How to introspect & cultivate goodness | Gita 14.11 | Youth | Bangalore
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
There is a competition. How do we know which mode is prominent, which mode is winning? So, in science there is physics and there is chemistry.
So, physics is more of studying elements in isolation. This is how this works, how this works, this is what this does. But chemistry is of studying things in combination.
So, the previous verses when Krishna started the discussion of the modes, from 14.5 to 14.9 is more like the physics of the modes. What is each mode in isolation? And now from 14.9, 11 onwards, Krishna is talking about more of the modes in interaction. Because in nature, one mode is very rarely present alone.
The modes exist in combination. So, how do we know among the various modes, which mode is prominent? That is what is being discussed over here. Say for example, now all three of us are wearing saffron.
But there are three different shades of saffron. So, what happens? I don’t know if there are different shades of white also over here. Maybe slightly.
Some are brighter white, some are not so bright white. So, the idea is that just like in nature, it’s very rare that any one colour exists in its pure original form. Even if you say, oh, there is such lush greenery over here.
If you look at the various shrubs and trees that comprise the greenery, each of them has a different shade. So similarly, if we consider the modes to be like colours, then in our psyche, in our inner world, the modes are combined in different ways. Even if two people are in sattva guna, still the combination that makes their distinctive personality will be different from the combination that makes someone else’s personality.
And that’s why even two people in goodness are not going to be identical. So, Krishna says broadly in the second section, he’s focussing on describing the characteristics that we can know in this situation, which mode is prominent. So, five to nine is more like the physics of the modes.
I’m using the word physics in a bit of a general sense over here. Physics means studying isolation, indefinition, what is it? And then from 10, this particular analysis goes on till 20, where Krishna describes the chemistry of the modes. Chemistry means it’s more like the interaction.
When two elements are interacting, what happens by the interaction? So, in dynamism, how things result. So, here in the particular verse we’re discussing, eleventh verse, Krishna is telling the characteristic of the mode of goodness. How do I know that I’m in the mode of goodness? sarva-dvare shuddhe he smin.
So, if I consider this to be the body, the body has various doors. Which are the doors to the body? Senses. So, we have two kinds of senses.
What are the two kinds of senses? So, the jnana-endriyas, the knowledge senses, and then we have the karma-endriyas, working senses. Each of these are five. So, each of these senses can be considered to be like doors.
And sarva-dvare shuddhe he smin, for the body and all that other… prakasha-upajayate. That, there is prakasha, there is illumination over there. That means, anybody who’s in goodness, look at their eyes, a bright light will come out of their eyes and blind you.
If you look at their ears, bright light will come out of their ears. Is that right? No, that’s not what we refer to over here. He’s not talking about the magical, mystical attributes somebody may have.
Prakasha is used here in the sense that when there is light, we can see what is coming in, what is going out. So, if there is a door over here and it’s completely dark around the door, then somebody who is not meant to come in may sneak in over here. And somebody who is meant to be here may sneak out.
We may not even realise it at all. But when the doors are illuminated, at that time we are aware. There is awareness of what is coming in, what is going out.
So, the idea over here is that we interact with the world through our senses, taking in information and acting based on our intentions. However, when we are in Rajoguna Tamoguna, we may not even be aware of what we are doing. There is an old Jewish saying, Have your ears heard what your mouth has spoken? That means people speak without thinking.
And it’s not just people, we all do that at times. We speak words without considering what the impact will be or even whether these are really the words I want to speak. So, the idea is when we are in the lower modes, when we are in the lower modes, often what happens is the senses act faster than the intelligence.
So, it’s like the tongue kicks into action before the brain. And the tongue speaks without the brain thinking adequately. So, maybe after that we think.
So, in this Satyuguna Krishna is saying that we are aware what is coming in and what is going out. So, sometimes we may have decided, Okay, I don’t want to eat sweet food because it’s not good for my health or whatever. But then we see some sweet food going on and we keep looking at it.
And as we dwell on it, as we dwell on it, the desire keeps increasing. And then we are no longer able to resist it. But the fact that we were dwelling on it, the fact we were letting the desires get fuelled inside, that we may not be aware also.
Like if someone is very attractive. Even in materialistic circles, staring at someone is considered impolite. Oggling is even worse.
But even staring is considered impolite. But somebody is very captivated by someone, they just glance at him, their glance becomes a stare. And it becomes a stare, from the other side comes a glare.
