Prayers of Jiva in mothers womb – Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3

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

Summary

Explore the profound spiritual lessons from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 3, examining individual responsibility, friendly intelligence, and the deeper meaning of taking shelter of Krishna across all stages of life.

• Multi-Level Teachings of the Bhagavatam: Verses can be understood at multiple layers—literal, contextual (between Shukadeva Goswami and Parikshit Maharaj), universal, and deeply personal.

• Individual Responsibility & Friendly Intelligence: True spiritual growth relies on taking personal responsibility and cultivating a “friendly intelligence” nourished by scripture, rather than relying solely on mercy for the unwilling.

• Connecting What’s in Our Mind to Krishna: The Bhagavatam bridges existing human frameworks (such as Sankhya philosophy or cosmic views) to Krishna consciousness, much like modern applications connect contemporary science or life experiences to the divine.

• The Womb as a Spiritual Catalyst: From a psychological and conscious perspective, the constricted space of the womb reflects deep distress that can prompt a soul to seek shelter in the Lord, transitioning from circumstantial devotion to intentional and transformative devotion.

• Body Capacities and Spiritual Limits: Determination is often a bodily function, meaning spiritual practices should respect physical and biological capacities while keeping the ultimate focus on connecting with Krishna.

• Memory and Impressions in Life: While past-life impressions and womb experiences (like prenatal learning or Garbha Sanskara) exist, they are triggered and shaped by current life stimuli, circumstances, and choices.

Full Transcription

Today In discussing one of the most reflective and so very sexually And I’ll discuss this particular words It is a lot of land. I don’t know why the land is coming so much. Is the internet not working? Basically, I am trying to use this channel to write something.

Let’s do one thing. What is this? What are you seeing there? What is coming here now? Why is this not working? What is coming over there? No, but on the zoom it is not coming. Who is watching on zoom? Okay, it is coming.
Okay, it is coming. Okay, I don’t need to see this. I can see it over here.
So we will discuss. Now the same words of the Bhagavatam can be discussed at multiple levels. So we can discuss this at the verse level.
That means, what does the verse mean? What is the literal meaning of the verse? Then we can look at it at the section level. In that particular section of the Bhagavatam, what is the significance of that verse? We could also discuss it at the chapter level. Then we can discuss the same thing at the level of the conversation between Shukadeva Goswami and Parikshit Maharaj.
What does it mean for them? Because there are two people who are discussing this. Then beyond that, we could do a discussion at the universal level. What is the universal lesson given? And then beyond that, we could discuss it at a verse level.
What does it mean for us? So the same words can be understood in different levels. So for example, Sarva Dharma and Parikshit Maharaj. We take the Gita verse, the known verse.
Now what does it mean literally, Krishna has been given Dharma? I will just surrender to Him. I will protect you. What does it mean for Arjuna? Arjuna is worried about, what about my Dharma of protecting my relatives? I have to fight against them.
He says, don’t worry. You have been given Dharma, so I will protect you. What does it mean for us? Does it mean that Krishna declared Aadharma? You have to consider it at various levels.
So I will talk about these words at three main levels. One is at the level of, at this level. We will discuss it basically at this level.
But beyond that, we will discuss at the level of the conversation between Shri Devaswami and Parikshit Maharaj. Then we will discuss at a universal level and at a personal level. So what does this word say? Therefore, the verse is actually quite striking.
It contains many different points. I will summarise the verse in four broad points. What it is saying is that I will cultivate clear consciousness.
I will give up agitation of mind. I will cultivate clear consciousness. Then I will have friendly intelligence.
And with this friendly intelligence, I will focus my consciousness on Krishna. Fixed intelligence. Clear consciousness.
Then it is Krishna consciousness. I focus on Krishna consciousness. And then in this way, I will deliver myself from material existence.
So broadly, the four lines of this verse are saying this. I will cultivate clear consciousness using my friendly intelligence. Focus myself on Krishna and thus liberate myself.
So this is a verse which is very much focussing on the theme of individual responsibility. That it is the Bhagavad Gita. Prabhupada is putting one verse here, 6.5. Now this is one of the most, this verse can be seen one of the most confusing or one of the most illuminating.
Illuminating because it is a very versatile verse. Versatile and verse, there is a rhyme in that. Versatile verse.
Now what do I mean by versatile verse? See literally, 6.5 states, The word Atma can mean many things. And Srila Prabhupada in that, He says that one Atma refers to the self and other Atma refers to the mind. So he does that, so the verse meaning becomes what? we can see the soul is here and the mind is here.
Then what does it say? Elevate yourself with your mind. Don’t degrade yourself with your mind. So the mind can be your friend, the mind can be your enemy.
So elevate yourself with your mind. That is the meaning that the Prabhupada gives over there. Now, Chakravartibhaar actually uses the word self-knowledge.
So the S we can refer to as soul. You know we all have an idea that it’s almost like there are multiple people living inside us. Sometimes we are wise and sometimes we are otherwise.
So, in some traditions, there is the higher self and the lower self. So the idea is that take and elevate yourself with yourself. Don’t degrade yourself with yourself.
Because you can be your best friend and you can be your worst enemy. And the idea that we can be our worst enemy is something which we see all the time. We can see it in addiction, where people by their own choice and habit get themselves attached, bound to something which harms and rupes them.
Or it can be in sports, a batsman is batting very well and suddenly there is a rush out, he is taking this team to victory and suddenly gets a foolish shot and tries for glory and gets out and the whole batting team collapses. So it is called self-destruction. So we can be our own enemy.
So this is also another meaning of this verse. But here, Prabhupada uses this second Atma. So elevate the Atma with the Atma.
So Prabhupada uses the second Atma to refer to the intelligence. And he says, make your intelligence friendly and then elevate yourself with your intelligence. Don’t degrade yourself with your intelligence.
