Bhakti Shastri (028) – The Nectar of Instruction Text 2, Part 3

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Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to our lecture of instruction, part of the Bhakti Shastri course. Today, we will conclude the second text which discusses six elements that are contrary to bhakti. So, out of those six, we have discussed four already.
Atyahar, Prayas, Prajalva and Niyamagraha. Now, we will discuss Janasanga and Lauliya. Like we discussed earlier, the point here is not to do a hair-splitting analysis of things.
The point is to understand the broad principles. So, technically, we might feel that there are some similarities between Lauliya and Atyahar. We will discuss the slight differences that are there.
But the important point is to understand the broad principles. So, let us look at Janasanga. Now, in a sense, there is a correlation between all of these things.
When we have Atyahar, when we have the urge to accumulate more and more and more, then that leads to Prayas because more things don’t come free. So, we have to do Prayas. And when we do Prayas, then we naturally have to, for the sake of Prayas, over-endeavour, we have Janasanga.
We have the association of non-devotees because materialistic people are engaged in over-endeavour for the sake of material gratification. And when we do Janasanga, materialistic people are greedy, so Lauliya also comes up. So, Atyahar is a tendency to accumulate more and more.
Lauliya is greed. So, the two are related. There is a subtle difference.
So, Atyahar is something which is more intrinsic. Lauliya is something which is more acquired. But overall, the way Prabhupada explains it, the point is that Atyahar is a little bit more subtle and Lauliya is a bit more explicit.
But then, when there is Janasanga and Lauliya, then naturally by that, when we are associating materialistic people, we end up talking materialistic things. So, there is Prajalva. And as we associate materialistic people who are not following any principles, who do not follow any rules, then the result of that is we don’t feel the importance of those rules ourselves.
Or materialistic people follow rules because they feel that these are just rituals to be observed. So, both kinds of Niyamagraha happen when we see that we associate with non-devotees. So, Janasanga in one sense is a very detrimental level of bad association.
Janasanga. And actually, Srila Prabhupada does not talk much about it here. This same topic is talked about in the next verse also where it talks in positive sense of what are the things that will stimulate our Bhakti.
And Srila Prabhupada talks about that over here. So, we will look at Janasanga today. Janasanga.
Sanga means association. Jana is people. So, the devotees are called as Vishnu Jana.
Or, the gopis in the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam when they are glorifying, those who glorify Krishna, they call them as Bhoorida Jana. Jana is people. Bhoorida, those who give the great charity.
So, Bhoorijana. Those who do good to others. But generally the word Jana itself is used here in the sense of ordinary people.
So, Janasanga is the association of ordinary people. And in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna describes that by association desires develop. So, in 2.62 in the Bhagavad Gita, he says dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshu pajayate sangat sanjayate kamah kamat krodho bhijayate So, here the sequence is one but the words have many meanings.
So, dhyayato when we contemplate the sense objects, then we develop attachment for them. And from attachment, desires develop. So, sanga, the word has double meaning and the meanings are related.
One meaning of sanga is attachment. Another meaning of sanga is association. So, sanga these two meanings are related because by association attachment develops and by attachment association is chosen.
So, if somebody likes cricket, then that is the attachment. Then if that person comes to a hostel or comes to a new place where they reside or work, then find out who are the other people who like cricket and mix with those people. So, by attachment, association develops.
And by association, also attachment develops. If a person goes from India to America, and in America soccer is very popular. Then the person is staying in the hostel over there and everybody is mad for soccer.
The person also develops attraction for soccer over there. Attachment develops for that. So, these two are symbiotic.
By our attachment, we choose that kind of association and by the kind of association that is there around us, our attachments also develop. So, in the process of bhakti, we would like to have both of these spiritualised. If we associate with devotees, and devotees have spiritual desires, they have devotional attachments, and by their association, we will also develop devotional attachments.
When we see how seriously devotees are studying scripture, trying to worship Krishna, trying to serve Krishna, then we will also feel like loving and serving Krishna. So, by that association, attachment to Krishna will develop. And similarly, if we have some attachment to Krishna, so, then, when we go to a particular place, we will try to seek out where are devotees over there.
And we will try to associate with those devotees. So, these two can, this reciprocity, this symbiotic nature of associating attachment can be worked in our favour. Now, here, the word Sangha primarily refers to association.
So, Jana Sangha refers to association of worldly-minded people. Now, what exactly happens when we associate with worldly-minded people? Before we understand that, let us first understand what we mean by association. Now, association is not just physical proximity.
