Bhakti Shastri (033) – The Nectar of Instruction Text 4, Part 2

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welcome back to the nectar of instruction we are discussing text 4 among the 6 elements of text 4 the 4 that we discussed now we will discuss how we reveal our heart in confidence and share our heart in confidence this is actually one of the most important aspects of devotion service and this will determine whether we will have deep relationships or superficial relationships so we will discuss what it means to share our heart in confidence the sharing of the heart can be at multiple levels at the level of pure devotional service or very advanced devotional service both the devotees hearts are wedded to Krishna and naturally they talk about Krishna so we see this for example in the Chetan Charita Amrit when Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would be with his intimate associates Swaroop Damodar Goswami and Ramanand Rai these were his two most intimate associates in the in the Gambhira that was his place in Jagannath Puri and they would discuss very confidential pastimes of Krishna and they would sing verses, recite verses in the Bhagavatam, sing songs and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would be in ecstasy so this is a very intimate sharing of the heart and that is the ultimate goal of all devotees if you want to Machitta Madgata Prana Bodhayantah Parasparam Kathayantah Srimam Nityam Tushyantichar Manticham Bodhayantah Parasparam Kathayantah Srimam Nityam that when we talk to each other about Krishna and in that we relish the supreme happiness in fact it is said in the Bhagavatam Parasparanat Kathanam that the joy of discussing Krishna Katha with a very intimate devotee it is the highest pleasure that two human beings can have at a material level two people come together the highest pleasure that they can have is the pleasure of bodily relationship of sex but higher than that is the pleasure when two human beings come together as devotees and discuss intimately about the common object of their love, that is Krishna so this is what we aspire for like minded devotees come together and very intimately discuss about Krishna so we see this again and again in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit Ishwara Puri did this kind of service for Madhavendra Puri, not only did he take care of his body but also he very intimately served his spiritual master by speaking about Krishna in his final days so that is at the highest level where in my heart Krishna is there in another heart, another devotee’s heart Krishna is there both of us come together and we intimately discuss Krishna so this is also what we do when we come together officially in classes but it may not be so much that in my heart Krishna is there, it may be that Krishna is primarily in my head, little bit in my heart also and in the case of audience also little bit in their head, little bit in the heart and we try to intellectually understand and relate and try to develop our relationship with Krishna in whatever way we can so that is also quite nourishing for the heart because we are discussing about Krishna and everything centred on Krishna is good so at one level is two devotees discussing Krishna intimately at another level is two devotees discussing their service to Krishna so the two are not necessarily different but in some cases they do become different now for example Draupadi and the queens of Dwarka when they met together then the queens of Dwarka asked Draupadi you know, how do you serve your husbands? you are one wife and you have five husbands, we are so many and we all have to serve one husband so we are in a different predicament but our service is the same, please tell us how do you serve and in Mahabharata it is described Draupadi tells how she is the first to wake, she is the last to rest and she never, she serves all her husbands beautifully, she ensures that they all take food before she takes and she gives a long variety of serves and seeing the sincerity with which she serves her husbands, all the queens of Dwarka they are very impressed and inspired, now in a sense we could say in the hierarchy, the Dwarka are higher than the Hastinapur Dwarka are considered more intimate Dwarka is a part of the spiritual world directly so but they have no haughtiness that we are superior to you when they come together they learn from each other how can we serve better so similarly when two devotees come together then they can learn, they can talk about their services, for example there are two book distributors who come together and they share their experiences we did like this, we did like this, this is what happened or two people who have constructed temples in different places, they come together so service brings us together and then because the service is centred on Krishna, the talks are also connected with Krishna, they focus on service to Krishna so now Srila Prabhupada would often, when he would discuss about Krishna consciousness, he would either talk philosophy or when the disciples would come he would talk about the services his way of interacting with the disciples, if you see when you go on morning walks, most of his morning walks