Bhakti yoga – cultural practice or spiritual science?

Congregation program in the Middle East

Talk ppt

topic and a very stimulating discussion I welcome all of you in this programme and as is mentioned here I’ll be speaking of the topic of taking our bhakti practise from the cultural level to the spiritual level many of my acquaintances have told me that their relatives when they go outside India some of them were not at all interested in Indian culture before that but after going abroad many of them become more interested in their own culture they sometimes become more religious more interested in their own culture so there can be many reasons for this but basically our culture is like our blood we don’t notice the blood as long as it is flowing internally but once there is a cut and the blood starts flowing out then we start noticing what is happening, blood is flowing out so like that, as long as the culture exists, this is a background presence in our life, we don’t really value it but when that background presence is not there, then we get disoriented I thought this is the way I was living but this is so different over here in some cases there is healing that needs to be done so that the blood doesn’t leak out, so sometimes people, if the blood has leaked out too much, they take in some other blood they transfuse blood some other person’s blood comes into the world, that’s like a person takes in somebody else’s culture or sometimes people try to go deeper into their culture and try to understand what their culture is the one thing that we observe about culture is that it varies in different parts of not just the world different parts of the country and when we especially start practising bhakti, there are certain activities of bhakti which are very soothing to the mind soothing to the heart, like kirtans are there worship of the deities is there so especially for example the month of Diwali and then many of you have at your house, open your houses so that you can have the dhammadayati so this is something which is a part of our culture and it makes us feel at home, this is what my ancestors have done, this is what I wanted this is what I would also like to continue and it makes us feel good about it, so bhakti is often seen as a cultural activity and yes it is a cultural activity but it is much more than a cultural activity and what is the difference between practising bhakti at the cultural level and practising bhakti at the spiritual level that will be the main topic of discussion today so spirituality is like a science science has two limbs to it there is theory and there is experiment so Newton observed a fruit falling last month I was in Cambridge so I gave a lecture in Cambridge on the weight of the tree or suppose a descendant of the tree where Newton saw the apple falling so now the point is when he sees the apple falling so what happens what makes this fall and to explain this he comes up with a theory so theory tries to explain what we observe and then at this stage we cannot see what is right or what is wrong but then they explain there is a stone fall there is a glass piece fall does it fall only in Cambridge or does it fall in Bristol also does it fall in Paris also does it fall in other parts of the world also so that way there is repetition and through the experiment we come to know whether theory is right or wrong similarly in spirituality there are two elements there is the philosophy philosophy gives us propositions about the nature of reality so who are we really what is the nature of reality, what is the purpose of life these fundamental questions are answered or at least attempts are made to answer it through philosophy now anybody can come up with any philosophy how do we know whether the philosophy is right or wrong, there has to be some way to verify it and that is where religion comes in now culture has many aspects to it, I will be focussing on the aspect of religious culture so religion is not just meant to be a set of rituals yes the rituals are important but the rituals have a purpose the purpose is to help us understand for ourselves whether the philosophy is right or wrong in the Bhagavad Gita 9th chapter 2nd verse Krishna states so Krishna talks about his knowledge as it is the knowledge that is the king of all knowledge and then he says further it is it is something something which we can practically experience in our life and in this way we can verify it what is the most important experience in the experience higher happens now so what is the primary element of philosophy let’s try to understand spirituality as a science by comparing so for example the philosophy tells us the Bhagavad Gita’s philosophy tells us that we are at our core, souls the soul is a part of God if the soul becomes connected with God then that provides the deepest fulfilment so this is the theory akin to the theory now akin to the experiment is the religion so for example if we chant the names of God if we do Kirtans we feel peaceful, we feel joyful now why do I feel peaceful, joyful will any other song also make me peaceful, joyful so if there is a practical way by which I connect with God and I experience some peace and joy as a result of that I can say this is in some way a verification of the philosophy the philosophy is telling I experience through the practises ever given in religion so in that sense religion and philosophy are the two limbs of spirituality now many times next slide so Sri Prabhupada Founder Acharya of ISKCON and he phrased the relationship between philosophy and religion quite nicely go ahead so philosophy without religion is just mental speculation go ahead yeah go ahead please so if there is philosophy yeah go ahead but there is no religion and what happens not going on so that is mental speculation that means people just sit on an armchair and maybe it is like this, maybe it is like that and this is called as armchair philosophy so people think yes people think I am a very intellectual person and I can philosophise but that philosophy has nothing to do with their lives and when people have this kind of philosophy you know one philosopher can propose one thing another philosopher the second philosopher is cleverer than the first one the second philosopher will refute the first philosopher the third philosopher will come and refute the second philosopher and in that way when people just keep countering one philosophy after another after another then people start thinking that this philosophy business anybody can counter anything they start doubting everything better not get into this philosophy better not get into this philosophy business at all but when we do that actually we are succumbing to another philosophy that is the philosophy of scepticism scepticism means that I doubt whatever I hear now doubt is good in one sense in the bhakshinath bhagavatam the third canto it is said that doubt is a function of the intelligence a wise person they won’t just believe whatever they are told they think they are intelligent and if it doesn’t make sense they doubt it now doubt is one function of the intelligence it is not the only function of the intelligence that means say if I go to a doctor and I have got some acidity in the stomach and the doctor says we have to do surgery and amputate your leg what? I have got a stomach upset why did you amputate my leg so here I shouldn’t just because the doctor is authority I accept it, no it shouldn’t be like that we have to use our intelligence so doubting is good but doubt can only tell us what is wrong doubt can never tell us what is right doubt can never tell us what is right I can hear any philosophy any argument, any point I doubt it this doesn’t make sense but the end result of it is that you will never come to know what is right so trying to use doubt as a means of acquiring knowledge is like trying to apply the brakes for moving in a car it just won’t take us anywhere so doubt is when we simply stay at the intellectual level then there is no practical application maybe it’s like this, maybe it’s like that so when people are very much doubting then we need to tell them that we have to take you shouldn’t decrease your doubts you should increase your doubts what do you mean increase your doubt now if you are doubting everything ok doubt, doubt also doubting everything except doubt see when I doubt something essentially what am I doing I am believing my doubt, isn’t it you see I am doubting your belief but in doubting someone’s belief I am believing my doubt so if you are going to doubt then let us doubt everything, let us doubt doubt also doubt, doubt means understand that doubting will never get me to the right thing if I am sick I go to a doctor, this diagnosis doesn’t make sense I can go to 100 doctors and I can doubt everybody’s diagnosis and then the end result is that I stay sick still I don’t get cure so philosophy without religion is just mental speculation it doesn’t lead us anywhere on the other hand go ahead there can be the other extreme where there is