Be not fretful or fearful – be faithful

[Congregation program at Dallas, USA]

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

Hare Krishna. So my thanks to all of you for coming here today evening for this discussion on the Bhagavad Gita's message. So I'll speak on the topic today of be not fretful or fearful, be faithful.

So when we are to live life, we all have certain attitudes which shape how our mental energy goes. Say if we are going on a journey. Say if we are going, after a few days I'll be going from here to Houston.

So I'll check, whoever is driving me, they will check how much fuel they have in their car. And then they will estimate, okay, how much distill it can go. So if we have a certain amount of energy and a certain amount of fuel, but if there's a leakage in the tank, then that vehicle will not cover the expected distance.

It'll run out of fuel. So just as we will try to plug the leakages in the tank so that the fuel is available for our journey. Similarly, just as there is physical fuel or mechanical fuel, we can say for a vehicle, the fuel for us in going through our life journey is our own mental energy.

We need physical energy for doing things. And for that we eat food, we take nutritious food items or take some food supplements by which we get adequate physical energy. Many times we'll see, however, in life that we get mentally tired.

Many times people oversleep, not because they're tired, they're physically tired, because they're fed up. I try this thing, it doesn't work. I try to reason with this person, this person doesn't listen.

I try to do this, that doesn't work. So nothing works. So what do I do? Just pull a blanket over my face and go to sleep.

At least that works. And sometimes we're not able to sleep also. So even sleep is not in our control.

But the point is that sometimes we get just mentally tired. And we may have physical energy. Sometimes if we are too burdened by something, we wake up in the morning and that something which is there, it is eating us up mentally.

And just by the time we just come to mid-morning or noon, we just feel exhausted for the day. Although we have not exerted ourselves much, but our mental energy is being sucked up. And when the mental energy is sucked up like that, we feel de-energized.

So we need to make sure that if there are any leakages for our mental energy, they need to be plugged up. So fretfulness and fearfulness are two major mental energy leakages. Fretfulness is about the past.

Fearfulness is about the future. When I am fretful, that means, oh, that went wrong. Oh, that person spoke like that.

It can be the feeling of fretting over what others did or it can be fretting even about what we ourselves did. But it is about the past. We just get consumed by it.

In the Bhagavad Gita, in 18th chapter, 35th verse, Krishna says, So he says that This is dhruti. Dhruti means actually determination. Determination in a mode of ignorance.

But this seems very paradoxical. Normally, we think of determination as a very good thing. So what do you mean by determination? In the mode of ignorance.

It means that the energy or the attitude of holding on to something is a good thing. But when we are holding on to something that is undesirable, say, if somebody holds on very tightly to a branch of a tree that is filled with thorns, then they are cutting themselves. So, holding on is good.

But if you are holding on to something that is hurting us, that is bad. So, most of us will physically never hold on to something like this. But unfortunately, mentally we hold on to things that hurt us.

So, what are those? Krishna talks about first thing is daydreaming. So we just keep dreaming and don't do anything. So, dreaming should be a spur for acting, not a substitute for acting.

When I dream something, that should inspire me, Oh, I can do this, I can do that and then inspires me to do it. But if dreaming becomes a substitute for acting, then that is useless. So, we are simply wasting our time doing nothing.

Fear. I'll talk about fear a little later. How fear can be good and how fear can become bad.

So, fear also says, always being fearful is a way in which we hurt ourselves. Shokam. Shokam means grief.

Just lamentation. So, lamentation is about the past. That's what I talk about being fretful.

In the Mahabharata, it is said that lamenting achieves nothing except to sap the energy of the lamenter. This went wrong, that went wrong, why did this happen? What do we achieve by it? The past is over now. We can't do anything about it.

Right now I was coming for the program. Suppose we took a wrong turn and we went in some other direction. If someone goes in that direction, if we have gone to some other place, now if we start beating ourselves, why did we take that turn? Why did we take that turn? Why did we take that turn? Okay, you took that turn, now you take a right turn and come back.

If we just keep beating ourselves up for what we did wrong, what do we achieve by it? We don't achieve anything. So, the problem here is, when some undesirable thing is done at the physical level, like I said, holding on to a thorny branch, nobody will do that. But when something similar is done at the mental level, we don't realize it.

If somebody has taken a wrong turn and gone somewhere else and they are beating themselves up, why did I take the wrong turn? Why are you being so foolish? Now take the right turn and come back. But the same thing when we do mentally. Why did I do that? Why did I do that? Why did I do that? Okay, you did that.

It's over now. Now do the right thing. Come back on the right track.

But when it is at the mental level, we don't realize it. So grief, what happens is, there is the past, there is the present and there is the future. The present is the bridge from the past to the future.

But this bridge becomes a dam. When we get into lamenting, when we become fretful. So instead of being in the present, our thoughts get caught in the past.

And we get basically locked in the past. Suppose somebody is watching a movie and then some cricket match is going on, there is a replay. Now that replay shows us what happened again.

But suppose a TV gets caught in a perpetual replay mode. What happens is replay, replay, replay. Okay, what happened in the match next? What happened in the movie next? You can't see that.

Just keep replay, replay, replay, replay. So like that, our mind keeps replaying. Oh, and this happened.

And again and again and again. Just keep thinking about the same thing. And then we waste our energy.

Now, you say, no, actually, by looking at what happened in the past, I can learn from it. And therefore, I want to look at the past. But unfortunately, when we are fretful, we are not in the disposition to learn from the past.

There are three modes of material nature. Tamoguna, Rajoguna and Sattvaguna. The Prabhupada translates it as the mode of ignorance, the mode of passion and the mode of goodness.

So now externally, ignorance and goodness look very similar. Once I used to do a program and there is one person who always comes very early for the program. I would think he is very enthusiastic.

He comes right early. And then one day I asked him, how is it that you always manage to come early? He says, you know, when I come early, then I can sit comfortably leaning against this wall. He was candid.

He told me that. So, it is not that he was very spiritually interested. He just wants to relax.

Instead of taking shelter of Krishna, one just wants to relax. There is nothing wrong in leaning against a wall. That is what is required.

The point is that externally, a person in ignorance may be sitting very peacefully and a person in goodness may also be sitting very peacefully. But the difference is in the attitude of the mind. A person who is in the mode of goodness, in Sattvaguna, the mind is focused.

It is purposeful. In ignorance, the mind is completely out of control. It is going here, it is going there, it is going everywhere.

So externally, goodness and ignorance look similar. So similarly, when we look at the past, we may look at the past while we are in the mode of ignorance and we may look at the past while we are in the mode of goodness. When we look at the past when we are in the mode of ignorance, at that time, we are not in control of our thoughts.

The mind basically takes you to the past. And it is simply like an auto-perpetual replay mode. This keeps going on again and again and again over the same thoughts and we don't learn anything from it.

When we are in goodness, we are in control of the thoughts. It is we. Okay, I am here right now.

I want to learn from what happened. So I take my thoughts to the past. Okay, this event.

This is what happened here. This is where this went wrong. This happened over here.

Maybe I could have done like this over here. And then we are in control. We take our thoughts to the past and then we bring our thoughts back to the present.

But when we are fretful, it is that we are not in control. Our mind just takes our thoughts to the past and keeps them locked in the past. So when some things have gone wrong, grieving about it is natural.

If I have committed a mistake, I should feel bad about it. Somebody has dealt unfairly with me, it is natural to feel bad about it. But life moves on.

Whatever has happened has happened. What's gone wrong has gone wrong. What's done is done.

If there is one rule to life, it is that life never stops. So if we stop mentally, then we stay stuck over there. So we have to move on with life.

