Can ambition and devotion go together 2 – How to channel ambition in devotion

[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students] Video:

Jai Jai Hare Krishna so today we take the second part the concluding part of the discussion on can ambition and devotion go together yesterday I talked about the concept of destiny and how that concept works that when it happens that the stress are fixed that basically means that the kind of pleasure that we get in a particular body that is fixed and our present situations are determined partially by our past actions and partially by our present actions and the combination which will play how much role sometimes a small mistake in the present can lead to a big complication, big consequence or sometimes a big mistake may also not lead to much problems that is determined by our past karma that means our past and present are in a dynamic blend indetermine meaning our present and future so just as indiscreet choices can cause us to aggravate the distress that we face in this life so similarly by cautious intelligent choices we can also gain some amount of material happiness so I talked about we all have certain passions and human life is meant for growth so when the growth is disproportionate like in a cancer it is destructive but when it is proportionate it is holistic it leads to a balanced growth of a human being so we have various aspects of our life and as we grow we are meant to grow in all the aspects of our life and then I talked about our nature to the extent we harmonise with our nature to that extent we can gain some happiness which will be a combination of material and spiritual if we are using that nature in Krishna's service and thus we will over a period of time by doing what we are psychophysically inclined to do for Krishna's sake we will gradually get a satisfaction which will become from initially material and increasingly spiritual over time today I will talk about two main themes first is how do we understand what is our nature and second is how do we differentiate between material and spiritual so lets focus on the second part first sometimes we differentiate material and spiritual by the kind of actions that we are doing say for example if I am coming to a temple, if I am coming to a spiritual programme I am going for yatra, that's spiritual if I am going for my job, if I am going for my studies that's material and that's an important way of classifying but that's not the only way to classify why? because ultimately material is to see things separate from Krishna and spiritual is to see things connected with Krishna in the Bhagavatam that Maya is defined as seeing anything separate from Krishna so anything that I see separate from Krishna that is illusion that perception is illusion so it's understood to some extent that if we are coming to the temple if we are coming for some spiritual programme, if we are doing some services then the connection with Krishna is much more likely to be apparent and prominent in our consciousness whereas when we are doing our professional work our family work at that time the connection with Krishna the connection with Krishna may be less or the connection with Krishna may be less evident but what does connection with Krishna mean? it essentially means the mood of service we connect with Krishna through the sevabhaav I can even touch the deities but I may not feel anything at all even if I don't touch the deities if I have a service attitude by the service attitude Krishna becomes manifested in our consciousness so that means things which are done with an attitude of service they are spiritual the service to Krishna, they are spiritual and things which are done without an attitude of service for one's own aggrandisement they are material if somebody is giving a class on Krishna's philosophy but they are doing it to impress people how clever I am they are doing it not to glorify Krishna but to get themselves glorified then that person's consciousness will be more materialistic or more disconnected from Krishna then somebody who might be working in a job in an office but they are thinking ok, this I am doing it for Krishna Vishwanath Chakraborty gives an example, just as a householder who has to work away from their home they may be staying at a different place they may be interacting for their job they have to work somewhere else so while working in their job they talk with various different people and externally there doesn't seem to be much connection with the family they have but internally I was thinking I am doing this to take care of my family, my spouse my children and so in physical location they may be far away but in internal intention they are very closely connected similarly for Krishna for devotees externally they will be doing various activities but internally they are doing it for Krishna so the connection with Krishna is primarily through the intention to serve him and wherever the intention to serve is there that is where actually there is spiritual consciousness so we could classify the material and spiritual in terms of external actions we are doing and we can also at a deeper level classify things as material and spiritual based on the intention with which we are doing it so if we have particular talents if we have particular abilities and we engage in those abilities we develop those abilities at that time what happens gradually we can excel in those abilities and we can do some valuable service to Krishna by using those abilities there is a long story of Arjuna where he was asked to shoot a target by Drona and before they shot everyone was asked all the students in Drona's academy were asked to come forward ok I see a tree, I see a bird but Arjuna what did he say I just see the bird's eye it's interesting he did not say I see Krishna he is a pure devotee and a pure devotee sees Krishna everywhere but at that point he did not say I see Krishna he said I see a bird's eye and I see only the bird's eye and he is not saying I see this bird's eye as the beauty of Krishna there is no Krishna element over there and still that is appreciated why because he is absorbed over there so basically he because of that one pointed absorption excelled in archery and by that excellence in archery he was able to do an excellent service for Krishna when we say that we are always to remember Krishna now what does it mean to always remember Krishna is it that we conceptually divide our brain into half and half of our brain we are using to do whatever external thing we are doing and half of the brain is remembering Krishna is it that I am talking with someone and one half of my brain is remembering Krishna's pastimes other half I am talking with you it's not like that when we are talking about remembering Krishna that remembrance is not so much a factual recollection as a loving connection like going back to the example that Chakravarthy Path gives the householder when they are working for their family away from their family it's not that they are constantly thinking they may have a picture of their family in their pockets but it's not that they are consciously constantly thinking of them but that is the driving purpose of their life but when they are doing what they are doing they are absorbed in doing it it's not that devotion if it is meant to be recollection of Krishna that doesn't mean inattention to the details of things considering their material no Srila Prabhupada came to India he trained devotees in how to even make beds how to in India bed means you have these beds on the ground where people come and sit how to tuck the bed sheets properly how to clean things how to clean the house properly how to cook I agree with one of Prabhupada's disciples writes in the Hare Krishna explosion book that he wrote he says that initially we were impressed by Swamiji's knowledge of Vedic verses and then we were delighted to find, first we were impressed but then we were delighted to find that Swamiji's knowledge of recipes was as extensive as his knowledge of verses and he would cook so many items so Prabhupada was not cursory or just get this done no, he was very attentive in how he would cook so a devotee is actually absorbed and that absorption need not be it is not necessary in a case of schizophrenia where half of the mind is thinking of one thing, half of the mind is of other thing whatever we are doing, we do it wholeheartedly and intention we connect it with Krishna so a devotee has to how do we get this deep intention to connect with