Appreciating Gaudiya Vaishnavism 2 – Learn to relish bhakti rasa

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

Today we are discussing the second part in a three part seminar on unappreciating Gaudiya Vaishnavism. This seminar series is being conducted on the occasion of Gaur Purnima, which is the later part of this month, the 24th, the appearance day of Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu, he is seen in the altar. He is the Kalyuga avatar.

Am I audible or is there too much echo? Am I audible behind? Yes, sir. Yes. Thank you.

So, we are discussing about the wisdom of Bhakti that Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu shared with the world. That is known as Gauriya Vaishnavism and in our previous class just two days ago, we discussed about how Gauriya Vaishnavism is universal. It is, we discussed that it is multi-level polymorphic bimonotheism and then we discussed how it is having special sweetness that Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has imparted and we discussed how the Bhakti tradition inverts the traditional power hierarchies.

If somebody has Bhakti, even if that person is a demon, that person is, that demon is considered greater than devata. If that person is of a lower caste, that person is treated as of a higher level than somebody in a higher caste. Radha Gopinath, Bhagwan, a king.

So, then we elaborately discussed the setting for the conversation between Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya. How Lord Chaitanya, despite being a renunciate, became the student of Ramananda Raya. So, the discussion between Ramananda Raya and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is quite technical and I will discuss that as a conclusion in tomorrow's class.

But in this class, I will focus on a central concept that Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya's discussion is underlaid by this concept, that is the concept of Rasa. We may hear of Bhakti Rasa often when we talk, when we practice Bhakti. Now most of us, before we were introduced to Krishna Consciousness, probably we heard the word Rasa in some other context, Amras or Gannaras, you know, mango juice or sugarcane juice.

So, now when we talk about Bhakti Rasa, what does that exactly mean? Shri Ramana Prabhupada Swami wrote a book called Bhakti Rasa Amrit Sindhu. Bhakti Rasa, the mellow Prabhupada translated it as, the mellow of Bhakti and the ocean Amrita Sindhu. So, the nectarean mellows of the ocean of devotion, it is a complicated name, Prabhupada shortened it to the nectar of devotion.

So, what exactly is Rasa? Rupa Goswami wrote a full book about this subject. So, I will talk about the concept of Rasa from a universal analytical psychological point of view first, then I will talk about it from within the Indian tradition point of view. And then I will talk about it from our practical, application point of view in our daily life and our practice of Bhakti.

Our emotions define and determine who we are. Some people are emotional, some people are more rational, but all of us have emotions. And depending on the kind of emotions that we have, accordingly, we behave and we become.

In the Ramayana, when Lord Ram is exiled to the forest, and then after that Bharat comes to know about the conspiracy that has exiled Ram. So, Bharat decides that I want to get Ram back, and he goes to the forest. And in order to reinforce his request, he takes the courtiers, he takes the army, he takes the sages, the priests, and all of them go.

And when Ram and Lakshman are in the forest, they hear in the forest, a sudden sound of some army approaching. Ram tells Lakshman to climb up on a tree and look who is coming. Lakshman looks and he sees the standard, the flag of Ayodhya.

And then he recognizes Bharat, he says Bharat is coming. And Lakshman is still seething with anger at the injustice by which Ram has been exiled. And Lakshman immediately says, that wicked Bharat, his wicked mother is not satisfied by sending you to the forest.

Now he has come with the whole Ayodhya army to kill you. But he doesn't know that I alone am enough to destroy him and his entire army. Today, the forest of Chitrakoot will drink the blood of that wild Bharat.

He gets furious. So at that time, Ram says, oh Bharat, oh Lakshman, Bharat's love for me is as much as is your love for me. Why are you getting so angry with Bharat? I am sure Bharat must have come to persuade me to come back.

I know his love for me. Has Bharat offended you in any way because of which you are so angry with him? Or is it… Ram reminds Lakshman of the many incidents when Bharat's love was seen. And Lakshman starts cooling down.

And then Ram twists the dagger in a sense. He says, oh Bharat, oh Lakshman, is it that in a rush of emotion, you accompanied me to the forest? But now when the reality of the austerity of the forest life is becoming experienced by you, you are becoming crappy, you are becoming irritable and you are bursting out your anger at Bharat. Now, if you are finding the austerity of the forest unbearable, and you are longing for the luxury of the kingdom, now when Bharat comes, I will ask him to stay here and you can go back on Rulan's baby's hand.

When Ram says this, Lakshman is utterly mortified. And then when he sees the extent of the love that Bharat has for Ram, how he repeatedly begs, the discussion between Bharat and Ram is one of the most heart-wrenching incidents in the Ramayana. Not heart-wrenching in a painful sense, it is in a joyful sense.

Normally, whenever any patriarch in a family passes away, often there is a succession conflict. All the sons and daughters, they want the biggest part of the pie, they want more and more inheritance. So, here also, between Ram and Bharat, there is a succession conflict.

But this succession conflict is caused not by selfishness, it is caused by selflessness. Normally, all the heirs want more and more. Here, Ram is telling Bharat, you take the kingdom, Bharat is saying, you take the kingdom.

And that is the cause of conflict. And finally, we know the story, Ram gives his padukas. Today, imagine if one brother gave his padukas to his, slippers to the other brother.

The other brother will pick it up and bang his brother's head with it. So, here, we see such selflessness. And on seeing it, Lakshman is totally embarrassed at his fury earlier.