religion without philosophy so religion without philosophy is actually sentimentalism or it can be it can be it can be fanaticism fanaticism so religion without philosophy is actually sentimentalism sentimentalism means that whatever you feel like whatever you feel whatever makes you feel good you do that so that is sentimental now the idea is that some people say yes whatever you feel like you do that and this is like broad mindedness yes as compared to the other extreme where it is fanaticism that means that my way is the only way if you are not following my way you are going to hell and there are some even more fanatical people say not only are you going to go to hell we will help you get there faster so this is fanaticism fanaticism strikes any thinking person as irrational now if you understand that religion is meant to help us approach God God is unlimited so why should the way to God be limited why should any particular group or any particular religion or any particular sect have monopoly on God so fanaticism happens when we don’t have a philosophical understanding when we see God simply as something which I believe something which is there in my culture and then assume this is the only way so religion without philosophy leads to fanaticism that is one extreme now the other extreme is to understand what is wrong with fanaticism is consider if say religion is a process which is meant to meant to cure meant to heal us heal us so then it’s like a hospital or it’s like a therapy there can be allopathy there can be Ayurveda there can be herbal medicine there can be unani medicine there are different forms of treatment and all these forms of treatment not all of them necessarily will be valid or if you go to medical college there may be one medical college in one country there may be another medical college in another country somebody says only if you get a degree from my medical college then only you are a doctor otherwise you are a quack who gave you monopoly you can’t say that ordinary college is the only building providing college now fanaticism is a bit narrow minded but then some people go to the other extreme sentimentality where they say actually every building everywhere is a medical college wherever you go you are going to get a medical degree so sentimentality means whatever you do it is right no it doesn’t make sense there is a process there is a transformation that should be happening we will look at what the transformation means shortly but sentimentalism is the idea that all paths are right well all paths cannot be right because among all paths are right one path will be only my path is right so if somebody says all paths are right and all paths are like a metaset with that you have one set which is only my path is right but if only my path is right then all paths can’t be right there is a logical incoherence over here now the proper understanding is there is philosophy and there is religion and these two together give us coherent understanding so now what do we why get into this whole business about which path is right which path is wrong just live life we all need to live life but for living life we all make decisions on what basis do we make our decisions right from the morning when we wake up we are making decisions what should i dress what should i eat what should i cook today we may have our job should i be doing this first should i be doing that first we are going shopping should i purchase this company’s product our life is nothing but moment to moment decisions some decisions are hugely consequential and when we make decisions broadly speaking there are four parameters we should be making decisions first is culture culture means everyone does it everyone does it that means what say for example in India people wear socks and shoes now actually this wearing socks and shoes came from Britain Britain is a cold country and there the legs are very cold India is a hot country when we wear socks and when we wear shoes after 2-3 days of wearing the socks the socks become unsmellable so there is no rationality over there it is just culture everyone does it so i am doing it so now there is another thing which is culture means everyone is doing it right now so i am doing it that’s one way we decide what i am going to do the other is tradition tradition means we have always done it in the past we have done it and that’s why we continue to do it and there are many practises which we may do because of tradition like this and now again i am not saying these are right or wrong some part of it can be right some part of it can be wrong there can be many traditions which may just be based on some superstitions there is no rational spiritual basis for it just because in the past people have done it so people keep doing it that is also not very sound the third parameter which is now increasingly popular is mood why did you make this that’s my mood today why did you buy this that’s my mood today so now mood is basically based on feelings and we do a lot of things based on moods that is fine but it is small small choices but in our life and the major decisions of life are too serious a matter based on our moods because our moods are notoriously fickle notoriously fickle sometimes a boy and a girl they are attracted to each other they want to be together and then they say i can’t live without you and then they come together and after 6 months they say i can’t live with you so what will happen here it is just based on initial surface attraction sometimes the moods are so fickle the same thing which i felt is irresistible afterwards same thing i feel is intolerable so our moods they can be again one parameter that is limited but they cannot be the reliable parameter the fourth is logic logic makes sense does it make sense so logic is it is sensible way of doing things i use my intelligence i analyse, i evaluate now logic can be reliable but again logic is also limited because the framework of our logic is also based on some information and if our information is incomplete then logic will also be inadequate so for example if a doctor is diagnosing a patient he says you know ok we need to do surgery but if the doctor has not done case study, doesn’t know the proper history and say that patient has some heart problem because of which the surgery is very dangerous cannot give the patient anaesthesia now the doctor based on that information, doctor’s decision might be fine but if the doctor gets more information that decision which earlier seemed logical will seem illogical it can be very fatal so logic is also not always reliable now all these are meant to be aids in decision making they are all lighthouses but they are movable lighthouses a lighthouse is used if a ship is coming to the coast in some places the coastline will be rocky ship comes over there it may get damaged so the place where the coastline is safe for coming to the port that is indicated by the lighthouse so what if the lighthouse itself is moving then instead of being at a place where the coastline is safe the lighthouse when moving may point to a place where the coastline is rocky and the ship by following that coastline may get damaged following that lighthouse may get damaged so is there anything which will be a reliable guide for us that is that is how can we make best choices or the best basis for making choices that is scripture scripture is the lighthouse that never moves somebody may say this is some books written by somebody in the past why should we believe them if those times were different let me run some suggestions some ideas that is possible but before getting into the specifics let us look at fundamental principles we see that in life whatever are our basic needs they are provided for nature we need air to breathe and air is there in nature we need water to drink and water is there in nature we need food and food is there in nature now if we look at this way the world is there whatever are our basic needs they are provided for so now knowledge of what to do, what not to do that is also a foundational need so imagine if somebody gave us a very complicated device if they gifted us a device then naturally they would also give us a manual to explain how to use that device so just as our basic needs are provided for could it be that our need for knowledge is also provided for you got it so there can be blind faith but there can also be invisible faith now if anybody comes along and says this book is a manual for this device if i just take any book and start using it as a manual that will not work but how do i know that this book is a manual for this device we could just look at the label but more important inside the label anybody can put anything most importantly then look at the content look at the look at the manual look at the device the manual will help us to make better sense of the device this button is for this purpose this combination of keys is for this purpose this socket is for this purpose so it will help us to make sense and secondly it will help us to