Krishna that is by purification that is by associating with those who are intensely devoted to Krishna and by that association slowly serving Krishna is so wonderful one disciple of Prabhupada when we were with Swamiji we felt that loving Krishna is so wonderful and loving him is so wonderful and that is what we should do all the time and Swamiji made it so wonderful that we could do hundreds of things in serving Krishna we could travel to different countries learn different languages adapt to different kind of people and we could do so many things in service of Krishna so bhakti as Sri Prabhupada taught us was not just coming to a temple and chanting bhakti was you know bold adventure in Krishna's service bhakti was bold adventure go and do extraordinary things for Krishna and they can be in many different fields so I was just in Alachua Alachua is the place in Florida where many Sri Prabhupada disciples live together Florida is considered to be the retirement state it has very less taxes so people after retiring come and stay over there so many Prabhupada disciples stay over there so there I met a devotee Ishan Prabhu so when he was in London at that time London was the European headquarters of Prabhupada Prabhupada's movement and then many devotees came from different parts of Europe and were reporting so Prabhupada asked how is the preaching in Germany how is it in France what are things happening here how are things going on there and they were all reporting so Ishan Prabhu was there and he felt everybody has something to do for Prabhupada but I don't have anything to do so then he asked Prabhupada Prabhupada please give me something to do for Krishna and then Prabhupada said what do you want to do for Krishna no Swami Prabhupada whatever you tell me I will do what do you want to do for Krishna no Prabhupada he thought maybe Prabhupada is testing me whatever you tell me I will do so Prabhupada said understand our philosophy find out what you want to do and then do it for Krishna find out what you want to do and then do it for Krishna he had never thought of it like that let me think about Prabhupada and he went since his childhood he had an interest in making making clay art work making things handicrafts basically with art and pottery and things like that so he looked around the devotee community and he said Prabhupada I am thinking of making Mridanga with material available here with contemporary material because they used to get Mridanga from India and sometimes along the way it would break and even when the devotees would use it sometimes the Mridanga would break getting a new Mridanga would take a lot of effort so Prabhupada said very good he said your western god brothers are very passionate make a Mridanga such that even if they throw it on the ground it will not break and that's how he got a life long service and the whole concept of making dioramas using contemporary materials all that emerged from contemporary means contemporary in the western world so in general when we practise Bhakti initially it's very important for us to learn the ethos of discipline whatever we are told to do we do that that is important at the same time it's not that life long we are going to have someone above us telling us do this don't do this over a period of time we have to come to a level where even if nobody is telling us to practise Bhakti we will ask them to practise Bhakti it's not that we defy authority but we don't rely on authority defy authority means you want me to do this but I am going to do this I don't care for you don't rely on authority means not that we don't need authority but we don't need someone to goad us come on do this we should come to a level where we do it ourselves and this will happen when we are innately inspired to do something so Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that I am victory and I am Vyavasaya can mean endeavour or it can mean adventure this is the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita when he talks about the Vibhuti Yoga I am victory I am adventure what this means is Krishna is saying that when people go on trekking people do some scuba diving under the ground people do some adventure sports they get some thrill over there now what is that thrill you are risking your life why do that people get some thrill over there so that thrill is actually the experience of Krishna so whatever is anyone's deepest experience that is their experience of Krishna Krishna says that everything attractive manifests the spark of his splendour yad yad vibhuti mat sattvam shrimadur jitamevava tattvadevahu gacchattvam mamatejuam shi sambhava in 10.41 he says that everything attractive manifests the spark of his splendour that means the thrill of jumping from a helicopter in a parachute that thrill, what is it that is attracting people over there it is an experience of a fragment of Krishna when somebody is studying and doing research some people they just get lost for hours and hours and hours doing research they forget everything else now what are they experiencing over there they are actually experiencing Krishna now they are experiencing Krishna but they don't know that they are experiencing Krishna so here there is an important difference that everything attractive comes from Krishna but everything attractive may not take us to Krishna everything attractive whatever is attractive in this world Prabhupada says in a lecture that if somebody is an alcoholic and they can't give up alcohol then they should think that the taste of alcohol is Krishna that he says and the taste of water so alcohol is also liquid they should think that the taste of alcohol is Krishna by thinking like this one day they will become a great devotee of Krishna he is not saying by drinking alcohol they will become a great devotee now what he is saying is that that is such an intense experience for them so what is the experience what is it that is attractive over there what is the bottle of alcohol ok it has some taste but what about that what is so special about that actually they are experiencing Krishna intellectually they understand what is the attractiveness in this it is the attractiveness of Krishna and then that recollection of Krishna that connection of Krishna will be a tiny step for them in their spiritual growth so for somebody who likes to work hard somebody who likes to work, plan, organise manage then if nowadays the job profile is event manager somebody does marriages VIP retreats or somebody is an event manager we just love the thrill of get this right, get this right, get this right run around and get everything right now what is it that they are experiencing at that time that is the time when I come alive other time I feel as if I am not living so somebody will be a sports player and when the sports player they start playing they get into such a zone at that time there is a tennis player he when he was playing tennis he was injured but somehow he kept playing in the final and he won the match and his arm was so much in pain that after that when he came out and he had to receive the trophy he couldn't raise his hand to receive the trophy also but while he was pounding the balls in the match with his tennis bat but after he came out somebody had to come and hold his hand and lift up and then he took up the trophy he just became immune to the pain so what is he experiencing over there its a tremendous attraction to the tennis but what is that attraction that actually is an experience of Krishna so its not that if you see the 10th chapter the description of how we can see Krishna is very very broad so Krishna says over there that actually he says I am I am the greatest among all mountains among the mountains I am Meru among immobile objects I am the Himalayas among bodies of water I am the river so he is talking about whatever is the greatest whatever is the most attractive that is Krishna that is the manifestation of Krishna so when His Holiness Radhanath Maharaj wrote this book Journey Home at that time they decided to they wanted to get reviews for the book from different people so one of the reviews they got was from Sourav Ganguly so then Maharaj asked who is Sourav Ganguly he said he is a very famous cricketer and Maharaj said that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he came at that time Mayawad was very prominent so he took sanyas in Mayawad Sampradaya just so that he could attract people so if Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had come now he would have come as a