Physical proximity can be there without having any association. How is that possible? That happens because when we say, have the spiritual master, Prabhupada will give you this example, sitting on a Vyasa Asana, and there is a fly sitting on the body of the spiritual master, irritating the spiritual master. When the fly is having physical proximity to the spiritual master, the fly is getting no benefit.
Is the fly associating with the spiritual master? No. The fly is just simply associating with potential food, with some, maybe it can bite and get some blood, it can get some pus. So, it has no capacity to understand what it is doing from a spiritual perspective.
Therefore, just physical proximity in and of itself is not association. Though, of course, physical proximity generally shapes and affects most people. So, then what exactly is association? Association essentially means emotional exchanges.
So, whenever we associate with someone, we have sharing of emotions. We try to give our emotions to them, and they give their emotions to us. So, whenever that happens, the transfer of emotions, when that happens, that is association.
Sometimes, in the temple, there are some employees. Now, those employees come to the temple if they are not devotees, and if they are not inclined to become devotees, then they come to the temple, they may come for 25 years to the temple. Or sometimes next to the temple, there are people who stay as neighbours.
Now, for whatever reason, they don’t become inclined to devotional service, and they are in physical proximity with so many devotees. But their hearts don’t change because their emotional world is entirely different from the devotee’s emotional world, from Krishna’s emotional world. And they don’t strive to bring about an intersection between the two.
Because of this lack of intersection between the two, the result is that there is just no transfer of emotions. And because of no transfer of emotions, effectively, there is no association. Although there may be physical proximity.
So, association means transfer of emotions. And emotions are integrally connected with desires. So, somebody comes from Africa or maybe some part of the world, not South Africa, but other countries in Africa, where cricket is unknown.
And that person comes as a student to India to study in Indian colleges. And in India, students are just mad about cricket. And then the cricket match, and in the final over, the Indian team wins by hitting a sixer.
And then the whole hostel erupts in joy. And this person, what is happening over here? Nothing makes sense for him. But then just seeing the excitement of everyone, there is a infectious effect.
The infectious effect can be positive or negative, depending on the nature of what is going on in the association. So that person gets affected, and the desire is developed accordingly. So, when there is a transfer of emotions, when that person, everybody is celebrating, and this person also joins in the celebration.
Because who doesn’t want to celebrate? Everybody wants to be happy in life. So, if people are happy, they celebrate. This person joins in the celebration.
And by engaging in those emotions, the person gets those desires. So, what is the difference between emotions and desires? They are very similar. But the difference is that emotions are more like feelings which come to us.
And desires are our aspirations for certain things, our cravings for certain things. Aspirations is used generally in a positive sense. Craving is often used in a negative sense.
But essentially, both are the same power. So, desires produce emotions, emotions produce desires. Now, when we enjoy the emotions that materialistic people are enjoying, then we get the desires that they are having.
And those desires often are non-devotional. Because those desires are non-devotional or sometimes even anti-devotional. So, non-devotional desires means people want to just say, as I said, talk about cricket, talk about politics.
Now, there is no direct breaking of the regulatory principles involved in this. So, they are non-devotional. But, if somebody talks about sensuality, sexuality, and talks about such things, then that is involved in breaking of the regulatory principles.
So, that is anti-devotional. So, in Janasangha, there can be non-devotional and there can be anti-devotional. And both are detrimental, but anti-devotional is far, far more detrimental.
Non-devotional can be value neutral and non-devotional can help us to move forward without much disturbance if we don’t get infected by any desires excessively. So, now, Shrila Prabhupada gives the example that any person who wants to do something and wants to do it in an effective way tries to create an association. So, there can be association of bankers, stockbrokers, association of golf players.
There are so many clubs in which people try, like-minded people try to come together and do the things which they like to do. So, similarly, he says, we have got this Krishna Consciousness Movement. What is the purpose of the Krishna Consciousness Movement? To bring, to provide a forum for those who are interested in Krishna to come together and nourish their attraction to Krishna.
So, in the Krishna Consciousness Movement, we learn who is Krishna, what is our relationship with him, why we should love him, and how we should love him. So, all these are very important things for a devotee. And in the Krishna Consciousness Association, we learn all these things.
So, this is Shadbher Bhakti, Prasiddhati, which will happen if we come in the Association of Devotees. And for a large part of this book, we will talk about how good association works and how good association nourishes us. Here we will focus on how bad association can affect us.
So, I will talk about three things, three levels of the effect of bad association. One is bad association affecting our desires. Second is bad association affecting our intelligence.
