1 When Supersoul speaks | Four worldviews analyzed

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

So, here there is a story of Puranjan. So, we are at the very end of the story. At the end of the story, there is a depiction of a conversation between the soul and the Lord.

The Lord has appeared and the Lord is speaking to the soul. So, this is the soul of King Puranjan, who was a powerful king, who it is described that in his previous life, he became attached to a woman who was a queen. He married her, he had children.

Then he was attacked by an invader and he died. And in his next life, he becomes a woman. He becomes Vaidehi.

He is married to a king and then that king dies. So, now she has become a widow. She is alone and it is her soul that is approached.

She is lamenting at the death of her husband. At that time, the Lord appears in the form of a woman. And then the Lord speaks to her certain words of wisdom.

And those words comprise this conversation. So, this is the fourth canto, 28th chapter, text 53. It goes on till the end of the chapter, 64.

And 65th is Narada Muni is telling the story of King Puranjan. So, that's the summary. So, this section from 53 to 64 is what we will be covering in the next three days.

And we'll discuss some of the verses. So, I'll be taking these verses as starting points. I will try to overall understand, you know, what is the dynamic of bhakti? How does it work in our lives? So, the three sessions which we are going to have.

So, basically, say we are here in this world. We call this the material world. And this has its ups and downs.

And above us is the spiritual world. Here at the top, there is the Lord. And we are functioning in the world.

So, the three sessions which we are going to have discussion. First is that how do we perceive the Lord in this world? And does the Lord really exist? Does the Lord really care? How does knowing the Lord and trying to connect with the Lord? So, how do we perceive it? Normally speaking, a person doesn't suddenly turn and look up at God. Most of the times, we are trying to face the challenges of life.

And while facing the challenges of life, we look for resources. What can help me? And that's when we sometimes look up. So, initially, even when we look up, it is not because we are primarily interested in what is up.

We are interested in what is in front of us. And to gain help in facing what is in front of us, we look up. So, the first level will be that we appreciate the Lord's presence in the world.

The Lord's kindness. The Lord's love in this world. Then, after that, so we have three parts, three sessions we are going to discuss.

And we have a quick map of what we are going to discuss. So, once we appreciate, then we start connect. Okay, let's go forward here.

When we appreciate, then we connect with the Lord. So, connect means, okay, how do we practice bhakti? How do we develop a relationship with God? So, we'll talk about different degrees of connection from mixed devotional service to pure devotional service. And then, towards the end, eventually, what happens is that we finally, we target the Lord.

Target doesn't mean we want to not target practice, but target means we make the Lord the target of us. Even when we connect, it may be so that the Lord can make my life better in this world. So, it is an incremental process where we start developing our relationship with the Lord.

Normally, this takes many lifetimes. When it all begins first, we appreciate that God is here. God is playing around with my life.

God is helping me. So, let me try to have a relationship with Him. And not just a relationship, it can be one relationship among many relationships.

And eventually, He becomes our most important relationship. So, this is how our discussion over the next three sessions is going to flow. And we'll discuss two, three verses from the series that we're going to discuss as we move forward in this development of thought as it relates with the Lord.

So, this is the acronym ACT. A-C-T. Ultimately, Bhagavad Gita or even the Bhagavatam is not just abstract philosophy.

It's a philosophy which is calling us to do something. In the case of Arjuna, it was to raise his weapons and fight for Krishna. In the case of Parikshit, it was sit and focus on remembering the Lord.

But even that is an action. Both were actions to connect with the Lord, to become absorbed in the Lord. So, ultimately, Shastra is not just an abstract theory.

It is a worldview that calls us for action. And it is that action that we will try to understand. And we see how the discussion of the philosophy can inspire us to come closer to the Lord, to act in a way that we come closer to the Lord.

So, let's look at some of the verses over here. So, what happens over here? Just quickly. Is this visible to many of you? So, here, it's not Vinay.

It's Vaidharbi is the king. Vaidharbi is the queen. The daughter of king Vidarbha is called Vaidharbi.

Her husband, king Malayadwaja. So, Malayadwaja goes to the forest and Malayadwaja performs meditation and he departs from the world. So, in this way, king Malayadwaja attained perfect knowledge.

Because in his pure state, he was directly instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By means of such knowledge, he could understand everything from all angles of vision. Basically, he became enlightened.

And then he left his body. Now, she had gone with him to the forest. She had been a dedicated wife.

But now, she was all alone in the forest. Now, when Malayadwaja had dedicated himself to the Lord, the Lord did not abandon those who came. So, the Lord came there to his wife.

The Lord came in the form of a Brahmana. And so, the daughter of king Vidarbha continued as usual to serve her husband, who was seated in a steady posture until she could assert that he had passed away from the body. So, he had a very peaceful departure from the world.

Although the departure was peaceful, still for her, it was traumatic. She knew that her husband had renounced the world and come to the forest. Ultimately, it is the final stage of life.

But still, bereft of her husband's company, she felt exactly as the deer feels upon being separated from its mate. And she was all alone. And she started shedding tears.

