that craving is there. So, that is like a bond.

The bond between the person's mind and the drug, the sense object. And, it pulls, pulls. And, if that person keeps indulging, then after some time, he doesn't even have to see that drug joint.

As soon as that person comes out of the house, the mind is already in the drug joint. Even if somehow that person goes to the class, studying in the class, Oh, I could have taken that drug. The mind is still there.

There is psychological bondage. And, when somebody becomes an addict. Now, addict means, the first thought they get after waking up is, I want to take a drug.

And, the last thought before this is, I want some drugs. So, addiction is actually a perversion of devotion. In devotion, we always want to remember Krishna.

Addicts remember the object of their addiction constantly. But, whereas remembering Krishna brings peace and joy, remembering the object of addiction simply causes agitation. So, even if somebody doesn't believe in future life or future karmic consequences, we can see the consequences even now.

We may not be caught for our wrongdoings. But, we will be caught by our wrongdoings. The wrongdoings create desires to do that wrong again and again.

And, they bind us. And, it's a state of great distress. So, at external level, those who are in the mode of passion, they may seem to be enjoying life.

But, internally, there is no satisfaction. There is only agitation. I want more, I want more, I want more.

So, the result of the mode of passion, Krishna talks about this in the 14th chapter, 15th, 16th verses. He says that each of the modes gives a result. He says, कर्मण सुक्रतस्याहू सात्विकं निर्मलं फलं रजस्यस्तु फलं दुखं अज्यानं तमसाः फलं So, phala, the fruit of each of these is, कर्मण सुकरतस्याहू सात्विकं निर्मलं फलं In the mode of goodness, if someone acts, the result is purification.

निर्मलं But, in the mode of passion, रजस्यस्तु फलं दुखं Living in the mode of passion leads only to distress. दुखं And then, अज्यानं तमसाः फलं If somebody is in the mode of ignorance, they are already in ignorance, but they go into deeper ignorance by that. So, the mode of passion promises pleasure, but it leads to distress.

And, the more one goes into the mode of passion, the more one becomes distressed. The more one becomes entangled more and more and more. The mind just gets consumed.

This desire, this desire, this desire. How do I get out of this? When the desires start consuming us, then they torment us internally. Externally, the person may be wealthy, may be prosperous, may be successful, but if the desires are uncontrolled, then they are pulling, they are tugging, and there is great pain because of that.

Sometimes, people who are successful, they do something crazy. People who are fabulously wealthy, still they do some scam to get more money. And then they get caught and they lose everything.

Why do they have to do that? Because greed is tormenting them, pulling them, do this, earn this, do this. And it just makes them miserable. And they do something terrible afterwards.

So, in the mode of passion, although there is an appearance of prosperity, appearance of success, but internally, there is great dissatisfaction. There is great distress. And the greatest marker of this is that people are, at the level of the mind, extremely agitated.

At the level of the body, especially in the first world countries, there is a substantial amount of comforts. But at the level of the mind, there is enormous agitation. And that's why the professionals, like psychologists, psychiatrists, they are flourishing.

Because people are so agitated, so disturbed, they need some relief. In fact, the whole anti-depressant drug industry, it started in 1960s. Before that, throughout the history of life, people have had problems.

But, it is, people in the past would also have had depression. But in 1960s, the idea of anti-depressant drugs started. And now, anti-depressant drugs are the single biggest drugs that are sold in the world, in the first world countries.

The maximum expenditure is on those drugs only. It's interesting, sometimes they do world happiness surveys, and different countries come first. Happiness, of course, is subjective.

So, there are sometimes countries like Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, these come first, in some parameter. Different people do it in different ways. But it's curious that the people of these countries, they say they are happy.

But these countries also have among the highest sale of anti-depressant drugs. So, I say I am happy, but I need to take anti-depressant drugs. Then what is the happiness, actually? So, if we just let ourselves be guided only by pratyaksha pramana, seeing only with our eyes, then we think, oh, there are big buildings, there are posh cars, these people must be so happy.

Yes, there is some happiness, but if we see deeper, at the level of the mind, there is great agitation. And that is unavoidable in the mode of passion. Because, when there is this desire, the desire is one thing that agitates the mind.

Get this, get this, get this, get this. But concomitant with desire comes fear. Because when we want things which are out there, and because things out there are not always in our control.

So, if those things go away, then that causes fear. We may think that, oh, if I have more money, then I'll have more control, I'll have more security. But then the problem is, I seek money to gain security, but then money itself is not in my control.