And third is bad association affecting our faith. These are progressively deeper and more dangerous. So, first is bad association affecting our desires.
That means, see, desires come and go. Sometimes we are just walking along the street and see some sight and then suddenly a strong desire comes up and we feel contaminated, we feel tugged by that desire. But then it’s a temporary desire and then maybe the intelligence comes back on like, hey, I shouldn’t be doing this thing.
Intelligence comes back and there is not too much damage. So, this can happen temporarily. This is a scripture example for this is Kala Krishnadas.
Kala Krishnadas was with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and when he was with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he was actually experiencing the extraordinary pastime of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Actually, his South India preaching tour was probably the most extraordinary preaching tour. The kind of preaching that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did in South India tour was unparalleled.
Even North India preaching tour was also wonderful. South India did so many extraordinary things. So, he saw all these things but still, when he was going through the area where the Bhattaris were staying, the Bhattaris and some women, he got attracted.
Now, when he got attracted, what was it? The desire overpowered him. So, because of the association of the Bhattari women, he got the desire and he went and he went in their midst. And when he went in their midst, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went there and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu risked his life and then got Kalkrishna Das back and he dragged him back and Kalkrishna Das was there mortified throughout the remaining journey of serving Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but he was very ashamed of what he had done.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came back and handed him to the devotees. He said, you sent this person to me? What kind of person are you sending? He left me for enjoying some women. And he was so apologetic, devastated.
The devotees saw that he was actually repentant and they decided to give him some other service. And then they engaged him in the service of, here Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had come to Puri. They said, all the devotees in Navadvip are longing to know how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is.
So, please go to Navadvip and tell him. And that’s the way he got service and he was able to reinstate himself. But the point is, Kalkrishna Das, the desire became too strong for him and that’s how he was overpowered.
But as soon as he was reminded the right thing, he immediately came back on the right track and he became repentant. So, this can happen to us also. Say, we, if we are staying in a hostel or if we are staying in some non-devotee association and then, suppose we go to a friend’s room and then that person has got a computer and that person opens the computer and suddenly we are just talking and some nasty sites come up, some terrible videos come up.
And in the rush of the moment, they get caught up. And then, get some perverse delight out of it. And then afterwards when we come back, we come out of the room, what did I do? Why did I do that? So, what happened at that time was, the desire overpowered us at that time.
So, this can happen. This is a bad association because those people have that kind of desires. By that association, the desire comes in us.
And we get overcome. But then, after some time, when we come out of the bad association or when our intelligence becomes awakened again, our intelligence becomes sort of anaesthetized at that time. This can’t think much at that time.
But as soon as our intelligence comes back, we just reject that and come out of there. So, this is harmful. But even more harmful is, when because of bad association, our intelligence gets damaged.
So, how can that happen when our intelligence is getting damaged? It can happen as we see in the case of Ajamil. In the case of Ajamil, he was a cultured brahmana having such good qualities that most of us cannot even aspire of having those qualities. So, he had these good qualities but when he saw that Shudra and Shudrani embracing, he just lost his intelligence.
And he called that Shudrani. And now, this happened in a very spiritual culture. It is a very civilised, dignified culture and he was a brahmana.
He was already married. Now, even in today’s society, if a person does like this, it will be scandalous. Somebody just getting some other woman and then throwing his own wife out of the house, throwing his parents out of the house, that will be scandalous even by today’s standards.
What to speak of those times? And surely, people gave him good advice at that time. His parents would have tried to make him see sense. His wife would have tried to make him see sense.
Other brahmanas would have tried to make him see sense. But, that infatuation had destroyed his intelligence. As the same was the ayato vishayan pumsah, So, from desire comes strong desire.
From attachment comes lust. From lust comes anger. From illusion comes forgetfulness, loss of memory.
Then there is destruction of intelligence. And, one falls. So, for him, his intelligence got destroyed.
So, it took almost a lifetime. Now, right from his youth till near his old age, he lost time, wasted time. And, finally, somehow he came back to his senses.
He gave his child the name Narayan by the association of devotees. Some saints, some brahmanas, some saints had come to his place. And, they suggested, Why don’t you give your child the name Narayan? He agreed.
And, he was called Narayan. That’s how, you know the story how the Amritas came. And, the Shudras came and rescued him because he called out Narayan.
So, in his case, his intelligence was destroyed. So, how can this happen to us? This can happen to us when people come along and try to intellectually attack our faith. So, people try to, for example, some atheists may come.
