Analyzing Brahma’s bewilderment 1 – How and why Brahma tested Krishna

Video:

Thank you for coming today.
I will continue our discussion on Krishna Leela. So the Brahma Vimohan Leela, the title which we have is from test to taste. So it is the flow or the evolution in Brahmaji’s understanding of Krishna’s position.
So initially he wanted to test, is this really God? And then eventually he, towards the end we will see in his prayers, he is overflowing with appreciation for Vrindavan and he has got taste for the sweetness of Krishna in Vrindavan. So the main lesson that we will be exploring is in our own lives don’t try to test God, try to taste God. So we all face situations when it seems as if we are just all alone in this big bad world and we start to think, is God really care? Is God going to help me? Does God even exist? That sort of questions can also come in our mind.
So rather than trying to test God, if this works like this then God exists and God cares. If it doesn’t work like this then God doesn’t exist. Rather than trying to test God, we need to taste God.
That means experience God’s presence, God’s love, this soothing, uplifting experience that comes when we try to absorb ourselves in Him without making our devotion conditional to His acting in any particular way. So it’s not easy but that will be the theme that we will discuss. Now the Brahma Vimohan Leela is a very intriguing pastime because Brahma himself is the person who has led the Gods in praying to Vishnu and Brahma has also led the Gods in offering the Garbha Stuti which is the praises to Krishna when he is in the womb of Devaki in the prison cells of Kamsa and yet that same Brahma is so bewildered that he starts wondering whether Krishna is God and then he starts trying to test Him.
So what happens in between? For all of us, we like yesterday I said our intelligence is not like a fixed deposit. It’s like a stock market share. So basically our knowledge or our understanding is dynamic.
That means we have certain conceptions in our life and then as we encounter situations then we modify those conceptions. I thought it was like this, say we interact with some person and think this person is very short tempered but then we interact them in different situations and they say actually not short tempered, very concerned and because they care so much that’s why they are doing like this. So basically it is natural that we revise our understandings.
So there is nothing wrong in that but sometimes we might take one incident and use that to label a person. Somebody normally behaves very well but suddenly somebody has a temper. Start thinking why? Maybe this is actually all the other time the person was doing was a show, this is the real person.
It may not be like that. So basically we have a particular understanding and that understanding changes as per the experiences we have in life and sometimes the changes for the better sometimes the changes for the worse. So that’s why we need to have our intelligence constantly with us so that we are able to process our experiences properly.
Otherwise our experiences may downgrade our intelligence instead of upgrading it. So Brahmaji is aware that it is Vishnu who has descended as Krishna. However when Krishna destroys and delivers one demon after another and then finally he destroys Aghasur.
Aghasur is such a terrible demon that even the gods live in fear of him and all the gods are jubilant but Brahmaji when he hears that Krishna has destroyed Aghasur he is amazed that Krishna has killed Aghasur. So then he descends to see really how did this happen? In the Abrahamic religion there is a story of David and Goliath. Goliath is a giant and David is just a small 8 or 10 year old boy and then they have a fight and he just with a sling hits one stone and Goliath and Goliath dies.
So it’s like the odds are so mismatched and still there is a victory. So you could say almost every story in Krishna Leela is like a David and Goliath story. The demon was much much bigger than Krishna but Krishna wins and almost effortlessly.
One characteristic of Krishna Leela is that Krishna does not let the demons interfere with the playful mood of Vrindavan and that’s why Uddhava when he is remembering Krishna’s pastime in the third canto in front of Vidura so he says that Krishna’s killing of demons is It’s just like a child playing. One characteristic of Krishna is that Krishna in Vrindavan never uses any weapons. So all the demons are killed just effortlessly.
Some demon comes and Krishna just moves his hand forward and the hand goes into the fist and the fist goes into the mouth and he dies. Who is that demon? Keshi, the horse demon. Similarly, Trnavarth comes and raises Krishna and Krishna just increases his weight.
