Blossoming of Consciousness

Today, actually, the topic which we are having is for the junior meeting. But there are some very interesting details which are there in Ravishanku’s new book, which are pertinent to all, even senior devotees. The topic is the blossoming of consciousness or the flowering of consciousness.
Every morning in the Shikshashtakam, we sing, Cheto darpana marjanam, bhava maha dhava nirvapanam, shreya kairava chandrika vitaranam. So, this third line, Shreya kairava chandrika vitaranam. Anyone knows what is the translation? We read it every morning.
Not every morning. Once every eight days. It is the heart of all the fears.
Yeah. Especially, Shreya kairava chandrika vitaranam. No, that is Vidya Madho Jeevanudu.
Yeah, yeah. Are you saying something, Ashwin? Yeah. Kairava flower which is there, when moonlight falls on it, it blossoms.
Ah, very good. It spreads the rays of the benediction moon. That’s what it says.
It’s a very interesting concept. Normally, the lotus flower blossoms in sunlight. So, when the sun rays fall on the lotus flower, which is like a bud, it fully blossoms.
There is one particular type of lotus called Kairava, which blossoms in moonlight. So, what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is actually, it’s a very deep analogy. What he says is that the consciousness of the soul is like that Kairava.
The sunlight is actually scorching. So, it’s often hot and burning. Because moonlight is very pleasant and soothing.
So, the consciousness of the soul, which is shrunken or which is in a bud state, then what happens when the remembrance of Krishna is created by the chanting of the holy names? That is like the moonlight. The remembrance of Krishna is like the moonlight. The consciousness of the soul is like the lotus flower.
The moon rays fall on it. The lotus flower expands. Kairava expands.
So, like that, the soul has this consciousness, which is in the condition stage, on the material platform. But when the remembrance of Krishna is created, then the consciousness expands. And then, by that Shreya Kairava Chandrika Avataram, Shreya, the long-term goal of life, the highest welfare for the soul is achieved through the chanting.
So, actually, what it means is that the ultimate welfare of the soul is in developing a relationship with Krishna. And actually, the holy name helps us to develop a relationship with Krishna. In fact, the same concept is there in the Bhagavatam also.
The sound vibration of Krishna, it enters through the ear into the heart. Then what happens? Then the lotus flower of the relationship of the soul with Krishna fully develops. And all the anarthas, Bhuna, Tisha, Valam, Krishna, all the anarthas are washed away.
Just as the water, the dirty water in the rivers is washed away when there is rain. So, it’s an interesting concept, how the consciousness expands by remembrance of Krishna. Now, actually, all of us, we experience varieties of happiness and distress.
But dead matter does not experience any happiness or distress. For example, if I beat this, I feel the pain. Although it may break, it doesn’t feel any pain.
Because this wood, what is the difference between the wood and me? Consciousness. So, consciousness is the platform on which all emotions are experienced. Pain, pleasure, heat, cold, all experiences are there when there is consciousness.
Without consciousness, there is no experience. Dead person, he has no consciousness. Somebody can come and kick him.
He doesn’t feel any pain. So, now, the level of consciousness that we have determines the level of pleasure that we can experience. It’s an interesting concept again.
The animals, or let us see, let’s go from the Vedic scriptures, right? The scriptures explain that our consciousness is like a flower which can gradually blossom. So, there are five levels of the blossoming of this consciousness. The first is called as Sankuchit.
Sorry, first is Aavrut. Aavrut is covered. This Aavrut consciousness is manifest especially in the trees.
Aavrut consciousness is in the trees and the creepers and the grass. Now, the grass is so immobile that the ultimate goal of the grass is, let me grow. That’s all.
That’s the conception of life that the grass has. Nothing more. A tree, let me just grow.
Let me drink water from below and let me grow. So, tree also has consciousness. In fact, the consciousness is so covered that till a few centuries ago, till a few decades ago, many scientists thought that trees don’t have any consciousness.
It’s so covered. That’s why it’s called Aavrut. Aavrut or covered.
So, because the consciousness of the soul in the tree is very covered, the tree cannot experience much pleasure. What pleasure is there? Does it stay at one place and it just drinks some water, takes some minerals and grows? No higher pleasure is there. And because there is no higher pleasure, there is no higher pain also.
The tree also experiences some extent of pain. When we cut a tree, tree also experiences pain. But the cutting of, say, a fruit from a tree is not the same as cutting the throat of a cow.
Because the cow has much more consciousness. So, the beasts, the second stage, they have what is called Sankuchit Chetana. Sankuchit is constricted.
Or the other word used is covered. Sankuchit. Shrunken.
Yeah. Constricted or shrunken. The English equivalent.
Sankuchit Chetana. Sankuchit means it’s somewhat higher than the non-moving living entities. Especially, that’s why in the Vedic literature, it’s very much often said, Chara and Achara.
Moving and non-moving. The non-moving fall under this Avrut Chetana. And the moving, they fall under Sankuchit Chetana.
So, their ability to experience pleasure is somewhat higher. You know, a tiger, it can run around, it can roar, it can create fear in others. And of course, it can catch prey and eat.
But it can experience more pleasure than a tree. And simultaneously, it can also experience more pain. So, because the consciousness is more developed.
Then, so this is shrunken consciousness. Then after that, third level of consciousness is called the budding consciousness. Or budding is also called as Mukulit.
Mukulit is, it’s about to bud. You know, bud is the stage before a flower is formed. So, in this Mukulit Chetana, the soul in the human body has the ability to experience higher pleasures.
Although that ability is dormant. Now, for example, now if you see, generally we know that all living beings experience pleasure through four activities. Which are they? Eating, sleeping, waiting and defending.
Everyone knows that. Why do you see, when the Chetana is avrut, even eating, sleeping, waiting, defending are also very restricted. A tree cannot even defend itself much.
Somebody comes and cuts the tree, can’t do much. To some extent, it can defend. There are many trees where the tree grows in some direction where it can get some light and thus survive.
To some extent, it can do. Eating, it cannot move. If it just spreads its roots and gets some food, it will survive.
So, an animal, a beast can experience more pleasure through eating, sleeping, waiting, defending. But still, it cannot experience anything higher than that. Whereas, now when we come to this Mukulit Chetana budding, here, this is actually, from this level, human life starts.
So, we will enquire about this a little later. Let me just write up our two next. Next is actually called Vikasit.
Vikasit is blossoming. So, the bud has started spreading. It’s blossoming.
And the last is Poorna Vikasit or fully blossomed. Now, human life is actually intrinsically divided. Divided in the sense that in human body, the soul wants more pleasure than what his body can offer.
This is the problem with human life. Or, it can be a possibility also, depending on how you look at it. If you see a beast, a tiger, it mates with the tigress only in the mating season.
Other times, it doesn’t get attracted at all. A tiger, it doesn’t eat if it’s not hungry. If a human being goes by, if it doesn’t perceive a threat, it will not eat.
So, although the drives for eating, sleeping, mating, defending are strong in them, they are basically driven by the body. So, animal life is basically like a machine life, programmed. That’s how they have to live.
They have consciousness, but the consciousness has to function according to a pre-decided programme. When I’m hungry, go and eat. When I feel the urge for sex, then go and have sex.