You see, there is God. If God is there, why there is so much suffering in this world? Not only you are suffering, even those who are devoted to God are suffering. You see, God has designed this world.
Why has God designed this world? Where can you see that God has designed? Everything is so cute. You see, God has provided rains. Then, why are there rains on the ocean? No, God is not providing rains.
It’s all by the arrangement of nature. So, if rains were meant to provide water for us, then why do the rains have to fall on the ocean? So, when intellectually we are attacked, really, it makes sense, God really created the world. Maybe there is no God.
And then what happens is, intellectually we are assailed. And intellectual attack can be quite dangerous because at least when we are attacked at the level of desires, we feel fallen. Because we feel, why did I succumb to those desires? But when we are assailed by doubts, actually we don’t feel fallen, we feel superior.
These people, how can they believe such things? It’s all mythology. What is the proof for this? So, actually, among desires and doubts, doubts are more dangerous. Because desires make us feel lower, somewhat inferior, morally fallen.
But doubts make us feel intellectually superior. They make us feel, I am higher. These people, they don’t have the intelligence to understand these things.
I understand. I understand that it all doesn’t make sense. I won’t believe such things.
So what happens is, doubts are more dangerous. So when the intelligence is destroyed by such arguments, then it becomes difficult for a person to realise what is to be done. So actually the answer is, the point is that if we come to a room, if we come to a mansion where there are 50 rooms and one room is unclean and there are 49 rooms which are clean.
So now, if there are 49 rooms which are clean, well organised, well kept, then we can infer from that that there is a plan over here. There is a person who is taking care of it. If one room is unclean, there can be some other reason for that.
Maybe there is some other person who is making that room unclean, although there is a person who is cleaning it. Or maybe that room is temporarily out of the jurisdiction. Or maybe that room is intentionally kept unclean because that is meant for some other purpose.
We don’t know. So, an unclean room does not prove the absence of a designer as strongly as a clean room proves or demonstrates or points towards the presence of a cleaner, presence of a person who keeps things right. So, actually speaking, there is a higher principle over here.
Why is there suffering in this world? There is arrangement for our provision for our food, air, water, heat, light. Along with that, occasionally there are shortages. Why? Because there is another principle over there.
That is the principle of karma. So, why water falls on the oceans? Multiple reasons are there. But from the philosophical point of view, Krishna, if somebody wants to disbelieve in God, Krishna will give them reasons to disbelieve.
So, why water falls on the oceans? To give atheists arguments that they will disbelieve in God. They will not see all the evidences for the existence of God. They will just see this.
So, we are not, of course, talking about refuting atheism over here. I have given classes and written articles on this separately. Actually, Prabhupada has spoken about this also in his various books.
But here, our focus is on the single point that when we are intellectually assailed by paradox that is even more detriment. Then, when we are intellectually assailed like this, what should we do? We should go to intellectually orientated devotees who can give intellectual answers to those questions. So, when we are assailed by bad desires, what do we have to do? We have to get out of that situation and go in a situation where we get good desires.
So, deeper than this, the attack of Jainasangha is when actually our faith is attacked. So, now, we know what is the difference between intelligence and faith. An example will make this clear.
The example of faith getting destroyed is Kaikeyi with respect to Ram. You know, when Mantara fed her evil poison to Kaikeyi and the result of that was Kaikeyi actually started doubting the Supreme Lord. She started thinking that Ram is the cause of my suffering.
And not only were her desires perverted, actually, initially when Mantara came with the news that Ram is going to be coronated, Kaikeyi was so happy. She took out a jewel necklace from her neck and said, God, you have brought such wonderful news. Here, take this necklace.
And Mantara threw that necklace on the ground. Stupid lady, don’t you understand what is happening? And she started shouting at her. And she incited her and fed her poison.
And by the end of that poison feeding session, the poison went from her ears through her head right to her heart. And she started thinking of that Ram who was more dear to her than life, whom she loved as much as she loved Bharata. She started thinking that Ram is my greatest enemy.
I have to drive Ram out. Otherwise, there is no good for me in my life. And then, in this case, she became negatively disposed towards Ram.
Not only that her intelligence was destroyed, definitely Dashrath tried to persuade her intellectually. Ashishtha tried to persuade her. And Sumantra spoke to her.
Mantara was a minister. Nobody could do anything. But she lost her faith.
So, when we are intellectually baffled by something, at that time, that means it’s at a logical level. I don’t know the answer. It’s disturbing.
But faith is much deeper than intellectual conviction. Intellectual conviction helps us to develop faith. But faith is much deeper.