Oh, my husband, please get up. Please come back. I cannot live without you.

And she was lamenting in this way. My dear king, one Brahmana. It's interesting the way the Bhagavatam puts it.

Let's recite the words. So, Tatra, at that particular time, when she was lamenting, Purvatara, from the past, from some distant past. So, a Brahmana was a Sakha, a friend of that particular king, Atmavan.

So, he was a very wise person, Atmavan. So, Santavayan means to pacify. So, Valguna is sweet, soft words.

The Gopi Gita describes. So, Krishna has a sweet voice and he speaks soft words. So, this Brahmana has come here with very sweet words.

What is he doing? Saam, I started speaking. Saam aaha rudratim parabho. Saam aaha, this person, the aaha is to speak.

Rudratim, rudratim means to cry. So, he who was crying, he started speaking to her. And she's all alone in the forest and this Brahmana has come.

She will actually have questions. Who is he? So, Brahmana vachana, katham kasyasi kovayam. So, in general, it is when our emotions are getting very strong.

At that time, telling the emotions, don't get angry. Don't feel so sad. Don't get so agitated about this.

That doesn't work. One of the powerful ways of managing our emotions is not instructing but questioning. It means, let's say our child has come from a park and the child is very angry.

Don't get angry. Okay, what exactly are you angry about? What happened? Even if the child is angry and not able to answer. But generally, okay, what has got you so angry? So, ask questions.

Questioning makes us start thinking. So, the Brahmana will come. So, who are you? So, who are you? Whose wife or daughter are you? Who is the man lying here? So, who is this person for whom you are lamenting? So, do you recognize me? I am your Sakha also.

I am your husband. So, previously it was said that he was a friend of the Brahman, the husband. But now it is said he is a friend also.

So, who is this Brahmana? It is the Lord. It is the Supersoul who is manifesting externally. So, you have consulted me in the past.

You have turned to me in the past. So, this is not our first meeting. Sometimes when we meet someone and get a little embarrassing if that person recognizes us and we don't recognize that person.

And then, okay, but then that person may help us remember. You met before. You remember that person in the place we met that particular time we met.

So, in this way, he starts the conversation by telling, I am your friend and we have met before. So, for all of us, we all face some situations in life when we start questioning what is going on. Now, whatever we have held to be of value, then it is shaken or taken away from us.

And then we start questioning. So, basically, death, especially the death of someone we are very close to, that is a time when we start, at least for a brief while, thinking of some bigger question. What? You know, what really matters before all of us in life.

If this is a life journey, everyone has to have something that is the Artha of Artha. The Artha has two meanings. One Artha is meaning.

One Artha of Artha is Artha. So, you can say it's meaning. The other is value.

Like we have Artha Mantri, finance. It's value. So, for all of us, there is something that is of value for us.

So, it could be our business. It could be our looks. It could be our reputation.

It could be our family. It could be a loved one. And that is why when something bad happens, in local language, we say Anartha Ho Gaya.

When we say in philosophical language, we say Anartha, it refers to Kama, Krodha, Logo. And we talk about the relationship between the two. But when in normal language, we say Bada Anartha Ho Gaya.

Have you heard this word? Bada Anartha Ho Gaya. What it means is essentially that which we consider to be Artha, that has been taken or that has been shaken, that has been damaged. So, all of us have something which we consider to be Artha.

And when that Artha is in individual or synopsis, that's what makes us think, what am I to do with this? How am I to deal with this? So, that is the time we may start looking upward. Is there someone up there? Is that person really, is whatever is up there, is that in charge? And so, when Artha, it is taken away, there are two ways we can go. One is, we can go toward Anartha.

Now, Anartha does not necessarily only mean lust, anger, greed. Anartha essentially means that which has no value, but we think it is of great value. See, when there is greed or when there is anger.

So, what happens is, at that time, controlling the other person, putting the other person in their place, causing pain to the other person becomes the most important thing. Even if it means it's going to hurt our relationship, even if it means it's going to ruin the relationship, even if it means that it's going to ruin our reputation in society. So, alcoholism, it's Anartha.

What does it mean? At that time, the person sees a bottle. There is going to be a corporate meeting and they are in the meeting and their boss is talking with them and in their mind, the boss body changes into a bottle of alcohol. So, what does Anartha do? Anartha, it basically distorts our value system.

So, Anartha essentially means that which has no Artha, we start thinking it has huge Artha. So, that which is of no value or very low value, that we start thinking it is the most important. So, either Artha is taken away, we can go into Anartha.

Some people sink into bitterness, some people start going to hatred. Or, at that time, we can move towards Paramarth. So, when Artha is taken away, at that time, either we can go to Anartha or we can go towards Paramarth.

And that is a decision which we all have to make in life. Now, when we talk about does this decision happen only when the Artha is taken away, we'll talk about that a little later. So, generally, it works in two ways.

Quickly, I'll just mention it. When Artha is there, there are broadly two ways, two situations when we may start thinking of alternatives. There could be devastation, that means the Artha is just taken away from us.