Feel like sleeping, sleep. But, the soul comes to the human form. Then at that time, the soul is actually eternal.
And the soul actually searches for higher pleasure. That opportunity is there in the human form. And that’s why we see that although human beings also do the same activities, eating, sleeping, mating, defending, human beings try to do it in far more refined ways.
As the slogan of one advertising company is, Let’s make things better. Why? That is the human nature. Human beings want more pleasure than what is naturally available through the body.
Now, this is the arrangement of the Lord. The Srimad Bhagavatam, 11th canto, it is described that the Supreme Lord created all living beings. He created the birds, the bees, the aquatics, the trees.
All the species of life He created, but He was not satisfied after that. And He contemplated. And then He created the human form of life.
In the human form of life, the Supreme Lord provided the ability to enquire into the ultimate purpose of life. And having created the human form of life, the Supreme Lord was satisfied. The human form of life is something very special.
Now, we see that the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending are common to everyone. But all the activities, eating, sleeping, mating and defending, they are all related to the body. And the problem with the body is, the body is subject to the law of karma.
It is going to grow old, get diseased and die. Prabhupada says in one lecture, No one wants to grow old, but nature makes everyone old. Nobody wants to grow old.
But without any opportunity for protesting also. Just effortlessly, quietly, we are just forced to become old. And then what happens? As we grow old, the ability to do all these things decreases.
Eating, sleeping, mating and defending. It decreases. And that’s why the pleasure that a person is going to get, it keeps decreasing, decreasing, decreasing.
It’s eventually finished. And there is no way it can be avoided. Prabhupada would say, these modern people talk about survival of the fittest.
But in the material world, no one survives. Even the fittest don’t survive. Everyone has to die.
There is no survival at all. So, this is one particular attribute of, we will discuss how this consciousness is different, the human consciousness. One of the subtle forces which act in nature is the time factor.
The time factor actually acts and transforms, degrades everything. A mango is ripe today. But tomorrow, if we keep the mangoes like that, we will reach this point.
The time factor affecting it. Similarly, our bodies, they will be young now, but 20-30 years later, they will degrade. They are finished.
So, the human being alone has the ability to see the effect of the time factor. Actually, I may be enjoying life now, but I will not be able to enjoy life forever. So, why is it that my attempts for happiness are frustrating? They may not be frustrating now, but they are sure to be frustrating.
No matter what I do. One time, Shila Prabhupada was going on a morning walk. At that time, he called his, he told one of his disciples, he would ask his disciples to play the role of atheists and he challenged them.
So, what is the advancement of scientists? People were dying in the past, and now they have invented the atom bomb, by which they die faster. So, where is the advancement? His disciples said, at that time, they were near an airport, so the aeroplane was flying in the sky. But, Prabhupada, we have invented the aeroplane, by which we can fly in the sky now.
Prabhupada said, one part goes along with the aeroplane, and crash. Everyone dies. We don’t have control.
The disciples said, Prabhupada, we have little control. Prabhupada said, little control means, no control. So, he said that, actually, this is a deep point, what Prabhupada was saying over there.
Little control means, no control means, we may have control over a few things in our life, but ultimately, we have no control over the body. The body is going to grow old, get deceased and die. So, everybody in this world, is making arrangements, to enjoy through the body.
But, they are not taking into consideration the fact, that the body itself, is losing its ability to enjoy. People want, as a joke, they say that, people, people, they, spend their health, to gain wealth. And then they spend their wealth, to gain health.
See, in their youth, they work very hard, they think, I will earn a lot of money. And after they earn money, what happens? By that time, they have lost their health. Then they spend all their wealth, to try to get their health back.
But at the end, they lose both the health and the wealth. So, this is actually inevitable in material life. That, all one’s plans for enjoyment, are frustrated by the time.
So, the human being, has the ability to see, the inevitable frustration, of his plans in the future. And, this is one particular endowment, which the human form has. Now, I would like to ask you, do you really agree, that, human beings are not doing anything, more than eating, sleeping, making decisions? Does anyone feel that, they are doing other things also? They are doing other things or no? Do we spend 24 hours, doing these things only? We also think, yeah, very good.
What do we think about? How do we eat, sleep, make and decide? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. But it’s true what you are saying. I mean, I don’t think, actually, this is, this is something which, people think openly, they won’t very easily agree to this proposal.
That all that we do is, eating, sleeping, making and deciding. Let’s say that, actually, human beings have developed culture, we have got civilisation, we have got languages, we have got literature, we have got philosophy, we have got science and technology, we have got so much, which animals don’t have. Isn’t it? What animal likes literature? What animal, enquires into philosophy? What animal has a culture? What animal has a civilisation? You see, there are so many differences.
So many things, which human beings do, which animals don’t do. What will you answer, if somebody says like this? Yes? Please feel free. You like to answer? You can hear.
Go ahead. What do we do all this for, making, sleeping and deciding? We do all this, for these things only. To some extent, this is true.
Actually, if you see literature, most of the literature, talks about, especially the most common, popular literature is some, love stories. That’s basically mating. And there is some fighting involved in between.
Isn’t it? So, actually, what is entertainment? Because entertainment is such a big industry. Actually, eating, sleeping, mating, defending is very troublesome. So, what people do is, they eat, sleep, mate and defend, on their imagination.
They watch somebody else doing that, and they enjoy. That is entertainment. So, although it appears dramatically different, a dog never watches TV.
But, it’s ultimately the same activity. So, certainly, there are these things, animals don’t have languages, they don’t write literature. But, what is the purpose for which all this is being done? Prabhupada gives the example, that a vulture flies high in the sky.
But, after flying high in the sky, he looks down, at the ground, to search, where is a corpse? He has gone majestically high into the sky. Very few birds can go to the height, that a vulture can go. From there, he looks down.
Where is some, dead body, which I can use? So, that height he has gone, has not changed the purpose for which he is living. It has not changed his vision, what he is searching for. Similarly, although we have done all these activities, it’s just the form has changed, the purpose has not changed.
The way in which a human being eats, sleeps, waits and defends is different, than an animal. A dog, may just gorge some, refuse food on the street. A human being, may eat processed and packed food, in a jazzy fast food store.
A animal, may just mate on the street. A human being, he will watch some movie, or he will browse on the internet, he will fill himself with passion, and then he will go and enjoy. A human being, an animal, when it wants to defend, it will show its claws, and its jaws, and it will give out some bad smells, it will camouflage itself.
And human beings, they defend, by having, fences around their house, by having barbed wires, by having locks, by having key poles, by having bank accounts, by having health insurances, by having peace treaties, and by ultimately having missions, missiles. So, you can do it in a very sophisticated way, but it’s the same thing. An animal, may sleep on the street.
A human being, may sleep on a nice soft bed, in an air-conditioned room. But after sleeping, both of them forget who they are, and where they are. It may thrill you a bit afterwards.
The quality of the pleasure is the same. Now, what is it? Why we are talking about this is, we have come to this point. This developed consciousness is undoubtedly there.
As I said, all these activities, culture, civilisation, philosophy, literature, language, all these are signs of a developed consciousness. And, it is this developed consciousness, which enables human beings to do all these things. But, this developed consciousness, is meant, to use all these things, for a higher purpose.