cricketer so the point is that whatever is attractive in today's world now where is that attractiveness coming from so everything attractive comes from Krishna now it is not that say the player who is playing tennis and getting so absorbed it may not seem they are devoted to Krishna their attraction to tennis is not necessarily going to take it into Krishna so Krishna exists at the transcendental level but Krishna also manifests in goodness, in passion in ignorance what do you mean Krishna manifests in ignorance that means the taste of alcohol is in ignorance but where does the taste of alcohol come from it comes from Krishna now when we are attracted for the taste of alcohol then actually we may get rebelled from Krishna so Prabhupada Korshan and Chaitanya Chaitanya Ambedkar purport that there are some Mayawadis who say some impersonalists who say that that everything is Brahman therefore they say that even if we eat meat that is also Brahman even if we drink alcohol that is also Brahman Prabhupada said that yes you could say that the taste of meat is also Brahman the taste of alcohol is also Brahman but the question is is it taking you closer to Brahman or is it taking you away from Brahman so there are certain experiences which are very deep but they may take us away from Krishna but it is not necessary that those experiences have to always take us away from Krishna so the first point I made is whatever is our deepest experience is our experience of Krishna even if we don't know consciously it is the experience of Krishna now if we could use whatever is our deepest experience to serve Krishna then we could experience Krishna through our deepest experience that means say somebody likes to decorate I have one devotee he was a pujari in Pune temple and he had gone for a yatra so he was so attracted to decorating every single day almost he would dress the deities and it was 15 days away so what he did he got some sticks he got some cloth and during that time he made a replica of Jagannath and everyday he was dressing that this is not a deity there is no Pranapratistha but it is just his way that's what he has to do he has to decorate, dress something and he was doing it for Krishna so whatever is our deepest experience if we can use that to experience Krishna then we can actually very powerfully connect with Krishna somebody who loves to sing and then they sing about Krishna they just get lost in singing and they go deep into singing and they sing for Krishna they go deep into Krishna through that so now some fields may seem very easy to connect like singing, speaking managing, counselling all these we can connect very easily with Krishna we can see, not connect very easily we can very easily see the connection with Krishna this is what I am doing for Krishna but there are other fields whose connection may not be so easily apparent Bhaktanath Thakur was a high court magistrate now how was his job of being a magistrate connected with Krishna actually it was not very much connected with Krishna directly he was of course a moral and exemplary judge very efficient in his work but through that position he did something remarkable at that time Gaudiya Vaishnavism was seen as a beggars religion because many people who would be just poor they would just chant Hare Krishna and ask for alms and not only it was a beggars religion it was also considered to be a debauchers religion because many people would try to imitate Radha Krishna's pastimes and they would do all kinds of immoral things so when Bhaktanath Thakur adopted Gaudiya Vaishnavism he was a respectable person and when he adopted and started propagating Gaudiya Vaishnavism many people started appreciating it at that time nowadays people have online followers people boast, Facebook I have this many followers Twitter I have this many followers I have this many followers actually in our tradition also Bhaktanath Thakur would say he created the first virtual network of followers he was a grahastha he did not have much time to go and travel and preach he had a demanding job but what he did was he would regularly publish magazines and most of his books also they were serialised magazines which eventually became a book that's how in that time people would write even Charles Dickens and other novels that are there they were written as serialised publications in London newspapers and eventually they became books Bhaktanath Thakur did that and through that he circulated and he got a lot of people to become appreciative of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and they became appreciative because he was in a respectable post and because he was good at his job so sometimes the effect of getting people to Krishna can be very overt and sometimes it can be very explicit and sometimes it can be very subtle just by somebody being in a very respectable position and being good in that position somebody being well-known, well-respected and then they are devotees then they actually attract a lot of people and in this way if you see Yudhishthir Maharaj he, after he became the king he practically fought he did the Rajasuya Yajna now Rajasuya Yajna meant he had to actually fight against all those kings who were not ready to pay tribute and it involved a lot of material management, material confrontation but it was all meant to glorify Krishna so after the Rajasuya Yajna was done where he was enthroned as the emperor of the world he gave the Agra Puja to Krishna and that's how he glorified Krishna but to get to that position he had to work very hard to fight even wars for that purpose so if somebody already has a deep experience of Krishna Krishna in something I say among students who come for studies say in IITs, NITs I have seen broadly there are three categories of students there are a few who are very passionate about research this is a field I want to go deep into and study and learn and improve there are others who are there simply to have a career to have a good job have a good career, have good financial stability have a good position in society and there are some who are there simply because they are pressurised to come there the parents said that once there was a couple they had a fight and they went to court so the father said that the judge asked I want my son to become an engineer the mother said I want my son to become a doctor so then the judge said why do you have to come to me just ask your son no we can't ask why not he is not yet born so sometimes we may just choose a particular career because we conform to expectations of others of course there can be many subtleties and various categories also, this is just broad so now if somebody is in the field of of say in a particular field because they have great interest in that field and they get absorbed in that field and they can actually make some significant contribution in that field and for them to see that as mundane and give it up and then practise Krishna Bhakti, that may not be desirable because they already have a connection and attraction to that and if they do that they will feel something missing in their lives they will always feel a glowing sense of dissatisfaction for people in the third category anyway they don't like the career they are pursuing and Krishna Consciousness has become an escape way for them they may seem very interested in Krishna Consciousness not because they are so attracted to Krishna it is simply because they want to go away from their career and Krishna becomes a way to go away from their career but we could have the second category where people are doing it for functional purposes they do their job they do their studies, they get their marks but it's not that they are very deeply interested in it so each person has to find out where they can best experience Krishna and then connect that experience with Krishna sorry each person has to find out what is it that gives them the deepest experience and then connect that deepest experience with Krishna and that brings us to our nature understanding our nature is quite a difficult thing and the best thing we could do is Krishna says means according to qualities and activities so I phrase this qualities and activities as if we have the quality for doing something then we feel comfortable doing it I really like to do it yesterday I said if something is according to our nature we like to do it even if we don't get any recognition for doing it comfortable there is enough comfort when we do it and karma means we are able to do it well that means we are competent