4 bhakti lessons from Diwali | ABLE acronym | Bhakti Sanga Japa online session

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So today I was thinking I'll talk on the broadly the topic of Diwali itself and we will discuss some incidents and their significance from the bhakti perspective for us. So now I'm just putting a mic over here, external mic, does this improve the quality, does it make much difference? Yes, Prabhuji, we can hear you clearly otherwise also. So is this better or it's not much difference? Did you notice any change in the audio quality right now after I put the mic or not much? Hare Krishna.

Yes, Prabhuji, now it's clearer. It's clearer, okay, good. Let me start my screen also over here.

I am here. Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Jai Shree Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nithyananda Shree Advaita Gadadhara Shree Vasadhi Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna I am grateful to be here with all of you today and it's already being recorded. So today we will discuss about Diwali and how as devotees we can learn from Diwali principles that we can apply for our personal and spiritual growth.

Diwali as a festival has many stories and incidents associated with it. So I will talk about four incidents which illustrate four different aspects of the human divine relationship. How a person can approach God and how a person can connect with God.

So now there are overall within Diwali festival there are more than about eight to nine stories associated. Eight to nine is conservative. Almost like if we look at the broader significance there are many many stories associated with it.

But I will focus on four stories which illustrate some devotional principles. And I will use this using how we can become more able in our devotion. By seeing how great characters have acted.

So basically when we are practicing Bhakti we are facing our life journey and in life there are always ups and downs that come. So we ourselves sometimes go up and we go sometimes down. When these ups and downs come we understand that above us all is the Lord.

The Lord also descends to this world sometimes. At the same time He is reigning above this world. And we turn to the Lord and we can celebrate and we can worship and we can commemorate for different reasons.

But generally festivals they have two aspects to it. There is celebrate and there is commemorate. Now celebrate means that oh this is what happened and we are so happy we are celebrating it.

Commemorated is what has happened now we are remembering it and we are cherishing that remembrance. So the celebration can be ancient. The particular incident that happened is in the distant past.

But the commemoration can be perennial. Perennial means it can happen constantly year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation, even millennia after millennia. So in one sense we often talk about celebrating a festival.

But like Govardhan Puja was celebrated thousands of years ago when Krishna actually asked the Vrajavasis to stop the worship of Indra and worship Govardhan. So that was the celebration. Now what we are actually doing is the commemoration.

Now as a part of the commemoration, commemorate, that word may not be very common but it has the associated word memory. So commemorate is more like a formal remembrance. So a formal remembrance through a particular celebration.

So that's commemoration. And we remember it and sometimes we may reenact. So for example in Govardhan we do the Annakuta.

Krishna is not in front of us so we cannot have Govardhan being lifted up. We can create some drama in which some technological contraption we might do by which something is lifted up. But we replicate some part of it.

We reenact some part of it. That is we may reenact the making of many many mounds of food. So basically we will talk about how the incidents that are celebrations of Ramayana that could be after the event, after the test has been passed, after the triumph has been attained.

And it can also be before the test. So able is the acronym which I am going to discuss to illustrate. So after the triumph means, so this is associated with Ram Dila.

When Lord Ram returns from the Vanavas, he first stops at Sugriva's place, Kishkindha and asks Sugriva to take all his family, not just Sugriva but all the Vanaras to take their family with him and celebrate. You did such great service for me and I want you to join in the celebrations. Although they have not helped Lord Ram to gain the kingdom, for him gaining Sita back that is far greater than any kingdom.

He wants them to celebrate. So when they return, they stop at Sugriva's Kishkindha first, then they stop at Bharadwaj Muni's ashram and seek his blessings. When they are going back to the kingdom, then they stop at Nandi Gram where Bharad is living and from there they go back to Ayodhya.

So when they come back to Ayodhya, so that is the time in Ayodhya lamps are lit for welcoming the Lord. And that is what is commemorated. So here, actually both for the Ayodhya Vasis, the Lord has gone away.

It is a great test for them. For Sita, the fact that she was taken away from the Lord, that is a great test. But all that test is over.

So it's like in a movie, generally any kind of story that is there, there is a western psychological trope called the hero's journey. That the whole, any story, it has one basic theme. It is that one or two basic variants.

It is like there is a currently existing state and there is a change from that state. The change may happen in that place, the change may drive a person out of that place. And then finally the person comes back to that place.

So in one sense, Diwali with respect to Ram Leela is like the climax. Climax, like at the end of the movie. Then maybe the villain is defeated, the hero and heroine are reunited, the whole family is reunited.

There is a joyous celebration. So the Ram Leela and the Diwali that is celebrated is after something wonderful has been achieved. After, by the Lord's intervention, something special has happened.

So to give an example, if we are having a temple project. So we could have a celebration when the temple construction is completed and the temple inauguration is happening. So it's like the battle has been fought, the inauguration is like the climax.

On the other hand, with respect to temple inauguration, we could even have the stone breaking, the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony. Now when we have that, that is not the climax, that is the start. And in one sense, from the stone breaking to the inauguration, there is going to be a struggle.

In fact, there may be many struggles. So in one sense, one celebration of Ram Leela, of Ayodhya, sorry, of Diwali is after when the climax is going to happen. But the other celebration that is associated with Diwali is the opposite.

Here in Govardhan Leela, it is that something dramatic is going to happen now. It is not that the Lord has shown his power. It is more that the Lord is asking the devotees to put faith.