Or, there can be disappointment. Disappointment means that, okay, I got this, but it is not all that good. Now, I want to become, I wanted to become famous.

I wanted to become, I want to win this award, win this competition. I wanted to achieve a big house. I want to get this much money.

I got it, but there's nothing all that great about it. It's nice. So, this devastation means what happens is the opposite of what has to be expected.

So, our expectation was this way, and the event turns out to be opposite. The other is disappointment means our expectation was this way, and the event that happens, it turns out to be the same direction, but it turns out to be much smaller. It's like, you know, somebody makes a relationship, the whole focus of their life.

You know, people have this idea, oh, is there a perfect match for me? Is there a Mr. Right or Miss Right for me? Okay, if I can just find a perfect partner, then my whole life will be, as they say, love is blind, but marriage is an eye-opener. So, what that means is when there is this romantic hormones going through, we imagine that person to be something very, very special. Now, if that person is good, then nobody can live up to our expectations of what they are good.

So, at that time, whatever we have pursued as Artha, either it is taken away or it does not live up to us. That is the time either we can go upwards or we can go down. That when the Artha doesn't work out, there's nothing in it, just forget it all.

We can go towards Paramartha. So, it can go either way, but we can go towards Anartha or we can go towards Paramartha. So, for example, somebody achieves success in a career, not achieve success in a career but find it disappointing, actually there's nothing of value in this world.

Why work hard at all? Just forget all this hard work, just drink and enjoy life and forget everything else. So, when Prabhupada went to America, there was a counterculture. And the counterculture was basically that all the goals that society had set for them, you know, get an education, get a job, have a family, get respect and respect society, it's the point of it all.

It doesn't make any value, it's just a show. No more of this. You just repent and it's over.

So, now here, fortunately for her, for this queen, the Lord is coming and the Lord is guiding her. The Lord is going to take her towards Paramartha. So, essentially, now when things in front of us go wrong, at that time we look up.

Now, when we look up, there are broadly three options before us. We can call this by the acronym fang, that whoever is up there, either that person is favorable to me or that person is against me. Or third option is that person is just neutral.

That person doesn't care and as a variant of that option is that person is non-existent. So, ultimately, these are three options we have. Either someone up there is there, someone, something, whatever overarching, that is there and that is favorable to me or that is doesn't care about me or is against.

So, now among these three options, we have to choose one of the other options. Now, we may not consciously think about this, but when we function in the world, some people say, you know, okay, even if God is there, God is not going to help you. You have to work yourself.

So, we all have some or other of these worldviews. When I started practicing bhakti about 30 years ago, I started sharing with all my relatives and friends. So, one of my uncles, when I told him about Krishna Consciousness, he said, I believe in God.

He's happy that I'm happy. So, the idea is I don't need him and he doesn't have to intervene in my life. I don't care for him.

So, basically, he's like in God is neutral. I don't care. So, essentially, the journey that we are going to go through, you forget everything from this series of classes, this one image is what we're going to come back again and again in each session.

See, initially for us, in our life journey, the world is big for us. The world is what is Artha for us and God, even if he exists, he's small for us. But as we grow spiritually, the world becomes small for us and God becomes big for us.

So, this is the essence of spiritual advancement. Spiritual advancement doesn't mean we reject the world as maya. It doesn't mean that we abandon the world.

It just means that we understand that there is a reality bigger than this one. And not only we understand it, for us, that reality becomes bigger. So, how will this happen? That is what we will discuss.

So, here the Lord is intervening and the Lord is guiding her to go from Artha towards Parmat. So, before we talk about that journey of going from Artha towards Parmat, let's look at some of the ways in which, some of the things that will obstruct us in going towards Parmat. Some of the ways in which we might miss out on going towards Parmat.

So, 4.10. So, Krishna is telling that if we want to turn towards him, don't take Shraddha and become absorbed in him. There are three things which we need to know. So, we look at this Raag Bhaya Krodha in terms of…so, overall for our entire course, this is the diagram which we are going to come back to.

We are going to see how we can go along this journey by which we can make God bigger. And then for each session with that, we have one diagram which will summarize more or less what is going to be there in the session. So, this is a 4.10 diagram.

In general, there are many worldviews in this book. But many people, different people have different philosophies, different religions, different ideologies, whatever it is. But within that, we can say that there is this world or the world of matter, the material world.

And there is the other world or the spiritual level. It's called this material level. Now, this is real.

This is unreal. This is real or unreal. So, broadly, the worldviews that are possible, they can be put in these four categories.

This world is real and then another world it is real. This world is real and there is no such thing as another world. Neither is this world real nor is the other world real.

And this world is real, this world is false, but there is another world. So, basically, the thing which Krishna is telling us to give up, so we call this as one, two, three and four. So, this is the worldview of Radha.

This is materialism. This is the worldview that is most present, prevalent right now in the world. So, Radha, we can translate in English as desire.

So, I'll talk about these as into the four Ds. So, this is the first worldview. At this, all our desires are caught in this world.

And then if our desires are caught in this world, there is no need. This world is real, that's all that matters. Then there is neither this world real nor is the other world real.