So here the idea is, this particular verse 6.5 is also talking a lot about taking individual responsibility. Now it’s interesting, this verse is talking about Upasana in Vishnupada, taking shelter of Vishnu. But the focus of this verse, the focus of this particular prayer by this child in the womb, come to that part later, is not so much that, Oh Lord have mercy on me.
Rather, I will take shelter of you. So there it is. Certainly Krishna’s mercy is required.
But it is required also for us to take shelter of Krishna’s mercy. The mercy can help the unable. But mercy can’t help the unwilling.
There are two different things. Unable and unwilling. So what can mercy do? Mercy is very powerful.
Mercy has its limits. Mercy can make the unable able. What is that verse? So these are all sources of mercy.
In each of these, what has been talked about is, the unable are made able. One who cannot speak is able to speak. One who cannot walk is able to walk.
So the unable can be made able by mercy. However, the unwilling, can they be made willing? No, this doesn’t work. Even mercy cannot do that.
Why? Is God not omnipotent? Yes, God is omnipotent. No doubt. God’s mercy is omnipotent.
But still, Krishna never overrides anyone’s will. So mercy can do this. Mercy cannot do this.
Mercy can make the unable able. Not the unwilling willing. Now how will the unwilling become willing? It is by their own choice.
So that is why Shatrughan says in the lecture of instruction, that when we are to be delivered, there are two factors. One who is fortunate and one who is intelligent. They will be delivered.
They can come out of material existence. So fortunate is, we can say, Krishna’s part. So we can give an opportunity to practise Krishna Consciousness.
And it’s not just we come to the Krishna Consciousness moment. Even the Krishna Consciousness moment can be a large and confusing place. Within that, we find shelter.
We find inspiration. We find like-minded guidance. We find the association that inspires us to move on.
So that is fortune. Along with fortune is intelligence. This is our talent.
Where there is opportunity available for us, opportunity compatible with our nature, we need to take that. So this work is emphasising this part. That we, I will take responsibility.
I will keep my consciousness clear. I will try to get free intelligence. So this part is sometimes under-emphasised within our practise of dharma.
Yeah, we say mercy is important. No doubt. But individual responsibility is also extremely important.
Srila Prabhupada, if you look at his life, he was constantly endeavouring. This didn’t work out. Let’s try it.
He tried so many things in India. It didn’t work out. He tried something else.
He went to America. He turned out in America also things worked out in India. He tried so many things.
First he was a butler in New York. From New York he went to North East side. From North East side he was driven away.
Back to the very poles of Hindustani. Then he went to another place and there so many things started happening. So our endeavour means that Gangaiva Udhanamati.
That if Krishna is here, I say we are here. So we want our consciousness to go towards Krishna. So whichever path it can go, some way or the other we want to find a path.
So if one path is blocked, we find some other path to go towards Krishna. So will you block? Sometimes will you block? Go this way, go this way. So that individual responsibility is important.
Sometimes our health may not be good. Then maybe the same service that we were doing previously may not be good. Will you find some other service? Sometimes maybe our financial situation is not very stable.
Then maybe again that will affect us. We can’t say that our material self doesn’t affect us. But material changes can block particular pathways in Krishna consciousness.
They cannot block Krishna consciousness itself. Say if I get a job which is far away from where temple is. So then it’s not practical for me to come to a temple.
But does that mean I can’t do Krishna consciousness? No. We can join virtually. We can also try to do some outreach.
We can study sculptures. So when we say prakti is apratihata. Apratihata is what? Anyone remember? Uninterrupted.
So now uninterrupted. What does it mean? Actually that no material circumstance can block prakti itself. Although particular pathways.
So this path may get blocked. Krishna is here. This path may get completely blocked.
But my Krishna consciousness will be absorbed by this path. If another path. And we can keep going forward.
Prabhupada was trying to share Krishna prakti with Yama. That was just not working. He tried for 20, 30, 40 years.
It didn’t work. He found another path. He went to America.
And started to form material. So that resourcefulness is very important. And this part, this is not working.
What do I do? This is where responsibility is important. It is for us to take responsibility to see how we can move forward. In our contribution.
In Krishna’s movement. In our connection with Krishna. That is what we need to do.
And for this, when we consider Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness has two broad aspects. One is the contribution.
And the other is the connection. The contribution is broadly the service that we do. Each of us wants to contribute.
We may be doing good distribution. We may be doing some programmes. We may be in garlands.
We worship the deities. This is broadly in terms of service. The connection is more internal.
It is more in terms of devotion. So when we experience Krishna. We feel the presence of Krishna.
And we need both. And for each one of us, this connection and contribution can come from different ways. So that theme that bhakti does not have to be interrupted.
Although particular forms of bhakti may be interrupted. So particular forms of bhakti may be interrupted. There is no doubt about that.
That is just the nature of the material world. If somebody is a sick girl and they get a bad throat. Then they are not going to be able to sing.
No matter what they try to do. They are not going to be able to sing. It is interesting.
At one place, Srila Prabhupada says in one letter to a disciple. He says determination is after all a bodily function. It is a very striking point.
Now I will qualify this. Determination is a bodily function. Let me say if it is fasting.
Some people get fasting. Some people, for them fasting even till noon can be incredibly difficult. So they get acidity and their body starts burning.
For some people, cold water bath is no problem. Some people get a cold water bath and after 6 hours they have a cold. They can’t chant.
They can’t speak. So I will be determined. I will fast.
Okay, if you fast but after that you are struggling and upset. And you can’t do any service and others have to serve you. Then what is the use of fasting? So determination is a bodily function.
And sometimes, some aspects, not all forms of determination are bodily functions. Like when an obstacle comes. When an obstacle comes, at that time, some people might be able to break through that obstacle.
Some people may find it difficult to break through that obstacle. Some people might be able to manage within 4 or 5 hours. Some people may need 7 hours of sleep.
Now, yeah, we want to serve as much as we can. But we have to know our own body. Ultimately our body is also, if we consider human life, to be so valuable.
Now what is human life? It is life in a human body. So if human life is valuable, then the body in which human life is being lived is also valuable. We don’t want to pamper the body.