And after they have departed, after Lakshman and after Bharat has departed, then Ram and Lakshman are sitting and Lakshman turns to Ram. And Lakshman is the younger brother. He says, he asks Ram, why do I become angry so quickly? Why do I become angry so quickly? So, Ram replies that, you are a sentimental person.

So, then Lakshman asks, are sentiments bad? Is it bad to be sentimental? So, Ram replies, sentiments are not bad. They are good. They are the ornaments of life.

But, we should choose those sentiments that take us towards Dharma. And we should avoid those sentiments that take us away from Dharma. So, emotions or sentiments, they are important.

But, we have to use our intelligence and we have to use our determination to choose the right emotions. See, once we choose the emotion, that emotion will catch us in its flow. And then we will be pushed in that direction.

If you study oceanography, you will know that in the ocean, there are different currents that are moving. So, for example, if here there is India, there is Australia, there will be a current of waves which is moving towards the southeast. Then there will be another current which will be moving towards the northeast, northwest.

Or northeast. Then another current which will be moving towards another direction. So, now if a ship is moving or a boat is moving through the ocean, the boat needs to catch the right current.

If the boat wants to go towards the south, and it is in the current which is going towards the north, and the boat will find it very difficult to move forwards. Similarly, within our consciousness, if we compare our consciousness to the ocean, there are many different currents which are moving. And some currents of emotions are connected with right things.

Some currents of emotions are connected with wrong things. And we need to situate ourselves in those emotions which inspire us to do right things. Otherwise, if we get carried away by emotions which are undesirable, then we will end up doing wrong things and we will regret it afterwards.

So, emotions are not just some things that happen to us. Yes, emotions do happen to us. But what happens after those emotions happen to us is in our hands.

That means I may feel angry. Yes, I feel angry. But after that, what do I do? Do I just vent out and explain to the other person? Do I calm down and do I have a rational discussion? Do I try to bury the emotion within? All these are choices which I have.

And properly expressing emotions is very important. Now, in modern history, if we see, today's culture or today's civilization is a very science-centered civilization. Science progresses by a particular methodology.

That is, the world is very vast. Within this vast world, science focuses on certain parameters. What are those? First of all, science focuses on material parameters.

Secondly, it focuses on measurable parameters. And by focusing on material measurable things, science strives to understand the behavior of those things, control it, predict it and try to make things better. Now, whenever attention focuses on one thing, attention goes away from another thing.

If you are focused on hearing what is happening in this class, if somebody is coming in from the background and going, you may not notice that. So now, modern humanities focus, because of science, went on material measurable things. And because of that, that which was not measurable was neglected.

So, for example, if the intelligence of a person is to be measured, we had an IQ, Intelligence Quotient. And Intelligence Quotient basically focuses on measuring, say, mathematical ability, verbal ability, analytical ability. And all this is important.

All this is a part of intelligence. But in the process, our emotions, they are not measurable. Somebody says, I am angry.

Okay, if you ask them, on a scale of anger, what is your degree? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. No, you cannot measure anger like that. It is a great paradox of medical science. And the whole purpose of medical science is to free people from pain.

But pain itself is not measurable by medical science. And there is no device, no painometer, to tell how much pain someone is in. Why is that? Science does work.

It does heal people. But it doesn't focus on those things which are not measurable. Now this is with respect to the way science operates.

But because our culture, our civilization, has focused a lot on material measurable things, so those things which are not measurable, such as emotions, they have not been educated, they have not been regulated, they have not been directed. And that is why we have situations where, for example, sometimes some people with high-duty machine guns, they just go mad and just kill anyone. These incidents, when they happen, what is happening? These people, through technology, have got powerful weaponry.

But their inner world has gone mad because of unregulated emotions. Now specifically, each of these may have many causes. Each such incident and each such person who goes on random gun killing may have causes.

But overall, emotions are in today's world, there is no system, no education, no structure for guiding people to elevate their emotions. Our educational system provides us training so that we can have an earning. But about our emotions, how are we to regulate them? That no one teaches us.

And because of this, we have an imbalance in today's world, where people have a big amount of control over external things, but they don't have control over themselves. People have controlled machines and uncontrolled minds. Or as Martin Luther King said, we have guided missiles and misguided men.

So emotions are an integral part of who we are. And learning to educate them and elevate them, that is an important part of growing as a human being. And not just growing as a human being, it is also important for growing in our spiritual life.

Traditionally, this is from the contemporary perspective, I will come back to this point again. First, let me look at it from the traditional perspective. Traditionally, in India, there were two paths.

There is the path of karma and there is the path of jnana. The third is the path of bhakti, which I will come to later. The path of karma, in one sense, focused on pious materialism.

Materialism, but pious materialism. You worship God, so that God will provide many things that you want in life. So the classic example Prabhupada often would give is, there is a Christian prayer, O father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, give us our daily bread.

So this is a prayer, it is good that people are going to God, people are praying to God. At the same time, such a prayer reveals not one's love for God, it reveals one's love for bread. So, not to criticize any particular religion, similar prayers can be found in all religious traditions.

The point is, we are talking about a level of consciousness of people, and this is there in all religious traditions. We are talking about objective levels over here. So, the path of karma is not just a path within the Vedic tradition.

You can see strands, the mentality of karma, even in Christianity. You can see the mentality of karma, even in Islam. Karma is a mentality.