And when we are fretful, we stay caught in the past. And unfortunately, in today's world, we have a lot of external sources of stimuli which catch us in the mode of ignorance, which subject us to influences from the mode of ignorance. And thus we stay caught in the past.

Why did I do like that? Why did I do like that? Why did they speak like that? Why did this happen? So I'll talk about how to overcome fretfulness a little later. But this point, when we are fretful, there is a big leakage of our mental energy. What we could be doing in the present, okay, there's a mistake happened in the past, I can correct it.

Now, the present is the opportunity to correct it. But if we are not in control of our thoughts, if we are fretful, then our energy gets leaked. And because we can't change the past, we start feeling more and more helpless.

We start feeling like we are victims. This person did like that to me, that person did like that to me. I am a helpless victim.

Even if somebody has done something wrong, people can do wrong to us. But we only make ourselves victims. One incident can be there where somebody victimizes us.

But it is, victimizing is an event. But a victim is a person. So others can victimize us, but we make ourselves victims.

When we keep thinking of that event again and again, and we keep dwelling on it, repeating it, then we make ourselves into victims. So, it is we hurt ourselves by holding on to that which is going to hurt us. This is about being fretful.

How do we overcome that? I'll talk about how faithfulness helps us to overcome that a little later. But let's move on to being fearful. That fearfulness is about the future.

But to some extent, fear is healthy. If a child rushes out of the house and goes into the middle of the street, the mother will become fearful. Why the child is not fearful? Isn't it? Fear is good because when there is danger, and especially when there is danger that is unnecessary and is avoidable.

And fear helps us to avoid it. If we are at the edge of a tall building, if we look down, immediately we feel a little fear. That fear protects us from the unnecessary risk of risking a fall.

So fear is a psychological defense mechanism that we have to protect us from unnecessary danger. Fear is good, but fearfulness is not good. Fearfulness means that, as the word says, we are full of fear.

So how does this happen? Once there was a woman, this is a real life story from a doctor who worked in India. There was a woman. She somehow got the idea that there was a frog inside her stomach.

So this is actually a disease called delusional parasitomosis. That means, you know, people have a delusion that there is a parasite in my stomach. And she went to a doctor.

Doctor, doctor, there is a frog in my stomach. Doctor said, no, there cannot be any frog in your stomach. If there is a frog inside, you will not be able to live.

If it is alive, you will not be alive. There cannot be a frog over there. She said, no, no, doctor, frog is there.

They did a sonograph. Doctor showed her, there is no frog there. No, no, you don't understand.

She went to another doctor. Doctor also said, there is no frog there. So like that she went to 10 doctors.

Finally when she came to the 11th doctor, 11th doctor heard her story. He realized that this is not a problem of the stomach, it is a problem of the mind. He decided the only way to deal with her is, he did a test.

Actually you are right, there is a frog in your stomach. Oh doctor, at last, now you understand. So he said, we will have to do a surgery to remove it.

Please do it immediately. I want to get rid of it. So the doctor gave her anesthesia and just put a small incision on her stomach.

And then he got a nurse to go to a nearby pond and get a frog from there. And when she came back to consciousness, this was the frog in your stomach, he got it out. Oh doctor, thank you, thank you, thank you very much.

You saved my life. I am so grateful to you. And she went away relieved.

And the doctor and the nurses and other medical staff thought, it is a very clever solution. And she is also relieved of her anxiety and now the whole issue is solved. After one week, she came back again with great anxiety.

Doctor, doctor, doctor, help me. What happened? The frog had babies. So when there is a fearful disposition of the mind, then no external solution will work.

Whether it is verbal assurance or it is your physical intervention that is done. When I say fear is healthy, when it protects us from some danger. It cautions us against some danger.

So there is an external stimulus which can be a danger for us. Like say falling from a big height. And then fear protects us from it.

But when there is fearfulness, fear is present even when the stimulus is not present. And that fearfulness is actually very detrimental. So at one level we can say that things can go wrong at any time.

But there is a possibility and there is a probability. Now possibility means anything can happen. Right now we are sitting, this roof can cave on us and we can get crushed.

That's a possibility. But is it a probability? Very, very low probability of that. The house has been well constructed, the house has been there for a good amount of time.

It has not happened, it's unlikely to happen. So when the mind starts becoming fearful of things, say when we are driving on the road, an accident is a possibility. But is an accident a probability? Now thousands, millions of people are driving, some people get accidents.

But if every time when I start driving, I start thinking, oh what if I get an accident, what if I get an accident, what if I get an accident? Then we will paralyze ourselves. Now healthy fear would be, okay, accidents do occur, so let me put a seat belt. Accidents do occur, so let me make sure that my vehicle has proper brakes.

So if my vehicle doesn't have a brake, then the accident is not just a possibility. It is a probability. So now if something is a probability, something is, a high likelihood of something happening, then fear is good.

So a child playing in the middle of the street, there the probability of some danger coming on the child is very great. So we need our intelligence to differentiate between possibility and probability. And to understand, okay, this is not so likely to happen.

Therefore, let me not worry about it. But unfortunately, when we are fearful, at that time, we are not in control. The mind is in control.

And the mind shows us a free horror movie. A free horror movie, in which we are not the spectators, but we are the victims. So a small incident, a small stimulus comes up, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong.

If this fearfulness is not controlled, people get panic attacks, and people get paranoid. So what do we do? Again, fearfulness means, I am the present situation, and the future, what all may go wrong, I start thinking about it, and I get paralyzed. So here also, what is happening? Our mental energy is getting weakened.

In imagining all kinds of dreadful scenarios that may come up in the future, we are disempowering ourselves in the present from doing anything practical. So how do we overcome being fretful or being fearful? At one level, intelligence itself helps. If we intelligently understand, like we did an analysis right now.

So this analysis can help us. There is no point in lamenting over that which has already happened. Our problems, they may or may not come, why am I worrying about them? At one level, intelligence helps.

And it is important to equip ourselves intellectually, to have good analysis, which helps us to recognize and avoid our lamenting or fear. But intelligence alone does not always help. Why? Because the mind develops a habit.

If we have not addressed certain attitudes, then the mind has developed a habit of thinking in a particular way. The mind has developed a habit of fretting about things. The mind has developed a habit of fearing about things.

Then that habit gives it a momentum. And if a truck is moving on the road and it is moving very fast, if it has acquired a lot of momentum, even if the driver is going to say, there is a dead end over there, I will hit into a wall. Even if the driver understands it and the driver brakes, still it will not stop immediately.

Because there is a momentum over there. So like that, sometimes our thoughts, they get a momentum. And if something is a habit for us, the momentum develops very quickly.

And once the momentum is developed, even if we understand, there is no point in thinking like this. Still, even if we press the brake, it seems nothing is happening. Thoughts keep moving in that direction.

If the brake is helping, the thoughts are slowing down. But it doesn't happen immediately. So here is where there is a big help we get from spiritual consciousness.

When we say be faithful. Now, what does faith actually mean? If we see in every situation in life, we have faith. Sometimes people say, how can I have faith in someone? Okay, God, faith is not a good thing, people say.

I want to have facts, I don't want to have faith. But actually every activity that we do, it is based on faith. For example, when we board a plane, at that time we have faith that the plane is run by a competent pilot, the plane is in good condition, and that it will take us to our destination.

Just almost unquestioningly we put faith over there. Now, this is not undesirable faith. It is desirable faith, it is essential faith.

But it is faith. So there is blind faith and there is reasonable faith. So if we are flying by a company which is reliable, which has a good track record, then that faith is reasonable faith.

But the point is, faith is required. Every time we go to a doctor and we take a medicine, we pop a pill in our mouth, we are putting faith in the doctor. We are letting that, taking that substance into our body and we are hoping that it will cure us.