But we need to take care of the body. So, if we don’t sleep at the right time, we will sleep at the wrong time. It is as simple as that.
We can’t cheat the body. So, we have to recognise that what is my body’s capacity. So determination is in that sense a bodily function.
Does that mean that one person, somebody might be able to fast easily. But maybe that person can’t tolerate heat too much. Some people might be able to tolerate any amount of heat.
But they can’t fast much. There are different things like this. So the idea is that if there is something which is interrupting or disrupting our bhakti, we acknowledge that and then we see how we can move forward from that situation.
And that is why friendly intelligence. Our intelligence has to be able to decide what is uncool and what is good. So, see there is the function of the intelligence.
There are many functions. Now Prabhupada says the mind’s function is what? Yes. Sankalpa and Vikalpa.
Sankalpa is accepting. Vikalpa is looking for alternatives. It is projecting.
Or not. But in one sense, the mind’s function and intelligence function are both very similar. The intelligence function is to determine what is uncool and to accept what is uncool.
And to reject what is practical. So uncool is what is favourable. Practical is what is unfavourable.
So the key difference between these two is that the mind is simply impulsive. I like this, I don’t like that. See the mind is also differentiating.
The mind is also differentiating. Oh, I like this, I don’t like this. But the mind’s differentiation is based on impulses.
It is not based on foresight. It is not based on thoughtfulness. Whereas the intelligence, it’s differentiation is based on fear of neglect.
It’s thoughtful, it’s thinking. What is actually good? What is not good? So everybody is constantly differentiating. Even if somebody decides, oh, I have a long week.
I’m going to speak and I’m just going to enjoy. I’m going to sit at my home and watch Netflix for the entire week. Okay, we decide that on Netflix there are thousands of movies.
Which movie are we going to watch? We’re going to make some choice over there. Watch this, I won’t watch this. So everybody is choosing.
But when the intelligence is friendly, the choices that we make, the differentiation that we make, that will elevate us. That will degrade us. So this intelligence is nourished by philosophy, by Shastra, by Swamiji.
The intelligence, if it is not, see the intelligence is always receiving inputs. The intelligence can either receive inputs from Shastra, you can say Guru Sadhu Shastra, or it can receive inputs from the world. Now often the inputs that the intelligence receives from the world, that can make even the intelligence short-sighted.
Much of the advertising in the world today, it is actually very intelligently done. It is intelligence used to deprive others of their intelligence. It is intelligence used to seduce and delude others.
So it’s not that all the propaganda from the world is wrong. If you’re driving on the road, and the roadside is a steep turn, that’s a useful guidance for intelligence. To be honest with you, but quite often the input from the world can be damaging for us.
So we need to nourish our intelligence. When we say our intelligence is friendly, what that means is that intelligence is working for us. Just like our friend, if you have a friend, if you have some decision to make, you have some issue you are deliberating on, our friend will give us good guidance.
Again, our intelligence gives us good guidance. And that will happen by scripture, by contemplation on scripture. So this is the broad theme of the words.
Now let’s look at what is going on over here in terms of the chapter or the section. This is being spoken by a child in the womb. So this section, this broad section, is Kapil Dev’s teachings to his mother.
And when he is speaking to his mother, the focus of this section is actually to demonstrate how bhakti can be, the conclusion of bhakti can be reached from various directions. So remember the Bhagavatam is being spoken by Parishad Mahaprabhu, by Shukdev Goswami and Parishad Maharaj. And the purpose is to fix Parishad Maharaj, fix the mind of Krishna.
When we consider Shukdev Goswami is speaking to Parishad Maharaj. So there are two things he is giving. He is providing him, at one level, resources for remembering Krishna.
Resources means, you can say many many pastimes he has done. Many many many beautiful incidents of where and how Krishna delivered Goswami’s teachings. These pastimes are, we could say broadly, they attract the manna.
Stories attract the manna. Along with that, he is also giving reasons for remembering Krishna. And these attract the manna.
Many times in the Bhagavad Gita, it says, So the leela will attract the manna. The tattva will attract the manna. And the Bhagavatam is providing both.
In fact, we can say, largely, the first five cantos focus much more on tattva and six cantos onwards, the leela is focused. So in the Bhagavatam, this focus on Krishna consciousness, this is the conclusion. So it’s like, suppose there is a bull’s eye somewhere.
So there is a bull’s eye. And, actually, sometimes, language is often so metaphorical that we don’t even realise that it is metaphorical. A bull’s eye is actually a very brutal idea.
There is a bull, there is an eye, and you are shooting the eye off the bull. Why would somebody want to shoot the bull? Why shoot the eye? But the idea is, let’s suppose there is a target. So, there are many metaphors which have come from the past usages.
And those metaphors are often, if we recognise, if we know what, it literally means we will be taken aback. I was in UK, in Leicester, and I gave a youth meeting. There were a lot of animated question and answers.
And, after that, the organiser came and said, he was so happy to know what had happened. He says, you killed it! Why are you happy that they killed it? So, then I realised that actually, he didn’t realise it. He was using a metaphorical usage drawn from hunting.
In the past, people would go for hunting, and if somebody would shoot the enemy, everybody would say, you killed it! Why are you happy? So, you killed it literally is very ghastly. But the meaning now, non-literal meaning is, well done, excellently done. So, in bulls-eye, the literal meaning can be quite ghastly.
But the non-literal meaning is that, actually, there is a target which has been well hit. So, a good archer can hit the target right where it is meant to be. But an excellent archer can hit the target from multiple directions.
Not just from here, but also from here. Maybe even from here. Maybe even from here.
So, to hit the target accurately, in itself, is excellence. But to hit the target from multiple directions, that’s not just excellence. That’s, you can say, super excellence.
So, the Bhagavatam is hitting the target of remembrance of Krishna. That we should remember Krishna. That is being hit from multiple directions.
So, in the second canto, it is from the perspective of the universal law. That the virata is firm. So, the idea is that we will naturally look at the world around us.