What are you doing? So, the idea is that when sattva is lacking, at that time, what we are taking in and what we are doing, both we are unaware. And in our inner world, if we consider this to be our inner world or our consciousness, what is directly in our consciousness is very difficult for us to change right now. But, what we take in and what we give out, that is controllable to some extreme.
So, prakasha upajayate, that prakasha is there, that illumination is there, then we are aware. Jnanam idatadavidyas, the prakasha is of jnanam, the light of knowledge is there. The light of knowledge means we evaluate.
Say like, if there is a company which does some high security, high secrecy work for the military, then everybody who is supposed to come in has an ID and they have security clearance. And then whoever is coming in, we are aware of that and whether that person is meant to come in or not, that is also there aware. So, the prakasha of jnanam is there.
Jnanam. So, that light of knowledge is there. Who is meant to come in, who is coming in.
When are they leaving, when are they meant to leave. Vidyaad. So, vidyaad is know this to be.
So, jnanam idatadavidyad. So, jnanam refers to the light of awareness. Vidyaad, know this to be that vivruddham sattvam ityuta.
Vivruddham means it is growing at that time. So, it is when our senses are illuminated with knowledge. That is the time of goodness.
So, we are thinking about what we are doing both in terms of taking in and giving out. And that is one reason why especially if we take up the responsibility of sharing Krishna Bhakti with others by preaching. If we are speaking in public, even if it is one person, two people, three people, what happens is that forces us to become more responsible about our speech.
We always have to be responsible and we are responsible for our speech. But especially the public forum, we are much more responsible. So, the idea is there are ways in which we can push ourselves to come to sattva guna faster.
So, this is the characteristic of sattva guna. So, A, we are feeling sleepy. Now, ok, I have become aware, I am feeling sleepy, right? My eyes are nodding off.
Sometimes we are so lethargic, my eyes are nodding off, my eyes nod off also. I don’t even realise it. But then, ok, I am feeling sleepy right now.
I don’t want to sleep. So, maybe I will stand up. Maybe I will do some movement of the body.
Whatever. So, we are aware. Then, why is awareness needed? Basically, awareness, we use the word consciousness often, but I am using the word awareness slightly differently over here.
The awareness is to be conscious of our consciousness. That consciousness is like the energy by which we can perceive things. But, what is that energy itself like? So, like say, right now, I am going to be conscious of your faces and your expressions and I am trying to read whether, I am trying to understand whether you are understanding.
So now, I am aware of that. But suppose, I focus on one person among you and I. If I go to Australia, there is one person who sits right in front. And throughout the class, he doesn’t just stare at me, glares at me.
And even if there is some humour, there is no laughter at all. So, the only way I can comfortably give a class is by looking at everyone except that person. So, now, if I pay too much attention to one person or sometimes some speakers who are not very well-trained, just look throughout the class at the person right in front of them.
Only one person. And that person becomes upset and says, what did I do? So, sometimes, we may be conscious of, so the speaker may be very conscious of what they are speaking. But their consciousness is fixed on one person.
That may not be very appropriate. Isn’t it? We are not always conscious of where our consciousness is. So, in one sense, spiritual growth, it begins with becoming conscious of our consciousness.
Where are my thoughts going? Where is my mind right now? So, awareness, what it does is, this may be our intention. This is where we want to go. And what happens, as far as our action is concerned, our action, it slowly starts diverging.
And after that, we go in the opposite direction also. So, we want to think of one thing and move toward doing one thing. But we may end up doing completely opposite.
So, you are chanting, you want to think about Krishna, and you start thinking about Krishna. But slowly, your thought is going to something Krishna, maybe something, I heard that class, that philosophical point, and then, oh, you know, there is a lot of competition, what job I am going to get now, and then, okay, what food I am going to eat. And we go in the sense of anything completely opposite.
So, this divergence that happens, this is where we need awareness. Awareness enables us to know when our actions are diverging from our intentions. And that’s when we can get them back.
This is the characteristic of Sattva, broadly speaking. It’s interesting, I’ll make two points, and then, you can have some questions. So, that, it’s interesting what Krishna emphasises as the characteristics of Sattva Guna.
Sattva Guna could have many different characteristics, isn’t it? But Krishna is emphasising one of them. So, for example, earlier itself, at the start, Krishna, when he talks about the modes, in terms of the physics, he says, that there are two characteristics. The two characteristics are that, Tattva Sattva, Nirmalatva, Prakashakam, Anamayam, Among these three modes, Sattva is Nirmalatva.