There is no guarantee that it will cure us. Once I was with a doctor, a devotee doctor. So at that time he was about to do a surgery.

And the patient came and before a surgery is done, usually the patient is expected to sign a statement. It is a disclaimer. I am aware of the risk of the surgery and I willingly choose to accept the surgery.

And this patient became very fearful. He said, doctor, I will do this surgery only if you guarantee that nothing will happen to me. The doctor said, we cannot guarantee like this.

He said, we will do our best, but in fact what to speak of giving a guarantee, we have to take a guarantee from you that you will not see us. Isn't it? So when we do surgery, we are literally putting faith in the doctor to the extent that we hand our body over to the doctor. Doctor puts a knife and cuts our body.

So faith is required in every aspect of life. In fact, life begins with faith. When a baby is born, at that time, the first life sustaining activity that baby does is baby starts crying and then baby is picked up and is put near the mother's breast and the baby starts suckling over there.

How does the baby know what is going to come from there? It doesn't know. It simply has faith. We know in Krishna Vihar there is a story of Putana.

She had put poison on her breasts. The baby starts doubting, who is this person? What is this person going to do? What is this stuff? If the baby doesn't take milk, how will it survive? So life begins with faith. So faith is essential just even for the normal conduct of life.

Now when we talk about being faithful, we usually talk about it in terms of God. Have faith in God. So it's interesting that the more science has studied whether it is the human body within or the world outside, science has come across more and more discoveries of complexity, of order, of intricate design.

So nowadays if you see that whenever we have some problems, we tend to have some substitutes. Say for example, if we can't see well, we have glasses. If our leg is damaged, we may have a prosthesis.

If say the heart is not working, then we can have a pacemaker. So researchers thought nowadays a lot of people have digestive problems. So if somebody can't digest food, can we put an artificial stomach inside? And they tried it out and actually they found we will not need a machine, we will need a factory.

Because the whole process of so many complicated reactions take place, we need a factory. And not just a factory but a chain of factories. So every time when we eat food, the food goes down through the alimentary canal and there is a diastolic motion, moving up and down.

That's how the food is churned and digested. So if you consider physics, work is equal to force into displacement. Then the amount of work that is done in digesting one morsel of food is actually more than the amount of work that an average human being does throughout the day.

So who is doing the work of digesting that food? We simply eat the food and we forget it. The only time we think of our digestion is when it doesn't work. So it doesn't work, that's when we think about it.

So actually even without our acknowledging it, even without our noticing it, there is some higher intelligence that is taking care of our body. There is similarly a higher intelligence that is sustaining the whole universe. So actually if we thought, if we had to take care of everything that was needed for our survival, it would be impossible for us to do that.

Impossible. We do take care of some things. We work hard, we earn money, we put food on our table.

That's important for us to do. It's our duty. But even in our normal course of living, when we are healthy, working hard, still there is a lot in our life which is not in control.

And something beyond us is taking care of that. Every morning when the birds wake up, the birds start chirping, and then they start searching for food. The birds have to search for food.

That is essential. But the birds searching for food does not create their food. Their food is already created and provided by God.

Their searching simply helps them to find the food. So the birds don't worry, okay, how will I create the food? They simply search and they get it. So if you look at our life, our efforts in providing for our necessities are like a bird searching for food.

They are like a match. We have the necessary but not sufficient condition. So our efforts are necessary.

But even for our daily existence, our efforts alone are not sufficient. So there is something beyond us which is even now taking care of us. If we analyze, if we understand that faith is not a matter of choice.

Faith is a matter of necessity. We already have faith that okay, we have a mechanism by which we breathe air. But that there will be air out there to breathe, we already have faith in that.

We have not created oxygen. Oxygen already exists, we simply breathe it. So faith is a matter of necessity.

Now when we say be faithful, what does it mean? There are, if you look at our life, there are some things which are in our control, some things which are beyond our control. And for things to work out successfully, both what is in our control and what is not in our control, they both have to work out together. Consider say sports.

Say, I was just a few years, every year I go to Australia also. So Australian people, I noted they are very laid back people. But then I talk with devotees, Australian cricket team has a reputation of being, of sledging, of being very aggressive.

So then I ask the people over there, Australians are laid back in everything except cricket. Very aggressive in cricket. So now, even as a cricket team, where people are very aggressive, you know, Australian cricketers are quite famous for their superstitions.

For example, there was a, there was an Australian batsman, every time when he would go out to bat, first thing he would go to the pavilion's restroom and make sure all the commode lids were closed. And then he would go out to bat. And if he would get out early, first he would go back to the commode and if any of the lids were open, he would go and chastise his players.

Why did you keep that open? Because of that I got out. Now you may say, what has the commode lid got to do with his getting out? The point is that, actually there is nothing there. No correlation there.

But even the sports players know their success does not depend on their performance alone. Their performance matters. But their performance is not all that matters.

There are things beyond their control which also need to work out for them to be successful. Same thing. The batsman may bat very well but if on that day, while the batsman is in great form, the rain comes over there.

Even the best-formed batsman cannot lead the team to victory. So rain not coming is not under any batsman's control. So like that there are so many factors which are not in one's control.

There was one tennis player who would wear an earring only in one ear. And that was his good luck charm. Many players have this.

So what is their idea? They know that something is not in their control and they are somehow trying to, in their own idiosyncratic way, they are trying to appease that unknown. So when we understand the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, we understand that that unknown is ultimately under the control of God. So when we say be faithful, there is something which is not in our control, there is much that is not in our control.

So when we basically talk about these two energy leakages, being faithful or being fearful, basically what is happening? Our mind is obsessing over that which is not in our control. That which has already happened in the past or that which may happen in the future. So when we are faithful, what does that mean? We understand that that which is not in my control is not out of control.

That which is not in my control is in some higher control. It is under the control of God. It is in Krishna's control.

And therefore, let me focus on that which is in my control. mat chikta sarva durgaani mat prasadata rishisi In 18.58 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace. Becoming conscious of Krishna means focus on the present.

What can I do to serve Krishna right now? So be not fretful. What does that mean? Okay, bad things have happened in the past. I mean I may have done some bad things in the past.

But Krishna is so expert that he can bring good even out of the bad. What has happened is bad. Krishna can bring good even out of the bad.

If we are faithful, if we do our part right now. In the Mahabharata, when the Pandavas were exiled, Duryodhana, although he had deprived the Pandavas of all wealth, still he was not happy. No, he wanted not just his happiness, he wanted the Pandavas' misery.

I once saw an advertisement of a car. It says, drive this car and enjoy the envy in your neighbor's eyes. Laughter What a pathetic level of enjoyment! It is not that you have a car and be delighted with your car.

No, enjoy the envy in your neighbor's eyes. Duryodhana had that mentality. He not only was, what he was having, his possessions were not enough for him.

He wanted the Pandavas should be miserable. So Durvasa Muni came to his place and he served Durvasa Muni very carefully. And then, when Durvasa Muni was about to leave, he said, I am pleased with your service.

What can I do for you? So he says, you are extended. Serving a great saint like you is a great fortune. So you have bestowed this fortune on me and I desire that you bestow the same fortune on my cousins, the Pandavas.

Now Durvasa was pleased. Oh, it's a nice attitude he thought. And he said, I have a small request.

You know, please go to them in the afternoon. So after they have had their lunch, then they will be able to serve you nicely. Now he knew that the Pandavas would not be able to serve them because they had the Akshaya Patra which would provide food till Draupadi took lunch.

And by the afternoon, Draupadi would have taken her lunch. So Durvasa went over there. And then what happened? The Pandavas were in anxiety.