This is the very dark worldview. This is called as Nihilism. Nihilism may not be a very common world, but Prabhupada refers to it as shunya or voyeurism.

So, this is the worldview of voyeurism. This is, in English, we can translate dread, not just fear, but it is an existential, very deep-rooted fear. Fear can come and go, but dread is something which lasts for a long time.

Sorry, this is not dread. This is despair. And this is not voyeur.

This is actually krodha. So, krodha, why? Because, at this point, the person thinks nothing has any value at all. Everything that anybody has told me, it's all false.

The religious people told me that there is a God, they are lying. Multinational people told me that you earn money and you get position and fame and you'll be happy, they are also lying. So, everybody is basically lying.

So, this is the worldview of great skepticism. This is where there is no hope left in life. Among all the worldviews, this is the most dark worldview and you can't really live here.

So, this is Nihilism. Then, this is the worldview of impersonalism or nirvishesha. So, nirvishesha, shunyavadi, pashyanti, dikshataye.

So, pashyanti was largely raga, materialism. Nirvishesha and shunyavadi is impersonalism and voyeurism. So, impersonalism, often it is called as monism.

Monism means only one substance is real, only one creature exists. And the only reality is spiritual reality. There is one non-differentiated Raman is there and there is nothing beyond that.

So, this is the worldview of, this leads to Bhaya. Why Bhaya? Because it is, the whole world is simply Bhaya. And whatever looks attractive in this world, it is all simply meant to trap us.

And because it's all meant to trap us, the more you try to enjoy it, it traps you. Always be careful. Don't be attracted to anything in this world.

And because the other world, there is not, although we say the other world is real, there is really nothing attractive to focus on that. So, the primary emotion becomes great, living in constant fear of this world and its entanglement. And then, so Krishna is saying, we need to go beyond these three worldviews.

Fifth, we can come to the worldview of bhakti. So, bhakti, bhavam akhata. So, this is the worldview of bhava or based on that particular word, bhava or bhakti.

So, this is devotion. And we can call it, Prabhupada uses this word in an early back to word magnet, devotionalism, or if you just want to stick to the ism, or in this Kalamadita worldview, bhakti worldview. So, we want to go from wherever we are, none of these worldviews, we want to go towards the devotional worldview.

And there can of course be many variants in the specifics, but the devotional worldview is that this world is real. At the same time, this world is not the ultimate reality. This world is real and this other world is a bigger reality.

And it is not that by running away from this world, we go to the other world. It is by functioning in this world, by acting through this world that we go to the other world. So, now among these four worldviews, now many people often say that, they say philosophy doesn't interest me very much.

And there are students also studying, how many students really take philosophy as an active when they want to, unless they are very specially interested. Not many people do that. But although we may never have consciously studied philosophy, but what happens, everybody has some way of making sense of life.

Now, one simple definition of philosophy, or what is the need of philosophy basically, see philosophy, it helps us to make sense when, it helps us to make sense when things don't make sense. So, in the normal course of life, okay, if I study, I get good marks. If I work at my job, I get a raise, you know, I seek a relationship and I get some reciprocation, then I don't feel the need for philosophy.

But when things don't make sense, when I'm pursuing some artha and I get that artha, then what is the need for going towards the philosophy? Okay, I'm getting it, it's better. But when we pursue artha, and what we get is anartha, that's when things don't make sense. And that's when we start looking for philosophy.

So, now we all have faced situations in our life to some smaller or larger degrees, when things don't make sense. And we have found our own ways of dealing with it. Most people, when one object of artha in this world goes away from them, they either start chasing that same artha again, or they start chasing some other artha.

It's like you say, somebody in the outworld suddenly dies because of a sickness. Then they will say, okay, you know, I just didn't have enough money. Otherwise, I would have taken them to some other country, I would have given them great treatment and they would have been saved.

Then that person may decide, I am going to spend my life earning enough money so that you will never have any financial problems. So, well, that's one way of dealing with it. And yes, sometimes money can make a difference.

Money is also artha. But that is not necessarily going to solve the problem. Somebody loses a loved one to cancer, and they say, okay, I am going to get into medicine, I am going to do cancer research, I am going to find a cure.

That's a normal thing to do. But what has happened is that when artha was lost, they made that particular thing their artha. That's nice.

Different people can choose different things as their artha. But still, even if we cure all forms of cancer, we don't want to cure death. So, when the artha is lost, at that time, we need to turn towards paramartha.

So, among these four worldviews, just replacing one artha with another material artha, well, that is not a lasting solution. That is what most people do. And now, on the other hand, thinking that there is nothing of artha, that's a terrible worldview.

There is no artha in this life, there is no artha in another life. There was a European existentialist philosopher, I am going to count. He was quite intelligent, but unfortunately, he had this, he was living in the second quadrant.

So, he said, existence is suffering. And the more you try to alleviate the suffering, the worse it becomes. You say, hey, this seems like a Vedanta philosophy.

To some extent. But then, his conclusion was for him, there is no conception of paramartha. So, he said, therefore, the only philosophical question worth asking is whether to commit suicide today or tomorrow.