So, Nirmalatva, it is relatively speaking, it is pure. Nirmalatva. Mala is impurity.
Nirmalatva is, among these three modes, Sattva is the purest. Prakashakam, Anamayam. Prakashakam is, it is illuminating.
And Anamayam it is, it is freeing from sins. And then, it binds us, Sukha Sangena, Badnati. What is Sukha? Happiness.
Badnati is to? Bind. So, it binds us to happiness, and Jnana Sangena, Chanakya, Jnana Sangena, with knowledge. So, among the various characteristics of the modes, that they are Nirmalatvat.
And that goodness is purest among all. And it frees one from sins. It is illuminating.
It binds us with goodness. It binds us with a sense that I know more than others. Among all of these, Krishna is emphasising one particular characteristic.
So, why is that? See, generally, emphasis is reflective of the mood or the priority of a person. Say, in a class, if a speaker emphasises a particular point again and again, that means we understand that it is important. It is important for the speaker, or the speaker thinks that it is important for us at that particular point.
So, Krishna is emphasising this Prakashakam, that, that, this illuminating aspect. Why? If you look at the context, Arjuna is overwhelmed by his emotions at the start of the Bhagavad Gita. Seeing that he has to fight against Bhishma and Drona, he says, How can I shoot arrows at Bhishma and Drona? So, he is disturbed by that thought itself.
And he himself said that, So, basically, there are more and more involuntary bodily reactions to the situation that he is facing. So, is he aware of what he is meant to do? So, the situation is having such a severe influence on him that he is going downward. So, from that context, Krishna is saying, Arjuna, be aware that your actions, are they going to be according to your values? Are the actions that you are going to do now, are they going to be something that you will be proud of? Something that you will do, or will they be something that you will regret in future? So, Arjuna may feel compassion, and that compassion is laudable at one level.
At the same time, he is a warrior. Just because, say, a terrorist is also a human being, that doesn’t mean that a terrorist doesn’t need to be punished. A terrorist needs to be killed.
Even if the terrorist is a human being, because the terrorist has not shown any humanity. And the terrorist is not likely to show any humanity in the future. So, Duryodhana, Bhishma and Drona may be venerable elders for him, but they have sided with Duryodhana.
And what is Duryodhana’s situation? He had tried to disrobe Draupadi in public, in the royal assembly. We hear this incident so many times, we don’t realise how grave it is. If some predatory man wants to molest some woman, normally they will do it somewhere in private, where there will be no evidence left, no eyewitnesses.
It will just be, I said, she said, like that. But if someone does this in public, if they do it in private, at least they have some fear of the law. But if they do it in public, that means they have no fear of the law.
But imagine they go to a police station and do it. That means not only do they have no fear of the law, they are sure that the law has fear of them. Isn’t it? So that is how brazen and shameless Duryodhana is.
And such a Duryodhana has to be punished. Indirectly Krishna encourages Arjuna to be more aware of the actions that he is choosing and what consequences will be there of the actions. To think more.
He is thinking, he is definitely thinking, but he needs to think more deeply. So it is this particular characteristic that is emphasised. So for us, how does this particular thing apply? See, as life becomes faster, we tend to become more caught in the externals.
I have to get this job done, I have to go there, I have to meet this person, I have to meet this deadline. So the more we are in Rajoguna, and most of the world today is in Rajoguna, the more we tend to get caught with externals. External things and external actions.
And war is also Rajasic, it can go towards Tamasic. That’s for Arjuna, but for all of us also, living in today’s competitive world is like a war. Trying to be spiritual in a materialistic world is like a war.
So at that time, it is natural that we will go down toward Arjuna. So we need to try to consciously strive to bring ourselves to goodness. So we consider our awareness.
Now our awareness can be about externals. Our awareness can be about, okay, how am I interacting with the externals? And our awareness can be about internals. So to become aware of the internals, that is going to take a long time.
But at least when the internals start manifesting at the external level, when the externals start triggering the internals, at that time we become aware. So if every day we take some time to become conscious of our consciousness, to take stock, okay, what did I speak today? What did I do? How was the functioning of my Jnana Indriyas? How was the functioning of my Karma Indriyas? Sometimes people do some introspection. How do I do introspection? What do I do? Actually, it can seem very vague.
Some people, like among the various kinds of intelligences, some people have a high intrapersonal intelligence. They can naturally think within. They have naturally that inner self-awareness.