What to do now? Durvasa was an irascible, irritable sage. And if he cursed, it would be a disaster. So Durvasa said that now I will just go to the river.

I will take a bath and then I will come back. Yudhishthira became panicked. He turned to Draupadi.

What to do? And although Yudhishthira is considered Dharmaraj, you know, when it came to home affairs, it was Draupadi who was the queen. So he turned to Draupadi. What to do now? He turned and asked Draupadi.

So he said, Draupadi said, there is nothing you can do except pray to Krishna. She begged to Krishna, Krishna, please help us. And her prayer was so fervent that Krishna appeared over there.

And she was about to ask Krishna, Krishna said, Draupadi, I am very hungry. Please give me some food. And now Draupadi just took her hand.

What is this? It was like first she was not able to feed her sage. That is the problem. And now she is not able to feed her lord also.

So it appeared as if by praying, her problem became worse. And then she said, Krishna, I called you because we don't have any food. Why are you making fun of me? Afterwards, first I need something to eat.

He said, no, I don't have anything. He said, go and check in your Akshaya Patra. She went and saw there was some little morsel of food over there.

She said, Krishna, I have nothing except this. Just give that to me. Krishna took that and he ate it.

And when he ate it, he just ate it and he, it was so full, so nice. And what happened? By his mystic power, all the sages who had come, they also felt satisfied. They don't want anything.

Now in this story, often the focus is on Krishna's mystic power. How by satisfying Krishna, everyone became satisfied. But if you look at it from another perspective, you know, if Draupadi had already eaten that food, then what was that small morsel doing on that plate? Akshaya Patra.

Now normally, even in our house, if there are some vessels which we have already used, we will wash it and keep it aside. And imagine if we have some golden plate, which we use on special occasions. Then as soon as it is washed, we will clean it and keep it.

The Akshaya Patra was such a vital plate, how did it happen that Draupadi or some other assisted over there? They left it over there. So at one level, in one way of looking at it, we could say that that morsel lying over there was a mystic. But Krishna brought good out of that mystic.

So even if we have done something wrong, Krishna is so expert, that Krishna can bring good out of that also. But for that, Krishna requires our protection. And Krishna told Draupadi, give me some food.

She said, I don't have any food. Now go and see. There might be something there, Akshaya Patra.

No, it is not there. I know it is not there. If she had not had the faith in Krishna, Krishna is telling me something, let me do it.

If she had not had that faith, then she would not have been able to see Krishna's plan work. So when we understand that actually, yes, some mistakes may have happened. But Krishna is so good, so expert, that he can bring good even out of our mistakes.

But for that, we have to cooperate. That cooperation means, stop being fretful. Stop living in the past.

Do what we can in the present right now. And similarly, about fear. When we say, be faithful to Krishna, what does it mean? It means that the future is not in our control.

But that does not mean the future is out of control. Now we can't know what the future holds. But we can know who holds the future.

Who holds the future? It's Krishna who holds the future. Everything… Krishna says, I know past, present and future. So Krishna is in control of the future also.

So whatever the future is going to bring, either Krishna will bring good out of it, or Krishna will equip us to face it. But we have to cooperate with him in the present. And if you look at our life, many of the fears that we worry about, many of the fears don't actualize.

If you look at our life, what was I worried about? Most of the worries, they never actualize. So if we have faith, whatever future brings, I'll be good to take care of it. So that way, this faithfulness can free us from fear of the future.

Now when we say we should be faithful, how can we be faithful? Is faith simply a… I'll conclude with this point in the earlier sessions. Is faith something we just have? Or is faith something which we can choose? When I say be faithful, I don't have faith. I may say like that.

So actually faith is both a gift and a choice. That means faith is like a muscle. We all have certain level of muscles.

Some of us may have stronger muscles, but whatever muscles we have, we can strengthen them by exercise. So like that all of us have certain level of faith. Some of us may have more, some of us may have less.

But by exercising this faith muscle, we can strengthen it. Now what does exercising the faith muscle mean? It means doing the things that will increase our faith. If we are fearful about something and if at that time we go and meet with people who are very pessimistic, we go and tell them, you know this went wrong.

Actually this is just the first thing that went wrong. Just see what all will go wrong in future. You know people will not say that so explicitly.

But there are people who in the name of they may act like our good wishes, our well wishes but say I am saying this for your good. Your bad days are yet to come. I am telling you for your good, your bad days are going to come for you.

So there are some people who get some perverse joy in scaring others. If we associate with that kind of people, then we will become fearful. If we associate with spiritually minded people, those who have faith in Krishna, then we will get faith.

So with our intelligence, we know which are the activities which will boost our faith and which are the activities which increase our faith. So studying scripture, chanting the holy names of Krishna, associating with devotees, these are activities by which our faith increases. These are activities which exercise our faith muscles.

And when we exercise the faith muscle, the faith muscle grows. And when it grows, then we can choose to put more faith. And that way, when we put faith, now when you say be faithful, that does not mean, it does not mean to be inactive, to be powerless, to just wait.

So does it mean, being faithful means tomorrow is my exam. And I have faith in Krishna. When I started giving classes for the first time, one senior devotee told me, he gave me some guidelines about how to speak in public.

And then he said, last guideline he said, have faith in Krishna. And then bracket, but after you have prepared. You know, if I don't prepare at all, if I don't prepare for a class, I say I have faith in Krishna.

Well, that is not faith in Krishna, that is simply laziness masquerading as faith. When I talk about faith, I talk about the things in our control and the things not in our control. So when we don't have faith, we obsess over things which are not in our control.

Whether it is being fretful or being fearful, and we don't do anything. Now being faithful, means that we entrust that which is not in our control, in Krishna's control. So that, we can focus on that which is in our control.

So in a sense, by being faithful, we actually become forceful. Forceful is different from forcible. Forceful means, we have the force of our energy, we have the force of our intention, we have the force of our attention, to focus on that which is in our control.

So, for a student who is preparing for an exam, student starts worrying, what if this question comes, what if that question comes, what if I forget everything, student will not be able to study. But if the student becomes faithful, okay, what happens? Krishna will take care of that. Let me focus on that now.

So the student will actually become focused, and that focus brings force actually. To the extent we are focused on something, that focus brings a momentum by which we can become forceful in our attitude. So faithful is, faithful does not mean being irresponsible.

Rather, by being faithful, we become more responsible. Because when we are faithful, we understand what is in our control, we understand what is not in our control. And depending on situations, sometimes a lot may be in our control, sometimes little may be in our control.

And whatever is in our control, we can do that. So, you know, say, most of you know tennis as a game. In tennis, sometimes the player is serving, and sometimes the player is receiving.

Now when the player is receiving, at that time the player has relatively less control. Isn't it? Because wherever the server is going to throw the ball, from that's where the player has to play. So at that time, the level of control of the player is much lesser.

And when the player is serving, at that time the player has much more control. I can hit here, I can hit here. So like that in life, sometimes we are servers, and sometimes we are receivers.

So there are some times when, you know, life just throws this and that and that and that. And our control over the situation is very limited. At that time we have to recognize, okay.

At this time, even when a person is receiving, still there is some control. Okay, the ball comes here, I have to hit from here only. I cannot hit from here at that time.

But even at that time we have control. The problem comes when we don't recognize what role we are playing right now. So there are times in our life when we will have very less control.

But it is not that there is any situation in which we don't have any control. At the very least, we have control over our own attitude. Even if we are very sick, we can't get out of our bed.

But even then, we have control over our attitude. Whether we are just feeling sorry for ourselves and blaming everyone else. Or, okay, the sickness is there, let me take shelter of Krishna.

Let me pray to Krishna. Let me raise my consciousness. So we do have some level of control.