When we look at the world around us, we see planets, we see the sky, we see the mountains, we see the rivers. So, how can we connect that with Krishna? Basically, there are two broad ways of becoming Krishna conscious. One is, bring Krishna into our mind.
That means that we hear about Krishna, we read about Krishna. So, we bring Krishna into our mind. I mean, this is the only total way to become Krishna conscious.
Or, the other way is, bring what is in our mind to Krishna. Now, what does this mean? Bring what is in our mind to Krishna. That means, what is already in our mind.
We see how it can be connected to Krishna. So, this requires a certain level of expertise. Say, for example, when the pandemic was there.
Many devotees gave classes on connecting pandemic with Krishna consciousness. Now, there is no explicit mention of pandemic itself in the Bhagavad Gita. But the pandemic is not even there in people’s minds.
There is a cricket world cup going on. You might have a class on cricket mania and spirituality. Something like that.
So, bring what is in our mind to Krishna. That requires expertise. So, Krishna Prabhupada, he wanted scientific presentation of Krishna consciousness.
Why? Because science is already in people’s minds. So, science not only is present, it has influence in people’s minds. So, we can tell them, against science and can engage.
And that’s fine. That will work for many people. But for those whose mind of science is already there, what we have to do is bring your science itself can point to Krishna.
And then that can be very influential. Somebody who is an artist. Or then bring what is in your mind.
In fact, the 10th chapter of the Guddha Yoga is about this. There are already attractive things in the world. We can’t deny the attractiveness of those things.
But we can connect. How can we connect the attractive things of this world to Krishna? Attractive things means the things that are already in our mind. Things that are already attractive.
How can we connect them to Krishna? So, this is another way. Universal form, the grandness of the universe is already there in everyone’s mind. Maybe those of us who live in cities, that is also prominently there.
But even if we like to go to places close to nature and look at the vastness of the sky and look at the waterfall from a camp or whatever. So, when I was in Canada, the devotees decided to have an outing near Niagara Falls. And we took our time and took on a vacation so that we go there and we can be peaceful.
But even on a weekday when we went there, the devotees were taken away. There is so much crowd on this day. So, why? Because people also, they want to connect with something bigger.
Now, they may not be connecting with God. But the idea that there is something bigger than us, this would absorb my sensitivity. That gives a certain amount of relief, a certain amount of release of stress for us.
So, the idea is already in the mind of Krishna. So, universal form does that. Similarly, there is the Brahman.
The description of cosmology in the This is the second canto. This is the fifth canto. There is already a description of cosmology.
Cosmology in terms of dimensions. So, Parikshit Maharaj was not aware of the cosmology. But how can that be connected with Krishna? That is what is described in the fifth canto.
Now, if we consider the fourth canto, that is talking about various things. But he would say that is, while there are many pastimes spread, it’s more of history, as Parikshit Maharaj knew. How can history be of history? He knows about various ancestors.
He’s talking about how there’s various ancestors, and they all do, many of them are devoted to Krishna. In the third canto, that is, Sankhya was a school of thought. It’s quite prominent in those days.
And how Sankhya can lead to Pandit. That is what is being talked about. So, Sankhya, I would say, is something like, is the Vedic equivalent of science or physics.
The point is, Sankhya is analytical study of matter. And if you look at the previous chapters, 327, 328, 331, there’s a lot of analysis of the various elements. Now, the way of analysis may be different.
And that’s okay. Quantum physics and relativity analysis matter for different ways. Even within modern science.
But the point is, this kind of analysis is already present in his mind. He knows about Sankhya. By he, I refer to Parikshit Maharaj.
He knows about Sankhya. So, if you see the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, suddenly, Arjuna seems to ask a question which has no precedent that, he asks about Purusha Prakruti, there’s no mention of that. Krishna had not used the word before that in the 12th chapter or the 11th chapter.
That word is not used by Krishna at all. So, why suddenly Arjuna asks a question like that? Because, Arjuna also knows philosophy. So, Arjuna says, Krishna, you are telling me to fix my mind on Krishna, mind on you.
And you are giving me this whole worldview. Within the worldview that you are giving me, how does this fit in? So, what is already in my mind, how can I ask a question? That’s why Arjuna is asking that question. Like sometimes in a class, after a class, the audience, students may ask some questions which is related with the class.
Sometimes somebody asks a question which may not seem related with the class. But then, it is connected, not directly, but indirectly. So, like that.
So, what the third can-do is doing is, that Parikshit Maharaj already knows about Samkhya. How can Samkhya be connected with Bhakti? How can one come from the knowledge of Samkhya to the knowledge of Bhakti? So, now here, there are two important points with which I conclude this class. I want to go to other frameworks also, but we will not go there.
Maybe later we will have some other class to discuss this. That, here the principle is, what is already in our mind, we take it to Krishna. That is the purpose of these sections.
Now, what happens if that is not already in our mind? So, do we have to get it in our mind first, and then connect it with Krishna? Say, 500 years down the line. When, maybe communism and Prabhupada talks on the issue of Isha. About the five men, communism and capitalism.
He is talking about Isha Vasa. So, if somebody reads about communism, and if by that time, communism has become a completely obsolete idea. It is, it is, nobody knows about it.
That person may go and ask, what is communism? Now, does that person who understands Prabhupada’s books, need to maybe do a PhD in communism? No. Do they need to read any other book about communism? No. What Prabhupada is doing is, what is already in people’s mind when he is speaking.
At that time, the Cold War, Prabhupada wrote his books in 1960s and 70s. At that time, the Cold War was not at all cold. Laughter It was, the fear was erupted at any time.
It had become really dreadfully hot war. So, what is already in people’s mind, Prabhupada is connected with Krishna. So, if that is not in people’s mind, then they don’t have to get it into their mind to connect with Krishna.
So, similarly, the fifth canto, Bhagavad Gita Cosmology, or the third canto, Sankhya, do we need to study that? Yeah, as a part of Bhagavad Gita, we study it. But, we don’t have to study it elaborately if that is not already in our mind. If that is not already in our mind, we don’t have to get it into our mind and take our mind towards Krishna.