The stock market may crash, anything can happen. So, desire and fear, these two drive the mind wild. And in the mode of passion, these two are unavoidable.

So, externally, how much money one has, how big a house a person is staying in, how great a car a person has, all these are fine, they are markers of success at one level. But they are not necessarily markers of happiness. Happiness will depend on what is the state of the mind.

If the mind is driven by desire and fear, there cannot be happiness. And this desire and fear which drive the mind wild, they can be calmed ultimately only by Krishna. When you fix the mind on Krishna, in devotion, the desire and the fear subside.

So, without Krishna, no matter how much one achieves, we may even imagine I am successful, and the world may laud us as successful, but happiness will elude us. So, in the mode of passion, as I quoted Prahlad Maharaj, māyā-sukhāya bharaṁ udvahato vimūḍhān. There is bhāra, burden.

We carry a burden which the whole world thinks. Oh, you are so happy. But it is māyā-sukh.

That is not actual happiness. udvahato vimūḍhān. Mūḍha is a fool.

Vimūḍha is an empowered fool. Empowered fool means what? Person has a lot of energy. I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll do that.

But through it all, there is only the burden. There is no real happiness. So, that sense of deprivation that we may have, when in the materialistic culture, we say, oh, this person has this, this person has that, this person has that, and we feel deprived.

I don't have all that. So I'm unhappy. Yes, if we have the capacity to work and earn and get material things, that's not the problem.

But thinking that these things will make me happy and thinking that because I don't have these things, I'll not be happy. I'm not happy. That is the mistake.

Because how much we have, how little we have, that doesn't determine our happiness. Our consciousness will determine our happiness. If I have little, but my mind is not wild by desire and fear, I'll be peaceful, I'll be joyful with it.

If I have a lot, but my mind is wild with desire and fear, then whatever I have, I will not be satisfied. The classic example of this is in the 7th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad. Prahlad was a child who had nothing.

In fact, his life was being threatened. But he was peaceful. Hiranyakashipu had everything.

But he was not satisfied. He was agitated. He was dissatisfied perpetually.

So by using Shastra Chakshu, with the eyes of scripture, when we look at the world, then we will see that life in the mode of passion is not a life of happiness. It is a life of distress. When Shri Prabhupada came to America, that is what he saw.

He says, he saw that actually, all the people here are distressed. Only if they hear about Krishna, then when they become connected with Krishna, then that distress will go away. So that is a vision Shri Prabhupada saw with the eyes of scripture.

He did not see big buildings, fast cars, smooth roads. He saw all that. But he saw something more.

He saw the consciousness. He saw his favourite mode of passion ignorance. That is why there is dissatisfaction.

So to the extent, we study scripture, and we ourselves learn to see through Shastra Chakshu, through the eyes of scripture, then we will also see that this passionate living is not the way to happiness. And we will not get captivated by the illusion. So broadly speaking, we can say that the eyes are the way to illusion.

The ears are the way to enlightenment. The more we look at the world with the eyes, I have to get this, then I will be happy. I have to get this, then I will be happy.

But the ears are the way to enlightenment. The more we hear scripture, the more we contemplate what we hear, then we see that this is not the way to happiness. There must be some other way.

And that's how we can perceive it. So the first step in moving from passion to compassion is to recognise that passion does not lead to satisfaction. It leads to tribulation.

And that understanding that passion leads not to satisfaction but to tribulation, that comes through Shastra Chakshu, through seeing with the eyes of scripture. So in tomorrow's session I will talk about how bhakti is the solution to the distress of passionate living. But more importantly I will talk about how the mode of passion can misdirect even our practise of devotion.

And thus we may practise bhakti with devotion and we may share bhakti also with… practise bhakti in passion and share bhakti in passion. And that can also cause distraction. So I will summarise what I spoke today.

I talked about the first part from passion to compassion. I talked about how passionate living doesn't lead to happiness but leads to distress. And the three modes, characteristics I described, that goodness means first there is thinking, then there is action.

Then passion means first there is action, then there is thinking. And ignorance means there is no other thinking nor acting, there is simply imagining. So like people playing video games, watching movies, and just living in that.

Doing that as entertainment is one thing but making that as life's greatest pleasure. It's not even animal life, it is second-hand animal life. So in the mode of passion, it's characterised by action, not work.