Mentality is that God and religion is a tool to making things, to getting better things in life. So, bhakti explains to us, that Krishna is performing pastimes in the spiritual world, and Krishna is inviting us, come back to me, enjoy my pastimes. But the path of karma means, that we tell Krishna, I want to perform pastimes here, you assist me here.

So, the path of karma focuses on enjoying this world, but enjoying it within religious regulations. The opposite of the path of karma, if we consider a pendulum, karma is one extreme of the pendulum, the pendulum sinks to the other extreme, that is the path of jnana. The path of jnana says, the path of karma is talked about in the Vedas.

The path of jnana is talked about in the Upanishads. And in the Upanishads, the focus is, that everything in this world is entangled. We may say that, oh, I will enjoy things in this world, but then enjoyment creates attachment, and that attachment creates bondage, and through that bondage comes suffering.

Therefore, we need to get detached. And the path of jnana focuses primarily on the rejection of emotion. So, why do we get attached? Attachment is an emotion.

So, emotion is what causes attachment and bondage, and suffering thereafter. So, if you want to become free from suffering, we need to become detached. That means, we need to give up emotions.

Now, the path of karma, to some extent, regulates emotions. The path of jnana strives to eliminate emotions. Become completely detached from everything.

Now, this is an aspiration that people have, who think that perfection of liberation means an emotionless state of existence. But, the path of jnana is not at all sustainable. Emotions are innate to our very being.

And rejection of all emotions is impossible. We may reject some emotions for some time, but we can't reject all emotions entirely. If we reject all emotions entirely, we would become like stones.

Or, at the most, we can move about. So, we can say we become like robots. So, the purpose of perfection of life is not to become like a stone or like a robot.

So, the path of bhakti is the balance between the path of karma and the path of jnana. This balanced state is what? It tells us that our emotions are like a double-edged sword. Emotions are not bad.

But, emotions, when they are directed towards illusory things, they become the cause of bonding and suffering. But, the important part… So, in this, the path of bhakti agrees with the path of jnana that emotions do cause bondage. But, where the path of bhakti differs is that it is not that all emotions cause bondage.

Rather, emotions that are misdirected cause bondage. And, the important thing in the path of bhakti is emotions are themselves the path to liberation. By developing emotions for Krishna, we move closer to Krishna.

And, in fact, the greater the emotions we have for Krishna, the closer we go to Him and the faster we go closer to Him. So, emotions can be the path to bondage. Emotions can also be the path to liberation.

Now, this requires transforming our emotions. Now, how emotions can lead to liberation? Let us understand with an example. We can observe things from different perspectives.

Suppose, you see a rose flower. Now, we can look at a rose flower from an analytical perspective or we can look at it from an aesthetic perspective. If I look at a rose from an analytical perspective… Okay, this is a rose.

These are its petals. This is its stamen. This is its andrushium.

This is its gynushium. I can look at a rose from the view of a botanist. And, the botanist's view of looking at it is purely objective.

Scientific observation is characterized by objectivity. Objectivity means lack of emotions. So, subjectivity means we see from our individual perspective investing our emotions.

So, I can observe a rose from a botanical, objective, emotional perspective. Or, I can look at a rose and appreciate it from an aesthetic perspective. When I say, Oh, these petals are so beautifully colored.

This shape is so exquisite. This fragrance is so endearing. Now, both ways of looking at the lotus are valid.

In different situations, different approaches may be required. But, when we want to experience what the rose really is in the terms that people in general experience it and relish it, then it is not in an analytical perspective. It is in an aesthetic perspective.

Aesthetic perspective means we invest our emotions in approaching and appreciating the rose. So, this same point, if we apply in our analysis, in our understanding of how we approach God. Some people can approach God as a concept.

And, they may clinically evaluate. Does God exist? What would be the nature of God? This is the philosopher's God. And, it is important to philosophically understand the conception of God so that we are convinced about His reality.

But, after that, when we want to develop affection to God, we need to also approach God, not just from an analytical perspective, but from an aesthetic perspective. Aesthetic perspective means who God is as a person. Repeatedly, Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita uses the word Tattvataha.

In 4.9 in the Bhagavad Gita, He says janma karma cha me devyam evam yo vetti tattvataha tyakva deham punar janma naiti mameti so arjuna He says, those who know my appearance and activity, Tattvataha, in truth, they become liberated and they come to me. Then again in 10.7, He says ekam vibhutim yogam cha am yo vetti tattvataha so vikalpena yogena yujyate gatra samshayaha He says, those who understand my glories, in truth, they will wholeheartedly become devoted to me. avikalpena yogena Without any alternative, they will become devoted to me.

Then later, again in 18.55, Krishna says bhaktyamam vijanati yavan yashchasmi tattvataha that by bhakti, I can be known in truth. Tattvataha So knowing Krishna in truth, what does that mean? It means knowing Krishna not just as a concept God, but knowing Him as a person God. To further illustrate this difference in analytical and aesthetic approaches, consider, say, a small child is sick and the child is taken to a doctor.

The doctor does all the tests. The doctor may know the child's physical parameters, the height, the weight, the bone density, and muscular composition, even the urine and stool composition. But through all these tests, the doctor knows the child.

But does the doctor know the child the way a mother knows the child? Actually, the doctor knows about the child. The doctor knows about the child's body. Whereas the mother knows the child as a person.

So similarly, to differentiate it more precisely, we can know about God and we can know God. The two are different things. There are many people who know a lot about Krishna.