We understand the purpose is to take our mind towards Krishna. So, today, somebody may study modern physics. They may study how from physics I can go towards Krishna.
So, the point is, we can go from Sankhya towards Krishna. We can go from physics towards Krishna. So, that is something which the living Bhagavata tradition today might teach us.
Today’s teachers might help us understand that. But the purpose is to take our consciousness towards Krishna. So, within the analysis of Sankhya, there is analysis of objects in terms of matter and there is analysis of objects in terms of time.
In terms of time, that analysis is given. So, what the Bhagavata is doing over here is that in this particular section it is talking about the lifespan. So, if this is birth and then it’s death.
Now, of course, death is not the end, birth is not the end. So, it would say there are many like this one. So, So, So, The point is the Bhagavatam is depicting how in all situations in life one needs to take shelter of God.
Now, Parikshit Maharaj is at this point. He is nearing his death. And in one sense, this infill is at this point.
Or you could say even before birth. It’s in the womb, so not even born yet. But, whichever phase of life one is in, one has to take shelter of God.
That is the best thing one can do. So, the Bhagavatam does not go into any elaborate philosophy or any elaborate past life memories. Now, Parikshit Maharaj, you were so-and-so in this life and Shrini was so-and-so in this life and Shambhuji was so-and-so and you existed and Mahadevi existed, that’s why this happened.
It doesn’t go into that. Okay, this has happened. We don’t know why it has happened.
But, let us take shelter of Krishna. The child in the womb, there is no description over here of the child remembering all its previous lives and all the bad karma in its previous lives. It’s not… I’m in this stressful situation right now.
What is it that I can do right now? Let me take shelter of Krishna. And if I take shelter of Krishna, I can go to Lord Krishna. I can grow to Lord Krishna.
So, we could say, I started by talking about how there are interruptions. In one sense, being in a womb is in a very constricted and interrupted condition. So, this is the second lesson by which you are getting through this class.
If you consider the womb, I was in Canada and I was staying at a… I was invited for a programme at one bank issue accounts. And he was in the building industry. And then he showed me the brochures of his building company and he said, his key was, he was not yet introduced to money.
He said, our homes are as comfortable as your mother’s womb. Laughter Initially, I was a little taken aback. But then, I reflected a little bit on it.
But there are different perspectives. There is a perspective, there is a biological perspective, there is a psychological perspective. From a biological perspective, the womb is designed so that it can be as comfortable as is possible.
If the womb were uncomfortable, the baby is too delicate, the baby would die. So, from a biological perspective, within the confines of the space of the womb, the baby is comfortable. If a mother is expecting, then, she takes care that she does not slip or she doesn’t carry heavy weights.
Because, we can say that the womb is an uncomfortable place, but that does not make the womb more uncomfortable. We take care. From a biological perspective, it is a safe place.
As safe as it can be within the confines. Now, from a psychological perspective, if we think there is a conscious being over there, and that conscious being is constricted in a very confined space, then definitely, from a psychological perspective, it is uncomfortable. There is no denying it.
But, which perspective is to be adopted then? That has to be understood carefully. When a mother is carrying a child in her womb, at that time, she should not be thinking, Oh, this child is so miserable. The womb is such a miserable place.
No, the womb is a place of safety. If there had been no womb, the child was born without the womb directly. The child would die.
Just like there are baby birds. If they are born directly into the world, without being the first born inside a shell, then they would die. So, there are different perspectives between this.
Here, it’s more not from the perspective of the physical, it’s more from the perspective of the psychological, the perspective of consciousness. That actually, for the child in the womb to be in such a constricted place is uncomfortable. It is not just uncomfortable, it can even be unbearable.
And, from that perspective, although I am in such a constricted space, but still, I am in tension. I am in tension. That is determination.
Prabhupada says in the book, not in the book, about the child in the womb, that the child is so determined, let me stay in this uncomfortable situation. Because, at least I can remember my discomfort. The point is, not that I want to be miserable.
The point is, I want to be in Krishna Consciousness. And, if misery is what will impel me towards Krishna Consciousness, then I am ready to accept misery also. The point is not that, it is not like you may hear some story of some devotee gets cancer and then they become very serious about that.
Now, I don’t want to ask anyone I am not very serious about that. Should I pray that I get cancer? That’s when it becomes serious. In our philosophy, bhakti is unmotivated.
So, bhakti has no material cause. Cancer is not the cause of bhakti. If cancer was the cause of bhakti, then all the cancer patients would be devotees, all the cancer doctors would be devotees.
No, it is the practise of bhakti which the person has done previously. It is the blessings of the mother that they have attracted. At that time, when they get cancer, their intelligence becomes friendly.
I don’t have to teach it on Krishna. So, what we do is, we consider there is misery. Misery can impel someone towards Krishna.
And, the point of the prayer is that we want to go towards Krishna. The point is not that I want misery. So, similarly, rather than seeking misery, we seek seriousness in Krishna.
Sometimes, we may get gone through misery, but a much more healthy way is to be responsible. We seek responsibility. We seek some service, something like if you take me seriously, you take me some baths, that makes us serious.
If you take up some responsibility, I look after this department, I will achieve this much target in this mission. Or, I will pass this particular exam. I do this much of course.
We take responsibility. That can also mean seriousness in bhakti. So, misery alone cannot produce bhakti.
Often, this question comes up that the child is praying by the Lord alone for the baby. But, then the child comes out and the child prays. So, is it that the Lord is not listening to the child’s prayer? It’s not like that.
There are… There is circumstantial devotion. There is circumstantial devotion. Then there is intentional devotion.
And then there is finally transcendental devotion. Circumstantial devotion means, because of my circumstances, I am practising bhakti. Intentional devotion means, I am consciously choosing to practise bhakti.
And transcendental means, that I don’t even have to choose. I just become my default nature. What else am I going to do? So, where would we like to go? Transcendental devotion.