Actually our Acharya has described that Trnavarth does not die because he crashes down. Actually even when he is above, he is holding Krishna tightly and Krishna holds him tightly and he thinks his boy is scared that’s why he is holding me tightly. But Krishna holds him so tightly that he chokes his nasal pipe while holding him and even before he crashes down, his eyes pop out.
So Krishna doesn’t use any weapons. Just like a child playing, he just effortlessly kills the demons. And Aghasura also, they are just like kids are playing and he just walks in.
Other kids walk inside the snake demon, Krishna follows. Now Prabhupada was asked once, you know, from the Vedic perspective, did dinosaurs exist? So Prabhupada said, why get so excited about this? Dinosaur, dinosaur, dinosaur, we had Aghasura. So some people get very excited about certain things.
Prabhupada’s mood was, you know, there is nothing really worth getting excited about in the material world. Oh this creature existed, this creature got extinct. Oh we were here and we went to this planet or we went to out of land.
What difference is it going to make? So Krishna entered into Aghasura and he was huge. But Krishna went in and he closed his eyes, he closed his mouth, his jaws and he thought he is one now. But inside Krishna just expanded himself and he just ripped his belly from inside.
So it was almost as if Krishna had lost, he had been devoured. And then not only did he win but just effortlessly. If we compare, Vritrasura also had devoured, Vritrasura had devoured Indra.
And Indra goes into Vritrasura’s body. But then Indra has to cut through Vritrasura’s body and he says that he is cutting and cutting and cutting internally for nearly a year. And finally he emerges out.
And it is not that, it is this cutting that kills Vritrasura. Vritrasura decided that my life is over and meditating on the Lord, he leaves the body. So Indra is actually for one year cutting a corpse.
So it is like worthless work. But the point is that Krishna doesn’t have to put any effort. So this small child without any weapons killing such big demons, this is astonishing.
So that itself amazes Brahma and he comes and sees what’s going on over here. Now Krishna in Vrindavan has said he just acts like a child. So as a child he, now the demon has been killed and it is like for the Vrajagopas, Krishna’s killing demons is like an appetiser.
You know you have some, like say some people watch a movie and in the intermission in the movie, they have some popcorn or something to eat. So now they watch this movie, live movie you could say, of Krishna killing the demon and then they have their meals. So now when Krishna and the Gopas are having their meals, at that time what happens? Every Gopa feels, am I audible behind? So every Gopa feels that let me offer what I have to Krishna.
So Krishna, although he does special things, he does not act as if I am a special person. He acts like he is one of them and everybody gets their food and Krishna offers his food to them and sometimes they offer their food to him and somebody doesn’t offer their food, Krishna seizes the food from them and it is like small children having fun. And on this particular day, Madhumangal, who is we could say Krishna’s in-house comedian, he has brought some buttermilk, some chai.
Now Madhumangal is relatively from a poor family. So brahmanas are generally supposed to be poor. They live on charity and sometimes brahmanas get a lot of charity but generally brahmanas are not very wealthy.
So he feels, oh the buttermilk I have got, this is not good enough for Krishna to eat. He says if Krishna sees it, then Krishna will want it. And this is really not good enough for Krishna to take.
Just like when Sudama wanted to offer that chipped rice, initially he said, after he saw Krishna’s opulence, he felt, no, I cannot give it to Krishna. But then Krishna wanted it. Something similar, Madhumangal thought that if I am going to take it in front of Krishna, then Krishna will want it.
So just before all of them were assembling for taking their food, sitting near the Yamuna, he went away and he went behind a nearby thicket and behind a tree and there he started drinking his buttermilk. And Krishna looked around, where is Madhumangal? And then he went and he saw Madhumangal is privately eating something. And when Madhumangal saw that Krishna is coming, he became panicky.
And he gulped what he had down completely. Now when he gulped everything, suppose we drink too much liquid, then what happens? Jaw swell. So, like that, he drank and some of the buttermilk was in his mouth.