Oh, Krishna was a character in the Mahabharata. Krishna is a prominent feature in Hindu religion. Some people may say, he is a mythological figure in Hindu mythology.

They may know a lot of details. But all this is knowing about God. To know God means to approach Him as a person.

To approach Him as a living, loving person. And that is the essence of Bhakti. Now, in the process of Bhakti, our emotions are the means by which we approach God.

And the greatest saints are those who have the greatest emotion in connection with God. So the emotion that we experience in connection with God, that Rupa Goswami explains, that is Rasa. So, Rasa is a concept that is first talked about in the Indian tradition in a book called Natya Shastra.

This is a book written by Bharat Muni. And Bharat Muni describes that Natya. Natya means drama.

It is not just, oh, some of us come together, you play this role, you play this role, let's have a drama. We may do a drama like that. That is drama and the study of drama is called dramaturgy.

And dramaturgy itself is a very advanced and deep subject of knowledge in the Indian tradition. That means when a drama is to be performed, what is the way in which things should be arranged in a drama by which the audience will experience the appropriate emotions. That itself is a Shastra.

There is a scripture which elaborately describes this. So, Bharat Muni describes that once the Devatas went to Brahmaji and they said, please give us a form of entertainment that is also educational and elevating. And at that time, Brahmaji revealed Natya Shastra.

So, then after him, many great scholars like Abhinav Gupta and Roop Kaviraj and others, they elaborated on Natya Shastra given by Bharat Muni. And by the time in the 16th century when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared, Natya Shastra was a very elevated and very popular subject in intellectual and aesthetic circles. So, in Natyak Shastra, Rasa has a particular meaning.

So, Rasa is the emotion that is experienced by a Rasik. Rasik means a member of the audience who has refined taste. So, what do we mean by refined taste? Suppose, somebody is performing Bharat Natyam.

Suppose a female dancer is performing Bharat Natyam and she is very beautifully depicting the past tense of Krishna. Now, if somebody doesn't know what is Bharat Natyam, it must be just some kind of dance. But if somebody knows Bharat Natyam, that person will see, oh, this dance is being done so artistically.

But somebody who knows Bharat Natyam and who also knows Krishna's past tense, then that person will see, oh, this is not just a beautiful dance, but this is a beautiful and meaningful dance. Okay, this is describing how Yashodamayi is angry, this is depicting how Krishna is running away, this is depicting how Krishna is trying to act innocent, this is depicting how Yashodamayi is now going to punish Krishna. So, if the audience is not refined, they will not get much of the Bharat Natyam.

But if the audience knows properly, then the same dance that is being depicted, depending on how evolved the audience is, how much they will get from the drama will vary. From the dance will vary. So, a rasika audience will get much more from the drama than others, from the dance than others.

Similarly, in Natya Shastra, it is described that when a person performs a drama, and if the audience is also aesthetically refined, then the drama will evoke emotions in the audience. and if the audience is also aesthetically refined, then the drama will evoke emotions in the audience. Through the appropriate performance of drama, it is called as Rasa.

This is the understanding of Rasa in traditional Natya Shastra. This Natya Shastra led to the development of something called as the Rasa Tradition. This Natya Shastra led to the development of something called as the Rasa Tradition.

So, Rasa Tradition is one tradition, and the Bhakti Tradition is another tradition. And these two traditions were married together by Rupa Goswami, under the guidance of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Through his book, firstly, Bhakti Rasa Amar Sindhu, and then the second book was Ujjwala Neelamani.

and then the second book was Ujjwala Neelamani. Ujjwala Neelamani describes very elevated emotional exchanges between Krishna and that being his gopis. And it analyzes and explains what Rasa is being experienced And it analyzes and explains what Rasa is being experienced and which emotional reciprocation.

Now, what is the need for this kind of integration or marriage? Now, what is the need for this kind of integration or marriage? Bhakti, any tradition, for it to be living, it has to be presented and represented in a way that is contemporarily intelligible and appealing. So, for example, when Shri Prabhupada came from India to America, So, for example, when Shri Prabhupada came from India to America, he had given discourses in Sanskrit. How many people would have understood? Prabhupada spoke in English.

So, just as the language needs to be such that people can understand it. So, now people's understanding is shaped not just by the language, it is also shaped by their mode of thinking. So, for example, most people are influenced by science.

Therefore, Shri Prabhupada presented Bhakti as a spiritual science. And he often used the language of science for presenting spiritual concepts. And he told some of his scientifically trained disciples that you should develop it further.

You should present Krishna's message in the language of science. So, for any tradition to be understood and shared by people, it has to be presented and represented in the way common people can understand. So, the same principle was used by Rupa Goswami to share the teachings of Bhakti.

So, he used the terminology of Rasa Shastra, but he infused it all with Bhakti. So, in Natya Shastra, Rasa is an emotion that is experienced in a drama. But Rupa Goswami says that in Bhakti, Rasa is not an emotion that has to be experienced only in a drama.

It can be experienced throughout one's life. So, yes, even a devotee sees a drama of Krishna Leela, the devotee also may feel emotions at that time. That is also Rasa.

But Rasa is not restricted only through a theatre. When Krishna performs pastimes, at that time, the devotees experience emotions in relationship with Krishna. And those emotions comprise Rasa.

So, for example, when every evening Krishna goes in the morning to the forest to graze the cows. So, when he goes out to graze the cows, the Vrajavasis' hearts go with him. And they long, when will Krishna come back? And as the dusk starts approaching, all the Vrajavasis are repeatedly glancing at the path from the forest back to Vraja.