This other philosopher, he said, every time I pass by the window of a third story building, I have to resist the temptation of jumping out. What kind of life is that? Occasionally, when people are very frustrated, just what is the point of living at all? Often suicide, there can be many specific sociological causes for it. But it is when suicide is basically the triumph of despair over hope.

So, we all need some hope in our life, something to look forward to. But in this worldview, there is one thing to look forward to. This is the darkest worldview.

And when we talk about worldviews, some people may adopt a worldview philosophically. That means they actually think, analyze, and they arrive at a worldview. Like earlier, I said that when we talk about a worldview, the worldview can be approached, arrived at through philosophical deliberation.

That means, a person thinks, analyzes, and comes to the conclusion of that. But sometimes, that worldview might just be their psychological orientation, psychological disposition. That's how they start.

That's how they think. If you ask people, is materialism your worldview? Many people may not even know what materialism is. They may be materialistic living, but that's just the way their mind is functioning.

They've not really thought about the worldview, but their mind is going in dynamics. So, like that, there's idealism, the world where nothing matters. But that is not a worldview that many people have consciously chosen.

But psychologically, many people, especially in the West, youth are living like that now. And they're having many, many problems. What is the point of living at all? And they say, okay, life is, there's a whole movement which says, we don't want to have any children at all.

Why? Because this world is so much suffering, our planet is so much burdened by humans. I don't want to bring one more human being into this world, who's only going to burden the planet and who's going to live a life full of suffering. Now, it's called the anti-native movement.

Materialism is having children, anti-native movement. So, people need to have someone to give affection. So, in some of the biggest cities in America, there's San Francisco, among white Caucasians, the number of pets is more than the number of children.

They say, I don't want to have children. But then people have someone they want to give affection to. So, nobody can actually live nihilistically.

They claim to live like that. I don't want to have children. But you have to have someone, some art that we have to have, so that they adopt a pet and that will become their art.

So, nihilism, if somebody is going there, they have to come up with some art, they need to find something of it, even if it is not paramartha. Sometimes, we equate rajoguna and tamoguna. Sometimes, we say rajoguna and tamoguna are all bad.

From a spiritual perspective, that is true. But from a material perspective, rajoguna is much better than tamoguna. Because in rajoguna, a person at least has some aksamartha.

I want to take care of my family. I want to have this job. Paramartha, sorry, but in tamoguna, person has no material artha.

I just want to play video games all day. I just want to drink. I want to do drugs.

So, some artha is better than no artha. In that sense, we can say, even the worldview of materialism is better than the worldview of nihilism. Now, the worldview of impersonalism, that is more reactionary.

Reactionary means what? That when a person pursues some artha in this world, and when they end up getting a lot of suffering. So, when they end up getting a lot of suffering, they think that actually, oh, this whole world is full of suffering. I just have to stay away from this.

And there is something, there is some reality. But the way to get to that reality is just completely declare everything in this world to be false. And again, the other world is quite far away from us.

And if you just want to turn away from everything in this world, it's a very difficult way to live. So, some people might be able to live like this, but for most people, treating this world as maya and time and having nothing to do with it is not a practical. So, there is this world, there is another world.

And that other world, ultimate reality is God. God as a force. So, that Krishna, that ultimate reality, whatever name we may refer to.

So, basically, I started by talking about the span FA. So, now, I went from there to these four world views. So, now, if we want to come towards this worldview of devotionalism, that when Aadhaar is taken away from us, at that time, we want to move towards Paramahamsa.

So, how do we do that? How do we, okay, there is some higher reality. And I would like to connect with that. How do we even appreciate that God exists or God cares? So, I'll talk about two things and we will build on this in tomorrow's session.

But in this, I'll conclude over here that basically, for us, we often see God's presence or God, that when we look at God's blessings in our life, we generally look for two things. We look for gifts in life. You know, okay, something worked out very nicely.

You know, I was not getting any job, but suddenly I got this job. Or I'm not getting cured at all. And suddenly, I found this particular thing worked out and got cured.

We look for gifts in life and that's fair enough. But there's even more fundamental. There is the gift of life.

There is gifts in life, but there is the gift of life. In 15.12 to 15 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about Gyan Chakshu. He says, with the eyes of knowledge, we can see the spiritual in the material.

We can see the divine in this. So, basically, for us, when something good happens in our life, I expect maybe there is some God over there, some God. And that is there.

But before that, the fact of life itself is a remarkable miracle. Our bodies are so fragile. Our knowledge is so finite.

So many things can go wrong in the world. The fact that each one of us is alive itself is a miracle. If we look at our bodies, so many things have to work right for our body itself to function.

In many ways, if somebody studies science objectively, we start realizing how complicated our body is. We start understanding how complicated the universe is. And so many things need to work out in such precise ways for our existence to be possible.

So, in this series of verses from 15.12, 13, 14 and 15, this is all chapter 15 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about the various levels at which we can appreciate his existence. So, he says, and it is I who arrange for the light of the sun, by which the whole of existence is illuminated. So, this is at the cosmological level.