And he finished it. He said, now I finished it, now Krishna can’t take it. But Krishna came running and… So, now Krishna clapped on his jaws and the buttermilk came out.
And not only did the buttermilk come out, actually the buttermilk fell on Krishna’s body. So what was juta for him, that actually came out and Krishna like pickled up from his hands and ate it. Where it was on his body.
And when Brahmaji saw this from above, he got a culture shock. What? Now he has this idea of Vishnu being grand and opulent and to be worshipped in great reverence. And there you have to have elaborate rituals before, purificatory ceremonies before you can offer food to the Lord.
And here what to speak of any ritual, he is taking the food from where it has actually come out of somebody’s mouth. And not only come, it’s like even if you take some juta food. Actually juta is such a word, you don’t have an English equivalent to it.
You can call it remnants but it doesn’t convey the idea. There are certain, every translation is more or less an interpretation. Because whenever you translate, you cannot translate the exact word into another language.
And this often happens when you have phrases or idioms or sayings. In Hindi there is a saying, laato ke bhoot baato se nahi maante. If you try to translate it into English, ghosts of kicks don’t learn by words.
What does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything. So the point here is that actually this concept of juta, it’s something which is, cultures are little concerned with purity that you don’t eat something which is being eaten by someone else. Generally with affection among people, the same family, people might eat each other’s food.
But normally we don’t. Once I was travelling for a programme with some western devotees or westernised devotees you could say. And then whenever I travel, I have a bottle with me.
And when I drink water, I touch the bottle to my mouth. And then, so I just drank some water and they were saying, I am thirsty, can I have some water? And I said actually, I have touched my mouth. So what? Water is still remaining there.
Then I said actually, I was thinking how do you explain juta? I said actually, actually I said that, you know in our culture, if you have touched your mouth to some water, we don’t share with others. He says what? If I would be dying of thirst, would you still not give me water? Sometimes cultural differences are such that they are very difficult for people to bridge. So then they felt very, so I used to, I did give that water but they were very unhappy.
He says you give classes talking about love and care but you don’t have enough care to give the water also. So now I decided if I am going to travel with any western people, I am going to drink from above. So somebody who is not from that culture, this culture shock that Brahmaji had might be difficult to understand.
The food, the buttermilk came out from the Mangal’s mouth and Krishna drank it, Krishna ate it. And Brahmaji said this can’t be God, this can’t be God, how can God do anything like this? And then he started thinking, maybe I should test this. Now he said how can I test? So he came up with a plan at that time.
So his plan was that he would try to trick Krishna. And because Krishna was acting just like a normal cowherd boy, so Krishna and Mother Mangal went back and they sat down in a circle and they were eating food. Many of you may have seen that picture of Krishna, they are all sitting in a circle on the banks of the Yamuna and they are all eating food.
And they are not just eating food, they are also drinking in Krishna’s beauty and they are all relishing the whole experience. And as they are doing this, the cows are grazing nearby. Now what Brahmaji does is, Brahmaji allures the cows, allures the cows by more green grass.
When a cow, say an animal eats some grass, animals also have free will. But the scope of their free will is very limited. We humans have free will, ours free will you could say is much more, it can be much more.
Say for example, if a cat sees a mouse, the cat can’t think, today is Ekadashi, let me pass. So if the cat sees two mice and both of them are running away, the cat has free will to choose whether I should pursue this mouse or that mouse. So when a calf is eating grass and the grass in front of it gets over, should I eat the grass on this side or should I eat the grass on that side? Now it could be that the grass on both sides is equal, but which grass should I eat? That is its free will.
So animals can choose how to satisfy their bodily drives. Humans can choose whether to satisfy their bodily drives. So that is the greater magnitude of the free will that we have.
Say now, not that we can completely stop eating, but we can regulate our eating. We can choose those uncertain days to fast. So that is the greater magnitude of the free will we have.