A lot of frustration comes when we don't recognize what is the level of control we have in a situation. So once we start understanding this, this is a whole different subject and I am not going into that, recognizing what is the level of control we have in a situation. But being faithful means we understand that there are things out of my control which Krishna will take care of.

And there are things which are in my control which I can fully focus on, and in that way we see Arjuna, at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, he, Krishna told Arjuna, surrender. sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja Surrender to me. Arjuna said, karishye vacanam tava.

I will surrender to you. He surrendered. Now normally when we think of surrender, we think of the example of Draupadi, isn't it? Raising her hands, Krishna I surrender to you.

Now that is surrender of course. But Arjuna also surrendered. How did Arjuna surrender? Arjuna's surrender was raising his bow up in readiness to fight.

So surrender can be raising our hands up in helplessness or surrender can be raising our bow up in readiness. So in a sense, Draupadi was receiving. She just had no control at that.

She just surrendered. Arjuna, he was serving, he was fighting. So surrender can be in both ways.

So faith is there. Faith guides us to the most effective action in that situation. Now Arjuna with his faith in Krishna fought and in the biggest battle of his life, he was fabulously successful.

Same way when we faithfully act in a mood of service to Krishna, whatever obstacles we face, by His grace, we will be able to overcome them. That does not necessarily mean that everything that we do will be successful. But whatever mental energy we have, we will be able to use it effectively and we will go through and grow through that situation which is actually life's enduring success.

Because our faith in Krishna grows, our capacity to face life's adversities grows and we grow closer towards Krishna. So I'll summarize. The topic was, does anyone remember the three parts of the topic? Be not fretful or fearful, be faithful.

The word fretful I talked about, it's the past. So what has happened in the past, whether it is we did wrong or others did wrong, it's just over now. So just as a car cannot go to its distance if there is a leakage in the fuel tank, like that, in our mind, if there is leakage in terms of our thoughts going towards the past or going towards the future, then we can't function.

We may have physical energy but our mental images requires recognizing where our mental energy is going. So by accepting that the past is unchangeable, we physically, we won't hold on to say a thorny branch or physically if we have gone on a wrong track, we won't just be beating ourselves up. We'll come back on the right track.

But mentally when this happens, we hold on to some attitude which is hurting us or we keep beating ourselves up for having taken a wrong turn in life. We don't recognize what we are doing. But by analysis, by using our intelligence, we understand.

Just be foolish over here. Let me take the right track. So lamenting locks us in the past.

It builds a wall, a dam which prevents us from going from the past to the present to the future. We stay locked in the past. It's like a perpetual action replay.

A free horror movie the mind shows in which we remain. Sorry, the horror movie later. Perpetual action replay just goes on and we get smoked by that.

That's with respect to fretfulness. Just by analyzing itself with our intelligence, we can avoid this fretfulness to some extent. And similarly, next part was fearful.

So I discussed about the woman who felt that there's a frog in my stomach. So normally fear is healthy if it alerts us of some external dangerous stimuli. But fearfulness means even in the absence of stimuli, fear has become a habit for us.

And that is very undesirable. So for that, we need to use our intelligence to differentiate between possibility and probability. We cannot let any and every possibility paralyze us.

By recognizing, this is not very likely to happen. Whatever is the danger, we can avoid the danger. But we don't have to let danger paralyze us.

And for dealing with fear and fretting and fearing, one level is intelligence. But if something has become a habit, then it becomes a momentum. And it becomes very difficult to check it.

So for that, we need to rise to a higher consciousness. Be faithful. I discussed how faith is just a fact of life.

From the first act of drinking from mother's milk to taking a pill or riding in a plane, even sitting in a house like this, it's all an act of faith. So not just in our normal functioning in life, but even in our bodily functioning, there is so much that is not in our control. We eat food, digestion is not in our control.

So, when we recognize that for my success, not only my effort is required, but there is much that is out of my control that is also required and that working is what is enabling me to live, then we acknowledge that faith is already a part of our life. We discussed how sports players have their own superstitions. By which they try to appease the unknown which they feel is controlling that which is out of their control.

Like a batsman feeling that I have to close the commode, I have to wear the earring. It's silly. But the attitude underlying is that somehow they are trying to appease that which is out of their control.

So in our case, we understand that what is out of our control is in Krishna's control. And then we can focus on what is in our control. So what is out of our control? That is in the future.

The present is in our control. In the past, even if somebody has done bad things to us or we ourselves have done something foolish, still Krishna can bring good out of the bad. For that, I discussed the story of Draupadi.

Her apparent mistake in keeping a little, in letting a little morsel of vegetable remain on the Akshaya Patra, Krishna used that. And Krishna was able to use that because she had faith. I told her to go and search.

She searched over there. And then with respect to the future, she said that the future is not in my control. We don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.

Krishna will take care of us in future. And if we look at our lives, so many fears we have had which never materialized. Krishna is our well-wisher and he will bring us to the good.

So what we need to do is focus on the present in what is in our hands. And I discussed how faithfulness does not mean being irresponsible or passive. It means actually focusing on that which is in our control.

We discussed that how? While focusing on what is in our control, we need to know the range of our control. Sometimes we are serving in life, sometimes we are receiving. So there can be different modes of responding.

Draupadi, she raised her hand and surrendered. She was receiving. She could not do anything at that time except that much.

Arjuna raised his bow and fought. He was serving. He had much more control.

So by understanding that our range of control will vary, but we all have some control. At the very least, control over our own thoughts, our own attitude. By that we can act on our faith and help in Krishna's plan to bring the best in our life for us.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? I will repeat the question.

Don't worry. If somebody is actually suffering, that person is fretful, fearful, but still that person thinks I am enjoying life. What should I do at that time? How can we help them at that time? See, when a person is a little drunk, at that time the person knows, okay, I am drunk too much a little bit now.

I can't drive now. Maybe they will ask somebody else to drive them back home. But when they are very drunk, others tell them, you should not drive.

Who is drunk? What happens when a person is too intoxicated, they don't even realize they are intoxicated. So at that time, if people are in that situation, the only way we can help them is by our prayers. Sometimes they have to learn in the school of hard knocks.

They realize actually some consequence comes on them and they realize I am not enjoying. So it's again hard to let go. But we have to know that we can help the unable, but we can't help the unwilling.

We want to help others. How much can we help others? In India sometimes it happens if a car is not running, then other people can come and push the car. The person from inside stirs the car.

Outside people push the car and the car moves. But suppose the person inside the car, that person goes to sleep. Then how long can the outside people give push? Or worse still if the person inside is braking.

Then the outside, why should we push? So like that, we do need to inspire others, push others, help others to come closer to Krishna. But sometimes some people are just not willing. So if they are like a person who is braking from inside, then we have to know that we can serve them by our prayers and when they become willing, then we can help them.

So if somebody is too intoxicated, too much in illusion, then we can't really help them at that point in a direct way. Indirectly of course we can pray for them for receiving Krishna's help in due course. Any other questions? What is the best way to monitor our mental habits? What is the best way to monitor our mental habits? Just as when we want to go out for some public occasion, we look at ourselves in the mirror.

How do I look? And by looking at the mirror, okay, you know that hair is not proper. Or this is not proper, that is how we monitor our physical looks. So similarly, scripture is like a mirror to look at our own mind.

When we study scripture, not just read scripture, but study the association of devotees, then we start looking, we start saying, this is meant to be like this, but this is like this. I am thinking like this, my attitude is like this. So scriptural study acts like a mirror which shows us what our mind is like.

So a regular scriptural study helps us to recognize, okay, my mind is meant to go like this, but it is going like this. And especially, not just scriptural study, but meditation. When we chant Hare Krishna, when we practice mantra meditation, at that time we can see the resistance of the mind.