But what human beings are doing is, certainly they have developed all these things. But they are using it, for the same purpose as the animals. Therein lies the problem.
So now, it’s very interesting how, when human beings use their developed intelligence, for eating, sleeping, mating and defending, it creates problems. You see, a dog lies all around the street, and he sleeps very happily. A human being lies in an air-conditioned bed, and still he can’t sleep.
So much anxiety he has. Human beings are the only, species, which suffers from sleeplessness. No other species suffers.
So, we who are supposed to be the pinnacles of evolution, topmost of evolution, we struggle to get a pleasure, that is fully available to the animals. Very strange. Further if we see, as far as mating is concerned, the animals mate and the humans mate.
But a dog never comes and cries, you know, that bitch ditched me, and my heart is broken, and I don’t know what I should do in my life. Actually, if you see among the love songs, the most popular love songs, are the songs of separation, or of pain, betrayal. Why is that? Because most people are in that condition.
So, animals mate and humans mate, but humans suffer far more, in the process of trying to get bodily pleasure. Similarly, eating. You know, no animal suffers due to overeating, or constipation, or loose motion.
Generally no. But human beings generally suffer from these things. Not only that, it is human beings only who suffer due to artificial shortages.
So, there are 8.4 million species, and out of these 8.4 million species, only the 4 million, so called intelligent species, have to work to earn their food. All other species get their food free. Only human beings have to earn, and even after that they don’t get the food.
After that they have to struggle. So, eating, sleeping, mating, and then what is remaining is defending. Now you see, all animals live in fear.
But generally, animals live in fear, a dog generally, a deer is not fearful of another deer. It is fearful of a tiger. So, animal which will eat it.
But human beings, who are they most fearful of? Human beings. So, it’s a very strange situation. Generally, we don’t think that other animals will trouble us.
One time, one sanyasi had come, they had a farm community in Brazil. So, it is right in the middle of the jungle. There is waterfall, and there are mountains, and jungles all around, and then, they have this small farm community.
So, he was giving a mishari class, and he was presenting it. So, one of our devotees asked him, Maharaj, are there no tigers and lions over there? He said, we are free from the most dangerous animal over there. Laughter Maharaj said, man is the most dangerous animal, and we are free from, because there are only devotees living in the farm community, we are free from that trouble.
So, actually, what is happening is, that when the higher consciousness, as I said this, mukuli chetna, waning consciousness, when that higher consciousness is used for a lower purpose, everything backfires. When it backfires, what happens is that, instead of getting higher pleasure, even the lower pleasure becomes difficult. As I was saying that, eating, sleeping, mating, defending are available, with some struggles, to the lower species.
But to the human species, even eating, sleeping, mating, defending becomes difficult. So, nowadays, there is this struggle for human rights, that human beings should be treated with dignity, they should be properly respected, they should not be abused. So, Dayanand Swami writes in his book, that, actually, human rights are not meant to provide that which nature automatically provides to the animals.
That, what is it, body sustenance and protection, that nature automatically provides to the animals. He explains that the real human right is enlightenment. That is what differentiates a human being from an animal.
And, it is when a human being seeks enlightenment, then the process of his blossoming of consciousness, from the mukulit to vixit to puravixit, that commences. Enlightenment is what, the opportunity for enlightenment, is what differentiates a human being from an animal. As I said, one of the things I was saying is about the effect of Kaal, how ultimately I have to die.
That, animals, they also are fearful of death. But animals, they don’t, they can’t do anything about it. They can’t think about it.
Why is this happening? What is the purpose of life? They can’t think about it. But human beings can. When a human being starts thinking about it, then, his actual real human life begins.
So, they also say that, actually, ISKCON is the only human rights organisation in the world. Because, it is the only organisation providing the real human right, enlightenment. So, what does this enlightenment actually refer to? We discussed how, eating, sleeping, waiting, eventually lead to frustration.
So, a human being certainly can enjoy, more refined pleasures, than the animals. For example, if somebody speaks some, good literature, some nice poetry, a human being can relish that. Somebody sings some nice music, some nice songs.
Now, animals can also, there are snake charmers, which can charm the snakes. But that is only a particular kind of sound. That is not exactly, they are not relishing it.
It is just something which is, programmed in their body. But human beings can relish, some finer pleasures. But the question, the key difference is, what is the direction, which this pleasure is in? Pleasures are, utilised.
These higher endowments are utilised. So, music, Prabhupada explains, he was talking with George Harrison. George Harrison was a musician.
And when Prabhupada, he was, he and, Locono, they were there with him, talking with him. So, Prabhupada tells, that music, is the means to express, the highest devotion to God. So certainly, music is, something which, animals can’t either produce, or experience.
But, human beings can. But the perfect, perfection of this, is when it is directed, towards Krishna, towards God. Prabhupada explains, that certainly, human beings have many, higher abilities.
But the perfection of all, these higher abilities is, when, they are all, used to glorify, the Supreme Lord. And that was what, all Vedic culture is about. Vedic culture, there is music, all the ragas are there.
But all the ragas, are meant to glorify Krishna. There is magnificent, architecture. The Ranganath temple, is among the tallest, buildings in the whole world.
But, it is a building, to glorify Krishna. Sanskrit, is the most complicated, language, in Vedic culture. In the, whole world.
In fact, the NASA researchers, they have found out, that if you want to, translate, if you want to use, a language for programming, the best language is Sanskrit. Sanskrit is so, scientifically structured. So, the best language, was used, to glorify Krishna.
The Mahabharata, is actually, the biggest poem, in the whole world. Before the Mahabharata, was found by the western, western scholars, they, they were the Homer, and the Oedipus, Homer and the Iliad, which were considered, the biggest literatures. But, the Mahabharata, is seven times, the Homer and Iliad combined.
Huge, poetic work. It’s mind, it was mind blowing, for the western scholars, when they saw it first. So, all the special end domains, which we discussed, language, literature, culture, civilisation, all these, are actually, international Vedic literature, which can move, to so many domains.
And, culture, especially, what is culture? Anybody can say, what is culture? Yes? Tradition. Okay. Yeah.
There are traditional cultures, but there are many cultures, which don’t conform to traditional also. The way of life. Okay.
Anything else? It’s a very common word. Akhtivedant Academy, for culture and education. Many of you are living in bases.
What is culture? Yes? In culture world, C is for character, U for uprightness, then L is for love, then P is for trusting God, then U is for unity, R is for respect, and E is for education. Okay. Very nice.
I didn’t know this. Of course, what you are saying is true. Culture incorporates all these things.
But, from the Vedic point of view, what is real culture? You know, when Mohandas Gandhi was asked, what do you think about western culture? He said, it’s a good idea. It’s a good idea means, it’s an idea that can be implemented. They have no culture right now.
Maybe they can learn some culture. So, culture is a very interesting concept. According to the Vedas.
According to the Vedas, culture means that social arrangement which subjugates the lower self and nourishes the higher self. Actually, every human being, Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita, has a lower self and a higher self. The lower self is the animal propensities.
The lower self is the consciousness. And the higher self is the tendency towards knowing about God. So, culture is that social arrangement which two things, what does it do? Subjugates the lower self and nourishes the higher self.
That’s why we see in Vedic culture, all these activities, eating, sleeping, waiting, defending, they are highly regulated. If you have to eat, eat food that is offered to Krishna. Sleep, sleep at regulated times.