The cosmic level, the scientists have found out so many factors. The earth, the earth had been a little closer to the sun, it would have been too hot for us. The earth had been a little far away from us.

Again, the world would have been too cold for life as we know to exist. So, if the sun had been a little brighter, it wouldn't have existed. So, there are so many factors involved which actually make the existence possible.

So, then Krishna talks in the next verse at the level of the earth, celestial level. So, he says, it is I who sustain the earth. So, what science calls as gravity, how does it actually work? What is the mechanism for it? Ultimately, it is Krishna's energy.

And Krishna says, it is I who sustain the vegetable. It is I who provide, who sustains. So, it's one miracle that we as our bodies are sustained by the cosmological energy.

But the food that we eat, it's a miracle that our bodies exist and nature exists where food and liquid is there. So, how does all this work out? Now, we may have said, I work hard and that's how I get food on my table. True, but our efforts are secondary.

So, if we study history, one of the first lessons that history teaches us is humility. So, there are rivers which can dry up and entire civilizations can disappear within one generation. One earthquake or one volcano can come up and everything can be lost.

So, our existence is dependent on so many factors that are beyond us, that are arranged for us. So, the way food is arranged, the way the earth is arranged and the earth, if you look at science, you know that the earth's geographical axis and magnetic axis are tilted. If the earth were not slightly tilted, there would have been no seasons.

If there were no seasons, then no life, no plants would actually be able to grow, there would be no photosynthesis, there would not be food to eat for us. So, there are so many arrangements on the earth. We have so many food processing industries.

We don't have any food producing industry. The only food producing industry is God's nature. Everything that we process, it has to start with God's nature.

So, there is food producing industry. Now, there are many people who are more into industrial living. They say eat food produced, eat food made of plants, not food made in plants.

So, it's not just from a health perspective, it also reminds us that, you know, food producing industry, the only one is God's nature. So, the gift of life itself is a miracle. And then the next verse, Krishna talks at the zoological level.

The zoological level is, he says, even when nature produces food, it's not we who digest food. It is, what he says is, that, he says, I who has digested fire, I digest the food. Now, the only time we think of our digestion is when it doesn't work.

Otherwise, we just eat food and enjoy life. But actually, digestion is a simple miracle. Scientists are trying to, when the bodies have the power to work, we try to create some replacements for it.

And those scientists who do it, they bring a lot of research in order to replicate the functionality that is already available to each one of us. And if you appreciate the scientists who replicate the functionality, how much do we appreciate the original scientist who has created the function? Now, even with all that, replacing the digestive functionality is extremely difficult. So, digestion involves so many complicated mechanisms.

And as I said, if somebody can't digest food, you have to create an artificial digestive machine. It won't be a machine, it will be a factory. It's very complicated.

So, the point is, there are many arrangements that enable our existence. So, the gift of life, sometimes we feel, I don't have this gift in life, I don't, this person is fairer than me, this person is taller than me, this person is smarter than me, this person is whatever. We will look at the gifts that we don't have in our life and suddenly, where is God? But the gift of life itself is a big miracle.

And when we appreciate this, then we start seeing that there is a higher reality. And that higher reality is incremental. That's how I have the gift of life.

And now, specifically about the gifts in life, when they are lacking or when they are taken away from us, how do we see that? That we will discuss in tomorrow's session. But the key point is that at the foundational level, we understand life itself is a great gift. And we will say, there must be someone out there.

Now, why would they take the gift away from me at a particular time? What is the exact reason going on? That is something worth questioning and exploring. But just because some gift has been taken away from us, does not mean that it was not a gift while it was there. The fact that we have it even for some time, that is a gift and that can at least open us to the possibility that there is a higher reality.

And if what they have given me is a gift, that means that that higher reality is real and this world in which I have been given gifts is also real. So, in that worldview, how we can actually fix the mind of Krishna and make Krishna a higher reality, that we will discuss in our session tomorrow. I will summarize what I discussed today.

Broadly, we are going on this journey of what we can call as spiritual growth or spiritual developing our relationship with Krishna, seeing how God is acting in our life and how we can respond. So, I first talk about the overview of what we are going to do in the three sessions. So, basically, I talked about act.

A was first we appreciate Krishna's role in our life. Then we connect with him because we see he is doing something valuable for us. And finally, we target him in the sense that he becomes the ultimate purpose of our life.

So, in general, for all of us, the essential choice in life is we all have some Artha and when that Artha is, it either turns out to be an Artha because it's a disappointment. It doesn't turn out to be as good as we thought it was or it turns out to be a devastation that is all taken away from us. The essential choice is whether we go towards Paramartha.

Okay, what is the ultimate meaning in my life? Or we go down towards Anartha. So, in that connection, how do we go about different ways? I talked about this was the first start. The incident was now this queen has lost her husband.

The Lord has come in the form of a Sakha, a friend to guide her at that particular time. So, the Lord is guiding her at the time of when Artha has gone to move towards Paramartha. So, this is where we want to go, this is where we don't want to go.