Like when we are going to build a temple, we may say, you know, we are just a small community of devotees. How are you going to build a temple? How are you going to get all this? So we have to get so many funds, you have to take care of this, take care of that. So there may be a celebration at the time of the stone breaking also, the Bhoomi Pujan also.

But that indicates that a new chapter of struggle and challenge and adventure is going to happen. So the Ayodhya celebration basically is after the Lord has protected us, after the test has been passed. But the Govardhan Leela, it is before.

In the sense that when Krishna tells the Vrajavasis, stop the Indra Puja and worship Govardhan instead. They know that this is likely to create some trouble. Nanda Maharaj says, Krishna, now let us do the Indra Puja and after that we can do the Govardhan Puja separately.

So what is happening here is the Vrajavasis don't want to anger Indra also. But it seems as if Krishna wants to anger Indra and Krishna also wants to both test and demonstrate the faith of the Vrajavasis. There is no need to worship Indra.

Use the same paraphernalia that you have for Indra Puja and do Govardhan Puja. This is a remarkable thing. It's what in English we say playing with fire.

The Vrajavasis do that. And when this is being done, it is going to be likely to be a significant trouble. So while the Vrajavasis are celebrating and it's not that they are in fear, but while the Vrajavasis love Krishna, they're also aware.

We are doing something which is likely to provoke a reaction. What a reaction is provoked afterwards. Indra starts using all his celestial power, shower.

It's three simultaneous attacks. In America sometimes we have the storms that happen, hurricanes that come up. So there is the attack by wind, there is the attack by water, and there is the attack by thunder and lightning.

So each one of these can be damaging. So Indra is a three-pronged attack. We talk about torrential rains.

And yes, the rains are torrential, but it is not just the rains. And the rains also that are there, they are like Samvartak is described. The rays that will come of the magnitude and the ferocity that comes at the end of the universe.

And the wind is such that he is trying to use stormy wind to blow over the head of the Vrajavasis. And Krishna is not folding over, Krishna is lifting over. So if we are in a forest or we are in a rain where the rain starts happening, then we have the umbrella above us.

We need to hold on to the umbrella. The strong wind, the umbrella will fly away. So Indra is also using wind.

And on top of that, he's also using thunder to scare the Vrajavasis and using lightning to try to break over them. So it's a multi-pronged attack. The Vrajavasis, initially when the floods start, they get alarmed.

They go to Krishna, please help me. And Krishna goes and lifts Govardhan. And for seven days they have ecstasy over him.

Govardhan itself is a different pastime. But the point I'm making over here is that actually this is remarkable. Because here Krishna is actually asking the Vrajavasis to express their faith through an action that is likely to be provocative.

And when that action is likely to be provocative, the Vrajavasis know something bad may happen over here. And still they express the faith. So celebration can be indicative of the end of a struggle.

But celebration can also be indicative of the start of a struggle. So during the Islamic rule, when Mahaprabhu would say, let's do loud kirtans. That was like, a bail mujhe maar.

Like showing a red flag or a red cloth to a wild bull. The devotees knew this would cause danger. The devotees had the faith.

So there are times when we may celebrate as an expression of our faith where the test is going to come afterwards. So it is for a devotee, celebrations can be in different ways. So when we start a particular event, that can also be a celebration.

In the past, wars would be there. The start of a war would also be a celebration. So we have, if we consider a war, the start, what happens? In the Gita, we see that both sides are blowing their conches.

And the warriors are playing conches, but there are others who are also blowing drums, who are beating drums, and there are so many other instruments. So there is a celebration at the start. This celebration is not of victory.

It is a celebration based on faith, on confidence that we will win. And then at the end of the war, when victory is attained, there can be another celebration. So it's almost cyclicity.

Diwali is a broadly encompassing festival where both faith after the test is over and faith before the test begins. Both are commemorated. Both are, there are two distinct dynamics of how a devotee can express faith.

So when Srila Prabhupada went to America, there was no celebration. When Prabhupada came back from America, especially in 1970, at that time he brought busloads of devotees with him, western devotees. And that welcome was a great celebration at that time.

But the idea is that there are these dualities in the world. And now we may commemorate Prabhupada's entry into Jal Doodha, Prabhupada starting his con, the day when his con was established. But celebrations can be for both occasions.

And both of these are integrated within the celebration of Diwali itself. So the way I am discussing Diwali right now is, while there are many, many things within the celebration of Diwali, we are talking about as devotees, what principles can we learn for our bhakti. That even when we are going to start something remarkable, we don't know what the result is going to be.

We don't know how things are going to work out. But we started off with faith. The Brajbhastis had no idea that Krishna could lift Govardhana and that's what Krishna would do.

No idea how Krishna would actually deal with Indra when Indra would get angry. They had some sense that Indra would get angry. They had no idea how angry Indra would get.

But in general, if you want to be a teacher, if you want to be a preacher, it means making choices. And choices means that we can't make everyone happy. It's just not possible.

We would like to, but it is impossible. We will make some people unhappy. So we don't want to deliberately go out of our way to make anyone unhappy.

But this is just unfortunate reality. So if you want to make everyone happy, stop trying to be a teacher. Start being an ice cream distributor.

Not even an ice cream seller. Just distribute ice creams. Just distribute sweets.

And everybody will smile and be happy. That's not what devotional service is. So sometimes we provoke some people.

We don't want to deliberately provoke people. Interestingly, Krishna deliberately provoked Indra. So that Indra would himself become aware of how far his anger, his arrogance, his entitlement mentality would take him.

But Govardhan Gita itself is a completely different story. I don't want to go into that too much. But sometimes Krishna acts as the protector and we celebrate that.