he will be talking philosophy and the morning walks emerge spontaneously they emerge spontaneously means that one day Srila Prabhupada said I want to go on morning walk those who want they can come with me and when they started going they found that Prabhupada in a different mood, quite relaxed observing nature and making some comments based on nature and the devotees they started seeing the whole world with new eyes because of Prabhupada’s Krishna consciousness and these became among the most loud of all of Prabhupada’s events, Prabhupada’s classes were there when he was the Acharya speaking formally, Srila Prabhupada was Acharya even when he went on a morning walk but the mood was more intimate, sweeter Srila Prabhupada was equally instructive but much more relaxed much more approachable in a sense devotees could ask him questions and he would answer and he would look at nature and from obvious facts he would derive extraordinary insights, so that was Srila Prabhupada talking in the first level showing the devotees Krishna in nature, in the world in the things that we day to day see but we don’t see their Krishna connection then Srila Prabhupada when devotees would come and they would report their services and he would ask them and he would guide them devotees are going to say Rashiyaan preaching and they are trying to do something Srila Prabhupada would tell, ok you do this, don’t do this and they would share their problems and Prabhupada would respond to them and Prabhupada was as a manager, he was down there especially in India he was right on the ground his head was in Goloka Vrindavan his heart was in Goloka Vrindavan but when Srila Prabhupada was taking care of the affairs of his Kona, his feet were firmly on the ground and he was aware of who was cheating who was competent, who was not competent and Srila Prabhupada had enormous trust in his disciples at the same time he was aware that they were inexperienced and they could be fleeced by the Indians who would take ten, sometimes five times more amount of which they would normally get from other Indians just because these people were foreigners so the point was Srila Prabhupada would instruct devotees in service you know in the first days when Srila Prabhupada started having started receiving guests, Prabhupada would himself be on the ground and when the bed had to be laid the cushions had to be laid, Prabhupada himself on all fours, crumpling out the removing all the crumples in the sheet and showing devotees how things should be set up for receiving guests, Prabhupada would teach disciples how to clean using a broom and a mat and a cloth and Prabhupada would talk with devotees so these were the moments when Srila Prabhupada brought Krishna alive in the laboratory of the world for his disciples he showed them that talking about Krishna and working for Krishna was not just something theoretical something practical some devotees would go to ask Srila Prabhupada for money and the way he would look in his pocket, early days Prabhupada himself was the president of the temple, the commander of the temple the treasurer of the temple and the counsellor of the temple, Prabhupada was everything at that time in the early days, so if somebody wanted money they would go directly to Prabhupada we are talking about 1966-67 Srila Prabhupada even when he would take out a coin, his hand would move like it was performing an artistic dance, gracefully take out a coin, normally a person take a coin, toss it out, but Prabhupada gracefully take it out, he knew he was handling Lakshmi and he would hand it to the disciples so through all these the devotees hearts grew closer and closer to Krishna so there can be with respect to services George Harrison came to Srila Prabhupada and one time he asked Prabhupada do you want me to shave and join like everybody else and Prabhupada said no, you have been given the talent to sing and to compose music you sing about Krishna and the whole world will be benefited by that and he did that and initially he became very popular but later on when he tried to do it a little bit too much from the public perception too much, he tried to get people to chant Hare Krishna and then the reaction was not very receptive he got negative reviews for his songs, people didn’t like it because when somebody becomes very big they have become big because they are providing sense gratification to people and suddenly from that tough spot somebody starts providing something else so trying to give Krishna, they can do it but up to a particular limit people want them to fit in a particular mould so then he went back and met Shri Prabhupada this is not described in Leela Amrit there is a biography of George Hansen called Here Comes the Sun so that’s written by Joshua Green one of Prabhupada’s disciples, Yogeshwar so there he describes how he went and met Shri Prabhupada and he bared his heart before Prabhupada he says, Prabhupada, I feel as if instead of bringing people to Krishna I am causing people to go away from Krishna and I am losing losing my friends also I take one step forward then I am feeling as if I am taking ten steps behind so what should I do? Prabhupada understood this, this has been an eternal dilemma you