When is Krishna coming? And as they see, first they see a dust cloud appearing. Because Krishna considers himself as a servant of the cows. He is Gopal.

So, he makes sure that the cows come home first. And after that he comes. The cows come ahead.

And as the cows are coming ahead, their dust, their feet raises dust. And they see the dust cloud coming. They understand.

Their anticipation increases more and more. And then as the cows come forward, the dust cloud clears. And then they see one cow, second cow, third cow.

So many cows. And behind them, all the Gopas are there. And right behind them, Krishna and Balarama are there.

And then as Krishna and Balarama enter, Krishna and all the Vrajavasis, they are eagerly waiting to see Krishna. The Gopas come out of their houses. The Gopis go up on their terraces.

And they are all waiting for Krishna to come. And then, as Krishna finally comes to his home, and Yashodamayi sees him. Yashodamayi comes down on her knees and opens her arms.

And Krishna rushes into her arms and holds her tight embrace. And Yashodamayi, at that time, experiences an ocean of love flooding through her heart. So, now here, Rupa Goswami takes such incidence and he analyzes.

He explains that for an emotion, for a rasa, there has to be an uddipana. Uddipana means stimulus. So, for Yashodamayi, the side of the dust cloud, that is the uddipana.

The further side of Krishna is an even greater uddipana. The embrace of Krishna is the climatic uddipana. And as the uddipana, as the stimulus increases more and more, the emotion increases more and more.

And in this way, when a devotee perceives Krishna in various ways, the bhakti for Krishna, the emotion for Krishna increases more and more. Rupa Goswami uses this analytical theory, the analytical theory of Rasa Shastra, and the pastimes of Krishna, and how rasa is enacted in that. And the important point is, what is the purpose of analyzing like this? His purpose is to explain that just as in Krishna Leela, uddipana awakens rasa.

Just as in Krishna Leela, spiritual stimuli awaken emotions. Similarly, in our life as sadhakas, if we expose ourselves to spiritual uddipana, then in our heart also rasa will awake. So, for example, when we come to a temple, the deity is the central uddipana.

All the pictures about Krishna, they are also uddipanas. Now, if we see devotees whom we like, who we are inspired by, that also is a uddipana. So, by exposing ourselves to appropriate uddipana, and if we repeatedly expose ourselves to them, then gradually spiritual emotion will awaken in our heart.

And this is important to understand that here Rupa Goswami says that emotion is something that can be systematically cultivated. And normally people talk about, I fell in love. They say that love is something which just happens.

You fall in love. So, now it is, that means as if I have no control over my emotions. But it is not necessarily like that.

Sometimes people say that, we should have love marriages because in arranged marriages, there is no love. But, actually we say, I see someone and there was love at first sight. Well, yes, there might be some emotions at first sight, but the stability of the relationship will be determined not by what you feel on first sight, but what you feel after many sights.

So, emotion may sometimes suddenly happen to us. But if our relationship is based only on the emotions that happen to us, then the relationship will be very unsteady. Today I like you, tomorrow I don't like you.

How will relationships go on? So, there is also something similar which happens in our practice of bhakti. Today when I come to the temple, I feel so good, I feel so nice, such sweet emotions are going through my heart. Today I was chanting and I felt completely absorbed in Krishna.

The next day I chant and I take out the beads. Has somebody changed the beads from 108 to 1008? We feel as if so much time it is taking. There is no taste at all.

So, if we base our bhakti practice only on our emotions. Bhakti is ultimately emotion. But while we are doing sadhana or bhakti, our emotions may not always be relied.

So, what Rupa Goswami says is emotions are also something that can be cultivated. And how are emotions cultivated? It is by repeatedly exposing ourselves to the right uddhipana. So, irrespective of whether I feel devotional or not, I come and take darshan of Krishna.

Irrespective of whether I feel devotional or not, I chant the holy names. And by this repeated exposure to uddhipana, what happens is we become purified. Our soul is chumbak.

Prahlad Maharaj says Shantan Amarka, his guru, his teacher, they ask him, you have born in a demoniac family. Why are you worshipping Vishnu? Why are you betraying your own dynasty like this? So, Prahlad, he describes, it is just as iron filing is attracted to a magnet, similarly, my heart is attracted to Krishna. I cannot help it.

See, that is the natural attraction of the soul to Krishna. That is the pure state of the heart of all of us. But, if an iron filing is covered by rust, then although it is natural for the iron to be attracted to a magnet, but when it is covered by rust, it will not be attracted towards the magnet.

So, then the rust needs to be removed. And once the rust is removed, then the attraction to the iron will manifest. Similarly, for our souls, attraction to Krishna is natural.

But, it is covered over by various impurities. And because of these impurities, even when we come in contact with Krishna, sometimes we don't feel attracted. Sometimes we don't feel any joy.

So, what is happening is, these conditionings that are there around our consciousness, the thickness of these conditionings varies according to the way the modes influence us. Sometimes, Rajoguna and Tamoguna is influencing us too much. At that time, we feel no attraction towards Krishna.

Sometimes, the Sattoguna is influencing us. At that time, the covering is lesser and we feel some attraction towards Krishna. Sometimes, when we are in a very vibrant, potent spiritual atmosphere, we feel a very strong attraction towards Krishna.

So, this covering is there, which prevents us from right now being steadily attracted towards Krishna. So, this covering, when it is removed, we will be naturally attracted towards Krishna. But, Krishna is not just the goal of Bhakti.

