Sthita Prajna 2

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Transcript

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7 pm thank you coming today how many of you were there today morning also ok half of you so today we are in the second part of our discussion on the characteristics of the spiritually evolved those who are it’s what the Bhagavad Gita calls Siddha Pragya in the so we are discussing the section from to Sai chapter 2 54 to 72 and we discussed in the morning today till text 57 where we started by the first the four questions and discussed the answer to the first question what was the first question you remember speech yes what are the characteristics of the speech of a self realised person now we are going to talk about from 58 to 63 it is how do they regulate themselves keep our seat so I focus on the verse that we are going to recite from 258 and then we will go to one more verse a little later and we will try to cover all the verses but let’s do it one by one so yada samharate chayam yada samharate chayam gurumonda nivasarvashah gurumonda nivasarvashah indriya indriya dhebhyam indriya indriya dhebhyam asya prajna pratishtita asya prajna pratishtita so asya prajna pratishtita this or a similar word comes many times in this particular series of verses that these a person who has this characteristic is spiritually realised is spiritually advanced so literally the word prajna pratishtita means now prajna is intelligence pratishtita sthita is situated pratishtita means strongly firmly situated such a person is well situated so here Krishna is saying yada samharate chayam chayam like this person that camera was not pratishtita so yada samharate chayam kurma anga niva sarvasaha so in this way chayam like this kurma kurma is what kurma tortoise anga niva anga is its limbs sarvasaha this is a tortoise which draws its limbs so anga similarly indriyan indriyarthi yes that the senses from the sense objects need to be withdrawn so in general for the purpose of spiritual growth we discussed the essential spiritual journey can be explained in terms of our conceptions changing initially the world is big and god is small when we grow spiritually then the world becomes big and krishna becomes small is that right now what happens the world becomes small and krishna becomes big so now for this to happen we need to withdraw our senses whatever we expose ourselves to that will become bigger and bigger within our consciousness so this so now this particular series can be analysed in many different ways i will be analysing one particular way that is this sensory regulation which is what i am going to talk about so this regulation i will be talking in terms of boundaries that how we need to create some boundaries like barriers like a wall between between us and this world so that the world does not constantly keep invading and pervading our consciousness and then at the same time we also need to create some bonds so the sensory engagement that is going to be talked about later that is in terms of bonds so i will talk about bonds in tomorrow morning’s class today i will talk about boundaries and what Krishna is telling over here is that we need boundaries so the idea of boundaries is something which is just common sense that if somebody is an alcoholic and they want to recover from their alcoholism and their house is next to a bar then there will be no bar for them to go to the bar even if they are sincere all of us have moments of weakness and if during the moment of weakness the sense object is very readily available then one will fall so if they are very serious about recovering from their alcoholism they may have to relocate or sometimes if some community is family friendly they may say we don’t want a bar in this community and that’s how there are community regulations also the idea is there can be boundaries at the level of society so for example it may be said that in certain parts of the city we won’t have certain kind of activities allowed say the idea of boundaries is okay this is a school area the speed limit for the vehicles becomes much lower because children can’t be so controlled they might just run into the street so the idea is in general when we talk about boundaries there are boundaries at the social level and there are boundaries at the individual level so at the social level the boundaries are created by two things law and culture so certain things are illegal say for example drinking is not illegal but driving and drinking is illegal so not everything that is wrong can be made legally wrong it will just give too much power to the state to control people’s lives so in the Mahabharata in the Shuddha Dama’s instructions Yudhishthira Maharaj the Shanti Parva and especially the Anushasan Parva there is a discussion on how much power should the government have even if the government is well intentioned so how much should the boundaries be imposed by society and how much should the boundaries be cultivated by the individual so for example you may say alcoholism is a big problem so let’s ban alcohol this prohibition now prohibition has been tried and historically speaking it has backfired because people who want to drink will find some way to drink and all that will happen is people will do it illegally so then there has to be it is allowed but with some regulation so the idea is some boundaries can be enforced by society we are not going to discuss that over here because we are focussing at an individual level and when later Krishna talks about Dharma Samstha Banartha or Samparam so Dharma is law and order and it is not primarily religion in the context of the Gita Krishna did not fight the war because Duryodhana was a non-devotee and he had to be made into a devotee that was not the point Duryodhana was doing criminal activities he was doing malpractices and that’s why he needed to be punished so of course Krishna wants us to practise Dharma but that is not what is socially enforced Bhakti cannot be made into a rule imposed by society that everybody has to follow Bhakti is a matter of individual choice it’s a matter of an individual offering their part so if we consider the way the verses go in the 4th chapter 4.8 and 9 oh sorry 4.7 and 8 Yada Yada Hidharmasya and Paritranaya Sadhuna these are about Dharma and this is at the level of society this is mandatory Krishna says don’t agree Vinashaya I punish them I penalise them I disempower them I can even kill them if required but after that then Krishna talks about in 4.9 and 10 about Bhakti He says that Janma Karma Chame Devya Evam Yobhidhita and Manmanabha not Vitaragavya Krodha Manmayama Upashita Bhavo Gyan Sampoota Bhavamangata so this is voluntary Krishna says those who understand my activities those who understand my attractiveness will become attracted to me they will come to me so Bhakti is voluntary Krishna would definitely want us to practise Bhakti Krishna would want everyone to practise Bhakti but he doesn’t impose that because it cannot be imposed Faith and devotion are individual choices so the point I am making is society can enforce certain boundaries but in general we cannot count on society to enforce the boundaries so and we can’t expect society to enforce too many boundaries so we will focus on individual boundaries what we can have in our own lives so that we can be protected from temptation so the example of the tortoise withdrawing senses so tortoise withdrawing its limbs is the idea of creating a safe space or nature has provided that safe space and a person is withdrawing into that safe space so the idea is that a boundary helps establish a safe space so in this case a safe space refers to a temptation free zone or at least a zone where temptation is less say if somebody is an alcoholic and they are going to a social event where there is alcohol then that constant I can drink I can drink no I should not drink I won’t drink I can drink now we may say that we all need willpower to say no and that is true but we cannot over rely on willpower it gets exhausted after some time constantly saying no to a bad temptation becomes exhausting so boundaries create a safe zone and every one of us based on the particular kind of temptations we face need to establish certain boundaries for ourselves so of course boundaries alone are not enough and that will be indicated by Krishna in subsequent verses like somebody is an alcoholic and they move to a house 5 miles away from a bar but if they get caught by that desire then they may travel 5 miles what to speak of they may travel 500 miles to get a drink also so boundaries are not the final solution but they are a necessary first step because what happens during the moments of weakness if you consider the desires we face we will talk about the desires there are times when the desires become strong and if at that time the boundaries are weak or there are no boundaries then we will succumb so broadly we can establish boundaries in 4 different ways I like to use the acronym CAST to explain this so we can CAST certain pencils we can build certain boundaries for ourselves so what are these 4 things so Krishna has given an example from nature so generally speaking whenever Shastra gives an example if you want to learn how to apply scripture in our life there is often some specific example or specific detail in scripture and from that specific detail we need to be able to understand what is the universal principle and then this specific example or detail may apply at that time that time that time means the time when Krishna spoke scripture now in our case what would be the specific detail that is something which we have to figure out so basically this is the journey for applying scripture we start with the specific we understand the universal and that universal how does it apply at our specific life so for example in the prayer by Prahlad Maharaj in the seventh canto he is saying that I am being pulled by my various senses in various directions my tongue is pulling me in one direction my eyes are pulling me in another direction my ears are pulling me in another direction my nose is pulling me in another direction now it’s given the example like a man who has many wives are pulling him in different directions now that example it’s of polygamy and that was a part of traditional society not just in India practically all over the world for various socio-cultural and socio-economic reasons but that particular example may not be seen in our society today still to some extent we can understand that example the idea is one person being pulled in different directions when he is illustrating that example he says the eyes and the ears are attracted to radio songs now actually sometimes Prabhupada puts it in the translation itself sometimes Prabhupada’s translation itself is like the purport now there is no mention of radio in Prahlad Maharaj’s Sanskrit so actually Prabhupada is going up and down this he is doing this journey and giving us the practical application now some may say nowadays radio ok but now maybe TV or mobile that would be there so the specific example may vary so when we apply scriptures in our life there is a specific example over there for that specific example a universal principle and the universal principle how it can be applied today so the universal principle the specific example the tortoise withdrawing its lips the universal principle is is having a safe space or creating a boundary now we are talking about how we can create a boundary so we will try to understand the principle and then we will look at some specific ways in which we will apply the principle so caste refers to four main things category accountability space and time I will explain what this means that in terms of boundaries category means we may decide that this particular category of things I am just not going to do so for example when we start practising then we may decide or we decide that we are not going to eat any food that is not offered to Krishna so a whole category of temptations is ruled out by that or we follow the regulative principle so no meeting that means that whole category is ruled out so sometimes when a person wants to regulate themselves they may just say this entire category no like some people may be too to their food then they may say that I am just not going to have food now sometimes when they say I won’t have a phone if they don’t face trouble others face trouble contacting them then they need to have somebody else with a phone whom they can contact and that particular way of functioning may or may not impact them but the point is sometimes we say no to an entire category this is what I am not going to do at all so somebody may be drinking and they say I am not going to drink any food whole category of alcoholic drinks no and in some ways just having a clear category that we are going to say no to helps us not be constantly undecided maybe I can do this to a little degree a little less a little more just having a category I know how to do it so that closes a lot of options that the mind keeps oscillating with and the problem with the mind is that the more options it feels it has the more it gets agitated if certain options are just ruled out this is not happening then the mind’s agitation decreases now of course this will not always be practical and we will talk about that but certain categories say for example if somebody has the craving to eat a lot of food but they have decided I am only going to take one then what happens is even if they see some food which they like ok maybe I learn how to cook it and I will cook it and then I will take it that may be done but the whole category of indulgence is stopped so I will talk about each of these four approaches I will talk about the positives and the negatives so category if we can do it the positive is there is freedom from agitation nothing doing this is not to be done at all so now the negative of it is that it may be impractical impractical means if somebody says I will not use any phone at all or I will not use a smartphone at all well in today’s days if somebody says I will use a landline now you may wonder how are you going to reach it so it may not be practical and we cannot rule out categories of objects society is changing and the way society changes affects us so we may decide a particular category of things I am not going to interact with but those particular categories of things we still keep encountering us or we may keep encountering them so you may say my eyes get tempted by so many things we cannot move around with closed eyes so there is a we cannot always avoid category but to some extent it is definitely possible so for example the male-female attraction is a universal principle that just exists and it has a purpose this purpose is procreation that’s how every species continues and humanity is no exception now traditionally the boundary for male-female intimacy was marriage that is done so now the mind may get agitated excited but if individually one has a respect for the sanctity of marriage and one has society also reasonably has respect for that then what will happen is that boundary will decrease the agitation in the mind so that boundary will keep things connected now in the west around 1920s onwards it started but it became very big around 1960s was what was called the sexual revolution there are these kinds of revolution they call this a sexual revolution where basically they the argument was that past cultural norms have sexually repressed and inhibited humanity and that’s why there should not be any regulation of sex they say love should be free love should be free means lust should be free that was the practical application and they said because of that there will be no loneliness there will be great proximity among people but the result of that was even in the west sometimes when we think about west we have a very reductionistic idea of the west say we think of America means Hollywood but actually in the western world America is the most religious country America is far more religious than UK or France or Australia or New Zealand in fact when I had gone to New Zealand a Kiwi person was asking where are you travelling I said I spend almost 3 months a year in America oh he said America damn it that old fashioned country filled with religious nuts that elected Trump so so their idea is actually America most of the southern part southern the middle part is quite evangelically religious and then in America also there was respect for sexual motives you know Christianity may not have the same kind of same standard of sexual regulation that we have but they do also respect the sanctity of knowledge and premarital sex or extramarital sex Prabhupada used the word illicit sex broadly speaking but both those premarital and extramarital sex was strongly disapproved and so but after the sexual revolution the so called claim for sexual freedom the social boundaries started collapsing now even now still in the west where it’s quite liberal the premarital sex has become almost like a norm but still extramarital sex is disapproved they say that you don’t get married if you’re going to get married then don’t fool around I was in New Zealand I was talking with I often speak and I talk about sociologically also things are degraded in the western world I talk about how divorces are increasing families are breaking apart and children get especially affected by that so one of my hosts was telling me for a western audience don’t speak about divorces increasing I said why is it that people are scarred by the divorces and see nowadays they don’t even use the word divorce they use the word separation it’s a soft word so I said is it that people are scarred and they don’t want to be reminded of that he said no it’s not true I said really so people are not getting divorced are marriages becoming more stringent he said no people are not getting married so people just live together and do whatever they want so the point is that there have been traditionally boundaries in the society and if individually and culturally there is some respect for boundaries then the agitation of the mind because of the constant encounter of tempting of attractive looking people that will substantially increase but when those boundaries are not there or those boundaries are not respected then the agitation of the mind becomes much much more nowadays people live in a state of constant artificial sexual stimulation it’s like overstimulated constantly and that is just tormenting but the point is we need boundaries and boundaries are helpful so categorical boundaries means like if as I said there is a person who has respect for dharma and dharma is like in terms of at least marriage we talk about vibhaga is a dharma so then the whole category of say extramarital sex or premarital sex that is ruled out and then the agitation of the mind decreases so certain categories this is not to be done and if that can be both socially exposed and individually accepted this is not to be done then that helps continuity but as I said it may not always be it may not always be practical in political situations say in America many places now drugs are being legalised and now they say ok just say no to drugs but they are everywhere so then it becomes more difficult to say no to drugs but somebody says ok even among people who say use drugs use intoxicants they say ok I may drink alcohol but I am not animal I never do drugs so that category is needed so each one of us may decide that a particular category I am not going to get so somebody may say that I like sweets a lot but I will say I am not going to take sugar so that doesn’t mean I am not going to take sweets I can take sweet foods I can take jaggery I can take dates I can take sweets made with jaggery but one category no somebody say I am not going to take fried foods so saying no to a particular category in one sense gives the mind a certain black and white if we can if we can implement that then that is actually very helpful that whole category gradually starts decreasing in sub-categories and it doesn’t happen immediately right now it’s talking about the boundaries afterwards we move forward where the boundaries don’t seem to work what to do now the second is if now the remaining three are all about if we cannot impose a category on ourselves so then the next is accountability now accountability can be to others or it can be to ourselves so for example somebody likes to spend a lot of money everybody likes to spend money everybody likes money but there is alcoholism there is something called shopaholism shopaholism is people are addicted to shopping shop, shop, shop shop till you drop people become exhausted and nowadays with Amazon and online shopping are possible you just get an urge and everything is in your credit card you gotta pay anything just click some button then you buy it and then after you buy it you think why did I buy it so we may not even think it but somebody else asks us ok why did you buy this then we have to explain ok how am I going to explain this I can’t explain this so if somebody is accountable for how they spend their money then that itself will create a boundary to how they spend the money if I know I have to explain to someone else then that helps accountability is there so now with respect to accountability in some cases it is helpful to have an accountability partner an accountability authority who can help us to whom we tell ok I am dealing with this issue and there are times when I get overwhelmed I say come to me now that person shouldn’t be too judgemental they should be too hard but at the same time not too soft so we will talk about the role of association here that association can both help give us inspiration to do the right thing and it can also bring about regulation in doing what is wrong so for example now you are sitting here in the class it’s evening all of you probably had a long day some of you may be tired now if you are sitting at home and listening to this then you might think ok I am just very tired I might sit on a relaxed chair and hear or I will lie down and hear now when we lie down we lie to go down we lie to answer I will lie down and hear most of the time we lie down and then we go down it’s all the same now of course sometimes you may just be very tired and the body needs what it needs but if you are here right now even if you have been sleeping just being here means you are able to lie down and sleep so sometimes the association around us itself creates certain boundaries because you know people are going to look at us what are you doing over there so there is there is in one sense like an unspoken accountability in association unspoken means it is not that we are consciously agreed you know I am accountable to you but just being around people creates a certain level of accountability that leads to a certain kind of boundaries for example people get angry they may use swear words they may use vulgar words swear words or whatever something like that but if say they are in a more cultural society even people who use swear words regularly know that maybe I shouldn’t be using these words in front of children so if a child is there then that itself the presence of a child I cannot still use this language or a person may use a particular language with at office but they may not use that language at home if we come to a temple we won’t use that kind of language so the surroundings also create some boundaries and it’s almost unspoken that’s why I said it’s not a law but it’s culture so the association creates a certain level of boundaries naturally beyond that we are talking about specifically when we this is the issue that I am facing and I I need some accountability so if we have a friend to whom we are accountable maybe we are facing issues with respect to anger and especially say if we are in a position of authority where if we get angry everybody is going to be afraid of us nobody is going to actually challenge us and retaliate against us because others won’t have that power then we may need to have somebody who is letting a pull to us tell them maybe we meet that person once a week will you tell them you know with this particular thing when this person really seems to bring the worst out of me as soon as I see that person I feel like elegant now just speaking like that you know that sounds stupid isn’t it you just see someone you want to yell at them so but if you don’t speak it actually feel like it but if we have to give an account of our actions it’s like if there is no accounting there is no accountability like say if we don’t even record how we spend money then somebody has already spent the money I don’t know if you don’t know how can you make an account of how can we have accounting without accountability so to some extent as the accounting increases the accountability also increases so having someone with whom we can talk ok this is a challenge I am facing if say we tend to overeat and we need to deal with that so we may have a counsellor a friend sometimes it may be a nutritionist so we have to tell every week what did you eat during the week now first of all we have to remember what all we ate throughout the week we have to write it down and then we show it to someone else we have to do that that itself creates a certain level of embarrassment that creates a certain level of restraint so now if we can find an accountability partner to whom we can be accountable that’s very helpful but for such an accountability partner there are two things over here one is they should not be too hard because if they are too hard we will end up becoming discouraged we will become so disheartened every time we do something wrong they just chastise us they come upon us like a tonne of amount to them then we will just get crushed on them so somebody is too hard then that doesn’t work somebody is too soft oh you know this thing happens next time try better and each time they say the same thing then what will happen is we will become complacent we will have what is it chalta hai attitude so we need somebody with the right blend they understand us and they know when to be soft and when to be hard but this is not easy and in general people based on their nature some people will tend to be more soft some people will tend to be more hard and in terms of individual nature some people when they are trying to grow they need a guy who is soft and some people need a guy who is hard so it depends it’s not easy to find but if we can have that it’s a great opportunity so but if that is not possible we can be accountable to ourselves so what is being accountable to ourselves means that the one way to do it is through journaling so as I said if everyday I’m going to write down what all I ate during the day then I’ll be able to read it and then there is a lower self within us which is impulsive I want to eat this I want to get this I want to eat this but afterwards why do you eat so much why do you eat so much so if for example we want to regulate our use of social media or net surfing so if we regulate everything that okay everyday I’m going to write down how much time I spent on social media then just looking through that writing it down noting it just looking through that that itself will slowly create a deterrent for ourselves okay I should not do this nowadays through technology itself while technology can be a source of distraction through technology itself we can create some what so for example you know parents may say that for your children this was just your screen time not zero screen but for small children they say okay you can have one hour screen time half an hour screen time two hours screen time whatever that’s all we may have to do that for ourselves many phones they do everyday for how long is your phone on we can also get for how long which app was used so then we can look at it at the end of the morning so okay how long did I spend on this how long did I spend on that just having that accountability helps it creates a bond initially we may just do what we want to do and after that it comes with the accounting maybe I should not do this so that feeling will come within us sometimes we when we are trying to restrain ourselves when we are trying to regulate ourselves when we are trying to discipline ourselves it’s like we over depend on will power and when it doesn’t work just feel I have no will power no it’s not that simple it’s like if an opposite army is going to attack the soldiers need to have the spirit to fight but just having the spirit to fight is not enough they also need the skills to fight an army may rush to fight but if the enemy has got machine guns and they shoot from far away and you can’t even get to them then just having a lot of spirit is not going to be helpful so boundaries like having boundaries is like a skill so for like fighting a war we need the spirit and we need the skills somebody will be very spirited right now the Ukraine-Russia war is going on and we have we had a large demotic community in Ukraine and I was in UK, I was in Scotland so I met many devotees who were left from there and now they are they have got refuge in UK and other places in fact our in UK we have a food for life department which is specially serving food to Ukrainian refugees and because of that the government has given us a huge premises over there and that premises has become our de facto temple hall where we also have kirtan and we have a nice community going over there but the point is that where now currently in Ukraine I was talking to one of the devotees over there he says that the government is conscripting conscripting means getting people to join by force all all males of a particular age are being forced to join now even if they have patriotic sentiment they just don’t have the skills and they just become like they take order for the opposing army so having the spirit alone is not enough spirit and skills are required similarly for discipline just willpower is not enough willpower is utterly needed but along with that we need bondage without bondage it’s going to be difficult for a person to sustain themselves on willpower alone so with respect to account accountability the positive aspect of it is that it can act as a powerful deterrent deterrent means something which deters us from doing something which causes us to hesitate to do something that’s a deterrent so before 1970 there were several wars between India Pakistan China but after the 1970 onwards 1980 onwards all three countries got nuclear weapons and now there is hostility still but there is no outright war because each country understands that the other country can destroy us and will be mutually assured destruction it’s math I made it mutually assured destruction so there is a deterrence also deterrence means that this action has consequences and the consequences are bad therefore I am not doing this action so accountability creates deterrence but the problem is if it is to others finding the right person is difficult we can be evasive like the day when I over it I just don’t journal on that laughing so people can find ways we can use technology and by technology you know we can always find a loophole that see technology can give us boundaries technology can also give us ways to go beyond the boundaries so so it is not always only but it helps now the last two what are the third in other words what is the acronym we are discussing caste so space space I already indicated that to some extent like a person is staying next to an alcoholic is staying next to a bar then create some space see when we create space what it does is that our mind is lazy now we say it is lazy for Krishna consciousness but even for sensual indulgence also the mind is lazy not always but many times so for example if we are sitting and studying I am reading Bhagavad Gita and our phone is right next to us and the phone beeps ok so the notification has come the phone is right next to us ok we don’t want to pick up and see what is the notification but we just keep the phone in the next room then I am reading right now ok to see the phone I have to walk till there I will finish my reading then I will go and watch Gita so small space can create a significant difference it is some people when they watch TV like when people go and watch movies they always have a popcorn or something to eat it’s what happens is they are watching maybe a hero and heroine they are enjoying together and there is eating, sleeping, mating, defending which is there but when we are watching movie and TV it is like second hand eating sleeping, mating, defending somebody else is doing that and people are imagining if I was there it would be so nice if I had someone like that it would be so nice now they have to eat something because everything is imaginary something has to be real so so the idea is that if somebody can create certain bondage say for example if somebody is sitting and watching and they are sitting on a sofa and their fridge is right next to the sofa then when their hand goes to the fridge when the fridge opens and when one thing comes out of the fridge second thing and next thing the fridge is empty and the stomach is over full so if the fridge is right next then it becomes very easy but say if the fridge is next to or the fridge is downstairs or some basement or somewhere else then someone card opens up that person says I do a workout everyday what is the workout? I walk ten times to the fridge and back to the sofa that’s my workout now if there is space the space itself helps again this is not the final solution but creating a little space between us and the tempting object can help us avoid succumbing to it as soon as the intelligence comes up as soon as the desire the urge comes up so that’s space and now with respect to space again the positive and the negative the positive is that it is doable most of the time and most of the time we can create some space between us but sometimes the negative is that it may not always be workable for us that means sometimes somebody lives in a particular place somebody has a job which requires them constantly be online and that means certain things may not be possible so the same principle can be applied to time now time means say for example even when people drink in the western world drinking is just a normal part of human society in fact there was a one thinker who British thinker Ridley Wright he said the taste of wine is the proof that God loves us the idea is if God did not exist how could something as delicious as wine exist now there are so many delicious things but think about your wine so it’s a normal part of western society to drink but even in the west isn’t it too early to drink right now you drink as the day goes over people drink the second half of the day they drink in the evening because they know that if you drink you cannot function properly their logic is drink but don’t get drunk it’s like saying go to the edge of a cliff bend down as much as you want look down as much as you want but don’t fall down why take the risk but the point is I am saying that even in that society where drinking is normal drinking early in the morning that is not appreciated so somebody may decide that till I have completed my sadhana I am not going to look at my phone that’s a boundary in terms of time or if I am going to read till I have done at least 15 minutes of reading I am not going to look for any phone so we can say boundaries in terms of time and blocking time out for certain activities or blocking certain activities out for some time both ways can be very helpful it is again very practical in many cases it’s doable say suppose somebody has an urge to eat constantly we say ok when I am doing when I am at my work I am not going to keep it full in my office for this time for these 3 hours I am going to be here nothing will be there so create some boundaries for some time in one sense when we fast on ekadashi that is from the culture itself a boundary is given to us in terms of time can you all like to eat delicious food but at least ekadashi is a combination of category and time category is what? fasting from? grains so that is a category and the time is from this time to this time one devotee he did his first fasting and he said I felt so weak and he used to say that when the paran time was coming I was feeling like each movement in the yuga is counting it down one movement in the yuga is counting it down but that cultural valuation of that boundary is there I cannot eat this food in this time so time is there so you can use time as a boundary so for example somebody may decide that I cannot completely say not take sweets but then I will take sweets once a week I will take sweets twice a week whatever people who follow a strict diet they may have a cheat day so at least there is a boundary I may indulge but it is a boundary in terms of time so like that we can create boundaries for ourselves and rather than simply beating ourselves down if we are not able to restrain ourselves think what boundaries are good for you and in that way we can help ourselves in rejuvenation so let’s move on to the next verses now for time also the same to apply sometimes it may be doable sometimes it may not be doable somebody may say I won’t even look at food till this much time if you have to cook food what are you going to do you cannot cook without looking so there is a certain amount of limitation in terms of what space and time we can apply but just understanding that we have various ways in which we can implement boundaries gives us a sense of empowerment maybe I can do this, maybe I can do this maybe I can do this for this much time so each one of us in our trying to discipline ourselves can establish some boundaries so after this Krishna talks about the problem with the approach of boundaries or rather looking at boundaries as the final solution it is the first step to solution not the final solution so can we stay away from the objects I am not going to do this we have imposed a boundary it feels like niraharasya dehinah ahar is food niraharasya it feels as if I am starving one day somebody told me that I am going to do a digital detox I am not going to use any technology for one thing and he said, it is like my fingers started itching to touch the food I just felt it itching it is like my fingers were hungry for touching the food niraharasya ahar is not just with respect to the food that we take into our mouth the sense objects can feel like ahar for the senses and if we are feeling hungry if we are starving, we feel deprived and it is very difficult to stay in that deprived condition so niraharasya dehinah so why do we feel niraharasya rasa varjam so here Krishna is a poetic rhyme alliteration over there the same word rasa is used so rasa refers to rasa varjam refers to non-indulgence so second rasa refers to desire for indulgence so sometimes words have words can have many meanings so the word rasa refers both to the activity of indulging and the desire for indulging so rasa varjam, raso although one does not indulge still one has the desire to indulge, the desire to enjoy because of that one feels starving, one feels as if I am I am hungry, I want something I am deprived and then Krishna also gives the solution param trishwa nivartate now this specific point about param trishwa we will talk on our next section I will skip this for the time being so the problem with boundaries what they do is they their positive is that they remove the object or they remove or at least reduce the access to the object but the negative is that boundaries themselves don’t remove desires now this brings us to two different kinds of desires there are many traditional sayings and sometimes they convey opposite points like one saying is out of sight out of sight is out of mind that’s one saying the other saying is separation makes the heart grow fonder isn’t it so if we don’t have something then we desire it more so which is true is it that out of sight will lead to out of mind sometimes when something is out of sight it becomes more into our mind we remember it more and more so it depends on the desire if the desire is superficial or the desire is deep rooted so for superficial desires boundaries are enough say for example let me pass by a road and we see some gel in it and ok I want to gel in it so that is a desire now if we are not passed by that we might not have got the desire and we just pass by and we don’t have time to stop ok it’s not there it’s nice if I got it but if I don’t get it it doesn’t matter so superficial desires boundaries works for and we all have many desires that just come up so those desires often come up from something external and we say hey that’s nice I could have that but it’s not possible but deep rooted means that those desires are very strongly inside us say for somebody jalebi is one among fifty nice sweets that are there jalebi is one among them if I get it well I get it but if not no big deal but suppose jalebi is their favourite sweet and then if they pass by shop they say jalebi ok now today I don’t have time but tomorrow I will come here tomorrow I will take it and then next day tomorrow they will come take the billets when I get there so for deep rooted desires boundaries I don’t know so it is not that boundaries are of no use they are definitely useful but they don’t always work because certain desires are deep rooted and that is what Krishna points to in the next verse so the desire inside remains so basically to put another way some desires they are outside in that means you saw something and the desire got triggered but some desires are inside out that means the memory of that desire and that indulgence is already there deeply impressed within us when that is there that desire is much more deep rooted say we are sitting idle we have nothing to do and we turn on TV ok let’s see what is there on TV but if the TV was not there may be it will pick up bugo in the android so that is the outside because the TV is there the outside becomes but if we know ok not this 8 o’clock to 9 o’clock this TV series is there and maybe we have enjoyed that TV series then that impression is already there inside what happens it is inside out even if we have gone to some relative’s place I want to watch that TV so it is inside out so for inside the desires which are deep rooted coming from inside out boundaries alone don’t help that is what Krishna points out in the next verse that Purushasya Vipashchitaha Indriyani Pramathini Haranti Prasambhamanaha so here Krishna is talking about billboard and he is saying one wants to give up Krishna is not talking about a person who is sincerely trying to discipline oneself and it is not just only about a person’s endeavouring that person also has intelligence Purushasya Vipashchitaha Vipashchitaha means that a person is discerning is discriminating now some of the word discrimination has got a very negative connotation caste discrimination, race discrimination gender discrimination so unfortunately there is discrimination against the word discrimination so we often use the word discernment to discern rather than discriminate it is a discerning person that means they can understand categories so even if that person is discerning Vipashchitaha still Indriyani Pramathini the senses create such a storm except when the child starts crying I want this food the mother says no and the mother says in a particular sense the child becomes silent but sometimes children just throw tantrum in a way in a supermarket and the child starts saying I want this food and the child is crying so much the mother says ok let us silence him give him the food and let him become silent so Pramathini sometimes the senses become so turbulent and violent there is nothing I can do I just have to do this way Haranti Prasamanah just that agitating senses carry away our mind there is nothing we can do about it so here Krishna is talking about how, he is primarily talking about which of these desires? superficial or deep rooted? deep rooted so what happens over here is we may have this desire, the force can become so strong that our endeavour is in the opposite direction even our intelligence is in the opposite direction I don’t want to do it I know that this is bad but still at that time it is just like a stormy wave that overpowers so you see the Bhagavad Gita is not just giving idealistic principles actually reflecting our psychological realities which are lived the challenges that we face in our lives so this is the case where the desire is present even if the object is not present so even if we have created a boundary the desire will be so turbulent that we will want to break the boundary down and just do it so at this point Krishna says what do we need to do? how do we deal with this? so there are we could say with respect to boundaries there can be outer boundaries and there can be inner boundaries and outer boundaries means what? that, ok we don’t keep certain objects available for us that’s outer boundaries outer boundaries with respect to things but the inner boundary is with respect to thoughts that I won’t think about this so that is what Krishna will explain in the next verse that he says when I said discipline is overrated or we cannot use discipline, we cannot rely on discipline too much that does not mean discipline is not important it is what we do with discipline so TANI SARVANI SAMYUNYA TANI SARVANI SAMYUNYA YUKTA ASITA MATPARHA YUKTA ASITA MATPARHA TASYA PRAKYANPRADISHTHA TASYA PRAKYANPRADISHTHA TANI SARVANI SARVANI SAMYUNYA Yes, we do need to regulate our senses, as much as we can, but while we are regulating our senses, if we let our mind dwell on the sense object, then that hunger will be felt way too much.
Say, if it’s Ekadashi, today is Ekadashi, and we say, get fastened up, but if we are all alone, when we are out of the office, we are in a greater place, when we have family to practise bhakti, so everybody is feasting and we are fasting. Then what happens is, it’s the mind is constantly seeing, everybody is eating, our eyes are seeing and mind is imagining further. So then, it will become very difficult.
But say, if we are doing this Pandavanjali Ekadashi, if we decide, that day I’m going to come to the temple, whole day I’ll spend in the temple, then what happens is, not only are we away from food, but we are also having many ways in which we think about Krishna. We have some object to take our thought towards, and then the craving is not felt so much. So, if the mind is chanting like that, then what is happening is, eventually, our chanting will become pointless.
And then we’ll just, okay, I need some food. But, if we are in the Sushumna Devotees, everybody is seriously chanting. We still say it’s chanting, that inspires us.
If we get Yukta Asita Madhvara, so basically, the hunger that we feel for sense objects, it is hunger. But, it’s like there is hunger, which is biological. Biological means that, say, when we are fasting, our stomach becomes empty.
And, there is a sense where, I am hungry right now, that’s biological hunger. And, there is an indication from the body that we need to take some food. But, there is also psychological hunger.
So, psychological hunger means, the mind feels, I want this, I want this. And, when the psychological hunger comes up, it primarily comes up as a thought. Okay, that’s nice, let’s eat this, let’s watch that, let’s touch that.
So, it comes as a thought, and after that it grows. But, if there is no thought, if you are not thinking about it, so, the more we think about our object, the more the hunger for it increases. But, if you are not thinking about it, then that hunger will decrease.
That’s why Krishna says, regulate the senses, but after that, as I can say, this is the soul. So, these are the senses. This is the mind.
These are the sense objects. So, now, we have created some boundary. So, the senses are not really directly accessing the sense objects at that time.
So, if you consider 2.61, this verse, a verse has four lines. So, A, the first line is, create a boundary by which the senses are regulated. But then, say, the desire is still there in the mind.
So, if this is the soul, and say this is Krishna, then what we need to do is, redirect our mind toward Krishna. So, this is, yukta-asita-madparaha. Tani sarvaani salimya yukta-asita-madparaha.
That yukta-asita, be situated like this. Now, remember, kim-asita. So, the answer is yukta-asita.
How to be regulated? Krishna says, be connected and regulated. The word yukta can sometimes be used as regulated. But yukta is a variant of the word yoga.
So, Sanskrit, both are the same root. So, yukta means connected. So, when we are connected, then we can be so situated.
Yukta-asita-madparaha. So, madparaha can mean, fix your mind on me. Paraha also means, like, I become your most important desire.
Paraha, like Narayana paraha. Vasuben ko paraha nahi. That means, given to, dedicated to.
So, this is the whole point of creating bonds. Boundaries alone are not enough. Bonds are required.
That boundaries and bonds together comprise you. Tomorrow, we’ll be talking about establishing bonds in bold detail. Tomorrow morning.
But the key point is, yukta-asita-madparaha. When we do that, then, Vashidhiya-setriyaani. Vashidhi.
That time, so, we will be able to conquer our senses. So, there are two words over here. In A, the word used is Sanyamya.
Sanyamya is more of control. Vashya is conquest. See, when we are trying to control, that means there is some opposition.
But there is a greater force we have, by which we are controlling. But conquest means, the opposing force has been ridden. There is no more opposition.
That’s conquest. So, India always had control of Kashmir. But now, as things have improved over there, Now, you could say that there is conquest.
But the insurgent elements have substantially decreased. So, it is yukta-asita-madparaha. So, there are boundaries that were imposed.
Boundaries were created to prevent cross-border infiltration. But then, after that, we cannot just consider everybody in Kashmir to be an enemy to everybody. We cannot put everybody in jail.
There were elements who were completely against India. I have a friend in Kashmir, he was telling me how actually India did it. So, he said that there were insurgents who were completely neutralised.
But then, the other citizens over there, not everybody is an extremist or a fanatic or a terrorist. Most people just want to go on with their normal life. And then, they actually started feeling that, you know, India wants our welfare.
You know, India will create jobs for our children. There will be peace and prosperity over there. Now, tourism is flourishing.
Not necessarily Srinagar right now so much, but Jammu definitely. So, what happened is that people saw that, then the opposition also dispersed. This is a bond that was created.
A boundary was created, but a bond in terms of a connection with India. Appreciation that India is not our enemy. India is our well-wisher.
It is so obvious. If you are a part of India, why would you not be the well-wisher? Because of certain brainwashing, indoctrination, that is not the case. So, bonds and bondism.
युख्तवासीतवद्वरावश्यहियस्यत्रियानि तस्यः प्रज्याप्रदिष्ठिता Such a person would be well situated. The same thing, Krishna talk about 258. Now, he is talking about it 261.
तस्यः प्रज्याप्रदिष्ठिता Now, after that, this is the last verse. So, this verse, in isolation, we studied quite a bit. अयतों शेहान्पुत्सा But in this context, Krishna is telling that if you don’t create that inner bond.
There is only a boundary enforced. But the mind is not engaged. Then the mind will find something to contemplate on.
And as soon as you contemplate, अयतों शेहान्पुत्सा That downward journey will go on. The thought will come inside and keep growing. It will grow downwards.
So, it’s basically how temptation grows. Initially, it is just ध्यायतों No, Krishna is not saying दुष्यतों शेहान्पुत्सा He is saying ध्यायतों Many thoughts will come up within us. But it is when we dwell on those thoughts.
We can use these two words. Say, I just got a thought. And I have given this a lot of thought.
Can you give some thought to these two words? Do the two mean the same thing? What is the difference? Intention. Can you explain? Intention. So, when is it purposeful? First one or second one? Second, I have given this a lot of thought.
It is conscious, intentional. First is, it was automatic, it just came up within me. Any other differences? Time spent.
It is got a thought, it came. I have given this a lot of thought deliberately. I spent time and energy on it.
So, when we say got a thought, that could be दुष्यतों So, we see something and a thought comes in. Because of that. Or sometimes when we don’t see something, from some past moment some thought comes in.
But, ध्यायतों So, दुष्यतों itself is not a problem. Of course, it can become a problem. There is a glance, and the glance becomes a stare, and the stare becomes a stare on which you pause.
So, it can happen. But, the thing is, Krishna is saying ध्यायतों So, it is when you contemplate on something. So, the first stage is contemplation.
Now, from contemplation what happens? ध्यायतों विशयान संगस्तेषु जायते संग संग is infatuation, attraction. So, could say संग is attraction. Hey, that’s nice.
We think about it. Hey, that’s nice. Now, as that moves forward, you can imagine this to be like a snowball.
Here, it’s not a snowball. It’s a snow pebble. You can just flick our toe on it and it will crack apart.
But, as it starts going downward, it starts becoming stronger. संगात संजायते कामः कामः is infatuation. So, from that’s nice, I want it.
I want it. Now, what happens after कामः? कामः ख्रोग दोप जायते So, there is infuriation, anger. So, who says I can’t have it? Hmm? So, here, basically, there is rage against the boundary.
There might be a boundary. I should not do this. Who says I can’t do it? So, कामः ख्रोग दोप जायते See, Krishna does not say कामः itself is there.
Because कामः is just natural. In the human being. In every living being.
In humans also. But, Krishna says, in the third chapter when he will talk about कामः ख्रोग दोप जायते It is the desire that gets angry with boundaries. The desire that rages against boundaries that is the problem.
Everybody has desires. And everybody can fulfil their desires. It is not that the desire itself is always destructive.
But, when the desire rages against boundaries and it rejects boundaries that is when it becomes a problem. So, संगात संजायते कामः कामः ख्रोधोग जायते क्रोधा संभोव संभोव is delusion. Delusion means forget what is right, what is wrong.
Actually, something lesser than this. But, it is not so much forget about what is right or wrong. It is more of we get confused.
Hell no! What is so bad about it? Why do people make such a big way to cry? It is only one time. At that time, we get confused about what is so bad about it. Even if I do it once, who will come to know about it? We start getting confused about our own values about it.
So, that is delusion. And after that, what happens? संभोवा सतिवित्रमा So, this is oblivion. I am just using the word O-N, O-N as a rhyme just to pronounce it in a different way.
Oblivion. That is, this is where we forget what is right and what is wrong. We may ourselves, not just have been told by others this is bad, we may ourselves have experienced this.
This is empty, this is frustrating. Like when people drink too much, they get a hangover. Now, the problem is next time they get the opportunity to drink, they remember the pleasure, they forget the hangover.
So, our memory is selective to the point of being deceptive. So, when we say स्मृति ब्रह्मशाद, it is not that we forget the memory of the pleasure. We forget the memory of the trouble after the pleasure.
So, it’s like selective deceptive forgetfulness. So, स्मृति ब्रह्मशाद. So, we forget.
So, this can be both. Forget the instruction why we should not do it, but we forget also the experience of the result of what we did. Then स्मृति ब्रह्मशाद.
Then after that is बुद्धिनाशो. बुद्धिनाशो is stupefaction. Stupefaction means we become stupid.
Stupefy means to be stupid, to be paralysed. So, stupefaction means at this point our intelligence is also conquered. Most people, when they do something wrong, nobody can actually do wrong while knowing that it is wrong.
They somehow internally come up with some reason why it is not so wrong. And we actually disagree. And they come up with… So, the intelligence is either sidelined or it is converted.
बुद्धिनाशाद. So, we become stupid. Once two friends had gone to a party and one of them was drinking way too much.
Other person said, No. He said, even drinking so much is not a good idea. He said, No, it is a great idea.
And the next morning he could hear the second friend. The first friend warned, he could hear the second friend saying, He is throwing up. He is muttering.
I knew it was a terrible idea. So, immediately he went and told that friend. He said, I told you, drinking so much is a terrible idea.
He said, No. Drinking was a great idea. Waking up was a terrible idea.
So, when there is stupefaction, we use our intelligence to justify what we are doing. So, बुद्धिनाशाद. And our intelligence is our last defence.
When the intelligence falls, we fall. What happens after this? बुद्धिनाशाद. प्रणश्यति.
Self-destruction. It is not that somebody else destroys us. We destroy ourselves.
Stupefaction means, we somehow convince ourselves. We convince ourselves that it is not bad or at least not so bad. And that’s how we make that which was out of question, unacceptable, become gradually acceptable.
So, all this will happen when we think about something. So, the point which Krishna is driving towards in this is that that just external boundaries are not enough. There has to be an inner redirection.
There is outer regulation, but there is inner redirection. And how that inner redirection can be that, that we will discuss in tomorrow’s session. I will summarise what we discussed today.
We discussed the section of regulation. किमासीत. So, from 58 to 63.
And the first point we discussed was elaborately about boundaries. What Krishna is telling based on 68 is boundaries. And we discussed when you understand scripture.
To understand scripture, what happens is, we start from the specific at that time. From there, we go to the universal. And then we come to the specific at our time.
So, the specific, for example, there is tortoise. The principle is boundaries. Now, to get the specific at our time, we discuss an acronym.
What is the acronym? CAST. C-A-S-T. What is C? Category.
Category. This whole thing, I am not going to do at all. A is? Accountability.
Accountability. Either accountability can be two ways. What is it? To others and to self, our self.
S was? Space. Space. Our mind is lazy and we can use its laziness.
Keep the sense object at some distance. T is? Time. During this time, for this day or till this time each day, I am not going to use this.
But this was the major part of the class. Then, we discussed with respect to, this was 58. Then this was 59.
We discussed that, what happens is, that this can work for which desires? Boundaries. We have desires that are? Superficial. Superficial.
And there are desires that are? Deep-rooted. Deep-rooted. So, for superficial desires, the boundaries, they work.
So, one way to understand the difference between superficial and these desires is, these are outside-in. These are inside-out. The memories, the impressions are already very deep-rooted.
So, then with respect to that, 60, I discussed our deep-rooted desires. The force that they create would be so strong, that even if our willpower, our will and our intelligence, both will fall short. So, deep-rooted desires, boundaries are not enough for them.
Then 61 was what? There is inner-redirection. So, outer-regulation, that is boundaries. But that has to be accompanied by inner-redirection.
That is, our mind needs to be fixed somewhere else. And that is the bonds. And then, by that, when these two together are done, then there will be victory.
There will be conquest. And then Krishna cautions in 62-63, if we don’t do this, if this inner-direction is not there, if it is not there, it’s absent, then what will happen is, we discussed, contemplation will start, that we’ll start thinking, and the thinking will trigger the desire, and we discuss the biggest stage, by which we’ll go down to self-destruction. So, in this way, Krishna is giving us systematic guidelines, by which we can actually help ourselves, win this battle against, this war against temptation.
Thank you very much. Do we have time for questions? Yes, Mataji, you have a mic? We can take one public question, and if you are available, we can take two questions. Tomorrow, what time, what time is the class? 8.30 to 10.
Maybe we can take tomorrow also and ask some questions. Not working? Then you can speak loudly, I’ll repeat. Hare Krishna Professor, thank you for a very insightful class.
My question was, in spite of knowing everything, about endeavour and effort, which goes in the opposite direction, what role karma has in this? Because sometimes the past karma is so strong, in spite of knowing all this, the intelligence gets lost, and it gets overpowered. Yes, it’s possible. That, see, when you talk about past karma, that past karma can be even from this life, or from previous life.
So, for example, say, somebody has just dabbled in drugs. Let me say, okay, everybody is doing it, let me try it out once or twice, they had a bad experience, I won’t give it to them. Now, that conditioning is not going to be very difficult to work.
But somebody was addicted to drugs, much more difficult to work. So, like that, we all have certain impressions that we bring from the past. And those impressions may make particular conditionings much more difficult than others to handle.
So, for example, for different people. For some people, lust may be relatively easy. But, anger may be really tough for them.
For somebody else, maybe envy is not much of a problem. But, greed may be a big problem. Generally, envy and greed go together.
So, that’s not a good example. But, say, envy might not be a big problem for them. But, maybe for them, lust and envy can be a big problem.
Something like lust might be a big problem, pride might be a big problem, whatever it is. So, each of us has to recognise that we have to fight our own battles. And that’s why we can’t really… It’s not very helpful to compare with others.
For example, some people, fasting will be very difficult. But, they can function quite well without sleeping also. When they get two hours sleep, that’s enough.
They can function for many days like that. But, some people say, I can do very well, but I need six hours sleep. It’s different for different people.
So, each of us have a particular kind of body and mind. And we need to recognise, I’m at a particular place. And from this place, I want to move upwards.
So, there are six opulences of Krishna. So, the six opulences, these opulences, they come to people, individuals, by karma. Like somebody has, say, beauty.
Now, somebody is very beautiful, somebody is very handsome. It’s not that in their mother’s womb, they were sculpting their face. They didn’t do anything.
That’s by past karma. So, if somebody has wealth, that’s by past karma. So, similarly, renunciation is also a result of past karma.
So, some people may just naturally be more renounced than others. And that is because, from the past karma, they have that. Some people may not have that.
Now, with respect to renunciation, especially, and with respect to knowledge or intelligence, but with respect to renunciation, things become a little confusing. Because, when you talk about renunciation, it can come from past karma, but it can also come from present bhakti. Because what it said is, वासु देवि भगवति उप्पक्ति उप्रवियत जनयत्याशु वहिराज्यु जानं चेहं अहिति So, vairagya can come from the practise of bhakti also.
So, now, what happens when we are trying to practise bhakti? We may have already a starting level of vairagya from our purvajalmakarma. And then, based on that, we build on it, and our bhakti helps us develop further vairagya. But, when somebody is developing vairagya, is that because of their present bhakti practise or their past karma? That is difficult to say.
And, so, what happens in devotee circles, this is, or, not just in devotee circles, this is actually religious psychology, that, generally, people come to a religious organisation or a spiritual community because they want a sense of belonging. They want that, oh, the outside world is so lonely, here there are people to whom I share my values, and I would like to have a sense of belonging over here. But then, if a religious group has very high moral standards, you know, there is high standards of discipline expected, then, actually, we may find that people in such groups experience more loneliness than materialistic people.
Why? Because there is so much feeling of guilt and shame, that, you know, everybody seems to be following the standard, and I’m not following it. If I tell anyone else I’m not following this, what will people think about me? So, when you talk about getting a sense of belonging, it’s not just having a physical place to go to. It’s also a place where we can share our heart, where we can be accepted, where we can be understood.
So, when, if in a community the notion comes that anybody who’s renounced, oh, they’re just spiritually advanced, they’re so spiritually serious, and anybody who’s not renounced, they’re so spiritually loose, it may not be like that. Somebody may be very spiritually serious, but a particular kind of renunciation may not be possible. So, in terms of category, it is not that necessarily every brahmachari is more serious than every great spiritualist.
It may be, it may not be. Now, of course, culturally, those who are in their down-slope aren’t even respected in a particular way. But, we can’t equate the level of renunciation with the level of advancement.
Some devotees may be able to fast nirjan. Some devotees may just not be able to fast. I have a friend, he’s, you know, these two belong to the nirjan club, I belong to the nirbhaj club.
Nirbhaj is basically shameless. So, the idea is, I don’t fast, I can’t fast. But you don’t need to feel ashamed if you can’t fast at a particular standard.
But, when renunciation is equated with spiritual advancement, then that can lead you to unnecessary feelings of guilt, shame, insecurity, inferiority, and psychological complexity. So, it is possible that for some of us, some battles may be very difficult to win. Then, we need to shift our focus to other, more winnable battles.
A focus on other, more winnable battles, and by that, we get a sense of I’m moving forward in my life. That maybe, for some people, they just need to sleep for a particular amount of time. They can’t function without that.
If they think, Nidrahaar, Viharahaar, Goswami, they slept so less, and I will, when I sleep less, then I’ll be advancing spiritually. Well, not necessarily. That, your spiritual advancement may not be reflected in the decrease in the quantity of time you sleep.
Maybe it’s reflected in some other way. That, we may do some service. In the past, whenever we do a service, we want everyone to know that I did this service.
We want the credit for the service. Actually, not the wrong thing, because we’ve done the service, we want the credit. But maybe, as we grow spiritually, maybe, when we just do the service, even if nobody credits us with the service, it doesn’t matter.
Some people, they give donation, and they want everyone to know, my name has to be there, I give so much donation. But maybe, as we advance, okay, I’m going to do it, I don’t want my name anywhere. But that is also renunciation.
So, we don’t have to equate our spiritual seriousness or spiritual advancement with renunciation in a particular area. There will be renunciation that will come, but it may not come in a particular area. If we equate it with renunciation in a particular area, that will lead to lot of unnecessary problems in our life.
So, that way, okay, this battle may be difficult, let me accept myself, let me fight some other more winnable battle for now. Okay. So, we will continue tomorrow, and tomorrow morning, I’ll try to finish a little earlier, and I should be able to finish, because this, much of the caste that took time today.
So, we will have time for questions tomorrow morning also. Thank you very much.