know when a person tries to move towards God, often that person has to move away from the world so at that time Prabhupada looked at him sympathetically and said, Prabhupada told him don’t overdo it basically said that, you do whatever you can within your position you don’t have to disturb yourself so at that time Prabhupada almost every song he was bringing in Krishna but then after that he toned down a little bit and then again his popularity went up so Prabhupada was an expert about how to guide somebody who is a pure devotee, somebody who is aspiring for directly pure devotional service, serious devotees Prabhupada told him just sing Hare Krishna we are not concerned with musical styles too much we want to have good music but our goal is not to become musicians our goal is to be singers for Krishna’s play, but somebody who is a professional musician Prabhupada would instruct differently this is a devotee comes, now we are coming from the second to the third part second part is related with our service third is related with our own challenges our anarthas, our problems and this actually is the most challenging that we need help in fighting our private battles so at one level ultimately we all have a relationship with Krishna but Krishna right now is not very easily accessible to us from within our hearts so what do we do? we have to access Krishna in other ways, what are those other ways? we have to access Krishna through Guru Sadhu Shastra and the more we access Krishna through Guru Sadhu Shastra, we follow those instructions and by that gradually we start coming closer and closer to Krishna internally also so Srila Prabhupada writes in the Parpot about how we need to practise Krishna consciousness in the association of devotees the movement of ISKCON has been created for the sake of nourishing the six fold exchanges between devotees so devotees are not just meant to be physically together in the movement but emotionally come closer to each other and closer to Krishna, that is one of the purposes among the purposes of ISKCON Srila Prabhupada said so that being the case how exactly can this be implemented in our life so when I have some anarthas, I feel myself overcome by lust or anger or greed or pride or envy or illusion then that’s your time, what do I do? so in general we may get guidance from classes, we may hear something from senior devotees and we can apply that and try to learn but there are times when the challenge becomes too much and we are fighting alone and we feel overcome so at that time we have to go and talk with some trustworthy senior devotee, ideally if we have a counsellor with that counsellor we discuss and we get some intimate guidance and by that we learn so the most important thing here is that we really need a very intimate devotee, if we don’t have an intimate devotee then we can’t share this and even when there is an intimate devotee that devotee also has to be trustworthy and what we speak in the privacy of our closed room with that devotee, if that goes broadcast to the world then it can terribly embarrass us and we are certainly not pure devotees that we won’t care for embarrassment and it’s not just our embarrassment or our ego getting hurt, in principle if something is spoken in private it should not be spoken in public to others so in many counselling sessions the counsellor is almost sworn to a code of secrecy the counsellor will be able to open up only when the counsellor maintains privacy, if the counsellor doesn’t maintain privacy then the counsellor cannot open up so in general when a devotee speaks if we have to speak to some senior devotees say if there is a counsellor if there is a person who is being guided and there is a guide so what they speak that should never be spoken to others, it has to be spoken generally it should be with the consent of the subordinate unless of course it’s an issue so serious it involves something which involves breaking the breaking the laws of the state and involves legal complications then immediately we may have to alert higher authority or if it involves other serious consequences but everything has to be done very cautiously respectfully and sensitively so how do we go about this we cannot expect this it doesn’t first of all mean that we all come with our own baggage and none of us is problem free all of us have had anarthas sometimes when we see some senior devotees happily chanting, dancing, singing we start thinking as if they are always like this but nobody actually fell from their mother’s womb with a tilak on their head and a bead bag in their hands you know everybody was born in the material world and everybody has their conditionings and those conditionings actually create challenges for all of us everyone has their challenges and while you face those challenges it’s important for us to know that things have to move forward step by step by step so what does it mean to move forward step by step that means that the relationships develop also as we are going along like when two warriors go on a battlefield together two soldiers go together, two generals go together say, now they may not know each other so well but when they are facing the enemy bullets together and at that time they