If circumstantial devotion is there, well, at least devotion is there. But, that’s not really a matter of our choice. Like, suppose a boy proposes to a girl, please marry me.
And the girl asks, why? No, I have asked all the other girls in the city. Nobody said no. No.
That would be the most flattering proposal. Now, if the girl agrees at that time, that really means that the girl wants to be the type. But, if the boy is really serious, then even if there are other choices, still he chooses that girl.
That’s serious relationship. So, similarly for us, when there is no other option, and then we turn towards Krishna. Okay, my health is not working, my job is not good, my relationship is not working, so I take Shatru.
Well, yes, it’s good that you take Shatru. But, that really doesn’t show our choice. That doesn’t show our devotion.
So, when Krishna allows that child to come out of the womb, Krishna is not rejecting the prayer of the child. Krishna is actually letting that child choose. Okay, when you have no choice, you turn towards me.
But, when you have choice, you turn towards me. And, if that child turns towards him, then that is a distinction. So, for all of us, circumstantially, we may be put in situations, and of course we don’t have to take Shatru.
Some of us may become worse to Krishna. Some of us may become atheistic also. That’s possible.
So, in difficulty, someone takes Shatru, that’s glorious. However, what is even more glorious is, when there is no difficulty, there is no necessity, we consciously choose to take Shatru to Krishna. And then, if we do this, from circumstantial devotion to intentional devotion, ultimately we come to transformative devotion, where our inner world is now actually attracted to Krishna.
So, in one sense, Parikshit Maharaj, he circumstantially took Shatru to Krishna. He was cursed. He left everything.
He could have repented. He could have resented. He took Shatru to Krishna.
That’s glorious. But, he now is being guided by Parikshit Maharaj towards intentional and transformative devotion. So, what happened to this, what happens to this child in the trajectory, is in some way similar to what happens to Shukdev Goswami.
Shukdev Goswami himself in his mother’s womb says that, I want to stay here, because outside there is so much maya. Yes, outside in the world there is maya, but outside in the world there is Krishna also. And Krishna is accessible in more relishable ways.
If we are sick on our bed, we can sleep with Krishna. But if we are healthy, then we can come and do service. We can dance and kirtan.
We can go to all the holy places. And using our body to serve Krishna, there is much greater joy. So, Shukdev Goswami initially was afraid of maya, he stayed inside.
But when he came out, he heard about Krishna. He came out, he searched for Krishna. And that’s why from Atmaram, he became a Krishnaram.
So, So, that is what the Bhagavad Gita says. Krishna is the chief of the child’s bed. Krishna guides the child’s bed to be fulfilled at a higher level.
Sometimes we may also pray to Krishna for something. Maybe we think this is favourable for our image. It may not happen.
But that is not Krishna. Krishna is guiding us in a way that is slightly different from our plans. So, if we make our intentions friendly, expect things from Krishna, Krishna will surely bring us closer and closer to him.
Immediately or gradually, that depends on Krishna’s plan for us. So, in summary, I spoke three main points already. The first one I spoke was about this concept of friendly intelligence.
How we need to take individual responsibility for our growth. The focus of this verse is not on mercy but on responsibility. Mercy can make the unwilling evil, but not the unwilling willing.
To grow in wisdom, consciousness, we need fortune, which is mercy, and we need intelligence, which is we need to cultivate. So, our intelligence is developed by this type of scripture. The second point I discussed was this particular section of the book of Sankhya.
The idea is the Bhagavatam is providing the sources for remembering Krishna in the past times and reasons for remembering Krishna in terms of providing philosophy that makes you remind of Krishna. So, one way is to become Krishna conscious, to bring Krishna into our mind. Second is to bring what is in our mind to Krishna.
So, the Bhagavatam is bringing what is in our mind to Krishna through the description of the Viratgopala, through the description of the Brahmanda, through the description of the Itihasa, and through the description of Sankhya. And within Sankhya, one way of analysing the world is to look at its constituents in terms of matter. It is another way to look at phases of life.
So, Parikshit Maharaj and his child are on opposite phases. Then this is the last part, prayers. Although there are the opposite phases, but the situations are remarkably similar.
The child is praying within the womb. From a psychophysical perspective, somebody may say that the child is comfortable. We don’t have to go on and on.
The Bhagavatam’s focus is on Jesus. And it is a distressed situation to be in a constricted, confined space. So, the child is praying and the Lord doesn’t reject the child’s prayer.
The child says, I’m going to stay here. The Lord gives the child an opportunity to rise for circumstantial devotion toward intentional devotion. Transcendental devotion.
So, our prayers will also be heard in the field of devotion. But sometimes in ways different from what we think. Thank you very much.
Are there any questions or comments? Yes, uncle. See, how can the child pray when even a fully born baby after the birth can’t function properly? How can a child who is prematurely born function properly? Yeah, it’s a good question. There are two different things over here.
If we consider there is a soul, there is the mind, there is the body. Now, if you say this is the material world, and in the material world there is a manifestation of Krishna also. Like we have temples and meetings.
So normally, the consciousness of the soul comes through the mind, through the body to the outer world. And then the person can talk, the person can walk, the person can do various things. For this, we need a particular stage of development.
However, the connection with Krishna does not have to be through the body. Krishna is also accessible over there. So the soul, the capacity to speak or for speech to manifest at the physical level, for thought to be processed and express the speech, for us at the cognitive level, it requires a functioning body.
But somebody may not be able to function at a physical level. Like consider Stephen Hawking. He had a degenerative disease because of which he could not speak.
But, science devised technology by which he was able to communicate his thoughts in a different way. So, just because the physical capacity is not there, does not mean the inner capacity is not there. So, Krishna can be accessed at the level of the mind even if the body is not there.
And beyond that, Krishna can be accessed even without the mind. Because the mind is external. So, now, for most of us, our mind is very restless.
And if we try to connect with Krishna at the level of the mind, it will not work. That’s why 3.39, we need to begin with the senses. So, generally, it’s more the outside temperature.
So, we can remember Krishna everywhere. But if you come to a satsang, even a digital satsang, online satsang also can help us. But, there’s only that one stimulus, the sound or the vision coming from the zone.
But, if you come to a physical satsang, what happens? Multiple stimuli. We see other devotees, we see a picture of the deities, we see everybody cheering. So, that makes it much easier.
Can everybody use their senses for any reason? So, there are situations where a person may be able to connect with Krishna without the body or maybe even without the mind. Now, from what I have studied, I have not been able to find any conclusive answer whether what is described in the Bhagavatam is representative of what happens to every child or is it some special child? Is it that the soul is already somewhat spiritually evolved? That’s how the soul is able to remember Krishna? Or is it that because of the situation, every soul turns towards something higher? Either way, it doesn’t matter. It’s not necessary that it’s not zero.
It could be possible for every soul to experience Krishna. But, it’s not necessary. Why should the pre-birth experience be radically different from the post-birth experience? In the post-birth experience, we all go through distress.
Does everyone in their distress turn towards Krishna? Not necessarily. So, in the pre-birth experience also, will every child who is in distress turn towards Krishna? Maybe, maybe not. Why does it happen? It could be fortune, it could be some kind of willingness from a previous life, some kind of impressions from a previous life.
We have in the Bhagavatam Gajendra, an elephant body of elephants. How can an elephant have a face? We say that. Is it that all the elephants are on that level of consciousness as described in the Bhagavatam? Well, there is no indication that when Gajendra was offering prayers, all his other family members also fed off his prayers.
So, Gajendra had practised some bhakti in a previous life, basically. And that, in the Bhagavatam, it says, जजावां ते परमं जावां के प्रावश्यों पर यूचिच्छे. It says, what he remembered in a previous life, he recollected.
So, my understanding is for some souls, in principle, the soul can connect with Krishna with the body or without the body, with the mind or even without the mind. In practise, can it happen for all souls? Can it happen for special souls? That depends. Thank you.
Yes. Question from audience. Question from audience.
I agree with you about this. In fact, I was hoping somebody would ask a question on this. So, was Parikshit Maharaj sheltered in Krishna’s circumstance? No, not like that.
He was always sheltered in Krishna. Like, sometimes we may differentiate to make a particular point. Like, because in Draupadi, when she raised her hands, when she was living in this roof, I am disordered by the Shastras.
So, was it that she took shelter of Krishna only then? No, before that also, when she was trying to reason with herself, she was trying to remind everyone of Dharma. Was it at that time, was she not in danger of Krishna? Was it? Is it that when we are in danger, we should always just depend on Krishna and we should not do anything to try to deal with the danger? No. So, Draupadi was throughout shelter of Krishna.
But at that particular time, she took exclusive shelter of Krishna. Now, is exclusive shelter of Krishna higher? If any difference, Arjuna is told by Krishna to surrender. Arjuna does surrender by raising his arms.
Arjuna surrenders by raising his arms. Arms, he raises his weapons. He takes up his bow and raises his bow.
So, there are different ways of taking shelter of Krishna. Yes, Parikshit Maharaj always takes shelter of Krishna. But the specific form of shelter that he took where he renounced his kingdom and completely sat down or sat down, completely focused on hearing about Krishna.
That arose because of circumstances. So, was he at a circumstance in terms of like devotion, was it a circumstance? No, he was already at transcendental level. But that particular circumstance took shelter of Krishna in that particular exclusive form.
Thank you. Yes. Yeah.
Question. Okay. So, some people say that because of my past impressions, I cannot follow my instincts.
It’s difficult to say. Ultimately, everybody has to cultivate at least some level of individual honesty. It’s very difficult.
one of my services is I work in hospitals and I was busy consulting to the doctors and the care givers. So, if somebody is paralytic and they are recovering. Now, they are trying to do some exercises.
Now, the doctor will feel, you can raise your hand. And the patient says, I just can’t. Now, is it that the patient actually can’t raise the hand or is the patient just given up hope or given up this life? It’s difficult to know.
So, it is that the person has to at least individually be honest. I can do this much, but I cannot do this much. But, if I can’t even do what I can do, then I’m not doing it.
So, I think there has to be honest, individual honesty and an honest discussion has to be done. So, can somebody be in a situation where they cannot follow all the regulations at all? So, I would say that meat is not like 5% meat. I cannot live without drinking meat.
Without eating meat or drinking wine. Well, maybe right now, you can’t. It’s true.
Somebody says, I cannot live without sex. Maybe. But, does that mean that one has to indulge in that activity constantly? No.
Somebody says, I can’t live without drinking. Okay. Does that mean you have to drink 10 times a day? Instead of 10 times, can you drink 8 times? Can you drink 5 times a day? Can you drink once a day? So, generally speaking, we cannot control our urges when they come.
But, I was trying to take a separate class on this topic. But since you brought it up. See, if you consider our urges, they sometimes go very high.
And when those urges go high, it may be impossible for us to resist. But, what do we do to deal with these urges? This is where we all have to be responsible. So, if even if we can’t resist our urges, we can still persist in taking our urges.
So, could I have resisted that urge when it came? Maybe I could have. I succumbed to it. But, that does not mean that I fell down.
Let me stay vulnerable. If I fell down, was it because I was careless? Was it because the ground was so slippery? We could have investigated that. But the more important thing is that’s where we don’t have to.
And if somebody is saying, I can’t follow the regulations, don’t resist. Okay. Whenever you get that urge, what do you do exactly? Can you practise? Can you chant? If they do this, then two things will happen.
The force of the urges will decrease. Both the force and the frequency. Both will decrease eventually.
So, if we try to make that you are just being ubiquitous. You are just being dishonest. That will alienate people.
So, let’s focus between the urges. Does that apply for bodily function? Like what bodily function means? Does that apply for bodily function? I don’t know. Generally, it will.
The more you fast, the easier it will be to fast. But still, for example, So, for the Pitta Prakruti, Pitta Prakruti is quite difficult to fast. But then, nowadays, people have a clear property, which is Pitta Prakruti.