But anyway, these calves, they ate little grass and they looked around and said, that grass looks so attractive. And then they went there, Brahmaji had created an illusion that wherever they went, they felt the grass ahead is even better. So rather than waiting to eat the grass, they moved further.
And they came to a particular point and said, oh, the grass there looks even greener. And they went further. So these calves, they are like babies, they are like small children.
So sometimes the mother is doing some work at home and the baby is nearby. And the mother keeps an eye in between and the baby is just maybe lying on the bed playing with some toys. And then the mother looks, hey, baby is gone.
Where did the baby go? You think the baby is just crawling along? He will be nearby. But you see the baby nowhere nearby. Maybe something was really allured, the baby ran away from there.
So like that, when the Vrajagopas saw that the calves were nowhere nearby, they became alarmed. Although they are young, they are also themselves children, but they have that deep-rooted sense of responsibility. That actually this is our responsibility, we have to take care of these calves.
So because they had this deep-rooted sense of responsibility, what happened was they immediately got up. Oh, we have to find these calves. They were about to get up.
And all of them, because each of them had calves which had been entrusted by their family to them. But now what happened, now when they were all getting up like this, suddenly Krishna said, hey, come on, all of you eat this food. Now somebody is eating food and then they have to get up.
Normally you try to avoid that, you just relish the food nicely. So he said that, okay, Krishna says, I will take care of this. Now, although Krishna is God, but here Krishna doesn’t act as a God demanding service, rather he acts as somebody who will serve his devotees.
He said, I will take care of this. And the Gopas agreed to it. So because for them, it’s their equals.
And yes, sometimes we may get up, sometimes he may get up. What is the big deal? And Krishna gets up and Krishna starts searching. And as he starts searching, searching, searching, searching, and he looks here, he looks there, and he doesn’t see the calves anywhere.
And he tries to follow their footprints, but it’s such a green, the rising area that he can’t even detect any footprints properly. And he goes up a hill and he goes down a hill and he goes nearby the lakes and he goes in the forest. And as he can’t find, he starts running.
Initially he is walking and he starts running. And he is running here and there and everywhere. He goes up and down and he is not able to find them anywhere.
Now this is a serious thing. Because for them to lose their cows is like losing their livelihood. Of course, it’s not that their life literally depends on the cows, it depends on the cows.
But they are preparing for that. And it is at that time they show their responsibility and they are entrusted more responsibility afterwards. So it’s a matter of grave concern.
And Krishna becomes very serious. Krishna has gone on a mission and he has failed. And his failure is the failure of all the Gopas.
And he doesn’t want, normally when we are doing something, if we have chosen something or somebody has been entrusted to us, we don’t want to fail it. So Krishna keeps searching, keeps searching. It’s like on Sunday we had this class on Ramayana.
So teamwork in the Ramayana, I spoke in the London School of College of Vedic Studies. So there I explained how the monkeys who had gone in search for Sita, they had to come back within one month. But one month had passed and the southern group, they didn’t come back.
Because they were pressing on, there was so much territory to search. And they had a fairly good idea that Sita must be in the southern direction. So there is one side which is saying, let’s go back now.
But another side is saying, no, let’s search on, we might just find. So when you are searching, how much you keep searching, how much you keep searching, when do you stop? It’s a very difficult decision to make. And finally Krishna decided, I just can’t find it.
And then he thought, maybe the cow, I have been searching all along, maybe the cows went somewhere and maybe they have come back. And all along I have been searching. It’s like sometimes children get lost.
They are lost for us, but they go somewhere and they come back on their own. So maybe they have come back. And Krishna comes back.
And he comes back and he is thinking maybe the cows are there back. But instead of the cows being there, he finds that the cowherd boys are also not there. Hey, what’s this? It’s like you lose one thing, it’s bad enough.
But it’s like, there was a devotee friend of mine in America. He had been in India for a yatra and everything. And he got many mails, but he wanted to cut off from his job entirely, cut off from his material life.