understand I have to watch your back, you have to watch my back you know so actually there is this anecdote that when the American war for independence was going on the Americans were a small group of people they didn’t have much weapons they were scattered and then the British army was there so fighting against them was going to be very difficult so at that time one of the American leaders he made a speech and he said something which applies to us in devotee association also he says, all of us have to hang together or we will all hang together that means what all of us have to hang together and we have to stay together with each other and we have to fight unitedly, otherwise if we all get separated and all of us will be individually shot down or we will be arrested and then all of us will hang together that means we will be convicted and we will all hang so that is true for all of us also all of us have to hang together or we will hang together so eventually what will happen is if we don’t have intimate relationship with devotees we don’t share our heart then one by one by one everybody will fall because internally we cannot keep fighting against the mind forever without sometimes or other getting discouraged by the fight because we start wondering how long can I keep fighting like this, how long, how long so when that happens then when we start getting discouraged at that time we need someone to encourage us so the mind can create so many illusions when Sita was abducted by Ravana Ravana tried to win her over first by temptation he took her and showed her his full palace it was extraordinarily opulent then he showed her Pushpaka I was hoping that as a woman when she sees such opulence and she told her you can be my chief queen and all my other queens will be your maid servants he thought she will get allured by this but she did not pay any attention to that so first he tried temptation that didn’t work then he tried threats he told if you don’t accept me then I will have you cook for my breakfast and I will eat you up and he told ugly looking monstresses practically speaking were guarding Sita over there and they would threaten her constantly so he tried threats and that also didn’t work then he tried trick what did he do he had a demon who was a sorcerer and that sorcerer means a magician who can make all sorts of false things so he made a conjured up a head that looked like the head of Ram and then he Ravana took that head and he ran off he went to Sita’s Ashoka Vatika and he said you are not ready to accept me because of that poverty stricken weak mortal I have killed him and here is his head and he threw the head in front of Ram apparently the head of Ram in front of Sita and Sita saw this she was shocked she almost wooed and tears started coming from her eyes and she said alas what has happened alas alas the astrologers had said that you know I would never become a widow they have all been proven wrong Kaikeyi’s wish has been fulfilled now her son will become the king she was utterly devastated and she looked at Ravana she said the same arrow that you killed Ram let that arrow pierce through my body also let me die with him and she was so heart broken this was not the reaction Ravana had expected Ravana expected she would submit to him he was about to retort but at that time suddenly his minister came there and the minister told him that you are called for an urgent meeting in the assembly hall so the Vanara army had surrounded Lanka and they were about to attack so war preparations had to be made so he just left Sita and went away from there and then at that time Vibhishan’s wife she came there she had befriended Sita and she consoled Sita she told him this is just an illusion don’t fall afraid of this and she told him can you not hear the cries of war can you not hear the thudding of the footsteps can you not hear the blowing of the bugles actually the war is far from over Ravana had lied to her that while after the Vanaras and Ram and Lakshmana had crossed across the bridge they had been tired and they had gone to sleep and at night they had been attacked by the Rakshas and all of them had been killed it’s all a lie actually Ravana the Vanaras are out and they are about to attack and Ravana has been called out because the army has to be prepared for fighting so when she heard this Sita became calm and she was reassured by that so the point I am making is Ravana is like our mind and the mind will create so many illusions by which we will become discouraged by which we will feel as if oh I can’t do anything my conditionings are so much I will never be able to practise I can’t do this I can’t do that and that way when we feel then we will simply lose heart we will not be able to stay whole hearted and once we become half hearted then maya always arises so at such times we need others to encourage us so devotee association is the association where we can share our concerns and get those concerns addressed are very important it is guhyam akhyati prachati so by this kind of intimate association we are able to move closer and closer to Krishna through the practical difficulties of life it’s one thing to hear classes and think oh Krishna’s non past tense is so sweet so