at doing it so in doing some activities if we feel internally comfortable and if we find that we are extremely competent then that is an indication that is something which we are made to do that is something which is harmonious with our nature and in general it takes time to find this if we ask our mind what is my nature the mind will give one constant answer whatever you are doing right now that is not your nature the nature of the mind is to keep us dissatisfied it stays dissatisfied and it keeps us dissatisfied now I do a lot of seminars on the mind so we do an exercise we don't have time to do that but it's a good thought exercise sometimes if we have a room partner and then we stay with them for one day and we find they are almost like psychotic at one moment they are very cheerful at another moment they are very depressed at one moment they are just shouting at someone at another moment they are just completely oh such a nice person at one moment they are very energetic at another moment they are very depressed this person is like a very disturbed person and say I don't know whether I should stay with this person you guys fill my room so actually if we could do the same thing with our mind just observe the mind for one day see the gamut of emotions it goes through it is shocking so shocking this mind is really a disturbed guy and it is a disturbed guy and it will disturb us so we can't count on our mind to tell us what our nature is I love writing but even when I love writing it is not that I always love to write why because there are times when nothing and then they say writers get writing block writer's block so nothing seems to come through so there is an author who said that writing is very easy all that you have to do is sit in front of a computer and glare at the screen till drops of blood form on your forehead drops of blood form on your forehead what does that mean you just get so exhausted, exasperated, irritated nothing is happening not sweat but blood comes over there you bang on the screen, you bang on the head bang your head on the wall you get frustrated so even when we like to do something the mind won't always like to do it so therefore we need initially to practise discipline practise bhakti follow instruction by which we come to the mode of goodness in the mode of goodness we can distance ourselves from the mind we can observe the mind and then in the mode of goodness we can slowly understand what is our nature and then we can dovetail that nature in Krishna's service so the important thing is that if we don't learn to manage our mind then the mind can create a lot of misery for us and that misery is not destined that misery is self created so if we learn to manage our mind and managing our mind is not just through bhakti it's also just coming to goodness can help us to manage the mind better so those who learn to who have a job or a career which is overall in harmony with their nature they get some material satisfaction because their mind stays relatively peaceful so for us when we are serving Krishna our purpose should be that I have been given some talents, I have been given some abilities and let me use them in Krishna's service now in which ashram, in which profession in which area of life that is something which is to be decided that is something which will take time to be revealed but we don't have to have a world rejecting understanding of bhakti bhakti is not a process of world rejection, bhakti is a process of world connection you want to connect the world and you want to offer the world to Krishna that is our devotion to Krishna is not just that we leave this world and go to Krishna our devotion to Krishna is that we also while we are in this world we try to offer the world to Krishna so in that sense bhakti is world connecting not world rejecting we express our love for Krishna not by giving up the world for Krishna's sake but by working to give the world to Krishna to give the world to Krishna means that we want Krishna to be glorified in this world and how we can do that each one of us has to find out and if we work primarily to serve Krishna then in that service attitude everything will be revealed because if we show Krishna I want to serve you Krishna will guide us how best you can serve it's not that Krishna doesn't want us to come to him and Krishna doesn't want us to take the difficult path to him Krishna wants us to come to him in the way that is best for him so rather than having some preconceptions this is what is to be given up for Krishna this is what is to be taken up for Krishna instead of coming to Krishna bhakti with preconceptions about Krishna bhakti is we come with open mind Krishna I want to serve you please guide me how I can serve you and we do our sadhana well we do our studies well we try to cultivate the mode of goodness and by that we grow in self understanding I conclude with one metaphor that suppose somebody gets an inheritance and say they are devotees and they want to give a lot of charity to Krishna but they don't have much money and they found they have got a big inheritance not a big inheritance it's an inheritance which they have got and then they come to know that there is a house and somewhere in that house some big treasure is buried so then they actually want to find out where is the treasure if they can find that treasure then they can offer that treasure to Krishna so if they don't find that treasure they will say I am so busy serving Krishna I didn't find the treasure it was there but I forgot so we could say that our own body mind is like the inheritance we have got and in this body mind we all have been given certain talents certain abilities some of which we know some of which we don't know so to offer our best to Krishna we also have to discover our best for Krishna to offer our best to Krishna we have to discover our best for Krishna so understanding not in an egoistic sense I have this talent, I have this ability but in a mood of service and offering what are the things that I am good at what are the things which I can do well while doing various activities in our life we observe what is it that I feel comfortable doing what is it that I am competent doing and in that way when we work we will find that every one of us has been given gifts by Krishna and we use those gifts in Krishna's service what we are is Krishna's gift to us what we become is our gift to Krishna what we are what we are right now is not just a product of karma it is a product of karma but it is supervised by Krishna so it is arranged by Krishna so it is Krishna's gift to us and what we become how we use our talents how we use our time how we use our resources how we use our thought process what we become is our gift to Krishna so when we have this dynamic understanding of bhakti Krishna has given me something and I want to give something back to Krishna then we will not feel choked in the practise of bhakti rather we will feel stimulated and energised as we try to bring each one of our individuality in the pursuit of our spirituality I will summarise I spoke today about second part of can devotion and ambition go together I spoke on two main themes understanding the difference between material and spiritual wherein material and spiritual can be classified broadly in terms of whether the action is connected with Krishna or not but the deeper it is whether our intention is to connect with Krishna or not and always remembering Krishna doesn't necessarily mean that we live like schizophrenics with half the brain thinking of Krishna and half the brain thinking of what we are doing but rather whatever we are doing it becomes permeated with a strong intention to serve Krishna so Arjuna was absorbed in the target when he had to hit the target not absorbed in Krishna when he had to hit the target was hitting the target for Krishna so our deepest experience is our experience of Krishna Krishna manifests not only through bhakti at the transcendental level Krishna manifests in the material world through all the attractive manifestations of this world in goodness, passion and ignorance so everything that is attractive comes from Krishna but everything attractive doesn't take us to Krishna so we have to find out how our deepest experience can be used to experience Krishna so if somebody is drinking alcohol then they may have to give up alcohol but they think that the taste of alcohol is Krishna and that can help us to move them closer to Krishna but somebody has some other talents, music, writing, managing, speaking