Some people may not have. But we all, wherever we are in that intrapersonal intelligence index, we can start with the interactions. Okay, what did I speak today? Were there any times when I spoke something which I should not have spoken? Were there times when I maybe was undiscerning? How I ate? How I conducted myself? Maybe the way I sat or talked with someone was disrespectful.
So we can start with the journey towards self-awareness. It’s a journey. But self-awareness journey, it can begin by seeing how the self interacts with the world.
And the way we interact is through our senses. So we become conscious of our speech. Okay, sometimes when we speak something and the other person may be very hurt.
And it’s seen on their face but we are so busy we just move on to the next stage and forget. But then we spend some time introspecting. Okay, maybe that time I spoke that.
That was a bit too harsh for that person. Then maybe we go and clarify, we apologise or we seek some guidance about how we can deal in such situations. So this way, we can all if we can increase the self-awareness then we will find that our intentions and our actions will become better aligned.
And that is how we can serve Krishna better and we can pursue whatever services we have, whatever responsibilities we have in this world, also better. So I’ll summarise. I discussed three main points today.
We are talking basically about sattva guna. So this was 1411 in the Gita. So I talked primarily about how when we are trying to hear when Krishna talks about the chemistry of the modes.
He is describing the modes how we can see them in action. So how do we know when the goodness is rising? That is the time when the interaction with the world, there is we could say some kind of illumination over there. So it is visible.
There is like the light of awareness by which we can see the interaction that is happening. So that light of awareness means we will be able to understand what is going in and what is going out. That awareness is basically a conscious of our consciousness.
We are aware of where what we are taking in and what we are speaking. For Arjuna specifically, this was important because Arjuna needed to heal his emotions were getting the better of him. Emotions were becoming too strong, but rather that was unhealthy.
He needed to get a better handle on them. He needed to manage them better and for all of us the life will almost drag us towards so we need to have time when we bring ourselves. So introspection simply you could mean is let me just focus on my interaction of the senses with the world and we cannot be conscious so easily of what goes on inside, but we can start by becoming conscious of the interaction between these two and that’s how we can get our actions and our intentions and our actions better aligned.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? When we become too much aware of our consciousness, it may lead to body consciousness sometimes. When the word bodily conscious has a negative connotation it refers to basically identifying with our body but the body is a part of who we are like we say we are not our body but we live through our body.
So if I am driving a particular car and that car is hitting someone I don’t want to be car conscious. Well you are not being car conscious, you are conscious of where you are going with your car. Isn’t it? So like that it is important to be conscious of the body also.
So Yuktahara Viharas How will we regulate our eating if we are not conscious of the body? So it is see it is very strange to say that Krishna can speak to us through everything but he can’t speak to us through our own body. Isn’t it? No, Krishna speaks to us through everything. Krishna can speak to us through the mother devotee Prabhupada had Krishna speaking to most men.
You are writing magazines, people will throw them away, write books, people will preserve them. This is my Gurudev speaking, this is Krishna speaking to Prabhupada. So our body can tell us that you are working too hard or you are becoming lazy or this is stretching you too much.
So if you try to lift heavy weights and our back pains, that is our body telling us, maybe this is beyond our capacity. So it is like we don’t want to be bodily conscious. Bodily conscious is basically our consciousness gets reduced to the body.
So if this is my consciousness and then the body is primarily all that I am conscious of. But conscious of the body that means this is my consciousness and within that my body is one thing that I am conscious of. So we need to be conscious of our body.
Now if it starts leading to bodily consciousness in the sense of it taking over our consciousness constantly, then that’s not very healthy. Then we can decrease that. Some people have a tendency of paralysis by analysis.
So then if that’s a tendency, then we have to decrease that. But I don’t think most people have that tendency of we all do overthinking but that overthinking is not so much about introspection, it’s more about anxiety of what will happen here and what will happen there and lamentation or this happened like that. So I don’t think introspection, a habit of introspection will lead to overthinking.
The two are very different. There is overthinking and there is deep thinking. So overthinking is basically like thinking is just going round and round in circles and getting nowhere.
But deep thinking is we go deep into a subject, we get some understanding and then we come out clear about what is it that I am meant to do. So what introspection encourages is deep thinking. Okay? Thank you.
Sometimes when we are… Yeah, so awareness of our actions is not meant to be forced with guilt. See, it’s like one, if it’s self-awareness like we say, or we can talk about, we often talk about how is our relationship with others. But we also talk about how is our relationship with ourselves.