So he said, I’ll come back to America and then I’ll look at all the mails. So he came back and he went to work. And when he went to work, he found his office only was not there.
Apparently during that period of 25 days or whatever, his company had shut down, the company had sold the premises and somebody else had bought the premises and some other office was there. So, nothing was there at that time. All of us, we presume certain things will stay unchangeable.
We know that life keeps changing. But we need some baseline things which are unchanging and on that baseline, platform of unchangeability, we can manage the changes. But if the baseline itself changes, then it’s very disorienting.
So, the cows getting lost is disturbing, but it happens. Every evening when Krishna comes back with the cows, he has to make sure that no cow is left. Because these cows have this tendency to stray off.
And he makes sure, that’s why Krishna, when they return at night, Krishna comes back at the end. He is the last person to come. And he looks at every single cow.
And if anyone is missing, not just the cows in his herd, but also the cows in the other herds. Now, for the Gopas, for the Vrajavasis, the cows are not just the source of their livelihood, not just a source of wealth. The cows are also like their family members.
That’s why, we’ll see how Brahmaji later appreciates the cows being so close relationship with Krishna. So, in India, sometimes there is this report of cow protectors killing some people. And it’s portrayed in religious angles.
Oh, Hindus are killing Muslims. But actually, there is very little religious in that. It is more relational and financial.
The cow smuggling business, it’s one of the biggest businesses in rural India. Normally, if somebody is a tailor, and somebody is stealing their machine, their tailoring machine, they’ll be desperate to protect it. If somebody is a parent and somebody tries to abduct their child, they’ll become desperate.
So, for Indian villagers, farmers, the cows are both. They are like, what is the tailoring machine for a tailor? And what is a child for a parent? The children grow up drinking the milk of that cow. So, they treat the cow like a family member.
And suddenly, somebody comes and steals them. And it’s not just one, two. It’s like a multi-billion dollar smuggling business is there.
And that’s why these people have themselves, because somehow in the rural villages, the police is not very strong. And police is often politicalised. So, that’s why they form their own cow-rakshaks, squads.
They form the cow protector squads. And it’s not that only Muslims are targeted. There are many cases where Hindus have also been targeted.
It’s not Hindu or Muslim, it’s who is smuggling. If anybody is stealing and smuggling cows, they are targeted. But these stories, these cases are given a religious angle.
And it’s portrayed as if, oh, these Hindus are so intolerant. But it’s actually got very little to do with religion. And it’s more got to do with relationships and with livelihood.
So, of course, we don’t want to go into politics here. But the point I’m making over here is that losing cows is like a catastrophe. For cowherds, losing cows is like a catastrophe.
So, what Brahmaji did is not just a small trivial thing. Taking away the cows, now, see, children emulate their parents. In general, they say, what is that? Just like a pet or a monkey, what monkey sees, monkey does.
So, similarly, what children see, what they do. So, when the children see that their parents are so concerned about these cows, so even if they don’t understand the whole thing about how the cows are so important for our livelihood or whatever, but they also have that concern. So, for Krishna and for all the cowherds, for all the cows to disappear, it’s a matter of great anxiety.
And then, for the cowherd boys also to disappear. Now, Krishna was left completely alone. So, what Brahmaji did as a part of his test, generally, we all get strength in community.
We want people around us. And especially for a small child to be left alone, it’s quite a matter of panic. So, Krishna, he was being tested by Brahmaji.
What he did, he made Krishna completely alone. Neither the cows with him, nor his cowherd with him. And then, he was observing, what will Krishna do now? So, what Krishna did, we’ll discuss after the Jhulan.
We can have a few questions right now. But I’ll quickly summarise what I spoke. I started by talking about how in our day-to-day life, the theme which we were discussing is, don’t try to test God, try to taste God.
So, Brahmaji tried to test Krishna. And why did he try to test? Because, although he knew Krishna is God, or rather Krishna is Vishnu, who is descended, but we have certain knowledge which is revised by our experiences. And that revision can be upward or downward at times.