and they use that in Krishna's service by doing those activities for Krishna they get deep experience and excitement and thrill in doing those things and they do it for Krishna then they can experience Krishna in a way that will be sustainable for them in bhakti we want to come to a level where we can practise bhakti without anyone needing to push us and that will come when we can find out as Prabhupada said, find out what you want to do and do it for Krishna so we see spiritual primarily as the intention that connects us with Krishna and second part I talked about understanding our nature so broadly it is if we count on our mind, the mind will keep us deluded will keep us perpetually dissatisfied so rather than counting on the mind we follow the process of bhakti try to come to the mode of goodness by following instructions and following sadhana bhakti and then we get broader, clearer self understanding by understanding by observing what we are comfortable doing and what we are competent doing that way we can understand what we are meant to do and if we are already experiencing Krishna in our profession then we connect that experience with Krishna if we are in a profession for functional purposes for just earning or getting a position then we do that and we find out how we can experience Krishna if we are in our profession in our career just because of an obligation then again we continue that but then we find out what is it that is my calling, what is it my passion what is it that I can I feel strongly driven to do and then see how we can do it for Krishna so to offer our best to Krishna we need to discover our best just like a person who has got an inheritance they need to discover where is the hidden treasure over there what we are is Krishna's gift to us and what we become is our gift to Krishna thank you very much Hare Krishna are there any questions or comments last you mentioned about that we have come to the platform that there should be no push for can you please tell that if they are starting now how can I practise this principle like no push or so at this stage how can we practise the principle of I should practise bhakti without being pushed Jiva Goswami says that for the pure devotees it is their priti that keeps them on the spiritual level priti is affection for Krishna but for the sadhakas it is their buddhi that keeps them on the spiritual level the intelligence the mind will always keep going up and down I feel like doing it, I don't feel like doing it but with our intellectual conviction we can keep our intention above our emotion our emotion will keep flickering sometimes I feel like doing it, sometimes I don't feel like doing it but with our intellectual conviction why this is important why do I want to do this that way we keep our intention above our emotion now intellectual conviction is not very easy to sustain for a long time so we also need supportive association by supportive association we see others doing things and that also inspires us to do things and as I said even now we can observe what is it that we are comfortable doing, what is it that we are competent doing and then that we will feel naturally inclined to do that so basically in cultivating intellectual conviction and doing careful self-observation are the ways by which we can take steps towards becoming self-motivated in our bhakti a good thing to know about nature is to see where we are competent externally competent but when we try to see where we are competent in which activity we are competent many times it also takes into account the other people who are in that field so we might be very good at something but yet when we see other people who are much better at it we might think that maybe this is not what I am doing so how do we account for this as competition when we try to so I feel I am good at something but then many other people are also good at it and they are much better than me also then that brings us to the area of competition yes there are certain areas where by collective karma people of a particular area are more talented in certain things say for example Indians have the logical linear kind of thinking by which they are in general good at software so many of my most Indians who go abroad they go into software or many Indians even in India they may be working in different field but they go into software so I may be good at software coding but there are many others who are good at software coding you could say it is the overall karmic disposition of Indians by which they are good at software not necessarily good at software but good at the kind of thinking which is useful for software so then we can have 2-3 different options one is that are there other areas also which we are good at sometimes we may have more than one talent and then this is an area where there is lot of competition this is also something uncomfortable let me work at this so we may choose another area to develop that is one approach if we have some people have some people have not just talented but they are gifted with a variety of talents some people try to find out one talent which I have what is my talent and some people have which of my talents to work on so the world is such that whichever situation we are in we have problems I am good at this also, this also what do I do so it is not that necessarily one situation is better than another we have to work with whatever situation we are in so that is one option we look for some other area in which also we are talented and where maybe the competition is less the other is that even if there is competition, sometimes that area itself is so big that it can accommodate many many people so we might not necessarily become very big and distinctive in that area but still we can make we can we can get a position in that we can get a respectable position in society through that so then we may decide although there is lot of people over here, I can I would still like to continue in this another option could be that we work in a combination of two things so somebody might be very good at software but some people might just be very good simply at coding but some people may be good at coding and they are also good at managing then they will eventually grow not just to be software engineers but they may also partial management, partial coding, that is just an example I am giving so we have to basically it is like if you are driving a car then you have to know what are the strengths of the car but you also have to know the situation in which you are driving a car sometimes in America the way Indians change phones Americans change cars so there are many websites which are simply devoted for changing cars and there is one devotee American devotee, he said that he is on his 36th car right now so he changes a car every 6 months I said what do you you just have to drive a car, what do you do I don't need to change a car, he said no no no I want the latest car so anyway the point I was making is that we need to know the strengths of our car but also we need to know the traffic situation so there are sometimes when the traffic is very high if you have a small car actually you can go much faster and if you have a big car then you have to go very slow so that means if somebody has 2 cars they will decide based on traffic situation which car to take so one is you need to know the strengths of yourself also you have to know the situation then we find a way appropriately how to move forwards do we have to go to the top of whatever we are doing we just have to do our best we can aim to do our best and go to the top but we don't have to attach to that our goal is not to be the best in the world our goal is to offer our best to Krishna if in offering our best to Krishna we become the best in the world that's great but we don't want when I say using our ambition in Krishna's service the ambition should not become more important than Krishna whatever we want to do we want to do it for Krishna so it's important for us to have our priorities clear that is if this is the 3 ways of looking at it one is that this is my bhakti practise this is my material life again I am using the first definition of material life just externals this is my job, this is my career so now one aspect is that I just pull myself out of my job do the barest minimum possible and focus all my time on bhakti that may be ok if one is in the 2nd or 3rd category otherwise gets along in life but there also what may happen later is I feel I am missing something