Mode of goodness is characterised by illumination. So those who consider knowledge, acquiring knowledge, as a sign of progress, and those who think, acting, doing things here, in the world, as a sign of progress, that's the quintessential difference between, you could say, western civilisation and eastern civilisation or broadly speaking, material civilisation and spiritual civilisation. There has been spiritual even in the west, and there has been material even in India also.

But Krishna talks about that night for all living beings is day for the enlightened. So night and day refer to the area of interest, area of illumination and area of action, contribution. So we try to see from the perspective of the self-realised, why they are not interested in passionate activities.

So in passion, we may achieve, I talked about that, two main sources of pleasure, achievement and enjoyment. Now even if we achieve, I talked about my getting GRE, good score, that even if we achieve, there is always a dependence on others to laud our achievement, only then there is pleasure. Otherwise, the achievement intrinsically doesn't give pleasure.

And it's just an endless task because always we can keep achieving, keep achieving. So real achievement is that which gives us freedom from hankering and freedom from distress because of external disturbance. That achievement will come only when we become internally connected with Krishna in devotion.

The other is enjoyment. In material life, in sense enjoyment, most of the enjoyment is in the anticipation. Like a person lost in a desert getting a helicopter with water coming but giving only one drop of water.

So there is pleasure in the material world. The illusion is not in the existence of the pleasure but in the quantity of pleasure. Feel there is so much but actually it turns out to be so little.

And that little pleasure also comes at a big cost. Even if we neglect the future karmic consequences of wrongdoing, but still we may not be caught for our wrongdoings, we will be caught by our wrongdoings. That means whatever actions we do, they create desires which bind us.

People may not be bound through physical slavery now, but there is a huge amount of psychological slavery. People are bound by their desires. At the extreme we can say there are addicts who break their lives to somehow get the substance of addiction.

Devotees remember Krishna. Addicts just compulsively remember their object of addiction. At a lesser level, at a less extreme level also, people who are externally very successful, internally they are tormented by their desires.

And that's why even when they have fabulous wealth, they do something criminal to try to gain wealth and they fall because of that. So as long as the mind is going wild because of desire and fear, how much we possess that is not going to determine our happiness. We may have little, we may have a lot, but if the mind is wild with desire and fear, then there is going to be distress.

So the way to happiness is not just to increase what we have externally. It is to free the mind from the forces of desire and fear. And that happens when we fix the mind on Krishna and become purified.

So devotion is the way to satisfaction, not material accumulation as is impelled by the mode of passion. I talked about how in the material world there is the facade of happiness. Their hearts are pierced by desires, their minds are filled with fears.

Their hearts are filled with fears, their minds are pierced by desires. They are on the verge of tears and they say, cheers. So if we stick to the eyes and see with the eyes, then we will fall into illusion.

But if we hear with the ears and then look at the world, then we will see that the passionate life actually leads to distress. And therefore we will get a strong conviction to rise above this passionate way of living. Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? Yes. Yeah.

Thank you very much. It looks like there is something that is from your classroom last night. Yes.

I am just wondering about the happiness and distress factor. They could be genuine like when you talk about controlling the mind, bringing the mind into balance, there could be some genuine fear of physical things? So not just imagine… Correct, yeah. There could be a fear of genuine physical things.

Yeah, right. So that is one end of the spectrum. And the other end is when it comes to happiness, sometimes it is easy to get carried away from the rewards of your own services, even if it is performing Krishna consciousness.

So there is one spectrum where there is fear of physical things and the other spectrum where it is easy to get carried away from our rewards. So how is this to… Carried away from our rewards means what? There could be some rewards or recognition or something that happens during Krishna consciousness. Okay, that I will talk tomorrow.

Or practising sample devotion or practising passion. I will talk about that tomorrow. So you say all our fears are they simply caused by our desires for craving and losing? But can there be not the fear of genuine physical pain also? Like disaster.

Yeah, I got your question. Yes, there can be definitely. See, in the mode of goodness when we live, there is also happiness.

And in the mode of goodness also there is fear, there is healthy fear. It's not that when I say material world, the illusion is in the quantity of pleasure. There is pleasure at the material level also.

If somebody has a passion, but not in the sense of rajoguna, but a deep attraction. Somebody say loves science and he wants to do scientific research. Somebody is a musician and he is going to go deep into music and absorb themselves in it.

Somebody loves art, they spend hours doing some work of art. They get pleasure over there. That is not rajasic pleasure.