Made only within the institution of marriage. And for defence, there is the government which arranges for proper protection. The king is meant for protection.
The whole point is that these animal propensities are regulated. And the higher self is nourished. In Vedic culture, in every way, God is the centre of everything.
We had gone to Jaipur. In Jaipur, the Radha Govind Ji temple is there. And next to that, the palace of the king is there.
The king had constructed his palace in such a way that as soon as he would get out of his bed in the morning, he would have a direct darshan of Radha Govind. So, the kings were also saintly. They also knew that God is actually I am the servant of God.
God is the actual king and I am representing him. In fact, Maharaj Kulshekar, he had a tradition and many Indian kings also had a tradition that every day at the end of the day’s activities, he would go to the temple and report all that had happened to the Lord. The Lord is the actual proprietor and I am functioning on his behalf.
So, he would go and report it. So, this way the Lord was kept at the centre of everything in Vedic culture. And this way, the higher self was nourished.
Now, what does it actually mean to nourish the higher self? I mentioned earlier about how human being, human soul in a human form wants more pleasure than what the body can offer. That’s why all human beings let’s make things better. If I want to eat food, then a cow throughout its life it will just eat grass.
But a human being if you tell him throughout your life you ate the same food every day, morning, afternoon, evening get fed up. No, I want something better. So, this innate tendency is there.
Let’s make things better. If a person is staying in a hut, he wants to stay in an apartment. If he is staying in an apartment, he wants to stay in a bungalow.
If he is staying in a bungalow, he wants to stay in a villa. So, this innate tendency is there to try to improve his situation. To try to get better pleasure.
But the Vedic scriptures say direct this self direct this self elevation tendency not in the realm of matter but in the realm of spirit. Try to improve yourself not materially but spiritually. And that is what is the opportunity provided by human life.
And what does it mean to improve yourself spiritually? It is not an abstract concept. The soul is a part of Krishna. The soul has a loving relationship with Krishna.
And when the soul forgets Krishna, then he searches for relationships with different objects, persons and ideas in this world and tries to get some happiness. But ultimately, Krishna is the supreme one. And supreme by definition means that he has no substitute.
So, the soul who is actually meant to love Krishna can never be happy by loving anyone other than Krishna. Because no one can equal Krishna in the six opulences that he has and the love that he can shower on the soul. So, actually, the full development of consciousness is manifest when the soul fixes his consciousness on Krishna.
We are discussing how consciousness is the platform of happiness. The grass, the trees have very little consciousness so little pleasure, little pain. The animals have more consciousness so more pleasure, more pain.
Human beings still have more consciousness so more pleasure. Human beings can experience great pleasure when their plans succeed. At the same time, they can experience devastating pain when their plans are shattered.
So, human beings, if you see, they are the only living beings who have the dubious distinction of committing suicide. All living beings try to struggle to live. But human beings are the only living beings who struggle to sometimes give up their life.
Why is this? Because the consciousness is so developed that we can experience intense pleasure and at the same time we can experience intense pain also. Consciousness is that development. So, the full development of consciousness is when the consciousness is fixed to Krishna.
You wonder why? Why is that considered the full development of consciousness? Because Krishna is eternal. Krishna is actually Satchitananda in full. Krishna is a reservoir of happiness.
When a soul connects himself with Krishna, he gets unlimited happiness. See, all the objects of this world, they can give some happiness. It’s not that there is no happiness in them.
But the happiness that they all need is limited. For example, if a person hears some materialistic music, some song, mundane song, he hears, it gives him some pleasure. But then, that pleasure doesn’t last.
It is after you hear it 5-10 times and then it’s boring. Because on your birthday, somebody comes and gives you a gift. Very eager.
Look at it. Open it. You see it.
Look at it up. Look at it down. Look at it this side, this side.
You put it aside. You forget it. See, before, the gift is so eager to see it.
But after you get it, it’s finished. You don’t want much pleasure in it. So, actually, material pleasure ceases to be pleasure after sometime.
That thing which gives us pleasure, after sometime, it stops giving us pleasure. So, whereas Krishna is not like that. Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita 10th chapter, yad yad vibhuti matsatvam shri madhur chitamegava tattadeva vachatvam mamate jo shisambhava explains that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of my splendour.
What Krishna means to say is that, whatever attractive thing you see in this world, whatever it is that you find beautiful, whatever it is you find that is glorious, the glory, the beauty, the attractiveness of that thing comes from me. What Krishna is intending to say by this is that, therefore, you won’t become attractive to that thing, you become attractive to me. When we become attracted to attractive things separate from Krishna, then that is a source of suffering.
Because those things, whatever is attractive, that attractiveness is limited, tiny. That is sure to end. So, when we see beautiful things, we should remember that this beauty is just a spark of the beauty of Krishna.
And then we become attracted to Krishna. And Krishna being unlimited can give us unlimited happiness. So, actually, human life, its perfection is when the consciousness of soul is totally fixed on Krishna.
The remembrance of Krishna constantly gives him happiness. As a development of consciousness means the development of the ability to experience happiness. And the more the soul is remembering Krishna, the more the soul is happy.
One time, Srila Prabhupada, he was sitting in a garden in Los Angeles. Early morning it was, and the sun rose. And then, the sun had just risen, the rays were just falling.
And the rays just spread and they went all around Srila Prabhupada’s body. Srila Prabhupada said, oh, this is Krishna’s embrace. Prabhupada said, actually, the sun is a manifestation of Krishna embrace.
So, Prabhupada was perceiving how actually the Supreme Lord was caring for all his children through the medium of the sun. This is Krishna’s embrace. So, Prabhupada was sitting on the floor.
His devotee brought a cushion. He says, no, no, I am sitting on Krishna’s lap, Prabhupada said. So, of course, it is not that Krishna has his personal existence, but a devotee sees everything in relationship with Krishna.
Because he sees everything in relationship with Krishna, the remembrance of Krishna brings him unlimited happiness. This is something mysterious. This is something which cannot be materially explained.
It just has to be experienced. You know, the material happiness is, has a characteristic. It is in view, but out of experience.
You can see it, but if you try to enjoy it, I don’t know what happens. I thought I was going to be happy, but now when we run towards material pleasure, material pleasure runs away from us. We think, I did this, but maybe I will do this more to get happiness.
And then, we just feel that material happiness is a few steps away, but that’s the way it always stays, no matter how many steps we take. It always stays just a few steps away. So material happiness is always in view, but out of experience, whereas spiritual happiness is out of view, but in experience.
So one time the devotees in, I think it was in Poland, Poland is a communist country. So at that time, the devotees there, they would do kirtan secretly. So they would be in a room and they would raise their hands and they chant very soft and sing.
So somehow, the KGB, which is the communist secret service agency, they came to know about it, something fishy is going on in their mind. And then, they came and enquired. They found out that something was going on and they came and arrested the devotees.
They did not arrest, they interrogated the devotees. And then, they said, devotees, what are you doing? They were very careful not to keep any books or anything outside, so they would not get caught. But then they asked, what are you doing? Why are you arresting us? What are we doing? You are taking drugs.