But sometimes Krishna acts as the provoker. Provoker means Krishna does something which actually seems to create the danger. So how would Krishna act as a provoker instead of the protector? Protector means he can say danger.

It goes away from us. But provoker means what is happening is danger is coming to us. It seems Krishna is bringing the danger.

So Krishna actually wanted to demonstrate the faith of the Vrajavarthis. But he also wanted to teach Indra a lesson. Now Indra, he was a devata.

He got habituated to getting honor and position and praise. That's fair enough. Let's give him some honor and position and praise.

But what happens when we don't get something that we feel? We feel we need to get, we deserve. So you see when we get a position, that position ideally is meant for service. But the position can also lead to pride.

Now how do we know when I have got a position, am I using it for service? Or is it leading to pride? It's largely seen to the use of the power. If I use the power I get for service, then that is good. Say for example, if somebody is the leader of a community and somebody is sick.

And we call this devotee, we call that person. Please go and help this devotee, give them prasad, take care of this, take care of this. So we have the position of a leader and we use it for service.

But when there is pride, there can be the abuse of power. This person decided to challenge my authority. And I had made one decision, this person dared to express opposite opinion.

Now I will show them the consequences of going against me. And we use all the power to persecute that person, to humiliate that person. To make that person's life hell.

The abuse of power. So naturally if somebody opposes us, we will be displeased. And maybe they are right, maybe they are wrong.

But just opposition is not a pleasant thing. But what do we do with our power? One thing is personal displeasure or personal annoyance. But the other is the abuse of the power to express that annoyance.

And that is what Indra did. And later on, after 7 days, when all his power got exhausted. When he realized, it's done, it's done.

Okay, it is annoying, it is annoying, it is angry. That, okay there was a puja meant for me, that puja is not done for me. And somebody else's, for whom the puja is done.

Say like the chief minister or the prime minister of a country. Is supposed to be invited for some festival. And suddenly the invitation is cancelled.

The invitation is cancelled. And then what happens? When the invitation is cancelled. Instead, normally the VIP may cancel the invitation saying I don't have time to come, my schedule doesn't fit in.

But if the VIP's invitation is cancelled by the organizer, the VIP will be annoyed. And then some local unknown person from the same village. Say you be the chief guest.

VIP will get annoyed. You know, you replaced me with this. Replaced me with this person.

In romantic love, when there is a love triangle. You replaced me with this person. There is anger toward that person.

So, and there is of course anger to whoever has replaced us. And whoever we are replaced by. But okay, that anger is understandable.

But what do you do? Say the chief minister is not invited for some inauguration festival. What does the chief minister do? He says okay, drop a nuclear bomb on that village and destroy that village. It's ridiculous.

That is abuse of power. So, if say, in some place, some temple is to be inaugurated. And VIP is expected that I should be invited as the chief guest or guest of honor.

And that person is not invited. And then that person says, okay. No one else should go there.

No funds should be given over there. All channels should be cut off. Sabotage their project completely.

What is this? There could be hurt feelings. But the abuse of power is horrendous. So, what happens is, this Krishna provoke over here.

Krishna provokes. The purpose of provoking is to introduce Indra to Indra. That means Krishna through this shows Indra how demoniac he has become.

He is not a demon. But the demoniac mentality has taken over. So, how demoniac he has become.

How there is a demoniac abuse of power. And then Indra is humbled by that. Sometimes when a patient is in denial, the patient doesn't realize that I am so sick.

So, the doctor has to sometimes show the patient how sick they are. Sometimes the doctor may give a medicine which actually seems to worsen the condition. And then what is happening? Treatment has worsen.

No, treatment has not worsen me. The treatment has actually removed whatever was enabling me to deny my condition. And then after that the treatment can be taken seriously.

So, when Krishna provokes, there is a reason for that. But what happens is, in some ways, there is Krishna on one side, Indra on other side. And Krishna wants to teach a lesson to Indra.

And Indra wants to teach, show his power to Krishna. And what happens is the Vrajavasis, they are caught in the crossfire. They are caught in the crossfire.

But they are ready to be caught in the crossfire. They have faith in Krishna. And this shows that Krishna is provoking for a particular purpose.

To teach Indra a lesson to demonstrate the faith of the Vrajavasis. But the point is, sometimes Krishna may ask us to do something challenging. And say, in a place where there is a lot of opposition.

And when Prabhupada told the devotees to go to the communist countries and preach. It's provocative. They are aggressively, violently anti-religious.

And there we go and preach. Like Prabhupada has a desire, the communist government has a desire. And the devotees get caught in the crossfire.

Prabhupada doesn't even do this. The communist government is saying, we'll destroy you, we'll torture you. We'll persecute you if you do this.

But it shows the devotees' faith. So sometimes, the devotion is not just about, oh, Krishna is so kind, Krishna has protected me. Sometimes it may be that Krishna puts us into danger.

So, of course, when we celebrate Govardhan Puja, it is like the celebration before the danger. But that does not mean that we should not celebrate. That yes, sometimes the danger also helps us to see how Krishna protects us in miraculous ways.

So that is this dimension also that sometimes before the storm, before Krishna's intervention and Krishna's protection, there may be a celebration. Now, the third is, I'll talk about two more. L, I'll use the acronym ABLE.

L is lost. Lost means when somebody feels that they are lost. Somebody feels that they are abandoned by God.

Somebody may even feel that they are betrayed by God. And that is the story of Bali Maharaj. In this, in Diwali, one of the occasions is also Bali Pratipada.