operate the device manual will help us to make better use of the device similarly if you look at the bhagavad gita the bhagavad gita is a book which is a guide book for life tasmat shastra pramante karya karya vasudha yatva shastra dham karva kartu dharasi so krishna in the 16.24 says therefore understand shastra and based on that decide how to act in life this is the basis for action and it is a way in which god has provided for our need for knowledge and we study the bhagavad gita and observe does this help me to make better sense of life does this what is happening in my life do the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle start falling into place we can evaluate that intellectually and in practical does it help me to work better in my life does it help me, does it provide me guidelines for functioning more effectively in life if you observe this if both these work yes, this could be a man so it is not a it certainly requires faith but it is not a blind faith it is reasonable faith so now if you look at life what is the purpose of life all of us may have our own goals, somebody may say I want to become wealthy, I want to become this I want to become that so that is fine but ultimately what do we want whenever any new product comes up a new car model comes up people want to purchase that car, a new phone comes up we want to get that phone now if we look at this beyond the specifics that we want there is something we all want within ourselves we want things because we hope that by having those things we will become more attractive, more lovable and then basically what we want is to love and to be loved that is our core longing when a child is crying the child cries not just because she wants milk yes, she wants her mother and she wants her mother’s love milk is not just for the child, it is not just physical need milk is the way the mother’s love the child also feels the mother’s love so right from the birth what we actually need is love and if we look at ourselves where does this longing for love come from where does the longing for love come from one more thing about this longing for love is that we want to live and we want to love and we want to live forever and we want to love forever none of us wants to die we all want to live on and on now if we and we want people whom we love we also want them to be we want our relationships to last many of the romantic movies they end with happily ever after that is an innate aspiration of the heart so now if you look at the world around us, nothing is permanent absolutely nothing is permanent so if we were simply material creatures the world around us is material if we were simply material creatures then because there is nothing around us which is eternal this big building it’s not going to last forever the big towers that are there nothing is going to last forever so if we were simply material creatures and around us there is nothing that lasts forever where does our desire to live forever come from if I have never tasted pizza in my life if I have never heard of pizza in my life suddenly I get a desire for pizza people around me where did you get this desire from did you watch some TV, did you hear some programme did you have some friends who eat it so our desires cannot come from a vacuum if we get a desire it must have its source and around us we see that nothing that is eternal and yet we all have a desire to live forever where does this desire come from this desire the Bhagavad Gita explains it comes from our core and that core is actually eternal so around us everything is the opposite of eternal, it is ephemeral it is temporary but within us our core is eternal that core is the Atma and the Atma is connected with the Paramatma so this longing to love it comes from the soul and it is meant to be directed towards the Supreme Soul this brings us to the next thing so actually there are people who can approach God at different levels and if you look at the various religions in the world rather than classifying them in terms of myths, Hinduism Christianity, Judaism, Islam we can actually classify them according to more objective levels so in every religion there are some people who approach God out of fear that if I don’t worship God God may create some trouble in my life so the idea is that there is no you don’t create some trouble so I will do something for you like in some localities some people say pay some hafta to some gundai you don’t create some trouble for me this is a very negative conception of God I have to do something for God otherwise he will create trouble now of course fear is itself not necessarily bad the child if there is some healthy fear of parents that is good, the child will not do wrong things but fear should not be the defining basis of the relationship and by the childhood think that my parents are there to punish me so from the level of fear the higher level is desire desire means I think that I want something and I can’t get it myself so I will approach God so they form a partnership in God partnership is what my desire, your power so what happens it is basically a commercial relationship I want something from you, I will worship you and you do this for me so now here also because it is a self-centred relationship so for example once a person went to a temple he said to God I have purchased this so it’s a lottery 50 was 1 crore if I get 50 crore if I get 1 crore I will give 50 lakhs to you and then what happened he went to the centre where the announcement was made and he found that he had won the lottery but he had got 50 lakhs so then he went to the temple and said oh God you are so clever you took your share before me laughing the idea is that when we approach God at the level of desire it’s like a business and business basically we want to give as less as possible and take as much as possible so beyond that is the level of duty at the level of desire we see we want God to do these things for us please give me this at the level of duty we understand that God has already done so much nowadays with science advancing if our bodily parts don’t function then we can replace the bodily parts if somebody’s hand doesn’t work then we can have a prosthetic hand or if a person’s heart does not function so well then we can have a pacemaker or whatever so now many people have digestive problems so scientists thought can we put a digesting machine in the stomach so if you can’t digest have a digesting machine and then they found that actually the process of digestion is so complex that you do not need a machine you need a factory laughing and not just a factory but a chain of factories because so many different processes happen over there so in physics work is a force into displacement so they found that actually when we eat food the amount of work that happens the food just goes down at IFM our alimentary canal the motion that happens all that involves so much work that the work needed to digest one handful of food is often more than what most sedentary people the amount of work they do throughout the day normally who does all that work we just eat the food and the only time we think of our digestion is when it doesn’t work laughing so actually we are not doing it so someone else is doing it literature 15.4 Krishna explained that he has set up a system of digestion so the various body systems that maintain us we are not even aware of those systems they are not even going on not happening by our control but some So another way to understand this is that sometimes when people fall very sick, we can use artificial devices to maintain the person’s life. So if their heart is not working, we can have a ventilator by which they can have the heart system breathing going on. Now researchers tried that and they saw that if the whole body stops functioning, can we use artificial devices to keep the person alive? First of all, there are many functions which you cannot just do by artificial means.
But even doing it for one day is phenomenally expensive. So all this will actually be done by some higher intelligence. So at the level of duty, we understand that God has already done so much for me.
And this is a stable level. But at the same time, at the level of duty also, sometimes, oh it’s a duty, it’s a burden, I have to do this. Higher than this is the level of love.
At the level of love, we understand that God is God’s greatest blessing. Normally at the previous level, we think that this is God and these are his blessings. That God should give me this, give me this, give me that.
That’s fine. At least we are approaching God. At the level of love, we understand that God is God’s greatest blessing.
So the Bhagavad Gita explains that there are many things attractive in this world. But all these attractive things, they manifest a spark of God’s splendour. yajna-bhÅ«rti-matsarthaṁ Å›rÄ«ma-dÅ«rjitaṁ evaṁ tattva-devāvadecchaṁ mama-tejaṁ ca sambhavaṁ That whatever is attractive, whatever is beautiful, whatever is glorious in this world, it manifests a spark of Krishna’s splendour.