So, what happened to her? Actually, it was only when what she had faith in got shattered. Then, her antipathy, her loss of faith in Ram was shaken up. So, what did she have faith in? She had faith that I am doing all this for the sake of Bharata.
And Bharata will be very happy. And when Bharata will be happy, I am doing this for all his pleasure. But when Bharata came to know about her evil conspiracy, he was so mortified and horrified.
He said, You are not my mother. If you had not been my mother, I would have killed you. You are the goddess of destruction incarnated in our family to destroy our whole dynasty.
He says, I will no longer call you my mother. And then, she heard these words. The bubble of imaginary fantasies which she had made and which she was using to justify all the wrongs that she was doing, all the hurts that she had caused, that bubble burst.
And the bubble burst and she said, What have I done? And then she went to Lord Ram and Bharata went to try to persuade him to come back. Then she begged forgiveness from Ram. So, this is actually most dangerous.
Her faith is lost. So, how can this happen in today’s context? One of the ways it can happen is through the internet. There are so many people writing so many nonsensical things.
There is some truth in it, but there are a lot of lies in it also. So, we hear such things and once we hear those things, our faith in Krishna, our faith in Krishna’s mission, our faith in Krishna’s message, our faith in Krishna’s devotees, that can all be damaged. Faith is like a tree.
A tree takes years and years to grow. But then one axe comes along and just for some time, maybe an hour, two hours, chop it. A tree that took years to grow can be cut off.
Now, if you have an electric axe, machine-operated axes, then then it’s a giant tree which may have taken 80 years, 100 years to grow and topple over. So, like that, our faith can be destroyed by bad association. And when the faith is wounded or destroyed, it’s very, very difficult to repair.
So, we have to be careful about what we are exposing ourselves to. Actually speaking, nobody denies the fact that there are problems in the Krishna consciousness movement. And Krishna has said this word is and to the extent we become Krishna conscious, the Dukkhalaya nature will not be there.
But it is not that everybody in the Krishna consciousness movement is Krishna conscious. There are people who are trying to be Krishna conscious. And as they are trying to be Krishna conscious, some of them may fail.
They may act in non-Krishna conscious ways. They may act in anti-Krishna conscious ways. When they act in this way, naturally there will be consequences of that.
So, when we talk about Krishna’s mission, it is not just an institution. It is principles. And the institution is meant to help us live according to those principles.
So, in some cases, some individuals may not act according to those principles. And that can terribly harm the whole mission and the reputation of the mission also. These are very unfortunate situations.
But they don’t falsify the principles. They don’t impede the process. The process is still potent.
The principles are still valid. And one who understands and values the principles, learns those principles and adopts the process, that person will still be benefited at all times. So, therefore, Jana Sangha has to be very carefully avoided.
Only when we avoid Jana Sangha, then we can move forward. So, Narottam Das Thakur sings. You can see Jana Sangha over there.
Narottam Das Thakur says, janame janame hoy yahi abhilash. He says that I want to associate with devotees. Tandere charanasehi bhakto sanne vas janame janame hoy yahi abhilash.
Tandere charan. Actually, I want to serve your feet as spiritual master and I want to live in the association of devotees. Prabhupada is a stock market.
Now let us look about Lauliyam. So, Prabhupada basically talks about it in terms of sustained desires that take us away from Krishna. So, bhukti, mukti and siddhi.
These are three categories of desires which take us away from Krishna. So, atyahar is possessing things too much. Lauliya is a broad principle of excessive disproportionate desire.
So, that excessive desire can be for bhukti, it can be for mukti, it can be for siddhi. And any of these desires come up and they make us ashant. Chaitanya Chakravarti says, bhukti, mukti, siddhi, kami, sakalaya ashanta, krishna bhakta nishkama ata eva shanta.
So, bhukti, mukti, siddhi, kami. Those who desire, they are ashanta. Only a krishna bhakta is shanta.
ata eva shanta. Now, what exactly does it mean that one who has this desire is ashanta? The nature of these desires is they are insatiable. They are just not satisfied.
No matter how much we desire, no matter how much we satisfy those desires, they keep blazing forth more and more and more. And because they blaze forth more and more, therefore, they are very detrimental to our spiritual life. Now, we talk about as sadhakas, we want to prioritise.
Actually, for sadhakas, the first priority in life is to keep the first priority, the first priority. What does that mean? That means the maya for new devotees or for very upcoming fresh devotees, how she will come? Hey, you practise in Krishna consciousness? Just come, enjoy! That’s how maya comes. Maya comes in very gross ways.