Krishna is also the means of Bhakti. That means, it is not that at the end of our spiritual practice, we will attain Krishna. Krishna is also present right now with us.

He is present as the deity. He is present as the holy name. Even when we don't feel emotional, if we expose ourselves to Krishna's stimuli, to connect with Krishna, then that will purify this covering.

That will remove the conditionings from our consciousness. Gradually, the attraction to Krishna will manifest more and more. So, the process of Bhakti Yoga is the process of systematically exposing our consciousness to Krishna.

And when we expose our consciousness to Krishna, gradually, rasa awakens. And that rasa becomes stronger and stronger. Till that rasa will become the defining and driving reality of our life.

So, Bhaktirasa Amrut Sindhu elaborately describes how we can have different Uddhipan in our life. So, for example, when we take Charana Amrut, that is also Uddhipan. The beauty of Bhakti is that it not only makes emotions the means by which we approach Krishna, but it also makes the senses the means by which we approach Krishna.

Normally, our eyes are attracted to certain things. And most of the time, they are attracted to worldly forms. And by such attraction, we become bound.

Similarly, our ears, our tongue, all our senses can bind us. But Bhakti doesn't ask us to reject or suppress the senses. Bhakti asks us to provide spiritual inputs to the senses.

So, with the eyes, let me see the beautiful form of Krishna. With the ears, let me hear the beautiful Katha of Krishna. Let me hear the beautiful Gita about Krishna.

With my tongue, let me taste Krishna Prasad. So, in this way, we expose our senses to spiritual stimuli. So, I'll conclude with one last point, Bhakti.

Our existence is at three levels presently. Body, mind, soul. Physical, mental and spiritual.

The soul has a natural attraction to Krishna. The mind is presently conditioned by mental impressions. And the senses are made of gross matter.

So, the process of Bhakti essentially involves transforming the intermediate, that is the mind. Now, how do we transform the mind? It is not just by thinking or feeling. I should feel devotional, I should think about Krishna.

All that is good. But we can't just change our way of thinking. We need to actually expose ourselves and our senses more and more to Krishna.

And through the senses, the spiritual impressions will enter and permeate our subtle body. The process of Bhakti involves making our memory our treasure. Making our memory our treasure.

That means, all of us, when we have some happy moments, we may click some photos. And then, later on, we treasure those photos. Yes, I went to this place, I met this person, I did this thing.

This is the happy moment that we draw strength from when we have difficult moments in our life, when we feel down. Just as we may have physical snapshots of the happy moments of our life, similarly, Bhakti means that we make our memory a treasury of remembrances of Krishna. So, if we have gone for some yatras, we have heard some very nice classes, we have participated in very sweet kirtans, we have relished some very beautiful darshan.

Now, we need to consciously cultivate these memories. With respect to material impressions, if we see some image of sense gratification, we go into instant samadhi. Lost in it completely.

Why? Because the mind is habituated to that. And that's why it goes in that direction automatically. But, what happens automatically or instantaneously with respect to material tendencies, that we have to make happen conscientiously with respect to Krishna.

We all have had some level of spiritual experiences. But we need to consciously remember them. Cultivate and cherish those memories.

And then, take our consciousness towards those memories whenever we feel down. So, our consciousness will move up and down like a sine wave. That is something which will keep happening for a good amount of time.

But, if while the consciousness is moving up and down, what we can do is we can look somewhere where we can get some steadiness. So, we cannot always come to the temple, we may not always be able to study scripture, we may not always be able to associate with devotees. But, if we have cultivated some memories, then that will give our consciousness when it starts going down, it will give us something to hold it up.

So, for example, if there are some songs, some Vaishnav Geet, which we find very sweet, which kindles devotional devotion within us, then we can memorize that, we can keep that in our phone and read it, recite it, hear it, or there is some tune of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra which we like. So, whenever we feel agitated, whenever we feel dejected, we can recollect that. So, this is, each of us, we can create our own armor of Uddipan.

So, what will be a Uddipan for me may not be a Uddipan for you. For example, whenever, I may have mentioned this in earlier class, whenever I take darshan of the deities, I always feel that I should recite some verses. When I meditate on the verses, and then I think, this same lord who has glorified through these verses, he is present here, then I feel a connection with the lord.

So, once I spoke this in a class, I said, you know, we can recite verses and then we will feel connected with the lord. Then after a few days, one devotee came and told me, he says, you know, when I try to recollect and recite verses, just remembering these verses causes me so much tension that all bhakti goes away. So, what is a Uddipan for me was not a Uddipan for that person.

So, we have to individually find out what is a Uddipan for us. So, we all are different. We all have our individual inclinations, our individual talents, individual backgrounds and within that, we find out what is it that stimulates our remembrance of Krishna.

And we make such stimuli readily available for us in whatever way is practical. And that way, when the consciousness goes down, we will not go down. We will still hold ourselves up and gradually we will rise up.

And in the process of sadhana bhakti, we cannot suddenly wish that, oh, let me have pure emotions, let me have divine emotions. They may not come immediately, but what we can do is, we can try to expose ourselves more and more to the things that will gradually stimulate divine emotions. So, Srila Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

The name he used is very important, Krishna Consciousness. First time when I heard this, I thought, what is this Krishna Consciousness? Krishna is a religious concept, consciousness is something we talk about in science. What is this Krishna Consciousness? And why do we need an International Society for that? I just couldn't figure head or tail out of this name.