in my life I am practising bhakti but I feel different no I could be doing more over there I should be doing more over there so then means we are here practising Krishna bhakti but our mind is annoying us, you have not done that you have not done that the 2nd is when we are doing bhakti we do it wholeheartedly when we are doing our job we do it wholeheartedly so that is we could say almost we box our life into different categories all those categories are animated by the desire to serve Krishna the way we serve Krishna varies so this I do wholeheartedly this also I do wholeheartedly the 3rd is where I become so obsessed with my work that even when I am chanting Hare Krishna even when I am coming to the temple maybe I can do this, maybe I can do that that will go to the zone of obsession or workaholism so we don't want to be in the 1st level or in the 3rd level 1st level where we are thinking we are half-hearted at our work and then our mind gnaws us and troubles us and we are half-hearted in our devotion also we want to be balanced balanced means whatever time is required for our work we do that the best that we can and whatever time we have for our bhakti we do that and what time is required when that will vary sometimes when the traffic is clear we might just move very fast sometimes the traffic is tight we might move slowly so like that sometimes in our life the traffic in our material life become very heavy I have to meet this deadline, I have to do this, I have to do that then externally we are not going to spend that much time on our devotion but at other times there might not be so many deadlines, the traffic is clear at that time we move faster in our devotion so basically overall we animate all aspects of our life with the intention to serve Krishna and if I become obsessed with the idea that I have to become the best in this field then when I am coming to the temple when I am reading scripture when I am associating with devotees that is my goal what am I doing this for, I am wasting my time that is unhealthy so setting goals is not the problem being attached to goals is the problem setting goals inspires us to bring out our best Krishna says don't be attached to the results so goals are what we set before we do work Arjuna everyday in the Kurukshetra war set goals on the 14th day most famously set the goal that I am going to kill Jayadrath before sunset so Krishna did not tell Arjuna you have forgotten don't be attached to results no he is talking about two different things setting goals is before we do our work when we have a goal and that inspires us, we are going for book distribution oh I will distribute this many books that gives us inspiration, it gives us energy to do things but the results are not goals are what we set before we do our work results are what we get after we have done the work the results are not in our hands and sometimes we may just do our best and the result may not come we accept that, Krishna had some other plan for me, I accept it and move on, so don't be attached to the results so A, we can set a goal I would like to come first in my class and we decide for doing this, this much time I need to spend and this is how I can balance my life and be whole hearted in that but if it doesn't work out ok it is not that we have to be obsessed with it does that answer your question? yes Priyadarshan Sir, this is Anil Abhishek Darshanian, Gyan Karma Anam Vritham so how engaging the talents Prabhupada also gave the tenets of disciples and everything so how this engaging talents will finally lead to Gyan Karma Anam Vritham and in what mode it should be ok so pure devotion is free from Gyan and Karma Anam Vritham so if we are engaging our talents as Prabhupada did then will that lead to pure devotion yeah I gave a class in London on the topic of, we can't become pure devotees without becoming devotees what that means is first we have to connect with Krishna and then we can make the connection pure we have no connection only and how can I have a pure connection so basically we could have a aspiration for pure devotional service but we cannot have the consciousness of pure devotion right in the beginning when we start preaching Prabhupada spoke simply to glorify Krishna when we speak are we speaking only to glorify Krishna well I can say that, I am trying to but I am not there I also want to reciprocate with people so I want to see that people understand when people understand some concept explaining some complicated concept gives me intellectual pleasure when I see people asking intellectual questions that gives me intellectual pleasure is that devotional, it is in the realm of devotion but it is not necessarily purely devotional so, but if we are told till you have the pure intention to glorify Krishna you should not preach well, for the rest of eternity we will be waiting to become pure devotees so Prabhupada gave us he told us purity is the force that is one of the principles which we talk about in this con we want to go for pure devotional service but Prabhupada also said preaching is a part of our sadhana it is not that because we are pure we preach it is to become pure we preach so similarly for our services we want to become pure but we can't wait till we become pure to do something just do what we are meant to do right now, what we feel inspired to do and gradually we move towards purity by that so the significant point over this it's gyanakarmadhi anavrutam avrutam means when it is covered anavrutam means when it is uncovered so what is this avaran the avaran, the covering is where because of that covering we start, our perception gets distorted and we start thinking that krishnetara something other than Krishna is more important than Krishna is more pleasurable than Krishna so when I have the karma avaran when I am covered over by karma at that time I think if I work hard and achieve this that will be the success of my life if I have the jnana avaran then I think, if I just crack this concept if I just crack this book I can understand, then that's the success of my life but the jnana and karma anavrutam means we don't let that karma and jnana direct us away from Krishna karma and jnana are basically two faculties of the human being when we interact with the world we take in information from the world that's through the jnana indriyas and we act in the world that is by our karma indriyas so jnana and karma are two basic functions of consciousness in this world we observe taking information from the world and we act in the world so jnana karma the anavrutam means these two functions of our consciousness of perception and action they are no longer contaminated by the desire for anything other than Krishna so when jnana and karma are both directed towards Krishna then that is pure devotion now the jnana and karma will be according to our somehow like yesterday I quoted Prabhupada and he was told that your English is so bad better than this class only and you know you pronounce Sanskrit as a Bengali, what can I do I have a Bengali body so if a particular person has a particular body, their jnana and karma will be shaped accordingly but they will not be acting simply according to their body and nature they will be acting according to their body and nature for Krishna in 18.61 59-60 Krishna tells Arjuna that you cannot but act according to your nature so 18.61 that you are bound by your subhava and even if you now say you will not act according to subhava you will act accordingly you will not fight a war but you will be forced to fight by your nature and then he says your windings are guided by the supreme that this body which is having its own subhava which is having its own mechanism machinery but it is being guided by the supreme therefore in 18.62 the next verse Krishna says surrender to him wholeheartedly now what is the point of wholeheartedly over here that means your heart will be according to your subhava your emotions will naturally be directed according to your subhava but you that subhava surrender to him that means now how does Arjuna surrender Arjuna surrenders to his Kshatriya vocation and then you will get the supreme peace and you will get the supreme destination so basically Krishna tells us that we use whatever the inclinations of our jnana and karma are we use them in his service means that the intention is no longer towards Krishna the intention is towards Krishna yes you can just speak according to his nature he can best serve in mode of passion or subhava mode then he will find himself