As repeated hearing leads to belief, what is the difference between devotional hearing and indoctrination by religious fanatics?
So, we say that whenever something is repeated again and again, then by repetition, we get realization.
Repeatedly fixing the mind on Krishna, we develop a taste for Krishna. But also said that by practicing dharma, we get realization. Now, we see that repetition can lead to faith in future falls also.
In advertisements, same things repeatedly people are exposed, people start believing in that. Or there are fanatical terrorists, they are bombarded about jihad and about heaven, about jannat where they will enjoy and they start believing that. So, they are not in any way connected with dharma.
So, how is it? Actually, that repetition leads to transformation of one’s conceptions. That is a psychological truth, that is not a spiritual truth. Psychological truth means Krishna talks about dhyayato vishyam kumsa sangas teshu pajayat.
So, whatever we are exposed to, we get attracted to that. There is a psychological principle that applies at the level of sattva guna, raju guna, tamo guna, all levels. So, if a person is repeatedly exposed to something, that person will start believing it.
That is a psychological principle. Now, whether that psychological principle will lead a person towards truth or towards illusion will depend on what is it that one is exposed to. So, if one is exposed to that which is truth, then that psychological principle will take us towards truth.
That is why the criteria of something being true is not just whether I am convinced about it or not. There can be, in one sense, there can be a sincere atheist. What do you mean by sincere atheist? That person sincere, not in the sense that the person is an open-minded quest for truth, but sincere in the sense that the person deeply believes that there is no God.
What has happened? The person has been exposed again and again and again to that particular exposure. Krishna says in the 17th chapter, shraddha mayoyam purusho yo yaj shraddha saevasah. In 17.3, he says that we are made by our shraddha.
Shraddha mayoyam purusho. We are all made of our shraddha and yo yaj shraddha saevasah. As is one’s faith, that is the very nature of the person, that is how we become.
So, Krishna is talking about a causal connection over here. First is, he says we are nothing but our faith and as our faith is, so we become in future. So, he is talking in both ways.
That is why it is important that the authorities in terms of the sages, the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas, they create systems by which people are exposed to truth and not exposed to illusion. If people are exposed to illusion, then they will go into deeper illusion. And that is why Tanuva is very dangerous.
Prabhupada would call Tanuva as a soul-killing civilization, modern civilization. Why? Because people are exposed to untruth in a very organized and systematic way. And that is why it is a very dangerous situation.
So, now when we are talking about dharma leading to realization, that is talking about the realization of the truth. So, dharma also is what? Dharma essentially means repetition. Dharma means, when I say my Chinese is wrong, they are doing my deity worship, doing different activities, that is dharma.
It is repetition, again and again and again and again I am going to do it. Then what will happen by that? Gradually I will get realization. That means that which is a reality, I will understand it to be a reality.
It is realization. So, repetition will lead to transformation of one’s conception, that is the universal truth. But when the repetition is of a truth, then the transformation will take a person towards that which is the actual reality.
Thank you very much.