If somebody does something out of love for that thing, not so much for the result that I will get by that. The result comes. But if somebody does something in the material world also out of love for that thing, there is a deeper satisfaction that comes.

So that is to large extent in the mode of goodness. When we do something out of love for that thing. And the problem with that also is that it is temporary.

But it is not passionate. So similarly in the mode of goodness, just as one can find more enduring material happiness, so in the mode of goodness one can also recognise more tangible material fears. So sometimes some people they are terrified.

What if my favourite team loses a cricket match? And that is the biggest fear of their life. Now others may have fear. What if my health gets spoiled or what if there is an accident or whatever.

Now that fear is actually good. A, when I am driving a vehicle, if I don't tie the security belt, then there can be great injuries. So to have that fear I should tie my belt.

That's a healthy fear. So the material is not false. The material is real.

And being real, there is real happiness possible, there is real distress possible. The problem is that it is, in the mode of passion, it is disconnected from reality and it is very flickering. In the mode of goodness, it is more connected with reality, but still it is not connected with the supreme reality.

Not necessarily connected with the spiritual reality. In fact, if you see in the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna talks about the 20 items of knowledge, at that time, he says that the wise person sees person sees the distresses of material existence, birth, old age, disease and death. And that becomes an impetus for practising spiritual life.

So that fear is not just in the mind. That fear is a real problem in this world. And recognising it with due gravity is what will energise us in our spirituality.

So, does that answer your question? Yes, it does. But mostly we hear a lot about being fearful. Okay.

Now, is it that in devotion we are meant to be fearless? Prabhupada said that one of his regrets is that his devotees are not adequately fearful of maya. Isn't it? So, he wanted that healthy fear. So, there is fearlessness because the devotee is absorbed in Krishna.

And the devotee's fear is that I may get disconnected from Krishna. And therefore, the devotee is very cautious, you could say almost fearful, of those things which may cause forgetfulness of Krishna. So, that means this fear is not so much a physical damage.

A devotee may also fear physical injury. But that is not so much just because the devotee is thinking I am the body and the body will get injured. But rather the devotee thinks that this body is the means by which I am serving Krishna.

If the body gets damaged, how will I serve Krishna? Therefore, I won't take care of this facility. So, fear itself is not bad. It is what the fear is for.

Whether the fear is so that I can stay more connected with Krishna or the fear is that I will lose those things which are giving me pleasure without any connection with Krishna. So, ultimately everything can be used in Krishna's service. So, even fear can be used in Krishna's service.

So, if the fear is, fear intensifies our devotion to Krishna, then that fear is positive. Okay? Thank you. How should I become more connected with Krishna? So, if the desire comes and becomes strong, how do we control the desire and stay connected with Krishna? It is, we cannot fight desire at the level of the desire.

That means, I will not do it, I will not do it, I will not do it, I will not do it. The mind will slowly delete the note. I will not do it, I will not do it, I will do it, I will do it.

So, if our consciousness is simply focused on saying no, saying no is never pleasurable. It's only when we have a yes to something higher, then we can say no to something lower. So, bhakti is not so much about giving up desires, it is more about taking up higher desires.

So, taking up the desire to serve Krishna, taking up the desire to hear what Krishna does, serve, to chant Krishna's name, to share Krishna's message. So, when we fill our life with more and more positive spiritual desires, then these lower desires slowly start going away. So, we can't battle desire at the level of that desire.

We have to create a higher desire. It's like say, if somebody invites us for something at their house, say, I have this programme, come to my house, let's come. Now, we may not want to go.

At that time, how do I say no? I don't want to make this person feel bad. So, we may not be able to say no. But at that time, that same day, there is some other programme.

It's there. Then we can say, I have to go for this programme, so I can't come. So, when we have something to say yes to, saying no becomes easier.

But, if there is nothing to say yes to, then say no. Why not? So, that's why, as devotees, we try to fill our life with Krishna as much as possible. Try to take up commitments in devotional service.

So, we can't empty our mind of desires. But we can crowd out desires. We fill it with Krishna conscious things, with positive things, related with our services, our responsibilities, Krishna.

Then gradually those desires go away. So, that's the first thing. Second thing is, when the desires come, at that time, we need to have some readily accessible means by which we can direct our consciousness towards Krishna.

That means, when the desire comes, at that time, it's very difficult to remember why I should not do this. Because the desire comes and allures very strongly. So, we, at other times we may remember.