That means, let’s say, there’s a cricketer who bats very well. Where does a cricketer’s batting skill come from? If it’s their skill, yes, but where did they get it from? If you look at their body, if somebody is a very good singer, if you do a scientific analysis of their voice chords, yes, they may have a little more tensile strength, but in terms of constitution or in terms of composition, it’s not that their voice chords are made of some special substance. All voice chords are made of the same substance, but one person’s voice makes us run towards them, another person’s voice makes us run away from them.
What is the difference? Actually, it’s not just biological. There’s something more to it. So the abilities that we have, the attractive things that are there in this world, all these, they are the element of God.
But they manifest a spark of Krishna’s splendour. That means, when we become attracted to things of this world, when we become attracted to people of the world, then we are getting attracted to a spark. But the spark, if it’s dark and there’s a spark, then the spark will give a little light.
But if there’s a whole fire, the fire will glow much more. If the spark is coming from the sun, the sun will glow much more light. So whatever we are attracted to in this world, that is manifesting a spark of God.
And we can think that if this is so attractive, how much more attractive God is. And thus, whatever happiness, whatever joy we get from the things of this world, the Bhagavad Gita tells us that we can get much, much more by directing our love towards Krishna. This does not mean that we reject the things of this world, but we connect them with Krishna.
So the path of bhakti is, in this sense, a universal path. So whatever we discussed about there being a transcendent source of knowledge, philosophy and religion being two ways in which we can understand the higher aspects of life and verify it, all this is actually universal. Now, in different religions, in different traditions, in different cultures, there may be different specific practises.
Sometimes, some specific practises may even be opposite. So, for example, if we consider traffic rules. So, whenever I go to a car, I always get confused.
Should I go to the left or should I go to the right? Because we have one country at one time, which is here, now I have forgotten. We go towards the left. So, if you go to America, if you go to Canada, it’s a different system over there.
So now, if you see, the rules are not just different, they are opposite. If in India, if I drive on the right, I’ll get into trouble. But if in America, if I don’t drive on the right, I’ll get into trouble.
Although the rules are opposite, the purpose is the same. The purpose is the regulation of traffic. The smooth movement of vehicles on a road.
So, similarly, in different religious traditions, there may be different rules. The specifics may be, but the purpose remains the same. The purpose is to help people raise their consciousness from the material level to the spiritual level.
From loving the things of this world to becoming lovers of God. That is the ultimate transformation that Bhakti Yoga brings about. See, Bhakti is an emotion.
Bhakti Yoga is a process that provides that emotion. Some of us may be, I feel Bhakti, I don’t feel Bhakti. Sometimes I come to a temple and I feel so nice.
I feel so much Bhakti. Other times I come to a temple and I’m just looking at the watch. When can I go now? So, this is the fickleness of the mind.
I talked about our moods a little. But Bhakti Yoga is a process which connects us with Krishna. Bhakti, Pareshanubhava, Vyaktiranjan Pracharam.
Bhakti is a process. What does it do? Para, Isha, Anubhav. Anubhav is experience.
Isha is God. Para is transcendental. That means that God, who cannot be experienced by any ordinary beings, He becomes experienceable through the process of Bhakti.
And then, Para, Isha, Anubhav. When we get this Anubhav, this experience of God, what is the result of that? Vyaktiranjan Pracharam. One does not crave for any other experiences.
Because one understands that actually this experience of God is so fulfilling, it is so joyful, that all the other worldly experiences, they are marvellous. It’s like if somebody gets the light of the full fire, they are not attracted by the spark. So Bhakti is a process which gives us experience of God.
And if we see Bhakti simply as a cultural activity, then we think, yes, I feel like doing it, so I do it. I don’t feel like doing it, so I don’t do it. It’s good whenever we do it, even at the cultural level.
But then when we do it at the cultural level, we don’t have the transformational potency of Bhakti. Bhakti can actually transform our life, transform our consciousness, it can give us access to happiness within, access to peace within, access to strength within. Because ultimately God is within us.
And Bhakti connects us with Krishna. So when we approach the concept of Bhakti Yoga as a spiritual process, then that doesn’t mean we give up the culture, but we understand the culture and specific cultural practises, we connect them with their purpose and do those activities purposefully. So how do we know that somebody actually has Bhakti? When somebody has experience of God, that is, the internal symptom is that is experience of God.
The outer, external symptom is that a person is not captivated by worldly things. Because they are experiencing God, they are not chasing after worldly things. They may use the things of this world in God sense, but they are not chasing after these things.
So when we see those who are devoted to God, and we see that they are not craving after things of the world, you can understand that actually they are experiencing God. And in their association, we also can experience God. So Bhakti as a transformational process, it gives us experience of Krishna.
Now, suppose most of us, if we say, come to a religious place, even people who don’t believe in God, they come to a temple, they feel there is something special, they feel peaceful over there. They don’t understand why I am feeling peaceful, but they feel peaceful. Somebody comes in a kirtan, they feel some joy over there.
They don’t know what is the source of that joy, but they experience some joy. So actually, we need the proper understanding to make sense of why we experience peace, why we experience some joy. When a baby is new born, and at that time, the baby starts crying and the mother picks up the baby and offers her a breast milk.
Initially, the baby doesn’t even understand that there is a person, this person is my mother, she loves me. Initially, for the baby, there is something nice from which a nice thing is coming. Then the baby just drinks it.
Over a period of time, as the baby starts growing, she understands that there is something nice coming in my offerings, she uses it for her purpose, this person loves me. As the baby starts growing, she starts becoming aware of her mother. And then suppose, it’s a cold night, and the baby starts shivering.
Now, the mother sees that and puts a blanket over her. So, when the mother puts the blanket, at that time, the baby is asleep. When the baby is asleep, she will not even understand that my mother put this blanket over her.
Initially, she is feeling cold and now she is feeling cosy. But as she starts growing, then what happens? She goes further. Even if she is not woken up, she is feeling cold and suddenly she is feeling cosy.
At least she understands that somebody must have put this blanket over her. And that somebody is my mother. So, although she has not opened her eyes, she has not seen with her eyes that it is the mother who has put the blanket.
But with whatever little intuitive intelligence she has, she connects. She connects the warmth and the cosiness of the blanket with the love of the mother. So, similarly, when we are practising Bhakti, right now, our eyes are closed.