nice I like hearing about him that’s good but then Krishna shouldn’t just be a sort of theoretical conception for them we have to experience Krishna’s shelter amidst the daily battles of life and that we can experience only if we are steadily practising devotional service so in this way we move forward in our spiritual life and as we keep moving forward we go closer and closer to Krishna through the difficulties so it takes time for us to find out with whom we can intimately associate with whom we can share the heart so we speak a few things a few small things to some devotee and find out how things go forward and then we speak something more and by that we learn and then we see ok this person is trustworthy I can share and I can get some useful guidance also from this devotee and then slowly we move forward in our devotional life and often if you want good friends it’s important that we hear not just speak because often people just want someone to hear and by hearing sympathetically also by being available for others also we serve a valuable purpose for them we befriend them and then beyond that there is a principle of also giving some some devotee shares the heart we hear and then we offer the best guidance whatever we can in that situation so now sharing the heart doesn’t mean that we let others dump all the emotional garbage on us everybody has so much emotional garbage which has come from the past we all have our conditioning and it’s not necessary that we have to tell all the emotional garbage that we have gone through that we accumulate in our head to share our heart actually the past is the past and only that part of the past which is troubling us right now or which we feel is likely to trouble us in the future and that’s why we are apprehensive how to deal with it that’s what we have to talk about we don’t have to talk about everything so our time with the devotee should be spent in such a way that at the end of that time we both feel drawn closer to Krishna if by talking about our past all that happens is that you know I relive my past degraded life and I start getting memories which stimulate those desires and the other person also hears and the other person also gets saturated the other person also gets material desires by hearing those things then that is not Guhe Makhya Di Vruchti that sort of association can cause contamination in both of them the important point is it’s not that we have to discuss the sordid details of everything that we did but the important point is that whatever are the problems we are facing we should be able to deal with them whatever guidance is required for that so Srila Prabhupada says that how when we take the association we have to take it very carefully so so when we associate Srila Prabhupada explains that with whom like Prabhupada is devoted businessman and where do we associate that is in his con we have created life membership in another facility of sixfold exchanges life members give donations they invite to the houses and they enquire about Krishna Consciousness Srila Prabhupada is explaining the sixfold exchange is not just within the devotee community but with the life members also so they are doing Adati and what is the devotee doing in return Pratigrahanati is the devotee gives books and back to God magazine and they explain the practise of Krishna Consciousness this is also Guhe Makhya Di Vruchti and then what happens by this the spiritual life is nourished and the dormant Krishna Consciousness is revived so in this way there is exchanges which enable the devotees to grow in their devotional life because they are serving Krishna and life members also to grow because they are also learning more about Krishna now how is this to be done Srila Prabhupada quotes 2.62 Sangat Sanjayate Kama that in the association desires develop so the kind of association we have accordingly we will get those desires so now Srila Prabhupada talks a lot about this in Adati one is that we give the holy name and then this is all given in the purport we can discuss that briefly here so Sri Krishna Ashtakam says that by the holy name, what is the gift of the holy name the holy name purifies the heart and not just of those who consciously hear it and understand what is happening but even the lower beings the animals who don’t even understand it, still they also get purified Srila Prabhupada quotes the conversation between Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Haridas Thakur about how the animals how will they get purified they will get purified by hearing about the holy names even if they don’t understand it and by that what happens people can abandon animosity people can have their difference where they come together and dance and sing and they embrace each other while dancing they forget their animosity so now so one has to understand the situation of the material world we discussed this earlier and then we enquire about Krishna Consciousness Movement how I can improve my Krishna Consciousness so bhunkte bhojayate Prabhupada gives a practical example bhunkte is we invite people and they come for Sunday bhojayate means they invite us to their homes and we take prasadam so now as devotees generally we try to avoid taking prasadam