But then, what I understood is that we all have consciousness. That is something which all of us naturally have. But our consciousness is directed towards various things.

So, Krishna Consciousness means the consciousness is directed towards Krishna. So, Srila Prabhupada has created a society which is spread all over the world, which provides us facilities to direct our consciousness towards Krishna. So, if we come to Krishna's movement with this purpose, sometimes when devotees come to Krishna's movement also, they may feel, oh, there are so many quarrels among devotees, there is so much politics sometimes, this devotee is like this, that is like that, there are so many problems here, so many controversies, this happened over there, that happened over there.

So, sometimes, we may get distracted. We should know that Krishna's movement is like Krishna. Krishna is a Kalpataru.

Kalpataru means He is a desire fulfilling tree. So, if we come to Krishna's movement and if we are looking for gossip, we will get gossip. If we come to Krishna's movement looking for prestige, we will get prestige.

In which other movement you go and people bow down to you? We will get prestige. If we come to Krishna's movement for controversy, we will get controversy. If we come to Krishna's movement for Krishna, we will get Krishna also.

So, it is for us to keep the purpose at the center of our activities. We find that there are some devotees who are getting distracted to certain things, fine, let them do what they want, it is between them and Krishna. I have come to this movement for moving closer to Krishna.

So, let me seek in Krishna's movement the Uddhipan that arouse my Bhakti towards Krishna. And in that way, we will be facilitated in our journey towards Krishna. Prabhupada was asked at one time how did…Prabhupada was 70 years old and he actually just lost 10 years of his life.

He spread the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. On this 50th anniversary, I have written one small book about Prabhupada. The movement that made his movement.

There are several quotes of eminent people. So, in 2006, a big temple was inaugurated in Delhi. So, at that time, the Times of India, which is India's number one paper, the Times of India wrote an editorial and they said that what is India's greatest export to the world? So, is it software engineers? Is it Indians speaking English and acting as a cheap workforce? He said, yes, all these are there.

But if you go to Mombasa, if you go to Botswana, if you go to Bolivia, you won't find any Indian software engineers. You won't find any Indians speaking English. But there you find Krishna temples.

He said, Krishna is India's biggest export commodity. And it is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness that has exported Krishna all over the world. So, another historian of religion, he said that what did this Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada achieve? He said, if someone wrote a… and sometimes people write novels and then after they write a novel, they present it as a proposal to some publishing house.

And sometimes some publishing houses just reject it. This is very unrealistic. So, imagine that nobody will believe it.

So, he said, if somebody wrote a novel saying that an old man at the age of 70 went to a country, a distant country where he had never gone before without any money, without any contacts and from there he went and he recruited people who had no training in leadership, who had no training in management and using that he built an international movement. He said, if an author made a fiction story like that, any publisher would reject that story. But in the case of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada he says, this is a fact that is stranger than fiction.

He says, where in the history of the world do we see anything like this? He says, maybe there are parallels in the way Jesus 2000 years ago attracted so many people to his movement. But still, he says, Jesus was in his own area in the same place where he had lived and Jesus was speaking to people of his own age, his own background. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada he went to a place where he had never been before and the people whom he addressed and transformed he said, they were linguistically, culturally, educationally, philosophically, historically, geographically and spiritually.

Widely different from him. Prabhupada was a person who had throughout his life I am speaking, this is not Professor Harncock speaking so I am adding on his point now. So, this professor he said, we don't have anything like this.

To further highlight the contrast, Prabhupada was a person who throughout his life never broke the regulative principles. The early followers of Srila Prabhupada were people whose only regulative principle was to break all regulative principles. And yet, Prabhupada attracted and transformed them.

So he says, therefore again quoting Professor Harncock, he says that Bhaktivedanta Swami's achievement is therefore unique in the history of the world. So when Srila Prabhupada was asked Swamiji, how did you attract so many people towards how did you get so many people? So Prabhupada's reply was very simple yet profound. He said, Krishna is all attractive.

I just presented Krishna, he attracted people. This is at one level Prabhupada's humility. Prabhupada did a lot travelled tirelessly, wrote so many books counselled so many people.

But still, the principle is that, what did Prabhupada do? Prabhupada provided Udgipana for people. Prabhupada provided spiritual stimuli and people became attracted by those stimuli. So that legacy which he has given us, we all can relish that and share that.

Sometimes I feel my mind is agitated, I am feeling distracted I am feeling bored. All that will happen. But if we just keep exposing ourselves to more and more spiritual Udgipana our devotion will awaken and strengthen.

And if we share the spiritual Udgipana with others we distribute books, we invite people for programs, we give prasad, we participate in festivals, organize festivals we provide the Udgipana to others Krishna will attract them. And Krishna will spiritualize our hearts and through us, the hearts of many many people. Sometimes you may feel this world is so materialistic.

How are people going to become devotees? What is the use of practicing bhakti? My heart is filled with so much darkness. Will I ever become a devotee? This is a pessimistic attitude. A bhakta is always hopeful because Krishna is always with us.

By our own efforts it may be very difficult. But Krishna is omnipotent. And we have been going on in material existence for so many lifetimes.

Krishna never got frustrated with us. Krishna never said this soul is never going to become a devotee. Krishna did not give up on us for so many lifetimes.