So, we cannot see Krishna directly. But whenever we practise the Goswami Bhakti, we chant Krishna’s name, we pray to Krishna, we try to absorb our consciousness in Krishna. We may have anxiety, we may have fear, we may have stress, but if we just absorb ourselves in Krishna, we get relief from that.
It’s like we were agitated, but somebody has put the blanket and we feel comfortable. So, we need Jnana Chakshu, we need the eyes of knowledge to connect the experience of peace and joy that we experience with Krishna’s love. When we do that, when we can make that connection, why am I not feeling so peaceful? Why am I not feeling so joyful? That is because this is the way I am experiencing Krishna’s love.
Then, the experience of peace and joy becomes a confirmatory test for us. Su-sukham kartamam dhanyam That we experience joy and that’s how we move onwards in our spiritual life. And this experience of joy is something which is available for everyone.
Now, one aspect of scientific process is that, now anybody who practises it, it’s not only a Britisher drops a fruit little ball. If it’s a Britisher or an Indian or a Pakistani or whatever, they drop a fruit little ball. It’s universal.
So like that, when we connect with God, whoever it may be, they connect with God, universally they can experience peace, they can experience joy. Pratyakshavadamam dhanyam Su-sukham kartamam dhanyam By practical experience of joy, we understand that there is higher spiritual reality and the highest spiritual reality is God, is Krishna. So this inner transformation happens by the practise of bhakti.
And the practical level, when we practise bhakti, we always feel that, you know, okay, bhakti practise is nice, but I don’t have time. I’m so busy. And yes, it’s true, we are all busy.
At the same time, actually, often we miscalculate what is it that keeps us busy. We think of our time in terms of activities. Morning I have to do this, then later, in the noon I have to do this, afternoon I have to do this, evening I have to do this, night I have to do this.
We think of our time as consumed by activities. And that’s true. But actually, our time is consumed not just by activities.
It is also consumed by thoughts. It’s also consumed by desires. So, for example, you know, if we go into a meeting, and then we see some acquaintance, and we greet them, and they just snub us.
And then, say, if it’s a class, we’re sitting in the class, and we are seething with anger, how dare this person snub me? Next time, in public, in front of everyone, I’ll snub them. We’ll be sitting for one hour, and nothing is going inside the head. All that is going on in the head is a revenge fantasy.
So, what has happened? A thought has consumed a full heart. Or if somebody gets a desire, maybe I should eat this, maybe I should watch this. We’ll be sitting in a class, or we’ll be doing some other work, but the desire is eating them up properly.
So, our time is not just taken by activities. Our time is taken by our thoughts. And if our thoughts become regulated, actually, whatever time we have, we’ll be able to use it much more effectively.
So, our practise of bhakti, it brings order in our inner world. It purifies us. It regulates the flow of our thoughts.
And, when we are focused, we are able to do much more in our life, in whatever we are doing. In the process of bhakti, ultimately, it helps us develop love for Krishna. But immediately, practically, it actually calms us down intentionally.
And the time that goes off and wastes thoughts, that time gets used constructively. So, when we feel I don’t have time for practising bhakti, actually, do we have time to worry? Well, we don’t have time to worry, but still we worry. Nobody has that time.
Evening 7 to 7.30 is worry time. Nobody does that. But worry is like a background noise that is constantly going on.
Constantly going on. It just sucks our energy. Worry is basically, what is happening? We are at one particular place where the mind is taking us here, there and everywhere.
And making us worried about things. So, worry is a very clear and practical example of thought energy going wild. Or thought energy, which is meant to be used productively.
Worry means the thought energy goes wild. So, now, the way to deal with it is, if you connect with Krishna, that itself substantially decreases our worry. Because, understand, Krishna is a supreme controller.
Krishna is in control. Basically, when we are not spiritual, we think of things, I conclude at this point, we think of things only in two options. That things are in control or things are out of control.
If things are in control, yes, I feel confident, I feel happy. If things are out of control, what is happening? You become panicky. But, when we are spiritually conscious, we understand that things may not be in my control, but they are not out of control.
Things may not be in my control, but they are in Krishna’s control. Krishna says, if you become conscious of me, then by my grace you will pass over all obstacles. That means that, yes, there will be problems.
Things may not be in our control. But we understand that no matter how big my problem is, actually God is bigger. So, when we understand that Krishna is there, Krishna is in control, then that itself substantially removes our anxiety.
And it is not just an intellectual thing, oh, God is in control. When we practise bhakti, we actually connect with Krishna. That gives us experience.
So, the time that is sucked away by our thought energy running wild through, say, worry, all that time will be saved. And by investing time in the practise of bhakti, we will find that externally, in terms of time, we may seem to have less time, but actually we will be doing more in whatever time we have. And in that way, we can move forward, become more effective, more productive in our lives, in this life itself.
And by the practise of bhakti, beyond this life, we attain the most auspicious destination. We become, by learning to love Krishna, we attain Krishna. So, I’ll summarise.
I talked about how bhakti is not just a cultural activity, but a spiritual activity. A culture is like our blood. When we start losing it, we start noticing it.
And there are different cultures in different parts of the world. We focus on religious culture. we discussed about how just as in science there is theory and experiment, so in philosophy, in spirituality, there is philosophy and religion.
So just as the experiment verifies the theory, the religion is meant to verify the philosophy. So the philosophy tells us that we are souls, parts of God. The religion uses practises to connect with God.
Chant is what we use. And if we experience some joy by that, some peace by that, it indicates that yes, maybe this philosophy is true, it makes sense. So then, philosophy without religion is just mental speculation.
Maybe this is true, maybe this is true, maybe nothing is true. But when we start doubting too much, doubting as a way of knowing is like applying brakes for moving a vehicle. It just doesn’t work.
So if somebody has too many doubts, tell them, have some more doubt and start doubting doubt itself. So we need to do something practical by which we come to know if something is right or wrong. Like a patient who is sick, ultimately they have to take some medicine.
You can’t just keep doubting all doctors. So then, on the other hand, there is only religion without philosophy, that is sentimentalism or fanaticism. Sentimentalism is like saying that fanaticism is like saying only if you come to my college you are getting a medical degree.
Otherwise, it’s all bogus. Nobody has a monopoly on medical degrees. Similarly, nobody has a monopoly on approaching God.
God is unlimited and He can be approached in different ways. But fanaticism, sentimentalism is like saying that all buildings, everywhere are medical colleges. No, there has to be an objective standard and the objective standard is whether by following the process people are actually becoming spiritually elevated.