Just forget it, enjoy. You’re missing so much enjoyment. I’m missing so much enjoyment, yes, yes, yes.
And that’s how maya comes in very gross ways. But for serious devotees, maya knows if I come like this, gross temptations, this devotee is serious, no, get lost. So maya comes in a different way.
She starts her attack by confusing our priorities. She doesn’t tell us to replace Krishna with maya directly. She tells, just put Krishna down the priority list.
Don’t be too serious. Yes, Krishna consciousness is important, but don’t be fanatical. Be balanced.
Do this also, do this also, do this also. So by that, Krishna moves from priority one to priority two, then priority three, then priority four. And then by that time, we realise that Krishna has gone to priority ten, priority fifty, priority infinity.
He’s just lost. So the maya works. And then as Krishna goes down in our priority list, the result is that we get lesser and lesser higher taste.
ye yatha mam prapadyante tam sattva bhaja meha. As we surrender to Krishna, Krishna reciprocates accordingly. So if we are not intense in our devotional service, then we are not offering our consciousness to Krishna, then Krishna cannot give us spiritual happiness, because our consciousness is not there only.
How can he give us happiness? It’s like a mother wants to give a nice gulab jamun to the child, but the child is not there only when the mother is giving gulab jamun. How can the mother give? So Krishna wants to give us the higher taste, but we are not available to him only. When we are chanting, when we are associating with devotees, we think about other things.
This is not an important priority for us. So if we don’t offer ourselves to Krishna, we don’t let Krishna offer us higher taste. And when we don’t get the higher taste, then naturally the lower taste starts being more attractive, because we need a pleasure.
If we don’t get it in the realm of Krishna consciousness, we will seek intense gratification. And then slowly in this way, as Krishna goes down in our priority list, then maya comes up in our priority list. Because that’s what promises pleasure.
And then after some time, maya comes to the top, and then Krishna replaces Krishna in our heart. So this is how maya attacks serious devotees. She messes up their priorities.
So when we are practising devotional service, we have to be careful. As I said, the first priority is to keep the first priority, the first priority. That means when we are practising devotional service, we are making our plans, we are making our schedules, we are setting up and ticking our to-do list, we have to keep it in mind.
My goal in life is to develop love for Krishna. And I want to orient everything in my life around that goal. It need not necessarily be that I can give maximum of my time in terms of proportion to Krishna consciousness.
If I can, that is wonderful. But even if I can’t, I have to understand clearly that my priority is devotional service. So we have to keep bringing ourselves back again and again.
Just as when you are driving a car, the car by nature will go off track. And the person turns the steering wheel and brings it on track. Again it goes off track.
Again the person brings it on track. So like that we have to keep bringing ourselves back on track. So lauliya is something which can happen very subtly but very strongly over a period of time.
When a plane is moving say from Mumbai to Kolkata, we want to go to Mayapur. So it’s not that the plane goes linearly. According to pilots, for a large percentage, 80-90% of the time the plane is off track.
But what gets the plane to the destination is the pilot is always aware of the destination. Because of atmospheric disturbances, because of clouds, because of wind variations, the plane tends to go off track. But then the pilot brings it on track.
It goes off track, brings it on track. And by this continuous course correction, the plane reaches the destination. So similarly for us lauliya, it will start not by suddenly taking us away from Krishna to Maya.
It will be the subtle course deviations. Once more course deviation, second course deviation, third course deviation, fourth course deviation. Then at the end, if the course deviations are not corrected, the plane instead of going to Kolkata will end up in Delhi.
Or it may end up in no man’s land also. It has to be nowhere and now it doesn’t know where it is and there’s no fuel and you have to do a crash landing there. It’s a disaster.
So the course deviations are inevitable. So the skilled pilot, seasoned pilot, expects them and corrects them. Similarly with respect to our spiritual life, the course deviations are inevitable.
The nature of the world is it will thrust other priorities on us. And sometimes other things are important, we have to do them. But when we do them, remember, okay, I finish this, then I come back to Krishna again.
When the course deviation happens, if we remember our destination, then we understand, okay, now I got deviated. Now as soon as I get the opportunity, I finish this and I’ll come back. I’ll do the course correction.
So again I get deviated, again I do the course correction. And by that I can move forward. Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, even if we have gone wrong, that doesn’t mean we have to go back to the starting point and start again.
No. Sometimes when we get deviated, we think, I’ll never be able to become serious. Let’s forget the whole thing.
I can’t become Krishna conscious. No. Actually our forgetfulness can end by our resolution to end our forgetfulness of our forgetfulness.