There are many times when I say that when I am giving class, it's so easy to remember the philosophy. But when the temptation comes, it's just always the philosophy is forgotten. So, it is, we have to make sure that it's like, you know, how otherwise I sometimes feel it is like, sometimes there are some warriors who, fighters who, they exhibit their skills, you know.

So, when they are exhibiting their skills, they are taking all their weapons and showing it and fighting. But on the war field, wait, I forgot my weapon. And now the enemy will slaughter at that time.

So, we have to have our reasons, okay, why I don't want to do this. Now, have that ready with us. So, it's not that illusion attacks us in unlimitedly new ways.

All of us have certain weaknesses and those weaknesses keep popping up again and again. So, what are our reasons why I don't want to indulge? We write it down. Not just shlokas, but what those shlokas mean to us.

What is it that convinces me? Write it down, 1, 2, 3, 4, whatever reasons are there. And keep that ready. Maybe in a phone, in a diary and read that.

That basically, we need to resist when the desires come at the level of the intelligence and at the level of the mind. At the level of the intelligence, we get rational reasons, philosophical reasons. This is why I don't want to do this.

At the level of the mind, because the emotions are involved over there. The craving is there. So, we need to find some devotional stimuli by which our emotions are directed towards Krishna.

So, it may be some particular kirtan. This is so sweet. I love this.

It may be a particular darshan of Krishna. This is so nice. So, as soon as we look at it, as soon as we hear it, our consciousness gets directed that way.

And then, if both our intelligence and our emotions are channelled towards Krishna, then saying no to that desire becomes much easier. And thirdly, even if we indulge, we should never, even if we succumb, we should not become discouraged. Okay, it happened.

Let me rise and let me move on. Sometimes what happens is, the mind is very cunning. What the mind does is, first it makes us do wrong.

Say, like I said, two people boxing match is going on. One person, bang, he gives a blow and this person falls back. And now when this person has fallen down, he has to fight and he should look at the coach or look at some of his fans or supporters.

What should I do? The coach says, come on, we can do it, fight. But if this person who has fallen down, this boxer, looks at the other boxer and says, can I win this match? Never! So what happens is, first we let the mind knock us down. And then we consult the mind.

Can I ever give up this desire? Never! So what happens is, when you fall down, okay, I can rise, but instead of rising, the mind says, you have fallen? I fall down completely. So, we never become discouraged. That's why, even if something has gone wrong, we rise again.

And we need those who will encourage us. So we never lose till we lose hope. So even if we fall one time, ten times, hundred times, doesn't matter.

Rise and keep practising. As we keep practising bhakti, gradually, our practise of bhakti will make us stronger. And as we become stronger, then we will be able to overcome those desires.

Last point I'll make is that, we also have to recognise that past karma plays a role in this. That, just like Krishna has six opulences, wealth, fame, knowledge, beauty, and so some people may look very beautiful, some people may be very wealthy, and this is a result of past karma. Similarly, for some people, by their past karma, they have renunciation.

Others don't have. So just because somebody is more good looking than others, that does not make them automatically more spiritually advanced. Yes, if somebody looks good, then they will attract others.

And if they are going to speak about Krishna, people will be attracted, and people will hear from them. So just as beauty is a resource, which can be used in the service of Krishna, similarly, renunciation is a resource that can be used in the service of Krishna. But just because renunciation is there, does not necessarily mean the person is spiritually advanced.

And just because renunciation is not there, does not mean that the person is not spiritually sincere. Of course, by the practise of bhakti also renunciation comes. But that is gradual.

So the point I'm making is, overcoming desires should not be our defining criteria for deciding whether I'm serious in spiritual life or not. Our seriousness in spiritual life is determined by whether I'm practising the positive activities of bhakti consistently or not. The regulatory activities of bhakti, all of us, based on our past karma, we will have certain levels of renunciation.

Some people may actually by their past karma be very renounced. But if they become proud of their renunciation, I'll talk about this tomorrow more, then they're actually not using their renunciation to remember Krishna, they're using their renunciation to become more proud. You know, just see, all of them are fallen.

They're not making spiritual advancement. Sometimes we may fall, but if we take shelter of Krishna more, then we may actually advance more. So, by trying to fill our consciousness with Krishna, by having both intellectual and emotional ways of redirecting our desires, our consciousness away from the objects, by never becoming discouraged, no matter what happens, and by understanding that renunciation is a resource for serving Krishna, if I have it good, if I don't have it, still I'll serve Krishna.

That way, we can combat desires. Thank you. Thank you very much.