So Pratipada is a variant of the word Prapadyante. It's not a variant of that, but the idea of Prapadyante is there over there. That when Bali surrenders, you see, what is this surrender? It's that the Lord has actually not protected him, the Lord has betrayed him.

To surrender is very, very difficult. The Lord comes to him, not in the form of a Kshatriya, but in the form of a Brahmana, an innocent-looking brahmachari, a bala brahmachari at that. He says, I just want three steps of land.

It's like the level of deception that the Lord does over there. First is his appearance. Somebody comes as an enemy, dressed as an enemy, a warrior about to attack.

The Lord comes in appearance, very sweet, innocent. He's a bala brahmachari. He looks so radiant, so effulgent.

Appearance will lower the guard. Oh, you're a venerable person. I want to offer you something.

Then after the appearance, there are the arguments. There's no exactly argument, but you could say the affirmation, the word that he speaks. He says, I just want three steps of land.

Vamanadeva says, I want three steps of land and Bali Maharaj says that. He speaks more. I'm capable of giving you much more.

Then the affirmation, the argument, the assertion, what the statement that he makes is, if I'm not satisfied with three steps of land, I'll never be satisfied. He gives a discourse on greed and how one should not be greedy. And then, so that is actually further lowering the, oh, this is really a very content brahmana.

He is such a wonderful brahmana, he doesn't want anything. Then after that, there is the action. The action itself, what happens is, there is sudden expansion.

Expansion, what does he do? He expands three steps so that in two steps only the whole earth and heavens are covered. The third step, Bali Maharaj has to give his own head. So this is, you could get total cheating.

Say we are going in a car and there's a beggar on the street and the beggar knocks on the window. Sick. What do you want? He wants one rupee, he wants one dollar.

And he opens the window. He says, give me your car. What nonsense, I'm not going to give you a car.

You told me, I said, give me one. One means one dollar, one food item, not one car. So how dare you ask something like this? So like that, he holds him to his word.

And he is, not only is everything taken away from him. But even after he with great humility offers his own head. Actually offering his own ego and it's the ultimate offering.

The Lord says, I'm not satisfied. You know, you cheated. So action is, it's like first there is a demand.

Unreasonable demand. And then there is an arrest. He's arrested.

Oh, gracefully does Bali take this. So he, when his soldiers get angry. They say, you are being cheated over here.

They try to attack. The associates of Vishnu. And Bali says, stop, stop.

Don't, don't attack. And he says, nobody has ever been mistreated and cheated. And dealt with the way I've been dealt with by you.

But because you are the Lord. I understand you must have a plan. That you must have some plan.

I accept your. So sometimes the Lord's protection. May come at the end.

And afterwards, of course, in a very wonderful way, the protection comes. The Lord becomes his eternal God. In one sense, Indra gets the kingdom.

But Bali gets the personal association of the Lord. So in one sense, this is like Indra-Bali dynamic. Turns out to be like the Duryodhana-Arjuna dynamic.

So Duryodhana gets the Narayana Sena. But Arjuna gets Narayana. Arjuna gets him in the chariot.

So like that, Indra gets the kingdom, Swarga. But Bali gets the Lord. But for Bali, he has no idea what is going to happen.

So sometimes when we surrender to the Lord. We may expect that things should become better. That the Lord will solve my problems.

Sometimes here, problems may come on their own and that's difficult. That itself is difficult to bear. You know, I start practicing bhakti and suddenly I lose my job.

I start chanting, I start becoming intense in my bhakti. So in Kartik, I decide to chant extra rounds. And that's the time I get some cough.

I can't even chant my normal rounds. It becomes a big struggle. What's happening over here? So that when we try to practice or increase bhakti and that time we face problems.

It's very difficult to bear. Problems themselves, they can come from nature. Nature means from the world.

The problem is itself coming from God directly. Here, if some business colleague betrays us. If a family relative betrays us.

That is painful. Why didn't I see it? Why did Krishna not give me some signals so that I could have protected myself? But imagine a person who is supposed to be a protector becomes a betrayer. The protector becomes a traitor.

How do you surrender to such a person? So it is where sometimes even a devotee has to face challenges. In this world, there are phases. And in the phases, sometimes when we are going through a negative phase.

So when there is a negative phase, it doesn't mean these problems will come. It can also appear as what is meant to be the protector. That itself becomes the hardened causer, the betrayer.

That it will become the purpose of hard. So for Srila Prabhupada, when he was walking on the streets in Delhi distributing back to Godhead. When a cow came and hit him.

The cow got him down. Prabhupada wrote about Goseva. Prabhupada knew that cows are dear to Krishna.

Prabhupada was himself devoted to cows. And yet that object which he venerated. That very object came and hit him on the streets.

So it is very difficult to bear at such a time. So eventually Prabhupada was hit by a cow. Another time he fainted.

He had a sun stroke because the heat was so great. At least that is nature. But something which is religious, something which is devoted.

Something which is like a sacred symbol. Actually it is very difficult. So for us, sometimes we don't have direct interaction with the Lord.

But sometimes some devotee we may trust. And that devotee itself may do something which hurts us. It can be very difficult to bear.

But Bali Maharaj remained surrendered even during that time. Krishna requires Arjuna to make this declaration that my devotee will never perish. Because there are times when it appears as if there is pranashyateen.

It appears as if the devotee is going to be destroyed. So we need to hold on to that faith. Bali Pratipada is also a remembrance of the extraordinary nature of the human-divine interaction.

For some of us, when this kind of thing happens, it is very difficult. When I grew up, for several years of my early childhood, we never celebrated Diwali. Because what had happened when I was two, I have a scar on my face.