They are developing love for God. They are becoming spiritually realised and that can actually be discussed. There are so many different paths.
Why do we need to get into this whole stuff itself? So I discussed how our basic needs are satisfied. Food, air, water are there in nature. Knowledge is also needed.
The need of knowledge is provided through the manual of life that is scripture. Accepting scripture is not blind faith but reasonable faith. Because scripture if we study, it will help us to make better sense of life and help us to live life better.
Like a manual, it helps us to better understand the device and better operate the device. And I discussed about if we don’t use scripture then we have to make decisions in life. So we make decisions either based on culture or tradition or mood or logic.
All these can be aids but they cannot be necessarily reliable in making decisions. So we need a reliable, immovable lighthouse and that is scripture. And so the scripture tells us that actually, the Bhagavad Gita for example tells us that we all have a longing to live and a longing to love.
And we have a longing to live and love forever. So where does this come from? If we are simply material creatures, our desires would have come from our material circumstance and nothing around us is eternal. So a child who has never seen a pizza, a person who has never heard of a pizza, they cannot have a desire for pizza.
So if we have a desire for living forever that desire must be coming from somewhere. If it’s not coming from the external it must be coming from the internal. So at our core is our essence which is spiritual is indestructible.
That is the soul. The soul which is eternal wants an eternal object for love. That object is called Krishna.
And the process of Bhakti Yoga is the process of developing our love for Krishna. So whatever is attractive in this world, its attractiveness comes from the spark of Krishna’s splendour. So whatever pleasure we get in engaging in that object, we get many many times more pleasure in connecting with Krishna.
Because this is the spark, that is the God. And when people approach God, it could be at the level of fear, desire, beauty or love. The most fulfilling relationship within is with God at the level of love where we understand that God is God’s greatest blessing.
And the process of Bhakti Yoga it is not just a cultural process. In different cultures there will be different practises. Just like traffic rules will be different in different countries.
But the purpose is the same. That is to elevate, to raise human consciousness from the lovers of material things to lovers of God. And in this how do we know if somebody has Bhakti? We internally experience God.
And that experience is so fulfilling that we become detached from external experiences. And we need to use philosophy, Jnana Chakshu, the eyes of knowledge, to connect our experiences with Krishna’s love. It’s like for the child, the comfort of the blanket that represents the mother’s love.
Similarly for us, when we feel distressed or stressed, at that time we connect with Krishna and experience relief, experience serenity. That is the experience of Krishna’s love. And if we don’t have time for practising Bhakti, we should know that our time is taken not just by activities but also by thoughts.
Worry is basically our thought energy gone wild. And when we connect with Krishna, invest some time for connecting with Krishna, our thoughts will become more organised, more regulated. And that way, we will be able to use whatever time we have more effectively.
So Bhakti helps us to become more effective in this life also and ultimately our life becomes supremely productive because we attain eternal life with Krishna. So thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Does anyone have any questions? Yes. Nice presentation. You said that you can’t make a decision until you approach the scripture.
You make a decision. For this, we are looking for spiritual decisions only or material decisions also. Okay.
So we can switch this off. So when we talk that we should make decisions based on scripture, does it refer to material decisions or does it refer only to spiritual decisions? Actually, there are different levels of importance to different decisions. So, scripture is a guidebook for life.
It is not a It is not that our life is meant to be micro-controlled. It is not that every situation that is going to happen in everyone’s life, there is some mega google dharma book somewhere. Okay, I am facing this situation.
Let me search in google and find out. What should I do in this situation? It is not like that. Basically, when we say scripture is a guidebook for life, what scripture does is, it activates our functions.
दामि भुद्धियोगम् तम् येन्यमानुपयाम् There are certain principles. When Bhagavad Gita talks about dharma, dharma is not just adherence to certain laws. Yes, there is adherence to laws required.
But ultimately, real life situations are so complex. We can’t just decide based on some code somewhere. But the principle is that by studying scripture, by seeing how dharma is applied in different situations, by ourselves practising bhakti, when we become purified, our own inner compass becomes activated.
And based on that, we make sound decisions. So, it is like a child who learns to walk. Initially, the mother is needed or the parent who is needed to help the child walk.
But eventually, the child learns to walk on one’s own. And of course, even if the child is going to climb a mountain, then they may have some support, may go together with someone. So, like that, what the study of scripture does is, it gives us a framework for making decisions.
Even Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita does not ask Krishna for a decision. Krishna does not ask, should I fight or should I not fight? He asks, what is dharma? He is telling, what is dharma? And the Bhagavad Gita had simply been a question of should I fight or should I not fight? We would not have been interested 5000 years ago, later in it. It is a question about individual states.
So, that means that scripture does give us guidelines about broad principles in life. So, rather than classifying between material and spiritual, scripture, first of all, gives us a broad purpose for our life. It is like, if I am at a particular place, where am I to go? Okay, I am at Abu Dhabi, I want to go to Dubai.
At least I know where I am to go. Then after that, I have decided where to go. Okay, I have to go there.
Should I go by car? Should I go by flight? Should I go by train? Whatever ways are there. Should I go by bus? These are some practical decisions. The first thing that scripture tells us is, what is our purpose of life? Then after that, okay, what path are we to take? Broadly, there are some guidelines.
But specifics, if there is a traffic jam at one place, it is not that I have to go only by that route. I can take some other route. So, practicals will always really contain these questions.
So, when we have to make major decisions in our life, we consult some devotees who are experienced. They can give us some insights, some guidelines. We have a spiritual master who we can consult.
Broadly speaking, following scripture is not just following some law code all the time. It is more like following a process by which our own inner compass becomes active. And then we get the guidance from within about how to make sound decisions.
Does that answer your question? Any other questions? Yes. We are all soul. So, we are Atma.
God is Parmatma. So, Atma is a part of Parmatma. So, we can say that we are the children of the God.
Now, a child is fully dependent on the parents. The child, anything that the child needs, he or she will go to the parents. Suppose somebody is in trouble, in financial trouble.
And the example that you gave, that somebody won a lottery and he is going to the temple and asking the God, that God, please help me in winning the lottery. So, if the person is considering himself as a child of the God and the God is parent, so what’s harm? Good question. So, we are like the children of God.
Children naturally go for whatever they want to their parents. So, if a person is in financial need and they go to God for that, what is wrong in it? It’s not a question of wrong or right. It is a question of good, better and best.
Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, appreciates even those who come to him for material things. Chitra Vidha Vajan Thema, Janah Sukruthi Naradina Artho Jijnasura Artharthi Janam Chidhartha Sukhasam Artharthi, Artha Arthi means those who want wealth. Those who come to him, Krishna says, Sukhruthi Na They are good people.
Next verse, he says, Udahara Sarvaiyur All of them are intelligent. Magnanimous. So, definitely to approach God for anything is good.
At the same time, just taking this example further, if a child if you consider a child has grown up and a child is maybe staying in college or somewhere else or now stays far away and contacts the parents only when wants money. Never calls the parents to ask how you are, nothing. Only time they call, maybe once a month they call please send me money.
Well, the parents will send money but that is not a loving relationship. So, it is not that when we say we should ask God for material things, it doesn’t mean it’s a ban on asking for material things. The point is, material things asking for material things shouldn’t define our relationship with God.
At our level, material things are important for us. And the point is that our relationship with God should be just bigger than asking for things. At the level of desire, doing puja is considered to be like a cheaper alternative to shopping.
I want this, I want this, go to God and ask all those things. So, the point is that we can’t separate. If I care for someone, I can’t say I love your soul but I don’t care for your body.
No, we love the complete person. The body, mind and soul are a whole unit. Together it won’t matter.
So similarly, it is not that God cares only for our soul and doesn’t care for our body. But what happens is when we define our relationship with God only in material terms, then that relationship becomes very utilitarian. And then that is not a relationship of reciprocation.
That is basically one person is using the other person. That’s all. So, we are in need.
Certainly we can pray to God. But it’s not that only when we are in need, we pray to God. We connect with God on a regular basis through the process of love.
When we are in need, at that time definitely we can pray. Does it answer your question? Thank you. Any other questions? I have performed a prescribed duty.
During that time, so accordingly, we have to perform a delayed prescribed duty. How do we understand? Okay. So, Krishna says, do your prescribed duty.
But how do we know what is our prescribed duty? Say again, there is there are specific practises and there are universal principles. So, I’ll give you an example for this. The scripture sometimes talks about specific practises.
But from those specific practises there are universal principles. So, for example, the Bhagavad Gita is spoken on a specific historical occasion. That is, a war is about to take place.
And Arjuna also has a specific dialogue. Should I fight or should I not fight? Now, from that specific situation, the Bhagavad Gita moves to universal principles. Okay.
What is Dharma? On what basis should we act? To the universal principles. So, basically, when we want to learn or apply something, we move from specifics to universals. And then from universals, we come to specifics again.
In literary theory, this is called the ladder of abstraction. So, ladder of abstraction means that basically, what did this mean in its original setting? What is its universal meaning? And what does it mean right now? Actually, Prabhupada in his book says it all the time. So, for example, in the prayers of Prahlad Maharaj, in the seventh canto, Prahlad Maharaj is saying that how the senses pull us in different directions.
The eyes pull me in one direction, the ears pull me in another direction. Now, Prabhupada in his translation itself writes that the ears are attracted to radio songs. Now, somebody may say, at the time of Prahlad Maharaj, there are no radio songs.
So, what is going on over here? See, Prabhupada is actually making scripture accessible to us. The universe at that time was in some other kind of songs. The principle is that ears distract us.
As we move from the specific to the universe, the universe will come back to the specific today. So, the specifics of what our prescribed duties will be, that can be. So, Varnashram is in Varnashram, there is a specific form and again there is a principle.
The form was that you divide society into four varnas. But again, the principle is basically to give people engagements according to their nature, according to their strengths. And so, everybody faces problems in life.
But the expertise of Varnashram is to give people problems that they like to face. Say, somebody is a brahmana, intellectual. I told, no.
In the Bhagavatam, there is some verse on that. Can you find it out? Yeah, I’ll search it. I’ll find it out.
But if somebody is of a Vaishya nature, can you find this verse? Thousands of verses. Who will find out? You have a class. Just give the class without the verse.
Who is going to notice? On the other hand, if somebody is of a Vaishya nature, I told, no. Okay, we want to build a big temple. And we have to raise 1 million dollars.
Now we can do something. We’ll go to this person. We’ll do this.
We’ll make this scheme. We’ll arrange this. He is a brahmana, intellectual.
We have to raise 1 million dollars for building a temple. After you build a temple also, what are you going to do? You are going to study scripture. Do it, da.
How do you need to build a temple? So, the point is that in Varnashram, the purpose was not just to divide society into classes. The point was to engage people according to their strengths. And that principle, we can apply now also.
So if we are in a particular situation, we are in a family, we are in a particular job, we don’t have to radically shift at all. Whatever situation we are in, the purpose of the prescribed duties within Varnashram was to make our material life as harmonious as possible for our spiritual growth. If I am materially engaged in a profession that I am completely unsuitable for, then that causes me so much agitation, that causes me so much frustration that I can’t have any peace of mind to do spiritual activities.
The idea is to make the material life as harmonious as possible so that we can practise spiritual life. So Varnashram itself is not inherently spiritual. Varnashram is basically a material division of society.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that नाहं विप्रो नचे नरपति नापि विष्ण चूतो नाहं वर्णिय जग्रहपति लगस्तो यतिर्वा He says I am not a Brahmin, Kshatriya, I am not a Brahmachari, I am what I am at. गोपी भर्तु पदकमलयो दासि दासा I am the servant of the Lord of the Gopis. So the point is that Varnashram is meant, was meant to have a social division so that there is harmonious engagement of people that is called practical spiritual life.
So in today’s situation it may not be practical to have that kind of division. But the principle over there was that we engage in a way that is materially engaged in a way that is harmonious for our spiritual life. So if we are in a job which is very demanding and it doesn’t leave us time for spiritual life then we may consider shifting to some other job which will give us time for our spiritual life, which will give us overall balance in our life.
So that could be a practical way which could apply the essential principle of Varnashram. So prescribed duties is not necessarily mean some duties which are necessarily given only in scripture. Prescribed duty means the duty which enables us to maintain our material life.
So whatever duty we are doing right now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu talked about practise, He quoted Brahma and he said, wherever you are situated over there, you just start hearing about Krishna. By hearing about Krishna, you will actually try to achieve Krishna and ultimately you will attain Krishna. So whatever duty is we need to do so that we can make our material life harmonious for our spiritual life, growth.