from non devotees but while avoiding prasadam from non devotees if somebody is devotionally inclined then there is a six fold exchange of affections that is involved and that feeling of affection cannot be neglected so if we go to somebody’s house we may not take full prasadam, we can take fruits or we can take something like that so that the principle of exchange is not lost the principle of exchange continues and at the same time our devotional principles are also maintained so this has to be done intelligently and sensitively so now there is pratigrahanati we are willing to ready and receive and to give this is how the whole process of bhakti progresses and what happens by this we get success in spiritual life we feel peace in our heart, there is tranquilly and there is friendship that results so all these happen because actually the quality of our spiritual life is ultimately based on the quality of our relationships because spiritual life ultimately is a relationship it is a relationship with Krishna and the relationship with Krishna is never in isolation the relationship with Krishna is also related with our relationship with everyone else so in our relationship with Krishna and our relationship with everyone else we experience intimacy and through that intimacy we move closer to Krishna and to others so now let’s look at actually Prabhupada makes an elaborate purport about with whom we should not associate so we should not associate with we should not associate with the Mayavadis and the Atheists so why we should not associate Mayavadis and Atheists actually Prabhupada explains that that is explained in the the Poisonous Association, Snake and Milk and Bananas so what will happen is when we offer some food to snake it will become its poison will increase all the more therefore we should not feel so now what does this mean exactly we should not associate with Mayavadis there can be a there can be an intelligent understanding of this and fanatical understanding of it fanatical understanding is that you know that as soon as we see Mayavadis we have to start saying fools and rascals actually Prabhupada is not like that that is not at all true there are there is many things that go on within the circle of Krishna Consciousness also which are actually myths that means they are not truths but just go running around in the devotee circle because of their sensationalist value so there is this whole idea that when he would accost Mayavadis Mayavadis would be walking on one side of the street he would be walking on the other side of the street he would go there and he would catch their collar and shake them and tell them why are you teaching this nonsense no no no he was a cultured person he never did such things he confronted Mayavad but he confronted that with philosophical arguments and he was not compromising in presenting philosophical presentations but at the same time he was cultured in his presentation so similarly it’s important that as devotees we also present ourselves in a respectable way so that means we don’t have to go out of our way to associate with Mayavadis for having six fold exchanges with them that means the important point is not that we associate with them for the sake of six fold reciprocations but in some occasions it may be required for example if there is some especially in countries where Krishna Consciousness is not the majority religion it’s minority religion like in most western countries then at that time you know if there is something to some work to be done with the government then the government is unlikely to care for just one organisation they care for a community which is a religion which is an ancient tradition so the Hindus may have to come together and then we may have to make a common petition so at that time within the broad fold of what is called Hinduism today there are impersonalists and there are personalists also so devotees may have to work with impersonalists also to try to present Krishna Consciousness properly so when that is done when devotees are presenting Krishna Consciousness along with impersonalists who also in a sense are a part of the broad culture so our goal is to protect Krishna Consciousness but for that we have to work with other community people other people who also belong to the same faith community then that is not necessarily considered a bad association see bad association is when there is transfer of desires so in general we have to be careful because if you are not careful there is contamination possible there is a transfer of desires possible but the transfer of desires if that is not if we are careful enough to ensure that that doesn’t happen and if we are also cautious enough to ensure that we are there for doing a particular service and not for any other purpose then we can take care of that situation but for most devotees it is safe to avoid Mayavadi association now we shouldn’t think now as we discussed earlier there are Mayavadis and there are people under Mayavadi influence that means those people are not Mayavadis they just have some vague idea of spirituality or philosophy and they think the goal is to merge but if they are given proper philosophical education the basic questions are answered