So in our relationship with ourselves, like say the… If somebody is mistreating us so we consider that it’s somebody else. We could be in denial. No, no, no, actually that person didn’t mistreat me.
That person was just in a bad mood or this had happened, that happened. So if you are constantly denying that person’s actions, that’s not good. They keep becoming worse and worse by that.
Like somebody is an alcoholic and they have a partner. So often they are called enablers of the alcoholic. So the alcoholic drinks and makes a mess and the enabler comes and cleans up all the mess and actually nothing has happened.
And the alcoholic keeps doing the same thing again and again, worse and worse. So enabling an alcoholic is unhealthy. So you know you try to deny, you try to hide one.
That is not helpful. But on the other hand is blame. Blaming.
Blaming, condemning. You are a worthless person. If the alcoholic is trying to recover and somebody constantly keeps blaming him, you are a terrible person.
Then they will never recover. So the same applies to us. If we are not aware of what we are doing, we are often in denial.
It’s like somebody is short-tempered and he says, who says I am short-tempered? I am the most even-tempered person that is there in the world. Many people’s lack of self-awareness is astonishing. Often people believe that they have the very virtue whose opposite they have.
Because this is just no self-awareness at all. So that is one extreme where there is a denial or hiding or whatever. But the other is blaming or beating oneself down.
Oh, I am like this. I am worthless. No, we need to have something in between.
We need understanding. You need to understanding so that there can be reformed. There can be improvement.
Sometimes it is better to the self-awareness, it is better to do it with a clinical perspective than a moral perspective. There is a time for a moral perspective. A moral perspective is, if I do this, I am a terrible person.
That’s the moral perspective. But a clinical perspective that it’s like a disease. So lust, anger, greed, these are diseases.
They are infectors. So unless there is proper evaluation of the symptoms or evaluation of the medical tests are done, you don’t even know how grave the disease is. And then you don’t know how to deal with it.
So self-awareness is in that sense doing the medical testing. You do thorough testing so that you know what are we actually dealing with. So once we do that, then we can see how exactly to deal with it.
So then if a person starts feeling I am terrible, then they have to understand that that is also an attack of maya. Maya can come to us in various ways. And one way it is that it makes us fall to temptations and makes us not even recognise that we are falling to temptations.
Others say it makes us fall to temptations, makes us believe we are so fallen that we will never be able to rise. So that is also a form of maya. Anything.
So that’s not a pseudo humility. That’s not actually humility. Any of you have heard this statement? I am a fallen soul.
So many times what happens is the fallen becomes so big that the soul is forgotten. So the fallen is also a temporary designation. Like I am male, I am Indian, I am teenage, I am middle-aged.
These are all temporary designations. They are very different from the soul. So fallen is also a temporary designation.
So just as we should not identify too much that I am south Indian, I am engineer, I am a scientist. Similarly we should not identify too much that I am fallen. We should be aware that in this particular area I have vulnerabilities.
But we should not over-identify that. Why is peer pressure an enemy of introspection? Why is peer pressure an enemy of introspection? When you sit down for introspection, somebody comes and shakes your hand. Don’t waste your time like that.
Or how exactly? It’s a good question. See, pleasing others is good. Having said that, what does actually pleasing others mean? Our seniors, our guides, they are our well-wishers.
And when they want us to do the services that they tell us to do, follow the instructions, whatever. But ultimately they want us to become better. We all have a particular subhava.
We all have a particular gunakarma. We have a particular kind of body-mind machine that we have. And if we understand ourselves better, we will be able to serve better in the long run.
So we don’t have to see this as opposite. Because we have our seniors and we want to please them right now. But life is complicated.
Maybe 5 years down the line, we still want to practise bhakti lifelong. And 5 years, we may not have those same seniors. We may be in a place where those seniors are not accessible to us.
Where nobody is accessible to us. So, pleasing our seniors should not become an emotional dependency on them. It is a guidance to help us become better.
To better understand the gifts that Krishna has given us, so that we can serve better. So, if we are even if we are trying to please, now even for pleasing some senior devotees, there may be a dozen things which we could do. But maybe out of those dozen things, 6 things we are okay at doing, 3 things we are great at doing, and 3 things are great if someone else does it instead of us.
That we may just not be able to do it well. So, then it is through self-awareness that we will understand that. And then it may be okay, this is just something which either we are not competent to do or we are not comfortable to do.