That is what we can consider our prescribed duty in today’s situation. Does it answer your question? Thank you. Any other questions? Yes.
So if God knows past and future then how do we really have free will? See, God’s knowledge of the future is like our knowledge of the past. What does that mean? Our knowledge of the past is knowledge without intervention. I can know today morning I wanted to wake up at 4 o’clock but I woke up at 6 o’clock.
I know that. I can’t do anything about it. So it’s knowledge without intervention.
Now in the case of God he can intervene but he doesn’t intervene. So that means that God’s omniscience, God’s knowing everything that does not mean that he is controlling everything. Basically there are choices and there are consequences.
There are choices and there are consequences. For example, a small child may not know that if I walk off a balcony I’m going to get a fracture. I’ll get wounded.
But a mother knows that. I’ll pull the child back and the child goes too close to the balcony. There is a choice and there is a consequence.
So choices are associated with consequences. Now Krishna knows, we as we grow, we come to know more and more about the correlation between choices and consequences. What the child doesn’t know, the mother knows.
So Krishna knows about the correlation between choices and consequences far better than we do. And he gives us intelligence. He gives us guidance by which we can make wise choices.
But he doesn’t control our choices. So his knowledge is basically the knowledge which is more of the knowledge of a person who exists outside the domain. So Krishna exists outside the time domain and he observes this.
So if I’m on a road, I can go this way, I can go this way. I’m not sure. But somebody who knows the map, they know.
If you go this way, you’ll get here. If you go this way, you’ll get here. But the choice, which way to go is up to us.
So Krishna’s knowledge of the future is not, see when we talk about future itself, we have to understand that the future is not, this was a fundamental problem which Einstein also had. Einstein tried to talk about space-time continuum. He talked about time as a fourth dimension.
And in a mathematical sense, it worked quite well. But in a practical sense, it didn’t work. Because in space, I can move ahead, I can move back.
I can move left, I can move right. I can move up, I can move down. So I can move both ways.
But with respect to time, I can’t do that. In time, we can only move forward. The standard for paradox in we can only move forward means we cannot undo choices.
So the future is something which is, it’s not that when we talk about the future, the future is not like a pre-existing territory in which we enter. It’s like, say, I’m here and I’m taking this road and then I come to Dubai, say. So Dubai already exists.
I’m just taking a road and I’m entering into Dubai. So the future is not like that. It’s not like the past exists and the future exists and I’m simply going on a journey from the past to the future.
It’s not physical. The future is an emergent reality. It is not an existing reality already.
So in that sense, when you talk about God’s knowledge of the future, it is not that the future is something which is already existing. Is this point clear? Because the future is not something which is already existing. The future is something which is emergent.
So God’s knowledge of the future is the knowledge of the correlation of choices and consequences. This choice will lead to this consequence. But he leaves the choice up to us.
Krishna gives this example यथा आकाशित्वो नित्यम् वायू सर्वत्रवो महान्ता सर्वान् भून्तान्यित्थानित्यो पिदाविया that in 9.6 he states that if you consider the sky to be like upside down bowl, then the wind that is moving in the sky, the wind can move this way, the wind can move that way, the wind can move in these directions. But the wind is limited by the scope of the sky. It is limited by the scope of the sky.
So like that, our choices are limited. But within the scope of the sky, the wind has choices to move this way, that way, move that way, move up, move down, whatever. So our capacity to choose is not determined by choice.
But the spectrum of choices, we don’t have unlimited choices. So right now you are sitting here, you can sit and hear, you can walk out, you can tune out. But you know, whoever is sitting here, it’s not that they can just get wings and fly away.
Can’t do that. So the spectrum of choices that we have, they are limited. And the choices are associated with consequences.
But as far as choices themselves are concerned, we have freedom. And the whole purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is to encourage us to use our free will properly. In the same scripture, which tells us that God is omniscient, that same scripture also gives us guidelines.
Do this and don’t do this. Now, Bandev Mithyam talks about this in the Vedanta Sutra commentary, Govinda Bhashya, he says that if everything were predetermined, then what is the point of scripture telling us anything else? Now, when you say do this or don’t do this, that implies that we have the capacity to choose to do this and the capacity to choose to not do that. So, we can’t just take one aspect of scripture and say that God knows everything, God knows scripture and therefore, we have no freedom.
The same scripture tells us that God knows everything. The same scripture tells us that we also have freedom. So then, how do we reconcile these two? The same Vedanta Sutra says that we cannot just take one statement of scripture.
Someone do it. We have to reconcile the different statements in scripture. And that reconciliation is that understanding that the future is not an existing reality, it is an emergent reality.
And in that future, what God knows is the correlation between choices and constants. But he gives us the free will to choose. Does it answer your question? Thank you.
Like this concept. Okay. when we make choices, where does our karma fit in? Karma determines the spectrum of our choices.
That means that say there is a small ant and there is a giant elephant. The ant, its area of influence itself is very limited. Its body is limited, its area of influence elephant, its body is huge, its sphere of influence also is huge.
So the whatever situation we are in, we have choices. An ant may be tiny, the ant can look for where I can get some sugar, go there and eat the sugar. Or the ant may go somewhere else and look for water.
Or the ant may just go to its ant hill and rest so that the free will is there. But within the free will, when the ant wants to get sugar, how much sugar it can get and how much sugar the elephant can get. So the scope of our free will, if I decide to do something, how much I can do, that is determined by karma.
So some people, when they want to speak in public, they are so fluid, they start speaking effortlessly. For other people, when they want to speak, they have to think ten times. And then also there is some stammer or slur or whatever.
Why is that? That speaking ability that is there, that extent of the ability is determined by karma. So for that person, they just don’t have the choice if somebody is not a very fluent speaker. Fluent speaking is not a choice for them.
They can be less stuttering and they can be more stuttering. By more preparation, they will stutter less. That is the choice that they have.
Now this does not mean that the choice is completely fixed. The spectrum of choice can also change over time. Like somebody who is a great stutterer, if they keep practising, it may happen that they may also become fluent.
But that is not an immediate choice for them. So basically, based on our karma, the spectrum of our choices is determined. The scope of our free will, that is determined.
And based on how we use it, that spectrum, that scope may well change also. But karma determines the kind of choices that we have. And then within it, our free will is how we choose it.
Does that answer your question? Thank you very much. So, we’ll stop here. Thank you very much.
So we have Shri Nathoba’s book on our