then they actually have devotion in their heart and that devotion will manifest so if that is the case then we shouldn’t deprive them of the Krishna conscious opportunity by labelling them as Mayavadis they are simply under Mayavadi influence but there are some people who are you could say in double core, they know too much to be helped that means they already think I know what the Vedas teach, I know what the Upanishads teaches I know what all this is about and they have their own twisted logic their own arguments and they are not ready to listen to anything or anyone if that is the case then we can keep a safe distance from them and we avoid their association so the important point is that we make sure that our heart is going towards Krishna and our other’s heart is going towards Krishna there are many examples that some Mayavadis would come to meet Srila Prabhupada and Prabhupada would be very cultured while dealing with them Srila Prabhupada was Sikh for the first time in a major way in 1967-68 66 he established his school then he was in New York then he went to San Francisco then after that his health suffered a severe like he almost had an attack it was almost as if he might die at that time somehow he recovered and at that time a Mayavadi came to meet him to enquire about his health Prabhupada was very surprised and Prabhupada told his disciple to get up and offer him the seat and Prabhupada himself got up he was lying down, he was very weak but Prabhupada sat up and talked with him and he offered some fruits to Prabhupada Prabhupada offered some fruits back to him and then when he was about to go, Prabhupada got up to see him off and he said no no no Swamiji you take rest you are not well so it was a very cultured dealing so you know that was a visit that Prabhupada got because although they were philosophically at loggerheads we are both trying to represent the same spiritual culture that comes from the Vedas and it was a call of courtesy and when there is a courtesy call one has to respond properly but Prabhupada himself was as far as the philosophy was concerned he was uncompromising and the philosophical point is that if there is intimate association there can be contamination but although there can be contamination that doesn’t mean that we become uncultured in our dealings with them where it is required if we have to do something together and that’s the only way things will move forward in all situations there are ways in which we can move forward without having to associate intimately with them but if that is not possible in certain situations we can move forward we can move forward only with working on a common forum then at that time we behave in a cultured way with them but apart from that we don’t associate with them whenever we talk about it is primarily with devotees because by associating with devotees the devotees hearts are connected with Krishna and by that connection our heart will move closer to Krishna so Prabhupada quotes from Chetan Charita Amrit that विषयी रन्न खायले दुष्ट है मन विषयी रन्न खायले दुष्ट है मन so Prabhupada basically says घुया माख्याति पुछति दाति प्रतिग्रणाति भूंपे भोजेति all these we should not do with Mayavadis so never give or accept food विषयी रण्न खायले दुष्ट है मन दुष्ट है मन नाही कृष्णे रस्मारा so विषयी रण्न खायले when we eat the food that is given by materialistic people then that contaminates our mind when our mind gets contaminated then we get dragged down by that नाही कृष्णे रस्मारा remembering Krishna becomes very difficult therefore what is important for us is to be able to make sure that our Krishna consciousness is nourished and others’ Krishna consciousness is nourished and as far as relationships are concerned there are no rigid principles in the sense that we have a broad understanding but we cannot have an ironclad code of conduct of how one should behave in all situations Krishna has given us intelligence and we use it the best we can and then after certain interactions, certain situations we look back and learn from experience and then improve ourselves so if we have to deal with impersonalist, how we deal with it will depend on time, place, circumstance but in general, devotee should have relationship with other devotees and by that we move forward closer and closer to Krishna and in this way all of us can happily march towards Krishna consciousness and Prabhupada gives example of how with respect to charity so with respect to charity he gives the example of the Dati principle means, Rupa Goswami gives Rupa Goswami he retired and he gave 50% charity to Krishna, 25% he kept for family and 25% for impersonal and emergency purposes so now so now this may seem very difficult to practically apply so in general Srila Prabhupada in his books gives us the ideal and as sadhakas sometimes the ideal may seem so impractical so the important point is not that we try to question the ideal or justify the real it is that we try to move forward upwards from wherever we are we move forward, we move forward gradually and the ideal is not there to make us feel bad about what we are doing whatever we are able to present nor is the real there so that we can just stay stuck to it all the time there is always, in every