And within that, we can, we talked about dispositions in two different ways. One is in terms of, say, if I am here, there is the world in front of me and then there is God above me. So, and the world.

So, with respect to God, we can have three options. Either is what is you remember? Favorable, against, neutral or just non-existent. These are three ways of looking at God.

And with respect to the world, we talked about these four quadrants, that either this world is real and the other world is real. And conversely, this world is false, the other world is false. So, this is materialism and that is the worldview of desire.

This is Raga. And this is, either world is real. Materialism is the most prominent worldview in today's world.

So, people can have a worldview either through philosophical deliberation or simply through psychological disposition. That's just the way their mind functions, that's the way they live. So, for many people, it's not philosophical, but it's a psychological, that's the way they're living.

And this is, anyone remembers the word for this? Nahilism or voidism. Nothing matters. This is the worldview of despair.

Anger. Anger is the whole world. It is like existential frustration with life.

This is the darkest worldview. One has to get out of it. Feel some unkind life at all.

And then the worldview of monism or impersonalism. This is the worldview of dread. Okay, this world is all maya, they're all entangled and trapped.

I just have to run away from it. And then we have the worldview of bhakti, devotionalism. That is the worldview of bhava.

So, this world is real and the next world is also real. So, we want to turn away from all these worldviews and we want to turn towards the worldview of devotionalism. This world is real and the other world also is real.

And how do we turn towards this worldview? It is by observation. We observe our life and we look for God's blessings in one way mainly. That is, we look for the gifts in life.

And while that is a fair enough way to look at it, another fundamental way is the gift of life. Life itself is a gift. And that we discussed based on Bhagavad Gita 12, 13, 14.

That our existence, for it to be sustained, there is cosmic arrangement in terms of the sun. There is terrestrial arrangement in terms of the earth existing in space and the earth having foodstuffs for us. And there is physiological arrangement in terms of the digestive system.

So, there are so many factors that have to work for us to even exist for whatever time we exist. So, at least for us we can say, maybe there is some being out there who is watching over for you. That is how I can have any life I don't.

Now, why would that being stop watching out for us or why would that being stop caring for us? That is something open, that is worth deliberating, which we will do in our next session. But this is the world, this is Gyanachakshu. Gyanachakshu, the eyes of knowledge, where we see the hand of God in this world.

And to the extent we see the hand of God in this world, to that extent we can start opening ourselves towards developing a relationship with the Lord. That key diagram is going to be a defining discussion for us. Initially for us, the world is big and God is small.

Eventually, the world becomes small and the God will become big. So, this is what we would like to move towards and how we will go in this direction, we will discuss in our future sessions. Thank you very much.

Are there any questions or comments? Yes. Weak means to be free from. That's not a word.

Weak means to give up. Yes. Babaji, if we observe, most of our life's motivations, they strongly come from the bio-growth and craft.

So, how do we keep the same level of passion when we are looking at many times devoid of this thing? How do we direct our passion towards this without that attachment of fear and all those things? Okay. Now, Bhakti is not necessarily without Raga Bhayagraha. See, within Bhakti also there are many different Rasas.

There are five prominent Rasas. That is the more like they are overall the nature of the relationship itself. But then after that, there is within Bhakti also, there are varieties of emotions.

There is Bhimansa, there is Bhayanaka, there is horror, there is joy, there is fear, there is humor. So, Bhakti is filled with various emotions. So, in Raga Bhayagraha, when Madhya Pradesh shows that she has great attachment to Krishna and she sees Krishna high up, she is terrified.

She is getting pretty wild. What has happened over here? So, there is emotion definitely. And if you look at the Ramayana, when Ram is excited, there is Krodha in Lakshmana.

This is unfair. So, this should not be happening. So, it's not that those emotions are all rejected.

It is that the various emotions that we have, they are accommodated within the framework of Bhakti. So, for all of us, ultimately Bhakti, it is also to be, it is not just devotion and peace and joy. It's a real relationship.

And a real relationship has many different emotions. Let us say, if we decide to organize a festival for Krishna, then there is anxiety over here. You know, this food has to be prepared, this traffic has to be there, this parking has to be taken care of, this has to be done.

But within that, then going through the emotions, our connection with Krishna becomes deeper, our absorption with Krishna becomes deeper. So, the emotions that we have in this world, we try to direct them towards Krishna. And it is not that we have to turn away from the world to direct them towards Krishna.

We can even offer Krishna things in this world. So, when we try to do something tangible for Krishna's service, then our emotions are invested in doing that. And in that way, we can have emotional fulfillment or emotional energization through or within the parameter of devotions.

Okay. Thank you. Yes, please.

Okay. Thank you, Shankaracharya. Thank you for your time.

So, is it correct to understand that Buddhism has sent a lot of fear and all the religions that are in this world. I am probably not coming out of it right now. Okay, thank you.

I think, to historical origins, it's difficult to say. We can say Shankaracharya started that. But we do not know, Shankaracharya, before Shankaracharya also, that philosophy was there.