Because we are trying to focus the mind and when the mind doesn't focus, then we can notice, where is the mind going? It is going in this direction, it is going in this direction. That means these are my attachments and this is what I need to work on. So both scriptural study and meditation are times when we come face to face with our mind.

And then we can, by the contact with Krishna, purify ourselves. By using our intelligence, stop feeding the unhealthy habits and gradually those unhealthy habits will decrease. Does that answer your question? Hare Krishna.

Any other questions? Okay. Yes, Ram. So probably, many times for various problems, you have practical solutions and you have solutions which are philosophical in nature.

So how do we balance it out? Because many times when you speak about philosophy to him or something, many times there is resistance still, that okay, please don't speak philosophy. No, I will see that. So how do we now balance what is the right approach? Yeah.

So when we face problems, we feel that we need practical solutions, not just philosophical solutions. So how do we balance between the two? Philosophy is meant to be practical. That means that if you look at the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna, he was bewildered.

Should I fight or should I not fight? Krishna gave him the guidance, the wisdom through the Gita, which energized him to fight. Now after that, when he fought the war and he won the war. Now when he won the war, did he win that by the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita or by the knowledge of archery that he had learnt throughout his life? It's both.

Knowledge of the archery was the practical implementation which he got. And the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita was what gave him inspiration. So the material and the spiritual are complementary.

The spiritual does not replace the material. Nor does the material make the spiritual unnecessary. So that means it is not that just by the spiritual.

Shri Shila Prabhupada, he spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. Unparalleled activity. And who can have more faith in Krishna than Shri Shila Prabhupada? But Shri Shila Prabhupada did not just stay in Vrindavan chanting Hare Krishna.

He practically went to America. He came to America, not went okay. We are in America right now.

So he came to America. And he went and talked with people, approached people, persuaded people. So he did a lot of practical things.

But he was profoundly philosophical in his approach. So the philosophy guided his practical actions. So it was not that he said I will chant Hare Krishna and everything else will happen.

Prabhupada chanted Hare Krishna and Prabhupada did practical things also. So the philosophical, the spiritual does not replace the practical. But at the same time, the practical also does not make the philosophical redundant.

Because that way if you see, even the Kauravas had knowledge of archery. But whatever practical solutions we work out, what is the purpose for which we are working them out? We may do all the things practically right. But if our essential purpose is wrong, it's like we have a ladder which is climbing up the wrong, which is the wrong wall.

So it's like an airplane, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that we are going very fast. The bad news is we don't know where we are going.

So without the philosophy, we will not have proper direction in our life. I may solve the problem, but what after solving the problem? What is the purpose for which I am solving the problem? What is the purpose for which I am doing? So the philosophical and the practical, both are meant to go in parallel. They are complementary.

And that is how the Bhagavad Gita illustrates how both of them can be complementary. Does that answer your question? Yes. So if you talk about practical and philosophical, where does the emotional fit in? Actually, there are too many terms over here.

Let's focus on the essential principle of what is going on. There is material and there is spiritual. Roughly we equated the practical with the material and the philosophical with the spiritual.

But the point is that in real life, things cannot be so rigidly differentiated. Say for example, right now I am giving a class. So at a practical level, we have mic system.

Practical level, I may take care of, if my throat is weak, I may take some medicine to take care of it. That is the practical part. The philosophical part is, okay, if I have a healthy throat, what am I going to speak about? I might just speak some nonsense.

Philosophical part tells me what I will speak. The practical part is about how I speak it. The tools required for it.

Now the emotional can be related to the philosophical, it can be related to the practical. Because the mind, the subtle mind is in the link between the soul and the body. So because it is a link between the soul and the body, I am referring to the physical gross body.

So the mind is a link between the soul and the body. So whatever emotions are there, the emotions can come from the body or they can come from the soul. That means, say when somebody goes to a temple, they can see the deities.

Oh these deities are so beautiful. Some devotional emotion comes which comes from the heart, from the soul down. But the same person can go to the temple and that person can see.

There is so much good work over here. These people seem to be very wealthy people. So there are people who just go to temple.

They just, they don't see Krishna at all. They see everything except Krishna over there. They say, okay the sound system is like this, this is like that, that is like that.

And so what is happening? They are going there but the emotion is coming from the material to the mental. It is not coming from the spiritual at all. So our emotions at that mind can come from both sources.

Of course there is a third source also. They can come from the past impressions in the mind also. So that means we at present can have three different kinds of emotions.

Those which come from physical stimuli, those which come from mental memories, and those which come from spiritual stimuli. So at this stage if you try to get too much into analysis of where the emotions are coming from, it can be quite paralyzing. So rather we focus on where the emotions are taking us rather than where they are coming from.

So if an emotion is favorable for bhakti, we use it. When emotion is not favorable for bhakti, we avoid it. So for example, if I am giving a class and somebody starts asking a very arrogant question.

If I become angry at that thing, now that person may be speaking foolishly and my anger may be warranted. But if that anger is going to alienate that person, is going to alienate that audience, then I will have to restrain the anger. So now where did the anger come from? Did that anger come because this person is behaving in an unreasonable way or is that anger came because I am myself very insecure? Is that anger because I want my authority to be unchallenged? Now at that time, in the heat of the moment, it is very difficult to analyze the source of the anger.

I may do that afterwards to introspect and learn about myself. But normally the situation can focus on where will this emotion take me. So if it is going to alienate people, then better not become angry.

Stay calm. So with respect to emotions in general, where they come from can be analyzed in moments of introspection. But at the heat of the moment, you should focus on where this emotion is going to take me and then decide whether to act on the emotion or not act on the emotion.

Does it answer your question? Very interesting. Yes, sir. The answer is that in a lot of cases, at least with myself, I tend to try to get more control of the situation.

I am trying to persuade that I can have more control of the situation. And in the process, end up being too aggressive, too possessive about a certain end result in that particular situation. So how do we know how much anger we should be putting in at the present moment so that we don't over control the situation? Yeah.

So when we have some control over in the present, there we may try to over control and become too aggressive or too possessive and then that makes things worse. So how do we know how much to control in the present? Yes, there is always the possibility that we may over control. So the main point is that if we have our purpose clear, that I want to serve Krishna, and that means that my purpose is to serve Krishna, if I am attached not just to the purpose of serving Krishna but to the form of serving Krishna, I want to serve Krishna in this way only and things have to work out this way only.

Then that becomes, if the form is meant to serve the purpose but if the form becomes more important than the purpose, that means, I'll give an example for this. Sri Prabhupada was in Jhansi and he started the League of Devotees and he got some success over there. But at that time, some local politician and some local other influential people, they made a whole cling against him and he practically had to leave that place which was going to be his international headquarters for his League of Devotees.

And at that time Prabhupada thought, I could have fought, he could have fought this because he had legal claim over that building and he had the deeds also for that. But then Prabhupada felt that this is a fight I don't want to fight. He felt that anyway, he is one of his godbrothers holding that Jhansi is not such a metropolitan place.

If you want to do something impactful, it should be done in a more important place. And also the people who were coming there for his programs, they are coming more out of piety than out of spirituality. They are respecting a holy person.

They are not really interested in transforming their lives. So Prabhupada felt at that time, he could have held on to that property but it was not really serving his purpose. Rather the effort required to hold on to that property was so great that he felt that it would not serve his purpose adequately.

So therefore he has decided to let go. So if we keep the purpose in mind properly, periodically reminded of our purpose, then whichever form of service we are doing, we will not become too possessive about that. The danger is that when we are doing a particular service, we think this is the only way I can serve Krishna.