difficult to come to mode of goodness ok good question so if somebody's basic mode is in the mode of passion and they can best serve in the mode of passion how can they come to the mode of goodness to understand their nature see the modes are dynamic its not that we are 24 hours in one month in 14.10 Krishna says these modes are always in competition so even a person who is in the mode of passion there are times when they are also in the mode of goodness and even people in the mode of ignorance there are times when they are in the mode of goodness so there are times for example somebody might be a very very ambitious project person I want to do this, I want to do that but then even among those people who like to do big projects they have sessions of planning and debriefing where they may sit lets analyse what happened did this, did this, did this could be doing so many things during this time but they sit and plan, they hear suggestions they do brainstorming they very uncritically hear ideas so that means when they are planning they are at that time in the mode of goodness so a person who is a Kshatriya they will prominently be in the mode of passion but that doesn't mean they will be exclusively in the mode of passion so we can't always be in the mode of goodness but we can ensure that our major decisions are made when we are in the mode of goodness get the difference between the two so we there are times when we are thoughtful, we are reflective when our thinking is more clear at that time we think and analyse and then we act so when we do that way then even if our prominent mode is the mode of passion that will be the time that's how we will do the action but our contemplation we can do in the mode of goodness now if we try to do these big decisions when we are in the mode of passion then we just make knee jerk reactions oh this problem, let's do this, let's do that and those reactions will make things worse and if we try to make our major decisions when we are in the mode of ignorance we will simply get paralysed if I do this, this will happen if I do this, this will happen oh no, what can I do better I'll not do anything so that's how it works, so basically whatever be our prominent mode we can make sure that our decision making happens in the mode of goodness does that answer your question? yes there is for the last few days very hard work I had one question that we had examples yesterday which he is trying to do and today we are dealing with the example of Nishant to find out what you want to do and do for Krishna on the other hand we also have the mission of the spiritual master he has some desires which he wants to fulfil for Krishna or his spiritual master and then sometimes it is coming in the realm of power personal ambition, sometimes it is not and especially at the times when it is not one has to you know simple to make the balance on Hare Krishna on one hand it is we will see we will wait for the time when the guru's ambition is finished and then I will come over with things or on the other hand it will be like we also talk about becoming a yes man you know saying yes as Brahmans to the you know basically I am surrendered I want to become an instrument these will be the platforms and how to strike a proper balance yeah so level of one self as a student and also one self as a person who is giving self as a student on both levels so if we have this spiritual master's mission which we want to assist in and sometimes that may fall in our area of interest, talent or ambition and sometimes it may not so if it does not then do we postpone our area of interest till the spiritual master's mission is over and then do what we want to do or do we just do what the spiritual master wants us to do right away or do we do what we are interested in, what we feel inspired to do Bhakti is an individual process and each of us has to find out how best we can serve Krishna ultimately the spiritual master's mission is not just a particular project or a particular service, that is important but the spiritual master's most important mission is that they want us to become attracted to Krishna to become fixed and devoted to Krishna so if we feel strongly inspired to do something and we do that spiritual master and we do it well, spiritual master is happy with that Malakrishna Maharaj was preaching in India and he just got completely fried up trying to do the management and then he said I want to go to America and preach he had signed in a sense, he was an adventurous person and he wanted to travel and preach and get people, but here he is just simply clogged in management get this permission, do this, do that so Prabhupada wanted him to stay in India but still he went to America and Prabhupada was not so happy but then eventually, Prabhupada saw that what he was doing in the Raghavendra bus party, Prabhupada was very happy so Prabhupada did not say oh, did not keep, hold it against him you disobeyed my instruction Prabhupada said that he was happily, productively engaged in Krishna's service so I would say that there is to be every individual has their individual needs and in general we have to find out what is our greater need in general we won't get two things together we won't get freedom and facility together by facility I mean in this context the person associated with the spiritual master if we are working in a project that is very important for our spiritual master our spiritual mentor, whoever they are then naturally because that's what they are doing, they will give us much more time than what they will give otherwise so if that personal association is a very great need of ours we feel very inspired by that it's very important for us then we may just do what they tell us to do and move on in our life but if you want freedom, by freedom I mean the scope to do what we feel inspired to do then we can have that but then we should not be demanding facility in terms of the personal association of the spiritual master the spiritual master will still be our well wisher and still be our guide but naturally if that is not the project which they are stressing, they may not be able to give that much time they also have 24 hours a day in their life so the problem comes when we want both to do what we want to do and we want their time also that will not work and I would say that the spiritual master may well be equally pleased with both so somebody who may just be to stay in the spiritual master's project and serve over there somebody else may go from that spiritual master's project to somewhere else and start a big project over there and be very successful over there so both may be serving Krishna and the spiritual master very faithfully but it's not that naturally the person who is away, who is doing their own project they will not get that much association with the spiritual master that doesn't mean that they are lesser servants of the spiritual master, it's just that that is the choice they have made or that is the instruction they have been given ideally speaking, the spiritual authority who is guiding should be mature enough to understand what is the stronger need of the particular person so we have a need for association and we also have a need for serving according to our inspiration and some devotees they just want to be with their spiritual master, now what service I do it doesn't matter, as long as I am with the spiritual master my life is perfect some devotees this is what I want to do ok, travelling with the spiritual master being with them is good, but what am I doing practically for Krishna so we have to see our need each one of us is individual and we have to find out what is our strong need just like oxygen is our need and then oxygen is not provided for normally we don't even notice that we are taking an oxygen but when oxygen is not provided for at that time we can't stop, we can't stop thinking of it we just can't think of anything else till the need for oxygen is provided for so similarly for us some needs are like that we just need it and without getting that we can't move on so our, the kind of service we do will depend primarily on what our need is and as far as the spiritual master mission is concerned yes, the spiritual master strongly in a particular situation needs something to be done so he may tell at that time, do this but generally the spiritual master also looks at the nature of the followers and then they engage accordingly so now I am going to America so I get a lot of association, not a lot but much more than what I