Why should we give up on Krishna in one short lifetime only? Just persevere in our bhakti and Krishna will take us forward. Krishna will take us all the way to Him. Even now if we see, among the millions and millions of people all over the world, how many of us were actually searching for God? There may be some very special souls who went out in the world seeking God.

But at least for me I was not searching for God. Devotees came out searching for me. So, it is quite often without much effort on our part that we came to bhakti and often, not to speak of much effort on our part, it is despite much resistance on our part still we are moving onwards.

So sometimes if you feel, oh this is so far away then we can look back and we can see how far Krishna has brought us. If Krishna has brought us so far Krishna will take us all along the way also. So we just keep our faith in Krishna and keep exposing ourselves to Krishna more and more.

And Krishna will do the magic in our heart. Krishna is all attractive. He has attracted us so far and He will attract us all the way to Him.

So I will summarize. I started by talking about how Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He presented Gaudiya Vaishnavism, presented bhakti through the language of rasa. In that connection, I explained how emotions are something which can elevate us, they can degrade us.

We discussed the Ramayana pastime, Lord Ram saying that emotions are good, but we should choose the emotions that elevate, not the emotions that degrade. And then in today's scientific centered society where focus is on material measurable things, emotions have been neglected and that is why emotions express themselves in ugly ways. So we need a process for the education and the elevation of emotions.

And that is presented in the bhakti tradition. Karma focuses on just regulating the emotions within the material realm. Whereas jnana focuses on rejection of all emotions.

Bhakti is the balance of the pendulum where bhakti uses emotions as the means to approach God. And we discussed about the difference between knowing God and knowing about God. The way a botanist may look at a flower and an artist may look at a flower.

Or the way a pathologist may look at a child and the way a mother may look at her child. So we need to approach Krishna not just as the concept God but as a person God. And then the emotions will awaken within us.

We discussed about the rasa tradition which comes from Bharat Muni in the Natya Shastra. Rasa traditionally meant emotion that is experienced by a rasic audience on the proper performance of a drama. Rupa Goswami took that concept and he explained that just as in a drama by exposure to proper stimuli people experience emotions.

Similarly just as in Krishna Leela the devotees experience emotions when presented with Krishna stimuli we can also when we expose ourselves to Krishna stimuli to uddhipan in us also spiritual emotion will awaken. So we don't just wait for emotions to happen to us we expose ourselves to the process by which emotions will awaken. And we discussed about how currently our attraction to Krishna may go up and down like a sine wave but if we find out what are the uddhipan that awaken our emotion towards Krishna and cultivate them we make our memory a treasury of those emotions then we will have something to hold on to and that way even when we feel down we will be able to raise ourselves up and as the conditioning gets removed around us in our subtle body then attraction to Krishna will become more and more natural and stronger and sweeter.

And we concluded by discussing how Prabhupada essentially presented Krishna stimuli to people all over the world and he attracted millions of people even historians of religion have acknowledged Prabhupada achievement as unique Prabhupada made Krishna the biggest export commodity of India and we too in our life we can see that Krishna has brought us so far all the way despite our not doing much effort so if we just keep holding on to Krishna Krishna will take us all the way to him eventually. Thank you very much. Is there any one quick question? With our down time we get inspired out I just thought that there is sometimes a tendency that we bring our baggage as well like sometimes stimulus might work for us I get to give a class so that everyone's attention is drawn towards me so I am actually working in that context is that ok? The question is that sometimes the stimuli that we use in Bhakti or that inspires in Bhakti are they actually Krishna centred or are they self centred? Suppose I give a class then I feel enlivened by that but is that enlivenment because of my connection with Krishna or is it because people are paying attention to me I am being the centre of attention and is it self centred or is it actually Krishna centred? We have to understand that Bhakti does not mean that we have to be miserable See there is a circle of things that give us pleasure and there is a circle of things that comprises the activities of Bhakti It is not that these two circles are non-intersecting There are definitely parts which are non-intersecting There are anti-devotional activities which may give us pleasure and which we need to give them up But these two circles do intersect The whole principle of Varnashram is to situate ourselves in the things that we like to do and to do them for Krishna So if a person is of intellectual orientation Brahminical orientation, Varnashram tells such a person ok you study but study for Krishna's sake teach Krishna's message Similarly if a person is of Vaishya that person is told ok you are right to earn money and use it for Krishna's service So the idea is what is natural for us not natural in the sense of our lower nature not lust anger greed envy pride illusion but natural in terms of our Swabhava We do that for Krishna Now when we are doing that for Krishna initially we may be self-centered yes when I am giving class I may think how many people are appreciating my class and that may be my focus but as we keep practicing Bhakti then gradually we start saying if I give a class about Krishna and I focus too much on how many people appreciate me or not then I may get some pleasure but if instead I just focus on Krishna the subject of my class I can get much greater fulfillment and this realization will come gradually if we situate ourselves in that circle where we get some material pleasure and some spiritual pleasure then gradually we start realizing as material pleasure is not all that great spiritual pleasure is really great Shraddha Gopinath Bhagwan Ki Jai and gradually we move from the material pleasure to the spiritual pleasure so the only thing is we shouldn't give up the activities that purify us we shouldn't say I will only give class I will not do anything else because I don't like that the test of Bhakti is we continue Bhakti even when we don't like to do it but in order to change our emotions we may do more some of the things that we like to do so we do have to do the basic activities of Bhakti but in addition to that we can do those activities which stimulate us spiritually in Bhakti Thank you very much Copyright © 2021 Mooji Media Ltd.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced.