Cultivating sattva guna Varanasi Bhagavad Gita 146 || Chaitanya Charan

This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:

They do every year. So in that festival especially when they’re in Poland and other places one of the most common one of the most popular stalls over there is for women when they wear the sari the for them to try out the sari it’s okay I wore some some exotic eastern dress and they like to take some photos and they love that so that’s a curiosity but tell them every day we are a sari forget it you know so from curious Curiosity to commitment it’s a very different thing. So to some extent the curiosity is possible in satwar rajas anywhere and if bti is presented attractively enough people will have curiosity but from starting to sustain that requires some level of commitment and commitment does not come immediately that’s why for us sapuna is important because for us bi is not just about something we want to start off We want to steadily practice it. So in that sense while both are valid this is much more important for us. The vision that now when we say come to satwaguna that does not mean that rajas and tamas is eliminated. Basically say when we sleep there is tamaguna. The difference is when say what it broadly means is that satwa is the predominating influence in someone which is the driving defining influence in someone that is satwa. So even a rajasic person can have satwa. So for example some some people who are who are big project project uh builders project makers they pursue big projects you know before they do the project they will do very painstaking planning and then After the planning they may do also what they call as a debriefing okay what happened how did things work out now that indicates that they are thinking and they’re trying to gain clarity but see satwa rajas and tamas they are defined not just by we could so the gas we can define by activity what does a person do So somebody may study and we may think somebody studies a lot that is support but it is not so much activity it is aspiration not what I do but why I do it when I was in college when I was in school I was always among the first first second third but generally what happens when you come to a college or if come speak a top college then it’s like the best from everywhere are coming So I was still among the top but I was not never always the first. Uh then uh there was one boy with whom we I had a lot of competition and then he came first in the exam in one of our semester exam. I I congratulated him you know today you must be very happy said yes today is the best day of my life. So I was a little too happy I felt okay you came first year class you thought that you conquered Mount Everest something like that.

So I asked him so what what makes it the best date for you? He said you know I have been wanting to date that girl and she had told me if I come first in class she will go out for a date with three. So so for him studying was not because it’s not because he had love for learning. It was not even because I want to build a career. So it was study was a tool for getting something rajasic. That’s why Our ga is determined not so much by our activity but by our aspiration. So it is in this sense that we say devotees are transcendental. Devotees are transcendental in s that our aspiration is transcendental but still for all of us even for advanced devotees there may be certain influence of satwara tamas because we still have a material body and a material mind. It has been used for a spiritual purpose but still it is material. It is made of material things. So that is it is can be seen in terms of activity but it’s much more seen in terms of aspiration. It is not so much what I do but it is what drives me in what I do. So what drives me will determine my mood. So when we say we come to satwa then that means our so in that sense as devotees we don’t just want to come to satwa we want to come to satwa we want We don’t want purity so that we can enjoy our purity. We want purity so that we can serve Krishna better. What do I mean by aspiration? See aspiration could be purity but purity for what? Purity could be for a sense of superiority that if I fast and I I’m constantly watching the kitchen who is going there and who is eating what? Then such attached person sensing but my ego is feasting. So purity is not for superiority, it is for spirituality. It is for absorption in Krishna. So ultimately a devotey doesn’t just seek purity. Devotey seeks spirituality. If prabhopad had praised purity above all things, he would have said why should I go to impure place like America. In fact people told him especially when he was in New York also there was a lower east side in the bi which was which was even from American standards it was quite contaminated place and there was completely do drugs and other things. Family this is no place for you. Propa said no that is the place for me because that is where people are interested in spirituality. They are seriously interested in spirituality. So, so again what are we discussing over here? Why are the modes why why do the modes matter for us? Why does suga matter for us? Because it will give us the stability as we strive for purity and spirituality. We can move forward steady. It is not the ultimate end for us. And if for a particular service externally we are required to do something which is uh not apparently suggest and and I was leaving from there. So I was going to catch I got to catch a train and then I remembered that I had forgotten something over there. I don’t I didn’t I had not forgotten somebody from Pune called me and they said that they wanted to get something from there. So I called the devotey when I was coming to the training decision. We had come a little early. Can you get that? And and he was coming coming and he came to the platform and the train was already honking. So he was just walking calmly said please come quickly. So he said you know this morning only I’ve heard a class on how we should be in the mode of goodness. So yes now be so I don’t know what run because that would be that’s a whole understanding. Now we should be constantly running. Our life should be stable so that we don’t have to constantly be running here and there. But sometime life requires that and if we have to do that we cannot be too attached to the externals. So yes certain externals are associated with certain goodas but it depends ultimately on our purpose. So that brings us now the last part that is How? So how do we go about cultivating support? Now there is no easy way but broadly I talk about two simple principles and then we’ll build on those principles. I talked about a healthy relationship with ourselves and this is where I am and this is where I want to go. So in if you want to elaborate on that relationship with ourselves that there is if I am say if I’m here and I want to get here this is where I want to go. So sata involves understanding where I am where I want to go and how I’ll get there. So with with respect to this so in that sense a can apply for anything. So you can somebody can pursue wealth innik somebody somebody can pursue health and fitness in sic way somebody can pursue knowledge in a satnic way somebody can pursue bi similarly somebody can pursue health in a very rajasic way so like nowadays in the west yoga is becoming very popular and now we may say people who are practicing yoga they are all interested only in yoga and it is true to some extent you know that people want to practice yoga so that they can look good and that they can attract somebody more attractive. So that is there no doubt about it but still they could very well do that by using botox and so many chemicals and so many other ways they could do it but so they are they may be pursuing a rajasic end but yoga itself requires them to become someone. Okay, sit peacefully. Take deep breaths. So, it is it’s almost like they’re pursuing a rajasic end, but they’re pursuing it by satic means. Now, in one sense, originally the purpose of yoga was to connect with God. So, we could say the current popularity of yoga is very different. The reason for it is very different from the original purpose. And that is true. No doubt. I was in uh the ward and I met one person this a couple of years ago I asked him what do you do he said I’m a yoga teacher what yoga teacher I said no yoga teacher

what do you think is yoga

yeah yoga with dogs like do everything together so what happens that oh I want to if I’m I’m stretching my arms then my dog also stretch I’m raising one leg up Exactly. So actually yoga teachers are paid more than yoga teachers because you know you have to train an animal much more difficult. There are yoga teachers and there are koga teachers also. What is koga?

Yes. So now we could say this is rajisk and it is true but at least that pursuing it through a sickness means so what happens is slowly a certain level of sapona starts coming in. Not among everyone but among many. In the western world as we are trying to spread Krishna consciousness the the most potential audience right now in the western world is a yoga audience. There are people who are interested in kan but they are relatively less. It’s k is a form of music and people are interested in m kan music. There are good number of people. There are also people who are interested in a self-help kind of intellectual approach and for them the Ara shastra the the nitiastra the axiastra family arastra or the openish shirts some of them are quite popular the Bhagatita has become popular to some extent so they don’t see Bhagat Gita as a spiritual or a devotional book they want to see it more as a uh a self-improvement book or a self-awareness kind of book but things that became popular like that there various ways in which people are turning towards things which are going to take them towards eastern spirituality. There’s a lot of interest in vegetarianism in especially veganism. So but the richest audience right now the yoga audience the richest has not wealth but the richest potential that is there. So what is happening over here is there is some amount of satona that comes just by the practice of yoga. That doesn’t necessarily mean that life goals are going to change. They may still want to look attractive attract somebody attractive but still beyond that they are they they go a little more reflective a little more out my classes are quite analytical so when I go to the west Indian devotees congregation devotees they find my class a little exhausting so after you know 10 15 20 minutes it’s okay constant work of the brain you have to do it just becomes too much so but I had gone for one western yoga program and one Indian devotey drove me to the program and he had I spoke for 25 30 minutes and we had like 1 hour 20 minutes question answers so after that he was driving me back he said you know I was amazed at how interested these people were so he felt that when I’ve gone before okay they like some they like singing but they were really interested but because there is a certain level of support which comes with an analysis So mindfulness if you consider mindfulness is largely about sata like become aware of your mind become aware of your emotions become aware become learn to observe your thoughts. So that whole thing is about satoga. So in general if you want to move from where we are to where we want to be what do we do to cultivate satogam broadly there are Three steps I’ll talk about a PT. First is acceptance. I need to accept myself for where I am. Now without doing that what will happen is we will not be able to move. We will not if I think that I’m a higher level than what I am or if I think I’m a lower level than what I am then we will not be able to move forward. Okay. Somebody says okay I want to start working every day I’ll read 3 hours when you read for 15 minutes and you get bored or you feel tired you feel overwhelmed okay maybe I can read 30 maybe I can start 15 minutes every day and I can 20 minutes I can make it 30 minutes maybe I’ll come to 3 hours but it may take some time so accept where I am now after acceptance so acceptance is with respect to the self that I need to accept where I am and the second is persistence. So Krishna says so persistence is with respect to the process. Don’t expect that today I started tomorrow I have reached the destination. So if we are going to take a high jump from one here I can just get there with one high jump but if I’m going to take steps to go up one step second step third step fourth step sometimes if we have a if you’re trying to climb up aati path going now if you have a height tracker height tracking instrument and you check after each step has your height level increased well may it has but it’s not necessarily visible as the steps are small and comfortable we will not be moving forward. So persistence is that we need to understand that is going to happen gradually. It’s not that today I start something and tomorrow I’ll achieve it. This is where I am. This is how I’ll move forward. Now many times for us when we practice bi this persistence becomes difficult. Acceptance is difficult but sometimes acceptance comes up. The persistence becomes difficult because what happens whatever Conditionings. Conditionings we can call them as samscaras. We can call them as impressions. Whatever word we use. Sometimes you may think of conditionings as simply as simply feelings or desires within us. Like say somebody feels angry, somebody feels greedy, somebody feels lusty. These are feelings that come up within us. But they are desires but they are also dispositions. What do I mean by dispositions? That these are things which are impressed inside us. Krishna says so if I consider my mind. So if this is my mind now in the mind there is there are certain dispositions. dispositions or we could use the word impressions. So the impressions are there. Now from those impressions what happens is there are impulses that come out the desires or impulses we can say. Now those impulses is often come up because we perceive some sense object. You could say that sense object activates. Let’s put it explain that. So when a particular desire comes up, see the bhagatam says the 11th kind of gita that sometimes the senses go toward the sense objects and sometimes the sense objects come toward the senses. What it means that that when a politic ular temptation rises within us. The temptation can come from the inner impression or the temptation can come from the outer perception. Say somebody’s an alcoholic and they get the urge to drink. Now that could come because they just pass by a bar or they’re going to a party where everybody else is drinking or they could just be at home and suddenly thought comes up, I want to drink. So broadly speaking when a desire so we are trying to talk about what will enable us to persist on the path. So acceptance and persistence that it refers to that the fact that some people have more impressions inside than others. Like two people may pass by a bar if some one person has never drunk and has no interest in drinking. Then even if they pass by the bar even if somebody from else friend from inside the bar invite them come on let’s drink there will be no impulse so if the impression is zero then the perception may not have any effect also now in some cases the perception might be very small but the impression would be so strong that a person gets triggered mahapu says that sometimes you may see a wooden replica of a sense object of a woman and that may also agitate somebody like we or we have about your worry money what He says this that he just saw some fish mating. So the impressions were there and the fish were popping up popping up and then some small trigger was big enough for that. The trigger was minor but it was enough to to take him to tipping point as I say take him over at that particular point. So when we say the senses go towards the sense object that means the impressions come first. So we could say these are the these are the impressions inside us and from outside come perceptions. perception is what we see. So for us acceptance and persistence that’s what we’re talking about. What does it mean that I need to accept that there are some impressions inside and because of those impressions or certain desires will come up inside certain propositions certain pop-ups will come on eat this watch this touch this buy this those will come And we also live in a particular environment and in that environment certain perceptions will come upon us. So at one level when I s about acceptance we need to accept that I I have certain impressions inside me and I have certain perceptions around me. This is the this is the world I live in and this is the this is the mind I live better. So that acceptance has to be there. Now that doesn’t mean there’s a difference between living with something and living for something. So living with is unavoidable to some extent but living for is definitely avoidable. Just because there are sense objects around us or just because there are impressions true impressions inside us doesn’t mean we have to act like them. But if we expect that I should never even feel the desire. If we expect that I should never even feel anger. If we expect I should never even feel even agitated by anything like this. That is unrealistic. So acceptance means that yes agitation will come. Now agitation comes that does not mean that I have to succumb to it. So let’s so I hope the acceptance point is clear what I mean by that. Now the persistence is in what? The persistence is broadly at two things that the at one level we want to create some boundaries by which we will be able to avoid exposing ourselves to the perceptions and we also try to create some boundaries so that the impressions also don’t come out. They are there inside. But they don’t pop up. So this so if we consider creating some boundaries like this, this is what Krishna talks about in 2.58. So that just as a tortoise withdraw limbs. Uh similarly we need to withdraw muscles on sensations. So for example, if we are constantly on our devices, then maybe decide that after a particular time, you know, I will not visit my social media or I’ll not visit these particular I may have this particular app, I might use this phone for this but those particular thing maybe I can after a particular time block that out. So now this now what exactly kind of boundaries we need to have that each one of us may have to decide for ourselves but we need boundaries. So once we were doing nation, I was considering a devotey and then we were question the two of us were answering questions together. So around 10:00 the devotey came both of us were doing nanashi actually 12:00 is supposed to fast. So around 10 because it was a huge crowd. So 10:00 the devotey came uh with uh with some lemon water for us to break the fast at 1:00 and then he brought up Lord so this other was a syasi so he says he asked Maharaj where should we keep this this is for you to break your fast so he smiled out of sight so where do you keep it out of sight so the idea is that yes we will feel thirsty but if we have water right in front of us we will feel under self desire keep it out of sight so now out of sight leads to Out of mind but not always. The out of sight is good at least we are avoiding the perceptions. Out of sight will lead to out of mind provided the mind is out of it. Isn’t it? If the mind is already in it. So there is there are two states of uh attachment or infatuation. There’s the desire is in the mind and the mind is in the desire. The desire is in the mind means what? That It’s one component. If this is my mind and then a particular desire has come in my mind. So this is the desire in the mind. This is what says that the desire has come in the mind. But from there what can happen is things can grow where the mind is here and the desire has become like this. So when this happen happens. This is a much more difficult situation. This is where so a desire in the mind is a problem. Mhm. So we could say this is where attention is getting caught or distracted. But mind in the desire that means the mind is already scheming, fantasizing, thinking how will I do this, how will I do that. This is where it is a sign. ificant problem. Okay. So, persistence means each one of us needs to find out what boundaries can I have to prevent outer perceptions and also what boundaries can I have so that even if the desires of this comes in the mind whether it comes from outside or comes inside it doesn’t take over my mind. So, we need to find out some boundaries of this also. So this is where one one of such boundaries is having some schedule or some structure for our life. So what happens we start looking at our phone and we look at one video and another video and another video another video then the hours can go by but if we have things to do if we have planned okay I completed this and 15 minutes try to do this 1 hour I try to do this. So then what happens if we have the structure for our life then even if the pop-ups come inside us they won’t drag us away for too long. The less of a structure we have for our life the more of a rupture our conditioning will cause in our life structure no structure low structure more rupture like that if you if you have a full weekend free with nothing to do I’ll read some bhavita maybe I’ll have chance some of extra round maybe I’ll talk with some devotees maybe I’ll just serve something on the phone And then what happens is something will become a whole weekend can go in that only some. So that way there the inner boundaries like taking some time out to plan this is the day that I have ahead of me and this is how let me these are the engagements I can have throughout the day. So having a scheduleular structure is helpful. Now each individual will have to decide what level of structure works best for them. Initially If you if you’re saying a new center, it gives you a certain structure for us. As we grow in our lives sometimes some people may want even more rigid structure like we may have a basic sad card some say I want to have these five or six more things in my sad card I want to keep track of them having that structure helps them. So some so it’s that if you use a personality tests there are different kinds of people. Some people work very well in a structured work environment.

Some people work much better in a uh unstructured work environment they are more creative. So I was in um I was I was giving a talk in Intel and in America and there one person came and talked to me very intelligent questions and I asked him so where do you so where do you work? He said I work in the Maverick’s department. You heard the word Maverick? Maverick Maverick Mav R. Maverick means people who don’t follow any rules. So so I asked them what is Maverick’s department? They said that those those of their hire those employees who have like phenomenal IQ or a phenomenal creativity they are not put in any team in any team with any deadlines they just they just given no structure and okay you come up with some new ideas you come up with some new discovery you come up with some new inventions and sometimes for 6 months one year they do nothing and you know this is a easy life but these people they’re constantly thinking and sometimes they can come up with one invention or one idea that can change the computer industry. So there are people who may not find who may not always who may find structure too confining. So that’s okay. So each one of us has to find out what level of structure we need. So when I started writing I told one of my my main mentors Jay Maharaj for guiding in writing. I said Mahar sometimes I get good ideas for writing. Sometimes you just don’t get any good ideas. So what should I do? He said that you have two options. One is you write whenever you get good ideas and probably you might get an idea once in 15 days, once a month and you’ll write probably uh uh maybe uh 12 articles, 25 articles in like in a year and they’ll be good or you can decide that I’ll write one article every day whether it’s good or it’s bad. So if you write like that you will still get the same 20 25 30 good articles in a year but other articles will also be they will range from uh near good to acceptable and some of them will also be unacceptable. Why did I even write this? He said your overall productivity will increase. So that means that create creativity we cannot really control the the quality but having a certain level of quantity keeps things moving forward so I tried to follow that for almost 15 years now but uh the point I’m making is everybody needs structure what level of structure we shouldn’t feel suffocated by the structure I don’t have any time to breathe I don’t have any time to think I don’t have time to do something explore anything at the same time There should not be so much so much lack of structure that we get on one side too much structure will suffocate us too much too little structure will slaughter us. Why? Because our mind will just slaughter our time completely. So in that sense how much structure we want to avoid too little not as Krishna says to Don’t don’t skip too little. Don’t sleep too much. I said avoid extremes. So too little will lead us to be slaughtered. Our mind will destroy us. Too much means we will feel suffocated. Now in between how do we know what is the apt amount of structure or what is the right amount of structure for us? That is two things will happen guys. When the right amount of structure is there at one level our productivity will increase that we will be doing more move and not only our productivity will increase along with that overall our our our stability of mind our satisfaction our inner you could say stability in terms of productivity more outer our state of mind will be more stable. So that means even if there are waves so it’s like what what is going to happen is the mind will always have its ups and downs. Now when the mind has ups and downs if we if we have no structure we may go so up and go so one day I feel enthusiastic I wake up at 2:00 a.m. in the morning next day I don’t feel enthusiastic I wake up at 10:00 a.m. in the morning. You know, we can’t have that much lack of structure. So, we need to have some structure. But if I take it in such a way that it’s like straight line only. Some people can survive like that. But some people know I’m feeling tired. Let me speak for 10 minutes more. That’s okay. Have some variability in structure. So, acceptance and persistence. Accept that. I have this level of conditioning. This is my kind of life and that I may not be able to move that fast forward but I need to keep moving forward and persistence. Last point is that I was telling you acronym how to know it. A P and T. Now T is transcendence. Transcendence means that while Satuna is beyond good SA transcendence Krishna is beyond Satona in many ways we need Krishna’s help. to compressor also. So I gave the earlier the example that I am here and I want to take steps to go up over here and this is true but another aspect to consider over here is that actually Krishna is here and Krishna can cast a rope to lift us up. The Krishna’s ro is his mercy. So for us to rise from the lower modes to the higher modes. It is yes we can have our plan what I will do how I’ll move forward but if there are some areas in our life where we feel strongly connected with Krishna then focus on those cuz that will help us to move upward faster. So if somebody likes kans more somebody likes studying scripture more somebody likes local recitation more what type somebody likes daily worship more Whatever is it I like means that you know we feel content while doing that we feel enriched while doing that then investing some amount of time in doing that will actually we are putting ourselves within Krishna’s pull and then Krishna will pull us upward faster so in this way uh we can move towards satuna faster in our lives by learning that ultimately want to go beyond satroa But by connecting with the being who is beyond sata we can move forward faster. In I think 1419 Krishna says that that for one who wants to go beyond the mods we will see that we understand that ultimately the modes are pulling us in various direction but there is a being who’s beyond the modes. When we see that then we will be able to move forward faster in our journey towards satwa and beyond that towards transcendence. So our topic I’ll summarize today. Our topic was cultivating satwa and in that I talked about three things. What is satroana? So we talked about satroa in broadly in three terms that there is clarity of where I am. Then there is purity is what I seek and there is stability in how I go about seeking it that I understand that these things may take time. So it’s not that we try to we not too impatient with ourselves. I talked about the gans as three way two ways they can be seen as they’re transcendental rather and bacti and bakti can be their relationship can be seen as bacti is transcendental or bi is incremental. So both are true. Transcendental is for starting. We can start from wherever we are and move towards it. Incremental is with respect to sustaining. Then we talked about why to practice. Why should we cultivate the mode of goodness? Because in general it is in the mode of goodness that we have a healthy relationship. ship with ourselves. Without that healthy relationship with ourselves, we will end up not being able to sustain what we are doing. So we can have can too negative too positive would be it’s rajogana. We overestimate ourselves and then we will if we say rajoga we will run up we’ll fall down to because that try to lift way too much weight than we what we can and we we’ll end up not being able to lift any weight. So true negative is tamas. So it’s like we may go towards workcoholism where we think just by my work I’ll change everything. Let me just keep working working. There’s no room for God. And oh by my work I can’t change anything. So why do any work? Let me just run into my imaginary world. That’s alcoholism. So both ways we are running away from ourselves.

But in a healthy relationship with ourselves what happens is

we have a certain level of awareness about ourselves. So awareness that can help us to then move forward to get transformed. So suna helps us to have a sustainable path towards transformation. And for us is not the goal. That’s why I talk about the gonas are determined not just by the activity that we do but by the aspiration that we have. So a person may be practicing may be studying but they’ll be studying so that they can pursue a rajas and for us the aspiration is purity but purity is also not for superiority that I am better than others. This is where people can get trapped as says that that it can bind us that oh I know more than others I am happier than others why we need to do anything more so we don’t want that we want to focus on Krishna better and then with respect to how talk about three things A and D acceptance this is where I am and then persistence I need to keep trying and then transcendence So transcendence is we talk about mercy which will help us rise upwards. Now with respect to acceptance what I meant by that is that when we are trying to grow there is there’s the mind and there are the sense objects. So we will get agitated by some sense objects and we need to accept that we are vulnerable. So there are impressions inside us and there are perceptions that we come from outside us. So both of them can cause us agitation. So we need to create boundaries with respect to perceptions. I need to create boundaries with respect to the expressions that are coming out. So each one of us has to figure out. So acceptance is these will be there and I will get agitated. So accepting that agitation will be there except that I may get agitated. But persistence is in in toler presenting or in moving forwards in persistence in saying no or even if we fall in rising again. So how do we persist? We discussed how there’s a the outer boundaries which are us figure out what boundary boundaries we can have the inner boundaries I talked about how there is a desire in the mind and there is the mind in the desire. So when that happens then it becomes very difficult to escape that. So That means you’re completely infatuated. So this in between these two we need to create some boundaries and I talked about the one way to create boundaries through structure. So all of these structure in our life and it’s if it’s too little we’ll feel we will be slaughtered. If it’s too much we will be sub. So what level of structure works best for us? Each one of us has to find out. And the test that the structure is working for us is and at one level we will have our productivity will increase to that structure. The second is that our we not only will be able to do more but we’ll be to do more for a longer amount of time continuously we will do it and that way we can find out the optimum structure for us by which we can move ahead in our journey towards and ultimately towards Krishna. Thank you very much. H Krishna Krishna.

Any quick questions? Thank you very much project. Many times uh I also in my life personally felt uh many times I got confusion between these modes and how to handle it because we always hear how to we hear that we should elevate ourselves in mode of goodness but it’s very quite confusing topic but you gave very simply you know I mean your presentation was very simple and it gives more clarity and most important it gives more hope also. Thank you very much. So my question is uh as you mentioned about uh the impressions and perceptions that we need to create boundaries. So the boundaries which one of the boundaries were you mentioning was having structured or having schedules. So is this will be helping for us to fight against the impressions or for a person ions for which but it will be

okay it will be for both to some extent we’re changing the impression is an elaborate subject it will take some time uh because that that’s the whole process of lead purification but structure can help in both broadly if we have a structure for our life then within that structure the perceptions themselves won’t be too many say if I’m going to college And if I go to college or I go to a shopping mall or I go here, I go there, you go to airport, you go to a restaurant, we see so many things. It could be food, there could be so many sense objects there. Somebody might get agitated by. But if you’re clear, okay, I’m going there, I have to catch this and I have to go there. Then what happens? Then once that structure is clear, then the the mind also slowly fits into that mold. This is why what I’m here for.

And then the agitation is not so much. It is there. You can’t say it is not there but it is not so much. So structure can help us to even minimize the perceptions or minimize the effect of the perceptions on one side. The other side is that through the actions that we do within the structure. Now just following the structure itself creates impressions. Okay, this is the time I do this. This is the time I do this. This is how I do this. So that itself creates impressions inside us but along with that the content of what we are doing that’s why transcendence is important many things can create good impressions within us but Krishna can create not just good but godly impressions which are much more transformative so in that sense having a structure and having some transformative content within that structure will also change the impressions inside us thank you to actually what you said now was a clearly visible like Why prop this morning program and whole structure it has a structure as well as it has transformative things involved in that

yeah it’s true point external boundary we I can create okay I have to avoid this I have to avoid this and that but it comes to the internal boundaries because some some imp impression just pop up And uh so I say that personally I recognize that impression and say that this will pass automatically every impressions have passed in some because it’s not going to uh remain forever but probably when some impressions are so strong I think they take 2 days to die and so when internal uh impression is so strong to how to react in that situations when it is going to lasting for 2 days. Yeah, more than 2 days. So first question is and second question is one question at a time. Okay. So the internal impressions are very strong. What do we do? Yeah. It’s a difficult situation. See in general for us see restraint is required for everyone. Even materialistic people it’s not that they can just enjoy whatever they want.

No, you see you know it’s generally in the western world the number of rapes are much lesser than the number of uh the rapes in India. So there are many countries where women can go out in night also and they’re quite safe. Now does that mean those countries are purer? People are pure hearted. No, there is much more consensual sex over there. So the thing is there the there they accept the boundary of consent. the other person is not willing okay I’ll find some other person to be with like that in India consent for many people that’s not considered a very big bond now as though that culture where where people are becoming westernized see the software companies there’s a lot of affairs but there are very few rapes in people who come from more rural backgrounds to cities they’re exposed to all the women wearing western clothes and everything And see the rural places there is like a complete se geographical segregation. Men and women don’t mix so much. And if a woman is out in public that itself is seen as an indication a woman is fair game she she’s there for you to grab but that’s not the concept over there. So in the west so the point is that there are there are restraints that are external and everybody needs to have restraints. So external Internal restraints are two parts. One is culture and the other is law. The internal restraint are two things. One is conscience and the other is intelligence. So let me explain each of these one by one. Culture is this is not to be done. Like say in many parts of the world smoking has decreased in public places. Now we may have the law over there. Smoking is not allowed over here. Smoking is allowed in illustrated places. But just when one person is smoking others look so disapprovingly at that person the person stops smoking. The culture has changed over there. The 10 20 maybe not even 20 15 years ago smoking was considered quite cool and people had to inhale passive smoke because of it. Now the aware of passive smoke has become so much okay I want to smoke I can smoke but I should go to that place and smoke. like that. So culture brings some of restraint according to culture some things are not to be done. So that’s what I’m talking in the west with respect to rape for example and lack of consent the culture is very strong and even the laws are very strong. Mhm. Now that does not mean there’s more purity as I said it just means that with respect to that particular boundary is imposed that you cannot force force your and rapes are not just just man to women especially in prisons. It’s very common man-to-man rapes happen and it’s it’s it’s it’s very humiliating. People don’t admit it also. But the point is that the this kind of thing there is there is a particular boundary over there. It can come from come from culture, it can come from law. Those are externals. Law is culture is this is not to be done. Law is if you do this you will be punished. So for example, drinking is rampant in the western water but still both by culture and law people understand that I drink I should not drive.

So as one devotees son he is uh he was telling me about the culture in his colleges he is he said that there is there is he said there is satic drinking said what do you know sik drinking drinking rajas says no that is true what you are saying that that when people go for a party where they want to drink Like say if six people are going in a car then one person is designated as a driver of the car and they say in this party you should not drink. This is your day for austerity. So they have at least that much level of sobility that if you drink you should not drive. So my point is that every nobody can live without boundaries. The specific boundaries may be different and we may consider them to be no boundaries at all. They’re already doing something great but within that everybody has to have boundaries. So they can either externally come from culture or from law.

Mhm.

In Singapore for example you know if you drink and drive Singapore is a very you could say technologically progressed state economically progressed state but with respect to law they are ruthless can be a very severe punishments for even small violation of laws. Uh so then and now internally there’s conscience and there’s intentions. So conscience is basically we ourselves start feeling this is wrong. I should not do this. Now conscience acts at the level of emotion. So we we we become angry and we snap some snap at someone yell at someone and after that we ourselves feel hey I should not have done like that and then we go and apologize to that person. Now conscience is at the level of emotion. Intelligence is at the level of reason. Reason means Now if I yell at people like this maybe he will complain to my authority and then my authority justice me. So better let me settle this issue over here itself or you know if I yell at this person then he will tell my others and everybody will think that I’m a short tempered person. No I have no friends. So it will look more at the consequences. So you could say inter if you see stopping the the the restraint of culture is better than through law in the sense that uh that how much can the police enforce Isn’t it? So restraint through culture is better than through law. Similarly, restraint through conscience is better than through intelligence. So intelligence is more like we are concerned about the consequences of what we do and that’s why I don’t know this. But consciously no this is bad. Irrespective what consequence it’s more like intrinsically this is bad. So but whichever boundary works for us we need to work with that boundary. So sometimes uh keep ourselves in a particular culture.

So that helps us you know even if a desire comes up but if a person is culture then there are certain boundaries they will not cross. So you know for example how you’re good at that people use found words people use sphere words but you know even among materialistic people use sphere words if they are with their elders or they are small children they won’t use weird words.

So that sense of wanderings is there everywhere. We just have to find out which boundary works for us. So uh if the agitation is going to be there for some time, it’s not going to go away so easily. Then we have to find out that even if I get agitated, it should stay within certain boundaries. Like if I get angry, you know, if I’m having a meeting, with someone and I’m getting angry better let me walk away from the meeting that is also an expression of anger but walking away from that meeting is better than yelling at that person making things worse or I may get angry I may yell at someone but while yelling I’m not going to use fear voice so sometimes it’s not a matter of one or zero it’s a matter of it’s not always digital it’s analog like say if you consider India has two main enemies we have Pakistan and we have China. Now India has taken some strong action against Pakistan but India has not taken that much strong action against China. So in Dhlam and a few other places China may occupied some Indian direct India has not pushed back very strongly against China but just not pushed back doesn’t mean India has allowed China to conquer then isn’t it that okay we might not be able to stop China at this boundary. But if you can’t stop at this boundary, stop at this boundary. You can’t stop at this boundary, stop at this boundary. So the idea is sometimes boundaries are not just one line. Boundaries can also be a range. So it’s like if I cannot fast then I’ll take food. But in a non-negotiable boundary, I’ll not take grains. Isn’t it? So that’s why when we talk about restraint or boundary, it’s helpful to not always Sometimes we consider them as digital. This is one line that I will not cross. But it’s also good to consider them as analog. Analog means what? It’s a range that there is a aspirational level. Aspirational level is where even if somebody provokes me, I don’t get agitated at all. But the aspirational level and there is a non-negotiable non-negotiable matter what happens. I won’t go below this level no matter what happens. So that is basically the range between as so we should if we are clear no matter what happens this is one level I I’m not going to go below that then at it’s not one or zero we win the war or we lose the war okay we lose some battles but then we rise back another way to understand this is conclude with this any further question we’ll talk in a future class So if we consider there are cravings or there are urges inside us. Now it’s very never that the urges are always high like that. What happens is the urges come we could say the urges have surges. So the urges come and when they are very strong at that time we may just feel helpless. So it can be true. true that sometimes we feel I just can’t resist this these phases and it may be true it may not be true also but let’s take the case that it is true so maybe we succumb there also we try to have non-negotiable beyond this I’m never going to go no matter what happens but the key thing is in between we can persist that means when the urges are not that strong we can try to do something more constructive. Okay, the urge came, I succumbed, but after that I just keep beating myself up. You’re such a fool. You’re such a terrible person. You’re so worthless. And then what is happening is it like we are wounded but we’re not doing anything to heal the wound. So in between okay I got wounded but I focus on healing myself. So it’s it’s a war. So I’m going to use the war metaphor. What it means is say India Pakistan border is there. Now India China border is there. What has happened is we don’t have a demilitarized zone but we have a deweaponized zone. Deweaponized means what? Indians and Chinese both of them have only sticks and stones over there. So even if a fight happens both will use sticks and stones to beat each other. So the idea that the conflict will not go beyond particular boundaries both start using weapons the war can become very severe. So now what happens sometimes a soldier might be beaten up by the Chinese soldier. There are 10 Chinese soldier coming there only two Indian soldiers they get beaten up now there’s no point in feeling guilty oh I got beaten up I got beaten up okay one round of attack happened before the next round of attack happens heal yourself so healing ourselves could be do some more sadena read some scripture talk with some devotees whatever it is we need to do so don’t define sometimes we say that it say that what we do when nobody’s watching that is who we really are Well, I humbly disagree with that that see what happens is when we are with others our we often put forth our best self and when we are alone often our worst self comes out and in between somewhere is the real self. So it is not that we are our worst conditionings. Yes. Sometimes somebody nobody’s watching or somebody say like sometimes I seen some is they’re very polite and humble with their seniors and they are really rude and autocratic with their juniors. They’re like when nobody nobody who can take me to task is watching then my lower side comes out but that is not the real me. That’s why we don’t have to be too hard with ourselves. Yes, these conditionings are there and the conditionings can be dark and deadly but they don’t define me. That’s why when you say uh when I am the soul that’s say I sometimes focus less on you are not the body and more that I am the soul. Cuz when you say you are not the body, we may think I’m not the body. We may still think I am the mind. We may still think I am my conditionings. You know I am this lusty person. I am this angry person. I am this uncontrolled person. No, I am the soul. And from the soul’s perspective, whatever we are conditioning, that conditioning is also temporary. Have any of you heard this? sentence and fallen soul. So what happens sometime is the fallen becomes so big that the soul is forgotten. So if I have a fallen soul I become I am fallen. No what should be important is that I am fallen but the soul is important you know the soul is always pure the conditioning is that because of which I keep falling at times but we shouldn’t identify with our conditionings more than we identify with our soul the soul is pure and the purity will be manifested that’s why sometimes when we if we are too hard with ourselves we we need to be hard with ourselves but we are too hard with ourselves then we start labeling and overidentifying ourselves with our conditionings And that is not healthy. Okay. There any more questions? We’ll talk in our future session. Thank you very much.