So, in this case, because Krishna so playfully kills demons, it appears almost unbelievable. It’s every story of Krishna’s life, like David Goliath multiplied many times. So, Krishna so effortlessly killed such a great demon without any weapons, that itself was unbelievable for Brahmaji.
And then, on top of that, when Krishna was, Krishna took the food from the mouth of Madhavangal. And that was not just one-off incident, after that he saw that, that’s what they were doing other times also, eating from each other’s plates. And he got a culture shock.
He said, Vishnu is to be offered food with the highest standard of purity and this is so impure. So, how can he be God? And therefore, he decided to test, is he really God? And the test was, he wanted to render Krishna all alone. So, will Krishna act as a powerless child or will Krishna manifest his powers? So, what he did was, he allured the cows first.
And the cows, he made the grass appear greener and greener near, further and further. And they just disappeared. And animals also have free will, how to fulfil their bodily drives.
Humans can choose how to fulfil, sorry, whether to fulfil or not. And then, for the Brajwasis to lose their cows, was not just a loss of livelihood, but a loss of someone, like a family member also. And the children, they internalised this and they were all in anxiety.
And Krishna acted as a servant of all the Gopas, himself went to search. And he searched far and wide, up and down the hills, left and right in the forest. Couldn’t find him anywhere.
And he came back disappointed. And he was even more disturbed to see the Gopas had also disappeared. One change is difficult to tolerate, but that which you consider the unchanging baseline, that changes, that is extremely disorienting.
So when Krishna was put in this disorienting situation, where both his friends and his cows can be lost, that was a test to which Krishna was put by Brahmaji. And how he responded, we will discuss during. Any questions till now? Yes, please.
Thank you for explaining so nicely. So, I have got one question. You were saying earlier that we get disorientated all the time.
So, this happens to other people. Sometimes it happens to our mind as well. Sometimes it is a big appeal for Krishna.
Sometimes it is a still no. You know, I am trying to say, we don’t feel the same sort of thing. It is just, I am just wondering, how do you avoid this? Because we think even at the stage of Brahma, he is feeling like Krishna is not Krishna anymore.
We sometimes feel like, you know, you don’t have that, when you are chanting or sometimes when you are doing some service, you don’t have that sort of mood to do things. And sometimes if I am doing something, I want to do it, I want to do it, but it changes. That’s true, yeah.
So, how can we avoid that? Even at the level of Brahmaji. Yes. Sometimes we just don’t experience Krishna.
We start, we don’t get any taste in our chanting or in our bhakti. So, how do we continue at that time? Yeah, it’s tough. Generally, if we consider, our consciousness comes from the soul, it goes through the mind to the body and then outward.
And generally when we are doing some service, although we can connect with Krishna directly in the spiritual level, usually we don’t at our condition stage. So, we connect with Krishna through the mind, through the body and through some physical manifestation of Krishna. Say, like we are uttering the holy name loudly.
We are looking at a picture of Krishna. We are doing some service with Krishna practically. So, now, quite often the mind obstructs the flow of that consciousness.
So, the mind starts feeling, what is the use of this, there is no taste in this. I have done it so many times, it is boring. So, when this kind of thing starts coming up, at that time, it’s okay.
So, at that time, there are broadly two things we can do. Either we have to raise our consciousness to the spiritual level or get our consciousness to the physical level. And normally we think the physical is material.
But it is not that simple. Basically, the physical stimuli can’t agitate us unless there is imagination of the mind. Sometimes we may encounter a tempting situation.
Say, there is some sports match or some movie or some music which might be mundane, which we like, which we have earlier liked or which even now we have some fondness for. But if we are doing some very urgent work, maybe some deadline driven work in the company or something like that, then even if that stimulus comes, we don’t let our consciousness go too much in that direction. And then when there is no imagination, there is no agitation.
So, it is not perception that causes agitation, it is imagination that causes agitation. Of course, you could say perception leads to imagination, but not necessarily. We all can think of times when we have had perceptions, but there is no imagination associated with that.
So, the point I am making is that when our mind is obstructing us in the practise of bhakti, at that time it is not that Krishna is no longer attractive. Krishna is still Rasaraj, but the mind is coming in the way. And so the consciousness of the soul comes from here to the mind and then the mind takes it somewhere else.
Maybe, oh, this person did like this, when am I going to do this, how can I do that? So, at that time what we have to do is, it is very difficult to deal with the mind at the level of the mind. It is possible, but it is easier to first get the consciousness out of the mind. That means acknowledge, yeah, I am feeling bored, but boredom is like a feeling which has come in my mind, acknowledge it is there and I move on and do my work.
So, get the consciousness to the physical level. Maybe when you are chanting, just take a few deep breaths and then focus on the sound of the holy name. Or when you stand, maybe if you are sitting, walk and chant, do some physical activity, get the consciousness out of the mind.
Now, sometimes the temptation is very strongly, the agitation is very strongly at the physical level, then we get the consciousness out of the body to the mind and there we think of Krishna. Maybe we chant, maybe we remember Krishna or something. So, we have to be expert where our consciousness is getting agitated and where it is safe.
So, if it is the mind that is agitating the consciousness, then get it out of the mind, get it down to the physical level. Do something physical, which is, just if you are feeling very sleepy, very bored, just walk and chant, maybe wash your face. Do something, if you are reading and feeling sleepy, then just start reading aloud.
You might read slower, but I found reading aloud is a very powerful way of increasing absorption. You don’t have to read aloud to disturb everyone else. But just verbalise.
It may slow down, but actually it will go deeper, whatever we are reading. So, we can’t control how we feel, but we can choose how we act. We don’t have to let our actions be dependent on our feelings.
I repeat this, we can’t control how we feel, but we can choose how we act. Of course, we may say, if I don’t feel like acting, doing this, why will I act? But that’s where we focus on the action. And when we focus on the action, then what happens? The action itself gradually establishes a connection with Krishna.
So, my consciousness is coming from here through the mind to the body, but the mind is obstructing. So, it’s not allowing me to think about it only. So, I try to acknowledge this emotion is there, but focus on this.
It’s like say, if you are doing some important work, and some person who is very talkative, that person comes. Now, we just greet them, acknowledge them and continue our work. Now, they might keep chattering, but if we look at them and start talking with them, they will never leave us there for hours.
But if we just keep working. Now, if we get up and try to push that person away, we might get involved in that and they will be pushing and so many things. Just acknowledge their presence and continue the work.
So, it’s good to try to not battle with the feelings. That is a losing battle, usually. It is better than battling with the feelings is bypassing the feelings.
So, acknowledge them, but bypass them. And you may need to find out what can I do that will physically, maybe it could just be chant aloud, read aloud, do something physical which gets us out of our head, gets our consciousness out of our mind. And gradually, that boredom, that distraction will go down.
So, of course, this is just one strategy, but the principle is that the mind will interrupt us. So, that is what Krishna says that yatha dagre visham eva parnaame amrtaupamam that which tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like nectar in the end. So, sometimes the layer of poison is very thin and we do something and immediately we start experiencing joy, we start experiencing taste.
Sometimes that layer of poison might be very thick. So, we need to find out various strategies by which you can persevere through the poison. So, sometimes it might be just start doing it physically and gradually the negative feeling will start going away.
Sometimes you might just have to take a break, do something else and come back. There is no set formula. It’s best to see what works and learn that and then have an array of strategies available because the mind will obstruct us repeatedly and we have to find out how to bypass its obstacles and move on.
Any other questions? One more question we can do before we go down. I see devotees doing things not according to shastra or according to devotionalism. I mean, you may think negatively in some way.