One thing is to forget Krishna. Another thing is to forget that we have forgotten Krishna. So at least if I forget Krishna and then I have forgotten Krishna, then I can bring myself back.
That’s why our regulated sadhana is very helpful. Every day we join. Regularly we go to the session of devotees and that’s why I’m supposed to do this.
So we may not be able to immediately end our forgetfulness, but at least we can make a resolution to end the forgetfulness of our forgetfulness by committing ourselves to certain devotional activities. And those devotional activities, we get reminded again. So the pilot cannot avoid course deviations, but the pilot can be aware of it.
That’s where I have to go. As soon as the course deviations are there, as soon as it’s practically possible, from the course deviations, course corrections are done. Janasangha, this is how it deviates us.
And we have to bring ourselves back on track to the best of our capacity. Now, what are the advantages of avoiding them? Nrsila Prabhupada talks about this in a very generic way towards the end. So when he’s talking about the effects of these six elements that damage our bhakti, and how those elements can be countered and cured, then he describes what will be the result of that.
He says, first result will be the ideal society. If one can become free from these six things, how ideal society? Because people will not be greedy. Then, as it is said, there’s enough in this world for everyone’s needs, but not enough for even one person’s greed.
So if people are free from greed, then people’s needs will be at least basically unsatisfied. And then enmity will be minimised, even destroyed, because ultimately enmity originates because of greed, selfishness, ego, power-hungeriness. So all that decreases, and economic management will be corrected.
How? Because economics, the main problem is that people, the resources are limited, the desires are unlimited. So all these six activities, basically, if we avoid them, then we curtail our desires, and then the resources can be managed. Then the political stability.
Wars take place because there are people who are greedy. So in Yudhishthira Prabhupada’s time, there was the Cold War. The confrontation between capitalists and communists was there, and then it somehow appeared as if it may just explode at any time.
But the Third World War too didn’t take place, and eventually communism fizzled out. But the point is, the problem was there. And then, Sushil Prabhupada, after giving this global view of how avoiding these six elements can benefit the world at large, then he zeroes down on the sadhakas, and he focusses on how these things can help the sadhaka.
So there he talks about we can establish a spiritual community, and there are people who want to practise these things, and they want an environment where these things can be practised, and that environment is provided by the Krishna Consciousness Movement. So, it’s provided a support system for individual seekers to seriously practise spiritual life. And they practise spiritual life seriously thus, then by that spiritual awakening takes place.
And there is spiritual awakening, and spiritual awakening means what? As I said, our forgetfulness of our forgetfulness ends. So we learn, hey, this is going wrong, now let me come back on track. So then this is what ISKCON is.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness. And what does it do? When I first time heard the name ISKCON, I was quite confused. Consciousness is a scientific word.
Actually, if you see, in the hippie times in America, consciousness was a very popular word. Consciousness expansion. But 20 years ago, consciousness was not a very popular word, a scientific word, consciousness.
And consciousness is scientific, Krishna is religious. I just couldn’t figure out, what is this Krishna Consciousness? And whatever that Krishna Consciousness is, why do you need an international society for that? It just didn’t make any sense to me. You can have international society for your World Health Organisation, we have United Nations, we have World Labour Association, we have so many organisations.
There is something productive. What is this Krishna Consciousness? Why do you need an international society for that? But over a period of time, I understood that actually it is Krishna Consciousness that is the basis for stability and satisfaction in individual life. And when there is individual satisfaction, then only there can be global satisfaction.
There can be global stability, global harmony. So, Sri Prabhupada said that there is no use crying for world peace without an awakening of Divine Consciousness in the individual. What does the Krishna Consciousness movement do? It works at the grassroots level.
Grassroots level, what does it do? It changes the world one heart at a time. One heart at a time. One heart is purified by the chanting, by the association, by the philosophy.
Then that one person shares Krishna Consciousness with one more person, many more persons. And in that way, a society becomes benefited. So, the purpose is to make as many people as possible in the world Krishna Conscious.
And the process is step by step. Change the world one heart at a time. One heart at a time.
And how does Krishna Consciousness do that? It is by education and culture. Sri Prabhupada talks in the parapola 4.1 in the Bhagavad Gita where he is talking about Raja Rishis. One more element he talks about there is culture.
So, culture, education. He talks about devotion. So, here it is training.
So, the important point is similar. The movement provides facilities. It provides support systems.