You are not taking any drugs. What makes you think that you are taking drugs? No, we peeped in through the window and we saw that you were raising your hands and very happy looking and dancing and singing. So we suspected that you are taking drugs.
So the point is that you know, spiritual happiness is not in view. You can’t figure out what is happening. Why are these people so happy? There is no material reason for it, but it can be experienced.
For one who wants to, he can experience spiritual happiness. Chants are Krishna, he can experience spiritual happiness. But you cannot see any material reason for this.
So the point which I was making over here is that actually when we are attracted to Krishna, the remembrance of Krishna brings great happiness to the soul. In fact, the word Krishna has many meanings. But one of the meanings of Krishna is that person who can end unlimited unhappiness.
One person who can end unlimited unhappiness. That is the meaning of the word Krishna. So in this material world, the soul suffers unlimitedly, but the chanting of Krishna’s name can actually end all unhappiness.
So it is something which has to be just experienced. One has to chant Hare Krishna, participate in Krishna’s practise. One can see how one’s ability to, one’s happiness increases and one’s ability to relish life also increases more and more.
What happens is a materialistic person, his world view is always very limited. What happens as I said, the lower the consciousness, the lower is the ability to experience pleasure. So if a person is just interested in eating, sleeping, meeting, defending, the only pleasure they can experience is through eating, sleeping, meeting, defending.
You cannot experience any other pleasure. But if a devotee, if a person has developed his Krishna consciousness, then he can at any place, he can be chanting, he can be singing, he can be remembering Krishna and he can experience great happiness. That’s why the Bhagavatam, it compares a devotee to a very wealthy person.
Very interesting comparison. A wealthy person, he can go to any part of the world and on the basis of his wealth he can enjoy life. Similarly, the devotee can go to any part of the world and he can chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare and he can enjoy life, he can experience happiness.
So the devotion is the wealth which a devotee carries with him all around. And this way he experiences great wealth, he experiences great happiness. Maharaj was going to one of the Arabian countries for preaching and of course there he cannot go in the Vaishnava dress, so he was wearing civilian clothes and he had to go on.
And all his papers were right but somehow the immigration officers they stopped him and they checked all his papers, they went through everything several times, they couldn’t find anything, finally they let him go. And he asked, why did you interrogate me, why did you stop me? He said, you look too happy. We felt that something was wrong, maybe you are smuggling something, otherwise why are you so happy? So a devotee actually he experiences unlimited happiness in relationship with Krishna.
And ultimately what happens is as I said Mukul Chetna is budding and as one practises Krishna consciousness, the Chetna starts expanding, consciousness starts expanding and a person can experience more and more happiness. Because what happens is as his relationship with Krishna develops, Krishna is actually everywhere. So because Krishna is everywhere, a soul can experience his relationship with Krishna also everywhere and he can be happy.
And then as he becomes a pure devotee, then the remembrance of Krishna becomes constant and unbreakable. And then there is no breakdance happens. So when the soul seeks pleasure through the body, through eating, sleeping, waiting and defending, it’s going to be peaceful.
But when the soul seeks pleasure through Krishna consciousness, then he doesn’t need the body. In the condition stage, we use the body to practise Krishna consciousness. But as we advance, then we don’t need the body.
The soul in fact, becomes more and more purified and then it experiences pleasure at the spiritual level. And when that happens, then the soul no longer has any desire to enjoy this world. Then the soul doesn’t need a material body.
Soul becomes purified and then he goes back to Krishna. He goes back to Krishna, there is unlimited happiness. And that is the goal of every intelligent person.
Actually, we cannot conceive what the spiritual world is like or what spiritual happiness is like. But we can get some idea of it. When we come in the association of devotees, we sing and dance and we experience joy in the association of devotees, that is just a small glimpse of the happiness that is waiting for us in the spiritual world.
Actually, in the spiritual world, the same happiness which we are experiencing is there in far greater quantity, but with several significant differences. In the spiritual world, there is no material body to restrict our happiness. In the material world, even if we practise bhakti, if we dance in kirtan, we get tired after some time.
If we want to dance, the body doesn’t allow us to dance. The body restricts our happiness. And then, not only that, the mind is constantly distracting us.
It is maya which is tempting us through the mind. So, the happiness which we are experiencing now is just a glimpse of what is waiting for us in the spiritual world. And there, it is pure mind, unadulterated mind.
And that is what the sura can achieve by the process of expanding his consciousness, allowing his consciousness to flow. And ultimately as a result the process of his consciousness, So, it is a ocean of happiness which keeps expanding and at every moment there is ekta. That is what the sura is entitled to.
So, certainly, the special ability of the human being to want more pleasure is what the body can offer. It is not meant to be neglected or to be covered over. So, that is meant to be neglected.
So, we some revision now. I’ll ask some question and you can tell the answer. So, we discussed about the blossoming of consciousness.
So, what is the analogy involved in the is blossoming of consciousness, analogy from the sikshashtakam, what causes blossoming? similarly, remembrance of Krishna through chanting of the holy names, so it expands and then what is it that determines how much happiness and pain we can experience, so what is the gradation, so trees are at which level, cover, so what is the difference between this budding level and the lower levels, yes, so what exactly is the difference, what is it that differentiates human life, means as far as the consciousness is concerned, yes, very simple, to enquire about the purpose of life, so how do the lower forms seek pleasure and how do the human beings seek pleasure, how do the lower forms seek pleasure, yes, enjoys by directing towards God, so is it that human beings involve themselves in only these four activities, or do they do something higher also, because what are the higher things that human beings do, yes, attraction with the lord, that is the ultimate goal, but if somebody doesn’t know about Krishna, still there are some higher things which human beings do, which are the higher things, yes, culture, philosophy, fine arts is also there, I forgot to mention that, painting or music, many of these are there, but then what is the, why do we still consider human beings also to be at the level of animals, if they are not connected with God, they are doing these higher activities, what is the difference, yes, very good, culture goes high, but still looking for corpses, then we distress, then what happens, we use the higher consciousness for the lower purpose, what happens is, even the lower pleasures become difficult to achieve, we discussed about that, we are going to say each of them, how about eating, yes, digestion problem, very common to human beings, anything else, as far as eating is concerned, yes, yeah, exactly, so that is, we just don’t care, either over care for the body or neglect the body, we talk also about artificial shortages, by holding food, holding grains, there are human beings who cause other human beings to starve, what about sleeping, yes, yes, he can’t sleep also, yeah, what about mating, someone else will not answer till now, yes, yeah, exactly, so frustrated love, the problem with, or betrayed love rather, problem only in human beings, then what about defending, yeah, although we have a higher end domain, we are unable to experience higher pleasure, yes, Ganesh, yeah, exactly, higher consciousness used for lower purpose leads to problems, so then what is the solution, in more specific terms, not just used for a higher purpose, a really obvious answer, for more specific terms, yes, yeah, God is in centre of activities, all, and that is what Vedic culture is all about, so what is the meaning of culture, actual culture, yes, which has, which subjugates the lower self and nourishes the higher self, what are the lower self and the higher self, anyone else, the same hands are raising, yes, please, if you don’t mind, lower self is in meditation, then there is bodily perception, but the higher self is thinking about the soul, the higher self in a different way, yeah, exactly, yes, especially higher self is developing a relationship with Krishna, at the platform of the soul, and then we discussed how Vedic culture, all the special attributes, literature, language, all these are used to glorifying God, and then later on we discussed about the nature of material pleasure and spiritual pleasure, what is the nature, yes, please, yeah, no limitation to our pleasure, material body is actually, all the people are making so many arrangements for their pleasure, they can make no arrangements to stop the effect of time on their body, body grows old, so all their patterns of pleasure are foiled, and then something about, something more about a comparison between material pleasure and spiritual pleasure, yes, please, yes, exactly, limited and unlimited, something more about, something more specifically, yes, I didn’t experience, yeah, you don’t see anything happening when devotees are chanting, they are just sitting and doing nothing, but they are experiencing the greatest pleasure, Prabhupada writes in his easy journey to other planets, he said, the scientists are actually making big big spacecrafts to go to the higher planets, but we can go to the highest planets just by sitting in one place, and chanting Hare Krishna, and going to Goloka Vrindavan, any other points are remaining, yes, yeah, it’s inside us, whereas material pleasure is outside us, that’s why I said, a devotee is like compared to a wealthy person, he can go to any part of the world and he can relish life, anything else is remaining, yes, Krishna, unlimited in happiness, I will discuss how all the attractive things in this world are actually attractive because of Krishna’s power being present, so Krishna says, don’t become attractive to these things, become attractive to me, and then you will gain real happiness, so are there any questions, yes, why Maya is not staying with Krishna, actually Maya is an expansion of Radharani, so Radharani is present with Krishna, but in the material world, when the conditioned soul wants to enjoy separate from Krishna, then illusory expansion of Radharani, so illusory expansion of Radharani comes in this material world, to delude the living entity, and ultimately frustrate and direct the living entity back to Krishna, so she is certainly a pure devotee, that’s why unless we become pure, she doesn’t allow us to go to Krishna, she checks us very thoroughly, any small material desire will attract us and distract us, attract us and distract us from Krishna, does that answer your question, actually the pure devotees of the Lord, they are interested in the Lord’s service, and wherever the Lord wants them to do service, they will go there, for example Yamaraj is a pure devotee, but then his service is to actually punish all the sinful living entities, it’s a thankless task, but he has to do that in order to reform all the conditioned living entities, he has to punish them, he is himself a pure devotee, he does it with remembrance of Krishna, so pure devotee doesn’t necessarily mean that, he necessarily has to be with Krishna, can a pure devotee come to the material world also, Krishna sends his representatives to the material world, to do service for him, they come to the material world, in fact as I said, the whole purpose of the material world is to direct the living entity back to Krishna, that is the service that Maya Devi does, Maya Devi attracts the soul towards things other than Krishna, and by that, what happens is, soul gets distracted from Krishna, but then after that soul experiences suffering, and through this process the soul gradually realises that, actually I cannot be happy with anything other than Krishna, one time Ishwara Prabhupada was in New Vrindavan, at that time one disciple asked Prabhupada, Prabhupada, if our purpose is to serve Krishna, then why is Maya so strong, Prabhupada immediately replied, because your purpose is not strong, so Maya will not trouble a person, who is fixed in Krishna consciousness, but for one who has material desires, Maya keeps attracting you, and the purpose of Maya is ultimately for the soul himself to see, how all material desires are useless, so it is said that, the spiritual master and Maya Devi are doing the same service, the spiritual master, is actually telling the conditioned soul that, you cannot enjoy this world, you cannot be happy here, and Maya Devi is giving that soul the experience, so what is the song you are telling, there is a very big expressive face and head, if you don’t learn by hearing through the ears, you will have to learn by being hit on the head, so ultimately everybody has to come to the same realisation, that the material world is not a place of happiness, cannot be happy in separation from Krishna, and Maya Devi by promising that pleasure, attracts the soul away from Krishna, and Maya frustrates in an ultimate direction back to Krishna, that’s why the soul has come, the soul has come here, because he doesn’t want to love and serve Krishna, so Maya’s job is to offer him substitutes for Krishna, and then to show him how none of the substitutes will work, is that answer, any other questions, yes, yes, yes, You see, when we see everything is Purna, everything is actually complete and perfect. There is, Krishna is independently complete and perfect. We are dependently complete and perfect.
For example, this finger, it is fully capable of doing all the activities which a finger is supposed to do. But if the finger is cut off from the body, it becomes functionless. So our completeness is certainly dependent completeness.
That means when we connect ourselves with Krishna, then we are complete, then we don’t need anything more for our completeness. But Krishna says, mamai mam shujivaloke, we are all his parts. So our completeness is dependent.
So if a soul connects himself with Krishna, then he will not pursue any incompleteness. That’s what Rupa writes in that Purport of Bhagat, all incompleteness is due to incomplete knowledge of the complete. Because we don’t know Krishna, so that’s why we experience variety of incompleteness.
And the material nature is complete for the purpose for which it is made. It is completely perfect for the purpose of first, for frustrating the living entity, and the second is for enlightening. For that purpose, if you want to forget Krishna, Krishna will give you unlimited ways to forget him.
Krishna will give you unlimited excuses for not remembering him. And if you want to remember him, Krishna will give you unlimited ways to remember him. So material nature is arranged like that.
So when we talk about Krishna, he is independently complete, and everything else is dependently complete. Does that answer your question? Something going on? Other questions? Okay. Actually, this material world is created not because of the Lord’s desire, but by the Lord’s sanctions.
It is that the Lord doesn’t want any soul to come to the material world and leave him. But there are souls who rebel against him, who don’t want to obey him. And then for them, the Lord creates a material world.
It is a government. The government wants all the citizens to live free and happy. The government also constructs a prison.
There will be law-breaking citizens. Similarly, the Lord creates Maya Devi. He creates material world along with Maya Devi, who is the superintendent of this material world because there are rebellious living entities.
For them, she really creates the world. So in that sense, it is the Lord who creates. But in one sense, it is not He who creates.
It is our desire which is responsible for the creation of this material world. That’s why Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita that, अपरेय मितस्त्वन्य येदं धार्यते जेवा Actually, this material world is being maintained by the living entities. This is existing because of the living entities.
Otherwise, the Lord doesn’t have to create this material world. He doesn’t need this material world at all. He is happy in His spiritual world and He wants all of us also to be happy.
That’s why, if you see all the Devatas, their posture is like this. They are offering Aashirvaads. But Krishna’s posture is like this.
He is playing a flute. So other Devatas, they will give you Aashirvaads so you continue to stay in this Dukhalaya Vashashatom world. But Krishna, he plays his flute and he attracts us out of this material world.
Yes. Any other questions? Yes, here is Shirish Puri. Actually, in human beings also we cannot know.
A smiling face is not necessarily an indication of a happy heart. The worst people are not happy but they smile. Because they pretend to be happy.
They want the world to think that I am happy. Of course, as the Chetna is more and more Sankuchit, actually Chetna cannot manifest to others. For example, trees happen in distress.
We cannot see that. But there are some experiments which are conducted. We show that a tree also happens in distress.
If a human being stands near a tree and he curses the tree, threatens the tree. The growth of the tree gets stunted. Otherwise, if he offers loving words to the tree, and basically there is a loving reciprocation, naturally the tree also grows.
There is consciousness there also. Similarly, in the lower animal, there is consciousness. If you live closely with a dog, don’t do that.
But if you live that, you can actually see. Especially those people who have pet dogs, they can actually feel that my dog is happy, my dog is not happy. Dogs also have moods.
Because the consciousness is not so developed, it is not so clearly manifest. But ultimately, about everything else, we have to see through Shabda Pharma. We have to see through Shastra.
A materialistic person may appear to be very happy. He may be going in a nice car, wearing a suit, and maybe having a mobile, wearing a goggle. But a devotee should be able to see he is like a fish out of water.
Suffering. So we have to learn to see through Shabda Pharma. Because actually Prabhupada says a very nice thing.
He says that with our eyes, we cannot see the soul, we cannot see Krishna, we cannot see the holy name. So what is left to see? These are the supreme realities in the life of a devotee. We are the soul, and Krishna is our lord, and the holy name is the way to the lord.
But none of these we can see. So actually Pratyaksha Pharma is actually very limited. With our eyes, we cannot see much.
Of course, in Shastras we can see, and as I said, if you observe closely, Pratyaksha Bhagavan. We can also observe closely. But generally, it’s not so much visible to our eyes.
Any other questions? Yes. Yeah. Prabhuji, as you said, Yamuna’s thankless asks us to punish them.
Now as you observe, people who are sent in jail, they are sent to suffer. And it is expected that they will be reformed. But it never happens.
They get a better guru than themselves, who tells them why you are here. So by punishing, people cannot be cured. So why is it, in the first place, people are sent to death? And second thing, it is especially important when Krishna says, that I am your father, mother, and well-wisher.
That’s why, along with punishment, Krishna provides for enlightenment. Now Adharma, which Krishna talks about, is not for some terrorists coming and exploding some bombs, or something like that, whatever. That is not Adharma.
Real Adharma, according to Krishna, is when people consider material life to be more important than spiritual life. That is Adharma. Dharmasya glani means that people forget the goal of life.
So Krishna comes and he gives his message, by which a person can be enlightened. And punishment plus enlightenment leads to reformation. Now what happens is the conditioned soul has a fever.
And as you say, in the prison, most people don’t get reformed. But some get reformed. A few.
Those who want to, they can be reformed. So Krishna provides opportunities for enlightenment for anyone and everyone. And those who want, they can become enlightened, they can enquire, why am I suffering? And how can I get out of suffering? Now one time, a person asked a Rishikon Sanyasi, there are so many spiritual organisations, how do you know who is genuine? Who is genuine? So this Maharaj replied that, first you become genuine.
Before asking who is genuine, first you become genuine. That means, you know, people generally, actually the ideal Shastras say, you should go to a spiritual master to find out what is the goal of life. But people go to the spiritual master, to, they have their own goal of life, and they want the spiritual master to help them in fulfilling the goal of life.
So they have the goal of life, I want to earn money, or I want this, I want that, and then they want, they go to a guru for that. But if a person is sincere, what is this? Why am I suffering? How can I get out of suffering? What is the way out of suffering? Do it. A person is ready to enquire genuinely, Krishna is there in the heart.
You know, to turn to Krishna is our problem. If we do that, Krishna takes all the responsibility. But most people, they never turn to Krishna.
When they turn to Krishna, they turn to Krishna, not for taking his advice, but for asking him to fulfil their own demands. If you see in the first chapter of the Gita, Arjuna is speaking, and Krishna is just listening. Just once Krishna says something, Krishna says something, and then finally, Arjuna is giving so many reasons.
This is why I want to do this. I don’t want to fight because it will lead to Bhanda Sankara, it will lead to so and so. There are so many reasons.
But then, Arjuna finally says, Krishna, I am confused. I don’t know. And then he says, now you tell me what is the best for you.
I am asking you to tell me what is the best for me. And then Krishna opens up. So, the Lord is there in our heart.
If we want his help, we will get his help. But most people don’t ask the Lord for help. So then for them, punishment is there because the law of karma is there.
The law of karma, Krishna creates an arena where he allows for restricted enjoyment according to Shastra. But somebody wants unrestricted enjoyment against Shastra, the law of karma is there to punish him. And the cycle of punishment and enjoyment, this goes on as long as the soul doesn’t turn to Krishna.
He turns towards Krishna and the next element comes in, that is enlightenment. And then, he starts coming out of the cycle of enjoyment and punishment. Does that answer your question? Michael? I don’t want to judge Krishna is right or wrong.
But I am trying to understand why this thing happens. What I mean to ask is, see, when a person goes to hell, when he comes, he gets next life. He does not remember that he has been to the hell.
Even this is a type of hell. But the question is, why? When he doesn’t make any sense. Because the person forgets that in his previous life, he has come out of hell.
So, it doesn’t change him, or it doesn’t make him understand what is going on. Krishna says, I give knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness, based on your desire. So, it is not that, Krishna puts us into forgetfulness.
We put ourselves into forgetfulness. It’s not that, why to speak about hellish suffering? We have suffered in this life also. But how much do we remember that? The desire for enjoyment is so strong, and the desire for enjoyment, actually, by seeing that how strong the desire is, this is what you want to do, then, if you want to enjoy, you need to have a world view, which will allow you to enjoy.
So, you can continue to think, this world is a place of enjoyment. So, it’s not that Krishna puts us into forgetfulness. See, a soul goes to hell, because he has done a past karma.
And then he suffers, when he comes back here. When he comes back here, in the womb, he remembers. And he prays to Krishna, Krishna will save him.
But then again, when he comes out of the womb, the materialistic conception of life, is what he had his own way. So, Vedic culture was originally meant, that parents should teach the children. Actually, they want to become a devotee of Krishna.
Now, of course, the parents don’t teach, but then we can’t say that the blame is on the parents. Because the souls who come in Kali Yuga, in an environment where nobody is teaching God consciousness, the souls have done such sort of devilish karma in the past, because of which they come into this devilish age. So, actually this, often this notion is there, that if we remember, for example, the hellish suffering, or our past, our past lives, for example, we may be able to practise Krishna consciousness better.
But it doesn’t work like that. The real life story, you know, this Titanic, it was designed by a person named Thomas Andrews. And he designed it, and he was on the first ride of the Titanic, and he died when the Titanic sank.
And this Thomas Andrews, has now reincarnated as a person named William Barnes. And this William Barnes, has given a scientific explanation of why the Titanic sank, so fast. It was made of metal, the first ship made of metal, and it was supposed to be quite sturdy.
And it sank, and it sank very fast. He has explained, that the thickness of the metal was such that it caused a resonance effect. And he said that, in my previous life, Thomas Andrews, I knew that this may happen.
And therefore, there was some Jimmy Black or someone, who was funding the whole project. And I told him, that we should construct a thicker hull. But he said, no, no, we can’t spend more money, we have to make profit.
He did not allow me to construct a thicker hull. And then, what happened that Jimmy Black, I forget his name, that person escaped on a life raft. And this Thomas Andrews sank.
So he clearly remembers his past life. In fact, he has written books, he has given audio tapes, and scientists have also verified to a large extent, because they checked the debris. They checked the debris, what had happened, what had happened to the Titanic.
And the way the Titanic had shattered, and they did a computer simulation, according to William Barnes’ idea. They found it matched. So scientifically, William Barnes’ explanation of the resonance effect, causing the destruction of the Titanic, has been verified.
But you know this William Barnes, he says, my life’s mission, is to protect the good name of the Andrews family. Andrews has died, he is in a new body, he knows that I was there, and I am here. But his remembrance of his past life, has not made him at all attracted towards spirituality.
He is still concerned, I was a good man, but I was given a bad name, in my previous life. So in my new life, rather than enquiring about who am I, I lived after death, he is thinking, in my previous life, the bad name which I was given, it should be corrected. This is the extent to which a bodily conception can be there.
So, remembrance, as I said, what to speak of highly suffering, even in this life we have suffered. But that doesn’t lead to transformation. Ultimately it is, suffering is meant to transform the desire of the living entity.
But the desire is always free. We can desire whatever we want. So we can turn to Krishna even without suffering.
And even with suffering, we may not turn to Krishna. That is up to us. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, the whole message of the Bhagavad Gita, and then he says, विम्बृष्वेत अशेशेन एथेच्यसि तथाफ्य। Celebrate, think deeply on what I have told you.
And, do as you desire. So the desire is always there. So it requires some deeper thought.
Because the soul wants to enjoy, then the Lord gives him forgetfulness of the suffering. For example, if, somebody in your family has just passed away, and a friend comes and tells you, let’s go for a movie. Do you think you can go for a movie? You will be disgusted with the whole idea.
Similarly, if we, the soul remembers, all the horrifying experiences he has gone through in his previous lives, or during his stay in hell, he will not be able to enjoy at all. But the soul wants to enjoy. And then because the soul desperately wants to enjoy, the Lord gives him forgetfulness of the suffering.
This is not the Lord’s cruelty. He says that Krishna does not discriminate. He reciprocates.
So he reciprocates based on our desire. So if our desire is to enjoy, Krishna will make us forget all the suffering that is preventing us from enjoying. And if our desire is to serve Krishna, then, Krishna will give us unlimited reasons, why we should serve.
He will give us, remembrances and realisations of how this material world is a place of suffering. So it’s our free will. It’s always there with us.
And, as I said, the punishment is meant to reform. Certainly, if, there had been no punishment, no one would have come to Krishna. But that punishment is alone not enough.
Along with punishment, there is enlightenment. And along with, even after enlightenment, there is free will. So everything begins with the free will.
It’s a long answer. So I’ll quickly repeat what I said. To make it more clear.
The soul has a free will, which can be directed towards Krishna or towards Maya. When it’s directed towards Maya, he suffers. And then he can do pious activities or he can do sinful activities.
And accordingly, he suffers more or less. Now, he does sinful activities, then he is given more suffering. But still he has his free will, what he wants to do.
And Krishna, according to the free will that the living entity has, according to what he is desiring, Krishna gives him an according world view. Okay, this is what you think is enjoyable. Okay, you think that it is enjoyable.
Now, if you see, the devotees will tell you, no, life is so short. Don’t waste your life in enjoyment. The Karbis will tell you, life is so short.
Therefore, enjoy now. It’s exactly the same information. But the conclusion they will say, life is so short, youth is going to live for such a short time.
Don’t lose the opportunity for enjoyment. The same information, but, it will be interpreted differently. The free will can be used whichever way you want.
So, according to our free will, Krishna gives the world view accordingly. There is a nice story about this. One time, one alcoholic reformer, he went to an alcoholic society.
He wanted to tell them how dangerous alcohol is. So, what he did was, he brought a jug of beaker, transparent beaker of alcohol, and then he had caught a fly. And he put the fly into the alcohol.
And then the fly fluttered and fluttered, and within moments, sank down dead. All the alcoholics became very crazy. He also became very crazy.
And then, he asked them, so what do you learn from this experience? Everybody looked down. Didn’t know what to say. But one of them, he had a broad smile on his face.
So, what do you learn from this? He raised his hand. He says, when I drink alcohol, all the germs in my stomach will die. So, according to what our desire is, Krishna will give us the intelligence to justify whatever we want.
So, it is not, as I said, it is not the remembrance of our past life suffering, is not necessarily a stimulus for taking to Krishna consciousness now. We can remember our past life and still not take to Krishna consciousness, or we may not remember our past life and still we may take to Krishna consciousness. It is a question of our freedom.
Okay? Any other questions? Hare Krishna. One more question. One time, one person asked Rupal, Swamiji, what is the purpose of this world? So, Prabhupada replied, enjoy it.
So, he was taken aback. He knew that Prabhupada taught these four regulative principles. So, Prabhupada said, not yours, Krishna’s.
So, and of course, it is not that we don’t enjoy. We also enjoy, but in relationship with Krishna. So, the soul is originally in the spiritual world, and there he has a loving relationship with Krishna.
But love requires free will. And because we have a free will, we can choose not to love Krishna. And then when we choose not to be in harmony with Krishna, then, we need a separate arena for that.
We need a separate place where we can try to fulfil our independent desires. That is the material world. So, in the material world, what Krishna does is, soul has to love someone.
You cannot live without loving. So, he creates Maya, the illusory energy, who offers the soul, substitutes for Krishna. And then, the soul tries to love and reciprocate, loving relationship with all these substitutes for Krishna.
But then, he doesn’t get any happiness from it. And by this, gradually gets the realisation, that I cannot get happiness, and he turns to Krishna. So, two things.
The first, why Krishna has created a Maya? Because, if he did not create Maya, then, there would be no opportunity for the soul, to fulfil his independent desire. So, it is Maya only, which enables the soul to fulfil his independent desire. Actually, for a pure devotee, Krishna is everywhere.
And, we cannot forget Krishna. It is only when Krishna creates Maya, that we can forget Krishna, and try to think that, we are the enjoyers. You know, if a small child is there, and in front of him, some big pehelwan is there, the child cannot even imagine that, I am a strong person.
But then, if at all he has to imagine, then, either that, powerful pehelwan has to go away, or he should not see that pehelwan. So, like that, Krishna is the supreme enjoyer. He is all-opulent, full.
And, we cannot think of ourselves as the enjoyer, as long as, we can see Krishna. So, when Krishna gives us a forgetfulness of him, through the agency of Maya, so that we can try to enjoy a separate feeling. And, we try, but, it is not that Krishna creates misery.
Misery is inevitable, when we forget Krishna. Because, for a soul, who has experienced the joy of loving Krishna, nothing else can ever satisfy him. We have all experienced the joy of loving Krishna, when we are in this spiritual world.
So, in the material world, actually, the misery is considered in one sense, auspicious. Just as, if there is some disease in your body, the body’s temperature rises. Now, the temperature rises, good.
Because, that indicates something is wrong in the body. And, then, you will go to a doctor, you will take a medicine, and you will get cured. Similarly, the suffering in this world, is meant to be an impetus, to take to spirituality.
And, to return to Krishna. So, a devotee, sees actually the suffering of this world, also as, a blessing of Krishna. Because, sufferings act as impetus for him, to go, to return to Krishna.
We will stop here. Now, we will have Kirtans. If any of you have any more questions, you can talk personally.
So, we will have Kirtans, in, I think, the Goswami Hall. Srila Prabhupada Ki, Vitthai Gaur Premanande.