Shankaracharya was like a systematizer or very prominent teacher, like Bhakti or what you call as Vaishnav Bhakti. It existed before Vaishnavism, what we call it. It was not that Ramacharya started it.

It existed before Ramacharya also. But many of the Alwars existed long before Ramacharya. So, I am not sure whether we could make that case in terms of historical origin that it started out of fear.

But in terms of individual, there is definitely some level of fear that is a prominent emotion within the psychological genesis, psychological origin or adoption of that particular worldview by individuals at particular times. So, definitely, there is fear over there. Now, this is not to dismiss that because whatever be the emotion that might originate that philosophy.

Afterwards, see the human intelligence or there is mana and buddhi within us. And ideally speaking, the buddhi should guide the mana. The intelligence should guide the mind.

But there are many times when the mind controls the intelligence and then the mind doesn't just control, the mind uses the intelligence. So, when the mind uses the intelligence, what happens is then whatever worldview we may have adopted for whatever reason, using our intelligence, we can come up with a lot of justifications for it. So, impersonalism or even materialism for that matter can be developed into an elaborate thought system.

And when we are talking with people who are advocates of a particular philosophy, if we simply, while talking with them, start saying this is a philosophy that has come out of desire or fear or despair, then they may think we are being too religionistic or disrespectful to them. Because they may have built a whole worldview around it. So, the point is, we could definitely make that claim in terms of, that is not even a claim, assertion in terms of psychologically how a philosophy is accepted by a particular person or proposed by a particular person.

But eventually, they can build it into a whole philosophical system where there is a lot of buddhi that is used in that direction. Thank you. Thank you for the beautiful class.

So, we talked about gift of life. So, everybody is having the birth, 13th, 14th, 15th, 12th, 13th, 17th. So, since it is an abundance, then we might take, we take it for granted because we feel that what is special about that.

Everybody is having the same right. So, I mean, I think it is like an event. We say when the relationship is not fine, then only we think about it.

Or when we see people inferior to us, then we think about, okay, yes, God has given us this gift. So, how do we appreciate that in our day-to-day life? In normal situations, how do we appreciate? Yeah, I'm just talking about when we talk about gratitude. In general, when something extraordinary happens, it's relatively easy to feel grateful.

If somebody wins a lottery, it's very easy to feel grateful. So, gratitude for the extraordinary, in one sense, is ordinary. Gratitude for the ordinary is extraordinary.

So, it is not easy to appreciate what is ordinary. We need to do some reflection with our Uddi. See, many people like to be in touch with the news, breaking news here, breaking news there.

We call it breaking news, but often it is news of how things are breaking down in various parts of the world. So, especially since I started traveling across the world, we end up with so many things which we just take for granted in our day-to-day life. They are not so easily available.

I was in Scotland, and just many devotees from Ukraine had come as immigrants over there. And they were just practicing bhakti, they had their life, they had their society. And suddenly, everything is devastated.

Now, they have to come there and build a whole new life. There are so many things which we have, which are dependent on so many factors beyond our control. When I started going to America, I started to outreach to American youth.

Actually, my gratitude for my parents started increasing so much more, because parenting is a very tough thing. I'm not blaming Americans, because America is a very large country. But many times, people have so many issues.

Parent neglect, parental abuse. There are tamasic parents. Sometimes, we even criticize parents for the materialistic.

But even if a parent is rajasic, if the child is sick, they will move heaven and earth to heal their child and to cure their child. They may have no belief in God or no interest in becoming devoted to God, but still, at least they are taking care of that level. And in general, in Eastern culture, Eastern India, China, these places, there is that much conservative values there that parenting is a serious response.

Sometimes, children may feel parents are a little overbearing, but that's one issue, but at least they care. In the West, it's like, I'm not analyzing all of this, but some of it. If a tamasic parent is there, the parent is stoned on drugs.

The parent doesn't even know my child is existing. One devotee told me that his father just left him soon after his birth. His mother took drugs.

From the age of 5 till the age of 16, I was taking care of my mother. You know, I would go to the America, the welfare countries. If you don't have a job, you don't have money, then you go to the place where the soup kitchen or the welfare office, get a check, you get food.

So now, whatever difficulties we may have had with our parents, with our siblings, there's a lot that was right in our lives. So basically, if we meet, when we just read news, we just read them as events. When we meet different people, we just say how different they are.

And then when we meet different people and hear about different things, we can start appreciating that there's so many things. The fabric of society is that there's so much, so much that was right in our life. So it does require reflection.

So if we have some people with whom we can do that reflection, a little bit of a deliberation, then that can help us stay grounded and grateful. But it's not easy. It's easy to get caught in the particular things which we want.

Now we may want it even for Krishna's sake. We still want them. We don't get them, then we get agitated.

So we'll continue tomorrow. And tomorrow, we'll be discussing about how we can, once we appreciate that God exists, how can we start connecting with Him? What does connecting with Him mean practically? And especially, how do we stay connected with Him when the differences in our life seem to be going up and down? And the last session is not just about connecting. How can we make Krishna the ultimate reality of our life? Thank you very much.