It provides arrangements by which people can become Krishna Conscious. So, essentially what is an institution? Actually, in today’s society institutionalised religion is criticised a lot. When religion becomes institutionalised, then the essence of religion is lost and people become power hungry and people become corrupted and the spiritual element gets lost.
It is possible. It can happen, no doubt. But the point is we shouldn’t think of something institutional as something external which is imposed on a religion.
Actually, every person who wants to practise Krishna Consciousness is like a small stream of water that is going from the mountain towards the ocean. So, the ocean is like Krishna. We are like the stream.
We want to move from the mountain towards Krishna. We discussed earlier. Our goal is not merging.
Our goal is meeting. The river flows towards the ocean. Kunti Maharaj said that my consciousness flows towards you.
So, right now we are not rivers. We are just a small channel, not even a stream. A little bit trickle of water that we are flowing.
So, now for a trickle of water to go from the mountain to the ocean is nearly impossible. There will be so many blockages and it is quite likely that the trickle of water will block or it may be dried. It may become so contaminated that it will become useless and then it may never reach the ocean.
But, if somebody has a very strong desire to attain God, that person is like a forceful flowing river. That person flows, flows, flows, flows. That person reaches the ocean.
But most people are like trickles. So, if there is one person who has a strong forceful urge for God, longing for God and other people join, then the small small trickles, they come together and under the guidance of a forceful spiritually advanced person, they all work together and then a path is created and that path goes from the mountain top through the plateaus, through the plains to the ocean. So, just as these trickles come together so that they can ultimately reach the ocean, like that, spiritually like-minded people come together so that they can eventually reach God.
And just as the flowing of the trickle creates a riverbed, similarly the flowing of the like-minded people towards God, for their continuous flowing, they create certain facilities. And those facilities essentially become an institution. So, institution is not something external that is imposed on a religion.
It is something which naturally grows out from the religion because of the need of people to move towards God. Now, in this case, what may happen is that once the river is flowing nicely towards the ocean, unscrupulous elements may come and they say that, oh, there is so much water here. We’ll just make a dam and we’ll take all the water for ourselves.
The river cannot reach the ocean. A large part of the water may get blocked without reaching the ocean. Similarly, when there is facilities, when there is money, when there is material assets, then materialistic people may also come.
And they think, oh, all this is so much, I can use it for my own enjoyment. And that which is meant to take everyone towards God, there is a blockage created in that. So, what can be done about this? Those who are materially minded people, they have to be sidelined.
And how do we do that? Prabhupada had strict standards for Krishna Consciousness. So, when we do sadhana properly, seriously, then by that, these other things become sidelined. Those who are materially minded people, they will not be able to do the strict sadhana.
When they can’t do the strict sadhana, they naturally get sidelined. And then more serious people move forward in their spiritual life. So, it’s always possible that contamination can take place.
But we also have to remember that the purpose of the institution is to enable people who are attracted by certain principles and who want to follow a certain process, to provide facilities and support systems for those people. That is essentially an institution. So, Bhaktsanshitapur would say that the Gaudiya Math is actually transcendental.
And even if we see some contamination in the Gaudiya Math, Gaudiya Math actually is transcendental. So, what is Gaudiya Math? Whether it is Gaudiya Math or whether it is Skaun or Bhaktivinoda Thakur at the time, they had Vishwa Vaishnava Rajya Sabha. Whatever it is, the name may be different, but essentially, it is a facility for people to become Krishna Conscious.
Srila Prabhupada created Skaun and he told us that even if some problems are there, don’t expect a utopian society. Just keep practising Krishna Consciousness. And if there are problems, you work to solve the problems.
You’ll be a part of the solution. So, in the association of devotees, we get education, we get training. We learn the philosophy and we learn how to practise the philosophy.
Education means to know what to do and training means to know how to do it. So, how to chant Hare Krishna, how to worship the deity, how to study the scriptures, how to make spiritual advancement, how to practically engage in Krishna’s service, and how to love Krishna and return back to Him. All the facilities are provided by Srila Prabhupada to all of us through the Krishna Consciousness movement.
So, our goal is that the more we engage in the association of devotees, the more we’ll be able to break free from Atya Prayas, Vajrapani Mahagraha, Janasangal, all these we’ll be able to break free from them. So, in this way, this whole purpose Srila Prabhupada concludes by talking about how, by avoiding these things, there’ll be individual welfare and from the individual welfare, there’ll be social and global welfare also. Thank you very much.
Sri Upadesha Amrit Ki Jai, Srila Prabhupada Swami Paath Ki Jai, Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai, Kaurava Vrindavan Ki Jai.