Not only this, this is the best way I can serve Krishna. It may be best in our understanding, but sometimes our definition of best does not match with Krishna's definition of the best. So then we have to just let go at that time.

So basically, whenever we are faced with some adverse situation, there are three broad alternatives we have. One is we change ourselves. Second is we change the situation, which includes changing the other person, but changing the situation.

And third is we walk away from the situation. So change ourselves means, okay, I understand there is not much in my control, I accept it. We see the Pandavas did all these three at different times.

Initially, when the Kauravas were against them, they tried to poison Bhima, they tried to have them burned alive. Yudhishthira told them, don't aggravate the matters. Just keep calm.

If you accuse them of this, it will aggravate the hostilities. So they just changed themselves and tolerated. But then after, Draupadi was dishonored.

Then a line was crossed. The Pandavas fought. At that time, they changed the situation.

But later on, Krishna departed from the world. Then they just walked away. Now walking away is different from running away.

In running away, they are simply fearful. I want to be anywhere except here. They are just running away.

The primary impetus is fear. But in walking away, the primary impetus is choice. I have better things to do in life than fight this battle.

So I have more important things to do, therefore let this go. I will walk away from this. So if we keep our long-term purpose of serving Krishna in mind, and then we have the present form of service as an aid to that purpose, then keeping that form and purpose together in mind, we will ourselves be able to make out whether working on this form is assisting the purpose or not.

And we all have to learn by experience. Sometimes we go for, say, a program some place. And then we go sometimes, one time, two times, five times, ten times, and people are not interested.

So what do we do at that time? Do we keep persisting over there or do we go for a program somewhere else? In principle, Bhakti Swami Sri Thakur said that if nobody comes, preach to the walls. But then, he did not just stay in Mayapur preaching to the walls. He travelled all over the country.

He sent his disciples all over the world also. Tried to send his disciples to various parts of the world. The point is that whatever situation we are in, we are ready to serve.

But if some situation is going to stonewalling us in our service, then we may just go to a different situation. So it is something which we have to, by our own introspection, by consulting others, by maybe seeing the situation from a little more distant perspective, then we can decide whether this particular holding on is worth it or not. Whether it is aiding me in my purpose of serving Krishna or not.

Does it address the question? Thank you for saying so. In the sense that then the question arises, how do we know that the purpose that we are, that we serve Krishna is that. I am not, I mean, I am nowhere close to becoming pure.

The purity of purpose is not there yet. That is up to you. So you did mention consulting with others.

Yeah, okay. I got your question. So if we say that we have to assess the form of service in connection with the purpose of service, presently we don't even have purity of purpose.

So how do we decide in that situation? There are two different things over here. There is purity of service, purpose which is aspiration. But at the same time, the surrender has many different aspects to it.

One is pure hearted, whole hearted surrender to Krishna. That is one aspect of surrender. Another aspect of surrender is also accepting the reality of things as they are, the reality of who we are and then acting accordingly.

So yes, I don't have purity right now. But still, you know, I have to serve Krishna with what I have right now. It's just like in a material sense, people may hanker for things which they don't have.

And by that hankering, they don't use what they have. So like that in a spiritual sense, we may hanker for that which we don't have and we don't use what we have. So we need purity of, we want purity of purpose.

And even if the purity of purpose is not there, still we have to serve. Because ultimately, how will we become purified? It's only by serving. If we don't serve, then there is no other way to become purified.

So, if it is, actually speaking, we all start service with some impure purpose, or rather with some impurity in purpose, not necessarily with impure purpose. Rather, we have pure desire to glorify Krishna, but we also have a desire. If I am giving a class, I want to glorify Krishna.

But I also have a desire that people should praise me, give me a very good class. Now if I wait till the point where I don't have that desire at all, I will be waiting for the rest of eternity to give my first class. That will never happen.

But if, so the one extreme is we wait for purity and don't do the service with it. But the other is we don't care for purity at all. That means, sometimes some people are just, what you say, they are very shamelessly fishing for compliments.

They are just showing off, telling, I did this, I did that, I did that, and they are simply seeking glorification. Well, sometimes we may all be down in our life and we need some encouragement. And we may ask for that.

But if some people are just like that, then they can't do anything practically. So, we aspire for purity, but one aspect of surrender is, we serve with whatever we have. So I have maybe little ability, I have little finances, I have little, a small number of followers.

But this is, whatever we have, we serve with that. So like that, whatever purity I have, I serve with that. And it is by that service, so over a period of time what happens is, when we serve Krishna, then that service gives us taste.

And by that taste, whatever impure purpose we have, we slowly start rejecting that purpose. So, in general, I conclude with this point about this, that Prabhupada talked about devotional service. So this devotional is the adjective, service is the noun.

So what that means is, that we would like to do devotional service. But even if that adjective is not there, the noun should be there. Even if the devotional is not there, service should be there.

kāyena manasa buddhya kevalair indriyai rapi yoginā karma kurvanti saṅgam tyaktvātma śuddhi In 5.11, Krishna says that the yogis serve you with body, mind, intelligence, even the senses. Actually Prabhupada translated it as even the senses. I think Vishwanath Chakrathakur, he says that kevalair indriyai rapi means that even if the mind is not there, let at least the senses be there.

That means even if the mind is not absorbed in chanting, so at least let the lips keep chanting. It is best if the lips and the mind both are there, but at least the lips be there. So the externals should at least be there.

So that way, we keep doing service with whatever purity we have. So for us, the service is very important. Because service is what connects us with Krishna.

And the devotional attitude, it solidifies the connection. But if there is no service, then just the devotional attitude, it will just remain an abstraction. It will not be tangible.

Does that address the question? Thank you very much, Krishna. So, do we have time? Yes, Mahaprabhuji? Hmm… So when we are faced with choices in life, and when guidance is also not easily available, so how do we choose at that time? Srila Prabhupada writes in the Nectar of Instruction, Introduction, he says that once we come to the mode of goodness, how to advance further will be revealed from within. What that means is, sattvaat sanjayate jnanam When we come to the mode of goodness, things become substantially clear.

And then we can understand, this choice will lead to this consequence, this choice will lead to this consequence. I had better make this choice. So generally speaking, whenever we have to make decisions, we should do them in the mode of goodness.

So in our own life, we can see that sometimes when we are in the heat of passion, sometimes we are just so tired, we just can't even think clearly. So, if we have to make a decision, just either postpone it till we are fresh and clear, we are in the mode of goodness, or if it is an urgent situation, then we have to put other things aside, do some activities which will bring us to the mode of goodness. We pray, chant, study, do some activities which will elevate us to the mode of goodness, then we will be able to think more clearly.

And one aspect of the mode of goodness is also that we will recognize when we absolutely need to seek guidance. Sometimes some issues are we can ourselves think and we arrive at a decision. But for some issues we need to take guidance.

And sometimes we have to just put things on a pause till we get the guidance. So, goodness is fundamental for sound decision making. And coming to goodness is important.

Now if there are major decisions to be made, and if we have to take guidance also, sometimes the guidance is not available, because our own mind flickers. I feel like I should do this, I should do that. So for major decisions, it is good to write things down.

Okay, if I do this, these are the pros. If I do this, these are the pros. If I do this, these are the cons.

So you write things down. Again writing is also one way of coming to the mode of goodness. So when thoughts are inside the head, just keep going round and round and round, they congest the head and we can't find a way ahead.

But as soon as we get the thoughts out, just that distance between us and the thought, that increased distance brings objectivity. We can evaluate the thought better. As long as it is inside, because it is in there, it just goes on, but it comes out, you know, this is not such a great idea.