So, I’m not saying Pitta Prakruti in a negative sense. You know, there are actually, like we have Japanese in mainstream society, there is something called fasting rituals. And there are, I was in America, I was taken to a cancer treatment centre.
And the cancer treatment centre was, the whole focus was fasting to cure cancer. And an average people fast there for 90 days. 90 days.
90 days they fast for 90 days. They take only water and they may take some ORS or something like that. And they say the body itself has the capacity to cure this.
So, if you just fast, then what happens is the body doesn’t have to maintain itself. And then it will cure this. Now, does that work for everyone? No.
Can everybody fast for 90 days? You don’t have to know. People can fast, that’s great. But sometimes, I know at least a few people who had seen terminal cancer.
They told there was no hope. They went there and the person who started the treatment centre, he was an athlete in America and he got an injury and he was told never to walk. So, he went to a treatment centre like that.
And he went on a wheelchair and came back walking normally. He fasted for 47 days. And there’s some other treatment also, massage and other things.
So, now there in western there’s no concept of about it. So, people do have capacity to fast. Now, the problem with anything like this is that if somebody is not able to fast, then they feel guilty.
I cannot fast. The focus is just do what you can. We sometimes focus too much on what we can’t do.
Do what we can and move on towards Krishna. Our devotion doesn’t have to in our let’s express our willpower more in connecting with Krishna not in keeping up. Yes.
You see, the subtle body remains same, gross body changes. But how does mind, person had a mind of an old man and how does it change to a mind of a child? Like for example, we’re talking the prayers. So, the mind has already capacity to pray.
That impressions are there of praying in the last night. But now, why in the womb we don’t see that impressions to pray? Like if you see a child, his mind is also like a child. But the transition, the mind is the same.
So, if the mind is the same, then why is the knowledge from the previous life not available so easily in this life? Especially with respect to the impressions. Well, it’s a little complex because there is a soul. There is the mind.
Now, normally when reincarnation happens, then what happens is the soul along with the mind, they go into another body. Now, when this soul comes into this body, our manifest consciousness is like a complex blend of the mind and the brain. Like we often say, the impressions of sexuality are present from previous life.
But they won’t manifest in a child when the child comes into puberty. So, those impressions are there but for those impressions to manifest at a physical level, an appropriate physical environment or physical instrument is required. So like that, for various things.
Just because we have learned something in the previous life, is it that those are the impressions that come first? Not necessarily. It’s like we identify with the body naturally. So like that, things related to the physicality, they come out first.
So, it’s like if you consider you have a physical heart and then the body is like the heart, you have the soft mind. And then the soul is like the user. So, soft is like the mind.
So, you know, I have logged into Gmail on this laptop, but this laptop gets damaged. Then I log into Gmail on another laptop. Then, if I have stored everything on mobile drive, all that will be accessible.
But, you know, if I have a mobile drive with 100 GB of data, from that 100 GB of data, which data I am going to access? Independent, isn’t it? 100 GB is huge! So, similarly, for us, whatever it might be in the previous life, but which, what from that previous life will be accessed in this life? That will largely depend on this life’s circumstances. That will largely depend on this life’s circumstances. So, it’s like when I am working on a new computer, from my 100 GB data, what am I going to access? That which I most need.
That’s what I am going to access. So, that’s why even if the impressions from the previous life are there, they don’t come out so quickly. There are cases where there are some children who are prodigies.
In that case, there is a 3-4 year old child and that person is a musical genius. So, how does that work? I was in Canada, in one devotee’s house. He had a 4 and a half year old child and that child was like an under 10 champion of Canada in chess.
So, he started playing chess at the age of 3 and a half and his father taught him chess. And he played 3 games and in the 4th game, he defeated his father. His father was shocked.
So, yeah, it could be confusing. It is not that the child came out of the womb playing chess. The father exposed the child to chess and then the kid became a musical prodigy.
But it is not that the child naturally became born with a piano or a harmonium or a guitar. The parents start playing the guitar and the child is in play. The parents notice that the child is in play and the child picks up.
Very fast. So, generally, there has to be some stimulus from this life to trigger that particular impression from that life. Even if the impression is there, it will not come out immediately.
Thank you. Any last questions? We are talking about the central life in this lecture so my question is regarding that. You informed the first question was related to womb and you explained very perfectly.
I mean, in a good way. I want to relate it with Aviv and you and the Chakravyuha thing. Last question, you told about chess and the Tarkal and their father in the circumstances was there.
So, surrounding when the child was in the womb will be helping them to know all those things. So, can a child learn in the womb certain things? Like we have when we learn something about archery or Chakravyuha in his mother’s womb and that is true. Now, he did not learn the complete thing because there is a discussion in Tarkal.
Explaining how to break into Chakravyuha and how to come out. And that is why even now, one of the aspects of Garbha Sanskara, not Garbha Adana but post Garbha Sanskara when a mother is carrying a child and she hears and those will get impressions on the child. So, there are some impressions the child has been carrying from previous lives.
There are also impressions that have been formed on the child, when the child is in the womb. And there is some scientific evidence also for this. Dr. Michael Grimm his book Human Development usually in which there is a chapter called Paranormal Modification of Biological Mind.
And in that chapter he talks about various instances where the children after being born exhibit some abnormal behaviour and that can be correlated with some abnormal experiences the mother had. Say, if the mother maybe was exposed to fire she got a burn scar or something like that while she was carrying the child in the womb. Then the child grows up with having a great phobia of a fire.
Things like that. So, to what extent this will happen on each child will differ. But the principle is that impressions are being constantly formed by our conscious choices and the choices of our loved ones.
After the child is born the kind of environment the parents have in the womb that is going to form impressions on the child. Similarly, that same principle applied before also. If the child is in the womb also the parent’s choices are clearly impressions of the child.
So, we try to make choices which will create positive impressions for us and our loved ones. Does that answer your question? One further important thing in the previous slide