So that scar came from Diwali. A firecracker or a rocket got misdirected. It burned my arm and it burned my ears.

And it was a family member who had actually put the rocket. And when they put the rocket, they tried to put it vertical. But somehow the ground on which they had put the rocket, there was some stone under it.

They didn't notice it. So after the rocket was lit, the rocket was initially vertical. But suddenly it turned.

And then when I was one, I got polio. When I was two, this hit me. So when the rocket came, everybody around ran away.

But I couldn't run because of the polio. And I was just burned. So I don't remember much of this.

Unfortunately, I don't have any. Because I don't have any memories, I don't have any phobia for fire or anything like that. But for my parents, it brought very nice, very memorable memories.

What I appreciate is that although those memories were there, but my parents, they were not very devoted in the sense of sadhakas. But they were pious. They were devoted in their own way.

And in spite of something happening like this in a religious festival, they didn't give up their faith. And that was a big lesson for me. That sometimes the way things happen in life, we just can't do it.

We need to go through that phase and accept that phase. So when we are trying to do something for Krishna, we are doing something sacred, and everything itself turns against us. At that time, to stay devoted, to stay surrendered, it is a difficult thing to do.

And Bali Maharaj reminds us of that. And then the last part to talk about is, so in the acronym EBIL, so E is when there is ecstasy. Now you could say ecstasy is at various places.

But here I am talking about ecstasy in terms of the Vrajabha. So here what happens is, I am talking about the Damodar Leela. And in that ecstasy, it is Yashoda feels that I have to be the protector of Krishna.

That Krishna is mischievous, and Krishna has to learn discipline. Krishna has to learn self-restraint. So her act of sending Krishna out is a kind of protection.

Sometimes protection has to be given in different ways, and sometimes protection has to be given through discipline. Through giving consequences of the actions. And then that is not something that is easy to do.

So this shows actually the exalted level of the love of the devotees. Now in our tradition, the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, we focus primarily on the second and third, the Govardhan Leela and the Damodar Leela. And we celebrate this.

Damodar Leela we celebrate throughout the month by offering a Diya to the Lord. The Govardhan Leela we celebrate on the particular day. And the Annapurna is performed.

But here the level of ecstasy, in terms of there is Madhurya. Now generally when we use the word Madhurya, it is sometimes overused without understanding different meanings. There is Madhurya Ras, and there is Madhurya Bhav.

And they can seem similar. Rasa is more like the emotional flavor of a relationship. So the Gopis specifically are in the Madhurya Ras.

But all the Rajivasis are in the Madhurya Bhav. So Madhurya Ras is contrasted with Sakhya, Vatsalya, Shanta, Dasya. Whereas Madhurya Bhav, that is contrasted with Aishwarya Bhav.

So in Vaikuntha, there is Aishwarya Bhav. So even if you consider Lord Ram's relationship, there is more Aishwarya. Bali and Vamana, there is more Aishwarya.

But in Vrindavan, there is the Madhurya. So the Madhurya that is there, it is something which is so extraordinary. That Yashodamayi starts thinking, if Krishna is mischievous, Krishna steals Patal like this.

Then he will develop a habit of stealing. And if he develops the habit of stealing, then he will steal not just in our home, he will start stealing in others' homes. And then he will become infamous as a robber, as a thief.

He will spoil his reputation in Vrindavan. And that spoils his reputation in Vrindavan. In future, when he becomes of marriageable age, nobody will give their daughter in marriage to him.

And it will be a disaster. So to stop that disaster, we have to punish Krishna. So this is how love works.

Small action, we look deep into the future, far into the future, how that action will result. So when Yashodamayi in age, he finds Krishna. That is almost the reversal of the normal way protection happens.

Normally, the devotee turns to the Lord for protection. But here, it is the devotee thinks, I have the responsibility of protecting the Lord. And the devotee does what is required for the protection of the Lord.

It is almost like in the Amudha Leela, Krishna is put into inconvenience. Now Krishna has done certain actions because of which he is put into inconvenience. But Krishna is put into inconvenience for the sake of service.

Yashodamayi has a service and that is the Mahabharata. Actually, Prabhupada generally recommended that we worship in Aishwarya. First, we need to understand the mood of Dasyam.

And then afterwards we can move towards further things. But there are times when Prabhupada also had this mood. When the Juhu temple was in danger.

At that time, in the way Prabhupada thought, it is almost like Krishna and his baby, the temple project is his baby and he is protecting his baby. And Prabhupada said to the deities, you know, please come and stay in this tent for now. I will build a temple for you in the future.

Some people may consider cynically, it is just like a political land grab strategy. Every religious group does that in India. And even if the land is not legally yours, Muslims have this Waqf Act, by which any land which is declared to be Muslim land, that will be theirs and nobody can challenge it.

Christians also adopted that wherever they want, they build a church. Afterwards, once the church is built, nobody can oppose it. So at one level, we might see it as just a political land grab strategy.

But Prabhupada's consciousness was completely different. It was not a land grab because Prabhupada, first of all, wanted a fair transaction. He was ready to give the money that was required for the land.

But to the land owner who was duplicitous, he wanted to take the money and not give the land also. So Prabhupada said, you will have to go over my dead body if you want to steal the land that is meant for Krishna. And Prabhupada prayed to Krishna, please come and stay over here.

I will build a grand temple for you. So that is Prabhupada taking on the mood of a protector of Krishna. To ban the devotees or attackers, an attempt was made to demolish the temple.