This is so good, why didn't I think about this? So that distance brings objectivity. And if it's a very, very major decision, big, very big decision in our life, then what we can do is, we can write down and then we can plan. Maybe I'll take a decision in three months.

And every week I'll spend some time revisiting and revising what I have written. Because our mind may also change. I feel this is a very important right now.

But after some time, it's not so important. So if we find, basically when we write something down and keep it, it is like we are keeping a snapshot of our mind. And then if we find that over a period of months, overall our thoughts are more or less stable.

That means this is not just a fleeting passion of the mind. It is like an enduring inclination or inspiration that we have. This is what I should be doing.

So then we will be able to ourselves arrive at a more mature decision. And if we have done this homework ourselves, processing our own thoughts, then when we are to seek guidance also, we will be able to present our situation better. It's like when a patient goes to a doctor, the patient has to describe the symptoms.

Then the doctor can give a diagnosis. So like that, if we have thought through our situation, then after that when we seek guidance also, from the spiritual master or the representative of the devotees or whoever it is, then they will also be able to help us better. So in general, for making decisions, it is vital to come to the mode of goodness.

And we need to find out what are the ways in which we can bring ourselves to the mode of goodness and then take the decision. Did I answer your question? Thank you. In normal situations, we can have faith in Krishna.

But when bad things start happening, then our faith starts weakening. Yes, there is philosophical faith and there is general faith. General faith means people are pious.

Yes, God is good. God will take care of me. That is general faith.

General faith is good. But at the same time, as you said, sometimes even for those who are pious, things may go wrong. And then their faith will be challenged.

So if we see what scripture teaches us, Krishna tells, He says this world is Dukkhalaya. This world is a place of misery. So Krishna, he doesn't say that by learning about scripture, by coming to know about me, this world is going to become Sukkhalaya.

This world is Dukkhalaya. So that does not mean that there is only misery or there is always misery. But misery is there in this world.

So if we are guided with philosophy, then we will see that Krishna told that this world is a place of misery. And now I am seeing misery coming in my life. Therefore, what Krishna is saying is right.

So misery can actually increase our faith in Krishna's words. Because we see what Krishna is saying is true. Everybody else is sugarcoating reality.

You do this, everything will be alright. You do that, everything will be alright. Krishna is giving us the unvarnished reality.

This world is a place of misery. Of course, this is not a message of pessimism because Krishna also tells us that by taking shelter of me, you can rise above misery. Machitta sarva durgaani madhya prasadat tarshisi.

So, even if by taking shelter of Krishna the problem doesn't go away, our own burdening because of the problem can decrease substantially when we remember Krishna, when we pray to Krishna, when we connect our consciousness with Krishna. So what we can see is, see now, life has given me experience of the reality of one part of the message of scripture. One part of the message of scripture is, this world is a place of misery.

The other, even more important part of the message of scripture is, by taking shelter of Krishna, we can rise above misery. So now I have got experience of the first part of scripture. Now let me seek experience of the second part of scripture.

The second part of scripture is, by taking shelter of Krishna, we can rise above misery. So, let me take more shelter of Krishna. So rather than searching, rather than asking, you know, I am practicing bhakti, why does misery come? We can ask, okay, let me take more shelter of Krishna.

And we will ask Him the experience that even amidst that misery, by taking shelter of Krishna, we can rise above that misery. And there is Krishna's plan working in our life. Sometimes when we pray to Krishna, when our faith is non-philosophical, then we have half-faith in Krishna.

Half-faith in Krishna means we have faith in Krishna's power. Krishna is omnipotent and He is also omniscient. He is all-powerful and He is also all-knowing.

All-knowing means He is also all-intelligent. So, when we have half-faith in Krishna, that means we have faith in Krishna's power but not in His intelligence. That means we say, Krishna, this problem is there, I can't solve it, you solve it.

That means, Krishna, the way to solve this problem is my intelligence and your power. It doesn't work like that. If we have full faith in Krishna, that means we have faith in not only Krishna's power but also Krishna's intelligence.

So, we submit to Krishna. Krishna, I have this problem and I feel this is the way the problem should be solved. But whatever happens, I am yours.

Please give me the strength to serve you, whatever happens. So, if we have that attitude, then we will see Krishna's intelligence working in our life. We will see that even through that bad thing that is happening, Krishna will bring out something good.

So, non-philosophical faith is faith in Krishna's power. But the philosophical faith is faith in His power as well as His intelligence. So, that way, when adversities come, by seeing that as a confirmation of scriptural teaching, we can strengthen our faith in Krishna.

And then by seeing that as an opportunity to experience Krishna's sheltering and misery transcending potency, we can take more shelter of Krishna. And by knowing that Krishna is more intelligent than us, we won't stay attached to our own version of how things should work out. But we will stay patient and we will see that Krishna's version of how things are to work out, that will turn out to be far better than what we had expected.

So, shall we stop? Are there any other questions? When we hear the class, when we meet them, it sounds very lofty and we really appreciate it. But when you are in a particular situation, that intelligence even doesn't come, talking of how to deal with that. Nothing comes to the heart.

It's like Karna hunting on the battlefield and when the most important thing comes, he just forgets. So, how do we make sure that we don't end up in those situations? That we just try and use whatever we have learnt. So, when we hear classes, we feel this is wonderful.

But when actual situation comes, we tend to forget it. So, how to use what we have or how to not forget what we learn in classes? Actually, we have to know that we are fighting an inner war. And fighting a war means that we have to have our weapons with us.

And not just weapons, we have to have specific weapons which can help us fight with a specific enemy. So, if we look at our own mind, we will find that there are the ways in which, the broad ways in which the mind tricks us are not unlimited. Okay, the mind may sometimes make us just angry.

Sometimes the mind may make us depressed. Sometimes the mind may make us envious. Whatever it is, for us we will find out there are certain standard ways in which the mind tricks us or the mind troubles us.

Then what we can do is, in advance, find out sections from scripture, find out points from which we have heard from classes, which we make accessible for ourselves. See, if we just say, let us read scripture, but scripture contains so many things, at the right time we will not find the right thing. So, if we know that this is the anartha that troubles me and this is the point really that this point made so much sense to me, then keep that point accessible.

So, for example, if I have a, I have, you know, in my computer I keep an anti-anger folder, an anti-greed folder, anti-depression folder. I will just give you an example over here. So, you know, in that, I keep, if I have heard a particular lecture which helps me in that, I keep it over there.

Or not even a lecture. You know, even if it is a small section from a lecture, even a small point of the lecture. So, whatever is the anartha that is troubling us, the resources for fighting that, we need to make them readily accessible for ourselves.

So, that way, that time, it's true. When the danger comes, the way the mind tricks us is by making us forget things. So, of course, there are times when I have the anti-anger folder in my computer itself and still I write angry mail.

So, ultimately, we have to use our free will properly. It's a challenge. But the more the right thing is easily accessible to us, the more is the likelihood that we will do it.

So, it is our responsibility to make the devotional resources as easily accessible as possible. See, in general, the mind is lazy. So, it will always choose the path of least resistance.

So, now, if we decrease the resistance in the right path, the mind will choose that right path. Because sometimes I am angry. Now, writing a mail also takes some energy.

But if I have just some nice extract, nice verses, nice code which is there, I say, okay, reading that and dealing with the anger is easier than writing a long mail. The mind will do that. So, we have to have the customized resources for dealing with the specific artha that we are troubled by and we have to keep them as easily accessible as possible.

Ultimately, of course, we need Krishna's mercy for remembering at the right time and acting on it. But we can show through all these things, the Krishna that we want, there is mercy. And then Krishna will be… He will give us the intelligence by which we can come to Him.

Okay? Thank you. Thank you very much.