sadhaka’s life, there is a gap between the ideal and the real the important point is that the ideal shows us the pathway so it is said in the spiritual life, there are the stars and there are the stairs so we look at the stars and we move up the stairs that means the stars may seem very very high up but the stairs are one step one step, one step, like that we take steps upwards, upwards and slowly by that we move upwards towards Krishna and towards the Krishna conscious qualities that we want to develop so as devotees we discussed earlier, the charity is something which we should all give and how much we are able to give, that will depend on our time, place, circumstance in general we should be able to when we talk about charity, one is certainly giving some amount to Krishna but along with that our devotional life also involves certain expenses going to the temple, arranging programmes and doing various Krishna conscious activities, so all these have to be taken care of along with of course our material life so how every devotee, each individual devotee adjusts this will depend on time, place, circumstance sometimes some devotees feel that actually right now my financial situation is so bad that I can’t give any charity but in the future I’ll give charity and when I have money I’ll give a huge amount of charity but now I can’t give anything, in general this attitude even if it is sincere and sincerely intends to give charity in the future it often happens that such an attitude is at the very least harmful to our spiritual life and in some cases it can be fatal because you have to understand charity is not just an act, charity is an attitude charity is not just an act, it is an attitude, act means I go and give some donation, attitude means I develop the ingrained understanding that whatever I am getting is a gift from Krishna and a part of it must be offered back to Krishna so to the extent I develop that attitude of giving charity to that extent I’ll make spiritual advancement and to the extent I don’t develop that attitude to that extent I won’t be making spiritual advancement, so charity is not so much about the amount which I give but it is the attitude that I cultivate, so it may be that because my financial situation is so bad that I can’t give much charity fine, if I can’t give much then let me give little, but let me always try to stick to the principle that I have to I give a part of my earnings to Krishna so by this attitude once this gets ingrained then it will become a habit, so otherwise if we don’t have the habit of giving then even when we get a lot of money also we will not have the habit of giving and at that time the mind will think of various reasons why we should not give now, we’ll give in the future some devotees may argue that Rupa Goswami actually he gave 50% only when he retired it is not that throughout his life he has given 50% now we don’t know specifically how much he was giving throughout his life but the fact is when he was living in Ramakeli he was sustaining the devotional culture over there we know he and Sanatana Goswami they had built their own Vrindavan over the replica of Vrindavan and they were supporting the Brahmanas over there and they were making sure that the devotional culture went on so they were surely doing all that they could with their position and influence to protect and promote the devotional culture and that is the essence, Bhakti is not about haggling over figures Bhakti is about transforming the heart and we take inspiration from them and then we move forward in our spiritual life so again here these examples we take in mind so that we feel inspired, so that we feel motivated to keep ourselves moving in spiritual life and by taking one step, one step, one step we keep moving forward Vidhati Pratigrahanati now Vidhati Pratigrahanati means that we give something and we get something in return, so if we give charity what is it that we get in return now in some cases we may get some gifts sometimes those who give some charity of Sunday programme they may get a picture of Krishna they may get some Mahaprasad Garland that is fine that is actually Vidhati Pratigrahanati at one level, but at a deeper level as I said when we give something that is very dear to us, to Krishna then Krishna gets a place in our heart and we move closer and closer to Krishna when we can’t give our heart to Krishna we give what is in our heart to Krishna and by that we give Krishna a place in our heart so in general as Zadhakas we practise this Gohimakhyati Prachati and Vidhati Pratigrahanati Bhoomte Bhojayate Jaiva with devotees who are like minded so we will discuss about four about devotee association and about how to relate with different levels of devotees in our future classes here the summary is that actually the six exchanges are the ways love is reciprocated and there are those with whom we want to increase our loving relationships and there are others with whom we have to be cautious because those loving interactions may drag us down, so that’s why both sides Shila Prabhupada talks and gives a very balanced understanding in his purport of how to move forward in our spiritual life. Thank you very much Sri Upadesha Amrit Ki Jai Hare Krishna.