And some of the surroundings of the temple structure were demolished. Prabhupada became like a warrior for protecting Krishna. So this is also at the level of ecstasy.

The word ecstasy is a very broad word. But I am talking here ecstasy specifically in terms of the role reversal. The ecstasy in Vraja, what the ecstasy does to is role reversal.

Role reversal means that instead of the Krishna protecting devotee, what happens is it is the devotee who is protecting Krishna. This is the special mood of the Damodar Leela. This is the special mood of Vrindavan.

And this is the special mood that we assume when we are trying to do service in this world. Ultimately, Krishna doesn't need us. Krishna can do everything that he wants in this spiritual world and even in the material world.

But in the material world, we all have been given some services. And it is our responsibility to protect that service. It's our responsibility to make sure that we do our service properly.

And we take the responsibility of protecting our particular Kshetra. Prabhupada would use the word our Guru Datta Desh. That our Guru Datta Desh could be just our family.

Our Guru Datta Desh could be our community. Our Guru Datta Desh could be our council group. Our Guru Datta Desh could be just the one person that we are preaching to.

That is where our service to Krishna is. And rather than we expecting Krishna to protect us, we take the responsibility. We are not protecting Krishna in our case, but we are protecting some manifestation of Krishna.

We are protecting something which is a resource. It could be a human resource, it could be an infrastructural resource that is to be used in Krishna's service. That is the extraordinary level of devotion of the Amudha Veela.

So in this way, the Diwali festival reminds us of the dynamics of devotion in many different ways. And all of these we are talking about. First is A, that is after the event.

So this is where the Rams return from Lanka to Ayodhya. The celebration of Diwali primarily is associated with these Lambs being lit to welcome the Lord when he comes back. So yes, whenever there is a festival, there is a celebration that has happened long ago.

And we celebrate again, but when we are celebrating, we are commemorating. So what is it that commemorate means? What is it that we are remembering? Remembering the many dynamics of devotion. That devotion can involve many different ways in which the Lord acts and which the Lord expects us to act.

Then B was before the test. That means, this is Govardhan Veela, that it is an act of faith that the Vrajavasis are ready to be in one sense caught in the crossfire between Krishna and Indra. So Krishna is in one sense using the Vrajavasis for provoking Indra.

And when Indra is provoked, there is going to be a retaliation. There is going to be a counter attack. So the Vrajavasis are ready to be caught in that.

Now that doesn't mean that Krishna deliberately goes around simply provoking people. So Krishna actually wanted Indra. Krishna is like an expert doctor.

And Indra is like a patient in denial. He is not understanding how far his pride is leading to. Krishna has led him to become entitled and that will be seen through the extent of his abuse of power.

So Krishna lets him abuse his power and then through it all he is exhausted. Then he realizes, my God, how terribly have I fallen. And then he falls to Krishna's lotus feet and he is reformed.

But sometimes he may be asked to do a service. So I discussed the example of how there could be a temple. At the end when the temple project is completed, there is a celebration of inauguration of the temple.

But at the start there could be the Bhoomi Poojan. And there the challenge is going to come thereafter. But we celebrate that also because through it Krishna is going to manifest in our life.

Then L, I talked about how when we feel lost, when we feel abandoned by Krishna, we feel betrayed by Krishna. That is Bali Pratipada. Where the Lord apparently cheated by first appearing to be harmless, then making assertions of being not greedy.

And then Krishna seemed outrageous. First changing his size and then arresting him even when he gave everything. But he did not feel betrayed.

He remained faithful. We discussed about how Prabhupada being hit by a cow. See when suffering comes to us from nature, that is bad enough.

But when it comes to come from Krishna or something Krishna related, like if people betray us, that feels bad. But if a devotee betrays us, that feels even worse. But even through that how Bali Maharaj remains faithful.

That is an extraordinary lesson. And then lastly, E is ecstasy. I talk about ecstasy specifically in terms of the role reversal.

So the role reversal can be many different ways. That one is Krishna becomes the provoker instead of the protector. Krishna becomes the betrayer instead of the protector.

That is also role reversal. But here it is devotee becomes the protector. Yashoda Mai ties Krishna up.

And that is her way of protecting Krishna in the future. And for us the Amodha Leela also reminds us that we have faith in Krishna. And we know that Krishna protects everything.

Krishna protects us also. But sometimes when we take up a responsibility for some service, then we have to take this role of like Prabhupada became a fighter to protect the Juhu temple. We have our Guru Datta Desh and we need to fight.

And that not expecting Krishna to be the protector, but taking on the role of a protector for Krishna and some Krishna paraphernalia. That is also what we are reminded of. So there are wide range of devotional lessons that are demonstrated through this Diwali festival.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, thank you so much, Babaji.

So we already have a hand raised. Parampapni Shama Mataji, please go ahead with your question. Yes.

Sorry. Thank you so much, Mataji, for the opportunity. Thank you so much, Babaji, for a wonderful class.

And Babaji, I have two questions. So first is that, as you mentioned, A is after the test and B is after the triumph and before the test. So can I say that both celebrations were expression of faith, but before the test one, that's the example, Govardhan Puja is kind of forced by Krishna.

And after the test is kind of spontaneous that we see in Deepavali. Like sometimes devotees are forced to show their faith. And sometimes devotees are spontaneously expressing their faith as celebration.

Yeah, good point. I would not use the word forced. Forced is a little harsh.

Because sometimes the expression of faith is a matter of our choice. And sometimes the choice is taken out of our hands. So, say, suppose suddenly we get a disease.

At that time, OK, what do we do? Now we have the disease and we have to deal with the disease. And we have to continue our service to Krishna. So you could use the word forced.

But we do have free will and Krishna doesn't force anything on us. We can choose to become faithless. But it's more a matter of we making a choice.

So the opportunity for the choice is thrust on us. But the choice is up to us. We can go away from Krishna also.

In such times. Thank you. Thank you.

And another question, Prabhupada. I'm sorry. It's like as you mentioned in the E, the ecstasy.

And you gave two examples of Mother Yashoda protecting Krishna. And Prabhupada protecting the deities of Jew temple. These are very big and exalted examples.

But in our daily life, can we take the mood of serving our home deities as we are the protector. Like we want to feed, we want to change the dress, to make them sleep, take them awake. Can we take that mood? Definitely.

That's a practical way in which we can apply that. Yes, true. Thank you so much, Prabhupada.

Thank you, Krishna. Thank you, Mataji. So yes, Prabhupada, I also like the way you said about the difference between the rasa and the bhava.

So can you just tell once again the difference between them so that I will be a little more clear of them. Okay. So the word rasa has a particular meaning within the Akthar Samarth Sindhu.

And that refers to the particular defining flavor of the relationship. So we have that can be with the other rasas in the sense of Madhya Aishwarya. So not either of Vatsalya or Sakshaya or whatever.

So if we consider that words themselves have different meanings, we consider condition. So the opposite of condition or conditional could be unconditional. So where condition refers to like terms.

And so this is a conditional agreement. This is unconditional agreement. Conditional or unconditional.

But then condition can also refer to a state. Now, so if the room is not in a good condition right now. Oh, we have to clean the room.

We have to organize the room. So there in one case, you could say the opposite of condition as the adjective conditional would be unconditional. But when we are using the word condition to refer to state, then it would be suitable is not suitable.

So if we may practice unconditional devotional service in the sense that whether we are in prosperity or adversity, we will still practice bhakti. But unconditional devotional service does not mean that we let the condition of our altar go into a terrible condition. No, it is not that.

Okay, I have no space. So I'll put my altar in my dustbin. Some terrorists are attacking and we have to hide the signs of our religious devotion.

In extreme situations, we might do that. No, just because bhakti is unconditional does not mean we can put the altar in any condition. It means in whatever condition I am in, I will practice bhakti.

So the words have different meanings. So, so generally you can understand the meaning by looking at the contrast. That's why I give the contrast that condition.

Sorry, Rasa, Madhurya Rasa can be contrasted with other rasas. So there are five primary rasas and Madhurya is one among them. But that is more like the specific relationship flavor.

Whereas Madhurya Bhava and Aishwarya Bhava, they refer to more the mode of approaching the Lord. Is it more reverential or is it more personal and intimate? Like the Prime Minister of a country, most people will approach the Prime Minister in a very reverential way. But the family members of the Prime Minister will approach in a more intimate way.

So that's the difference between Bhava, which is more in terms of the mode of approach. Whereas Rasa is more the flavor of the relationship. Okay.

Okay, Babuji. Yeah, thank you. Shukrakar Krishna Prabhu.

Thank you, Anita Madhuri. Thank you, Chaitanya Charan Prabhu for your classes. So wonderful.

When you gave classes in Tirupati Laddu also I saw. Everywhere everything was relating to Krishna. But is it really that it has happened that somebody brought Laddu and in the house they said don't eat it.

There is non-veg in it. So I ate and there was no non-veg. So I don't know whether we should eat Tirupati Laddu or not.

See generally right or wrong action will depend on intent, content and consequence. We have to decide that. Hmm.

So when we are considering some people may focus on the content and we don't know. So if you're taking that consider the action of eating the Laddu. So based on content, we may say, okay, I don't know what is the content of the action.

I'm eating a Tirupati Laddu. But I don't know what is the Laddu made about. Hmm.

And based on that, we can look at the Laddu composition. And we may decide based on that that I may or may not eat it. Somebody may focus on the intent.

You know, this devotee had went to Tirupati and he has brought the Prasad. He is distributing the Prasad. And my mood is to honor what has been offered.

So there the intent is it becomes focus on the mood of devotion. So some people may focus more on the mood. Some others may focus more on the consequence.

So. If say we are in a political rally where it's the political rallies organized to express concerns about the way there are some malpractices in the making of the Laddu. There we will not eat the Laddu.

Although we still respect Tirupati Balaji and we respect the Tirupati Laddu. But in that particular case, I should not be eating this. So we can look at the consequence.

And sometimes this devotee again intent and consequence slightly related but the focus slightly different. Now the intent may be, okay, you know, this devotee has brought this Laddu. Maybe this devotee is not even aware of the controversy.

And if I tell them about the controversy, their own devotion to Bhava and their own faith may be disturbed. So we might take the Laddu and may just take a little morsel from there or whatever. So the point of the controversy is not to necessarily reject the Prasad.

The point is to recognize that there are always ways in which things may be go wrong. So either power of time Dharmasya Glani keeps happening. And correction mechanisms need to be there.

But till the correction mechanisms happen. Now should we continue doing the thing or should we not continue doing the thing? That depends. So different devotees may take different moods over there for that.

After all these big things, I think they would have now changed the whole thing in Tirupati. They also are afraid that they should not add all those bad ghee and all. I am sure they would have taken some collective method.

I am sure with so much of halla going in all over the world. See the thing is that pure ghee is prohibitively expensive. If you look at the economics of it itself.