So, guna karma is associated with those two things. Guna and karma. When we have guna for something, we are comfortable doing it.
We feel good doing it. And when there is karma for something, we are competent at doing it. So, if we are not either of these things, then it is better that we become aware and we communicate to the seniors.
Otherwise, they may entrust a important responsibility to us. And if we don’t have the skills, if we don’t have the disposition to do that, then unnecessarily that service will not be done. We will feel guilty.
They may become unhappy with us. So, becoming aware of what our capacities are, our strengths are, will actually help us to please our seniors better. And to also, not just please our seniors, but also ultimately become and do what the seniors want us to do.
That is to ourselves, take responsibility for our Krishna Consciousness. And in times when we don’t have access to the seniors, that time also we should be able to Krishna Conscious. Okay? Yes.
Yes. Okay. Okay.
Maybe you can type your question there because the audio is coming very low over here. Okay. Okay.
So, we have to choose our battles. Some conditions may be just too strong. That doesn’t mean that India is letting China’s team roll.
We have taken a stand. But it is not that we can fight every battle at the same time. So, we have to choose our battles.
And some conditions may be very strong. So, we have to decide that this conditioning right now is very strong. And I will create some boundaries so that I don’t succumb to them.
But I cannot take on this battle right now. So, except this is where I am at. And then we fight some other conditions which are actually winnable for us.
And gradually we grow by that. So, it’s not necessarily a moral defect to not be able to live up to the standards that are expected in every single area. It could just be a functional limitation at a particular time.
And we will grow with time. So, awareness. At least India has to be aware that China is a threat.
That doesn’t mean we can combat China right away. But as long as we are aware, we will make sure that it doesn’t steamroll us. So, if China has taken some territory in Doklam from us, you know, we cannot take it back.
But we can make sure that it doesn’t take further territory over there. We can have further defence over there. So, like that, there is some part of our consciousness which may be occupied by impurities.
And we cannot fight it back. If you are aware over there, at least I don’t go further down. This much, this is where I am at right now.
I can’t do much about this. So, see, self-awareness can lead to both. When there is self-awareness, it can lead to self-transformation, but it can also lead to self-acceptance.
And both are required. And self-acceptance is, this is what I am, and this is where I am at. So, we need both.
So, self-awareness can foster both. Yes, you have typed something over there? Okay, thank you. Yes, go on.
I am not saying they are, I am saying they can be. See, that particular point which I made, it is based on 1 to 22. So, it is said that, in this way, this is the section of the Bhagavad Dharma, where Prabhupada has spoken elaborately on that section.
What it says is, after understanding how the process of bhakti works, therefore, after Therefore, the Kavis, the white people, constantly practise bhakti. Bhaktim paramayam. Bhaktim paramayam.
There is great joy they practise it. What do they practise? Bhakti to whom? Vasudeve Bhagwati. And what is the result of this? Purvantya Atma Prasadam.
That this is the process of bhakti which gives great joy to the heart, to the soul. Atma Prasadam. So, the question comes in, do they practise the process with joy, or do they practise the process that gives joy? Practise the process that gives joy is Purvantya Atma Prasadam.
This gives joy. But, Bhaktim paramayam. So, it’s like, what the verse is saying is, they practise with joy the process that gives joy.
So, the idea is that, if somebody has been very sick for a long time, and then suffered terribly, and now it has been a chronic disease, which has tormented them for long, now finally they have found a cure that works. They are not yet cured. And it may take a long time to be cured.
But they are happy that they have found a cure. So, that is what this verse is talking about. So, chant and be happy.
So, in one sense, chanting is like the medicine process, remembrance of Krishna is the treatment process that will restore the soul to the pure state of happiness. That is Satchitananda, that state. But, till we get there, that we are on the path to get there, we can be grateful and happy for that.
I have found a treatment that works. That is a practise with joy, a process that will lead to joy. So, yes, cultivating goodness is a part of this.
So, if we are cultivating goodness, then we will, even while practising bhakti, see, bhakti can be practised sattva, rajas, tamas. Even introspection can be sattva, rajas, tamas. If somebody is in tamas, they will just say all that is wrong in their life.
And they will feel sorry for themselves. Introspection, rajas can also lead to competition. This person is doing this better than this person is doing this better than that.
Introspection sattva will be more, okay, you know, I am here, I am moving from here to here. So, this is where this has worked for me. The gratitude will come for that.
Gratitude will bring natural joyfulness. You had a question? So, thank you very much.