If you see something that’s not according to maybe the context of feelings or anything like that. And then I’m thinking, and if you see this a lot, you might start thinking negatively about devotees in general. So, what should we do? Things that are anomalous or things that are devotionalism should we do that are not according to Prabhupada’s teachings? That’s a tough question.
So, if you see a devotee is doing something which is anomalous, not according to Prabhupada’s teachings, you must habituate and see them repeatedly. What do we do? Broadly, there are three possibilities. One is that devotee is doing something wrong and then we have a duty to either protect that devotee or at least inform others so that others are protected from that devotee’s actions.
The other is, that could be one extreme. The other is that it’s entirely our perception. We are thinking what they are doing is wrong.
But actually, with respect to many things in life, right and wrong is, there are certain core principles but there are some details. And even the details are done in a different way that doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. We have, even within Krishna Consciousness, we could have, Krishna Consciousness can’t exist like a transcendental bubble above the material world.
Krishna Consciousness is practised in the material world. And when it is practised in the material world, that means Krishna Consciousness will be expressed differently in different cultures. So say, the way devotees may practise Krishna Consciousness in India might be different from how they practise in UK, might be different from how they practise it in Russia.
Not entirely different but certain differences are inevitable. So if you see traditionally also, Gaudiya Vaishnavism itself, what to speak of Vaishnavism, the way Gaudiya Vaishnavism was practised in Bengal and in Orissa and in Vrindavan, there are significant differences. There are different Kirtan styles also, Narottam Das Thakur has Kirtan style, the Mayapur Vaishnavas had their own Kirtan style.
So there are differences. So not every difference is a deviation. So this could be two extremes, one is that they are wrong and the other is, it’s our perception that it is wrong is wrong.
And sometimes it could be somewhere in between. Most of the time it will be somewhere in between. There is some part of our perception also being wrong and some part of that other person also being wrong.
It’s a combination. So if we see somebody doing something repeatedly, it’s best and if it is disturbing our mind, it’s best to try to get a clarification. Rather than making an accusation, seek a clarification.
This person is doing like this. If you are close enough to that person, better go and talk with them directly. If we can’t, then maybe talk with some senior who knows that person and knows us also well.
So they won’t misunderstand us. They won’t misunderstand them. It’s best not to start talking like this about some problematic behaviour of someone with the general devotee community.
And certainly, it’s terrible to put it on the internet. You know, this devotee did like this. There are some devotees who love to do that.
There are some devotees who consider it their full time service to Krishna to broadcast the flaws of all other devotees to the whole world. So now that is something which definitely should be avoided. So I would say within the first and the third, when there is something seriously wrong, then better report to some senior devotee.
And if we are ourselves in a senior position, then we may have to confront. And it’s best that in such situations, we talk with others instead of talk about others. Sometimes we may say that, what will that person think if I ask like this? That’s why we have to ask in a respectful way.
But it’s important to get things clarified. And if we can’t, then if we don’t get a satisfactory explanation, then better keep a distance. So every choice brings with it a consequence.
If we feel this is wrong, and we are going to go on a campaign to stop it, then that is going to have some consequences. We may alienate some devotees. But we may feel this is so important, I have to go on it.
But then go on that campaign also in a responsible way. Not blaspheming everyone, but through proper channels. But if we decide that, this is not what I want to get involved in, then keep a distance from it.
Then it’s always, Shastra is so elastic, that everything can be accommodated within Shastra. Now whether that accommodation is justified or not, that is something which is up to open discussion. So you can always say, how Vaishnavas act, we do not know.
The ordinary vision cannot see. So we say that, to me this is wrong. I will not act like this.
And I won’t encourage anyone to act in this way. But I can’t rectify it right now, so let me keep a distance. So we have to be willing to take the consequences of our choices.
If you want to either change it or live with it. But quite often if you try to clarify, things can be resolved. If you seek clarification rather than make accusation, then things can be resolved reasonably.
Thank you very much. Thank you for coming today evening. Hare Krishna.