First of all, if you just want to take milk and make ghee only from that. The amount of milk and the number of cows that are required. The number of ghee that is going to come from it.

That is going to be very very limited. And we will need literally the number of flattos that are made. We will need not just thousands but millions of cows for that.

So to expect completely pure ghee to be there. It just from the logistics perspective it is not likely to happen. But just because something is not pure does not mean that there can be any level of impurity to it.

So there has to be some boundaries to if we want to mix some items in the ghee. What can be mixed? So I think definitely some precaution has been taken. So that at least those kind of prohibited items or items which are completely anti-devotional are not included.

So I think we should make it our principle that we will not take ladoos at all. But we need to be aware. As you said it is a cheaper ghee.

So little cheaper ghee they will make and not against the devotion. See when you say cheaper ghee, cheaper ghee means ghee mixed with other things. So there is no such thing as a cheaper ghee.

Because then we are just redefining the word ghee itself. So there will be other things within the ghee. But we can make sure that what is mixed with the ghee should not be non-veg.

That is like a basic requirement. So yeah. One thing that has happened is many of our squad members have also become more aware.

Now that when we buy ghee, are we just buying ghee from commercial vendors? Or are we buying it from people who are more dharma conscious? So that kind of vigilance in our temples is happening. A lot of uncovering, researches, investigations have been done to see how there are malpractices in the making of ghee. And in that sense, what is being exposed and what is being done to deal with it is overall positive.

Although what happened was quite painful and shocking. But I think a good is coming out of it in the long run. Prabhu, one more thing.

You are so much with the exacting happening around the world. I think you are a person in touch with everything. Is it true that in 2025 a bigger corona is coming, bigger than the last one? Have you heard about this? It's going to be very dangerous.

But for devotees, of course, Krishna will protect. But it's going to be a lot of 65 million. Europe will get washed up in 2028.

It's the third world war. So have you heard? Because this I was told by 2-3 devotees. Mopadh was not into the business of prophecies.

In general, these kind of things, it's best to not get too caught in this. Not as a leader of an institution. We may have our personal opinions about these things.

But we have had some of our leaders riding the bandwagon of particular things. When Y2K happened, some leaders said that we should actually all go to villages. We should have a stockpile of food and everything.

And there's going to be a collapse of things. So with that, nothing happened. Now, hardly anyone had actually anticipated COVID.

So in general, there are religions which are dystopian. Dystopian means that the future is going to be terrible. Therefore, practice must be known.

So the Catholic Church has this idea. Not the Catholic Church, the Christian. Christians have this.

Some sects of Christianity have this idea that the end of the world is coming. And therefore, you should surrender to Jesus right now. So there's one particular church group which has like 20 times the end of the world has come and gone.

And the world has not ended. So when we give too much credence to something which is not given in scripture. And it turns out wrong.

Then people start losing their faith in us also. We can have our individual opinions. And we can look at evidence as far as it is available to check whether it is true or not.

Even some astrologers may make some predictions. But astrologers also, their predictions sometimes turn out to be true. Sometimes they don't turn out to be true.

So it is. We live in a troubled world. And we need to be aware that danger can be there.

But rather than, it's like awareness of danger can lead to insecurity about the future. Or it can lead to intensity in the present. So both ways can happen.

We can be more Krishna conscious. That can be the better. So that is what should be happening.

But some devotees when they get into, okay, this may happen. How will it happen? What will happen? So it leads them to more insecurity. So we have to see that, okay, thinking about these kinds of possibilities, how is it affecting me? Yes.

We can make the consciousness bigger and more. Krishna should become bigger in our consciousness. The danger should not become bigger in our consciousness.

Thank you. Yes. Last question.

Thank you for the beautiful class. You had used an expression, patient in denial. Was it in relation to Indra and his pride? Yeah.

See, naturally in that position, Indra had some pride. And that's understandable. Krishna did not treat Indra like a demon and punish and kill him.

Krishna didn't go back to the, at the end of the Govinda, Krishna says, go back. Do not be proud. Remember that this is a service that you are doing.

So in that sense, say somebody may be proud, but they may not. Somebody may be short-tempered, but they may not acknowledge that they are short-tempered. But if they are provoked and they do something really terrible, then they will acknowledge, oh, really? This is the extent to which I go.

I had no idea that I could do something like this. And then they become serious about dealing with their temper issues. So in that sense, sometimes provocative situations coming in our life reveal the extent of the anarthas that are there.

Or the extent of the extent to which we may fall. That doesn't mean we have to deliberately bring the anarthas or bring the provocative situation in our life. But sometimes it may be required.

So this is an exceptional situation. Normally, we should not be provoking people to show them their anarthas. But sometimes if somebody is in a responsible position and they are creating harm, then they have to be made aware of how much harm they can do.

And sometimes provocations show a person the extent to which they can go. We always get angry. And when we get angry, we may yell a little bit.

We may speak harshly. But suppose somebody gets angry. And in their anger, they take out a knife and start stabbing somebody.

In their anger, they take out a gun and start shooting somebody. That is an unacceptable boundary. That has something to do with it.

If somebody can abuse their gun in anger, then they should not be having a gun. Even in America, where guns are legal, maybe the tests are not done very properly. But there has to be some mental health testing.

And if a person is mentally unstable, short-tempered, has addiction issues or whatever, then they ideally should not be given the guns. So the idea is that when a patient is in a nervous state, somebody has outer power. But they don't have inner power by which they will responsibly use that outer power properly.

They are not acknowledging that they lack the inner power. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Jai. Jai.

Jai. Jai. Jai.