was getting in India of Radhamat Maharaj so then I also spend a lot of time with Giriraj Maharaj so I was talking with Giriraj Maharaj and I was telling him about my American preaching and what I am doing and then he, when I was leaving, I spent a whole day with him, he was very kind with me, when he was leaving he said to me, you know I have learned a lot about Radhamat Maharaj from you I said what do you mean by that, he said you told me about all your interactions with Maharaj he said not one of those Maharaj gave you any instruction he said if you feel inspired to do this you have my blessings so he did not tell me you have to do this if you feel inspired to do this he said this is the way Maharaj works so rather than, he can tell that this is what if you want to do, you have my blessings but you have to do it, it's not like that so I would say if we are in a guiding position it is natural that we will express our desires so expressing our desires is just natural for all of us, whatever we are spiritual level of advancement, the more advanced we are, our desires will be purer but still they are our desires expressing our desires is just natural imposing our desires is not so the spiritual master, if they are expressing this is what I would like to do for Krishna and if he can assist me, that's nice but this is what you have to do if you don't do this you are no longer my disciple that will be catastrophic for the disciple so when we are instructing also at one level we express our desire to others what we would like them to do or what we have to do and what we need assistance for but then we we are also we are not imposing that if they want to do something else, naturally we give them the freedom to do that yes okay you had a question, we will come to you later okay actually though I have heard this many times regarding that a devotee has to come to the mode of Buddhism before he transcends that mode so there is sometimes I have heard that from both the sides there is little clarity because it is said as one reads Bhagavatam all these go away and then one transcends so by aspect you were mentioning throughout the lecture that we should engage our talents so is it that along with doing it, should we aspire to go to goodness before we transcend or is it that by or we should just practise the mode of goodness and then give away our nature so should we just act according to our nature in serving Krishna whatever be the mode in which the nature is or should we come to the mode of goodness and give away our nature hmm I was in London and then a devotee was going to drive me to the airport he mentioned two prominent devotee preachers and he said are you in this devotee's party or are you in that devotee's party I said what do you mean he said this devotee when he has to catch a flight he goes five hours before and this devotee goes one and a half hours before so now both of them are very dedicated devotees but one devotee just make a rush of things just go there be peaceful, sit there, you can do your work there you can do so many things go there before, just go in the last moment so both are serving Krishna and both are doing it in their own way is it that one is right and other is wrong no that's just the way people are so I would say that sometimes when we put labels on actions this is in goodness and this is in passion that might itself be problematic I met one devotee in America he said that I don't even tell people I am a Hare Krishna he said why, because as soon as you put follow I am by something then people have a particular conception of the something Hare Krishna is like this Hare Krishna is like that I am a Brahmachari I am this, I am that whenever we put any conceptual category on a particular thing there are certain preconceptions associated with that category and some of them those connotations may be positive some of them may be negative I just tell people that I am following a process of self-realisation I am a follower of a process of self-realisation universal statement similarly, rather than getting into deciding, so is it that going one and half hour before to the airport in passion and going 6 hours before in the mood of goodness it's not like that every devotee has their nature and they are serving Krishna accordingly so I would say that better rather than categorising things like this that this is in passion, this is in goodness just do that which keeps us most peaceful and most productive two things, we want to be as peaceful as possible while doing it and we want to be as productive as possible now naturally these two don't go together I want to be productive if I just want to be peaceful I may not do anything and I will be peaceful also I want to be productive and for that I may lose all my peace also but we try to find as much of a balance as possible so for some people some devotees are very much they should never do multitasking just do one thing at a time but some devotees their brain is so voracious that if you do one thing you get bored just get bored so when I hear classes there is one devotee preacher who speaks so slowly that I feel like intellectual torture come on do it so so the way I engage myself is that devotee gives a class that devotee speaks one sentence I will translate that sentence into Hindi in my mind, I will translate that into Marathi I will translate that into my own English and by that time the devotee spoke the next sentence now that is just my need now is that in the mode of passion somebody just sits there and hears this is so happily hearing I can't do that now maybe it is in the mode of passion this is the way I am some devotees when they do kirtans they sing in such complicated tunes that the kirtan is not a participatory kirtan it is a performatory kirtan what kind of tune is this so now but they have a need for that they just ok I have musical ability and this is how I want to express my musical ability to Krishna so is it that somebody who sings simply is actually purely devoted somebody who is singing musically is having more musically contaminated not necessary we find out how best we can serve Krishna and over a period of time we ourselves will find out when I do this when I said the best balance has been peaceful and being productive that means if we go too much towards peace we will feel I am not doing anything but if we go too much towards productivity we feel I am being overwhelmed so we have to find out how best we can serve Krishna so best not to when we are serving Krishna best not to label certain things as in goodness or in passion or in ignorance it's just that one definition of goodness could be external cleanliness external orderliness external we can have certain ideas which are associated with goodness but actually goodness means basically the essence of goodness is that we are in harmony with ourselves in transcendence we are in harmony with Krishna in goodness we are in harmony with ourselves so we are in harmony with ourselves this is what I am and this is how I can best serve Krishna in passion we are in disharmony with ourselves trying to do much more than what we can do it's like say somebody is exercising they can lift 15 kg weight and then they go for a workout and they lift 15 kg, 16 kg they can do it smoothly and they improve their muscles and their body by that but if they try to lift 25 kg they may want to show to the world see how much strength I have but then they do that and after that in private my arms are paining so much there is so much problem after that so then that's in the mode of passion trying to do way too much and mode of ignorance again we just underestimate what we can do or we don't train ourselves adequately somebody can lift 15 kg but they go and do with 5 kg they are not going to grow any muscles by that, it's not a workout it's just like a time out then so rather than stereotyping that this activity is in goodness this is in passion we say that that which makes us in harmony with ourselves that is in goodness so philosophically is it that there are certain activities in goodness certain in passion, certain in ignorance personally we might apply it differently Kshatriyas are defined to be in the mode of passion Vaishyas are in passion-ignorance Shudras are in ignorance but then we also have Daivi Varnashram where everybody is meant to serve Krishna so is it that Vaishyas and Shudras and Kshatriyas they would all come to goodness and then they will serve Krishna then if they are already in goodness or in transcendence then how are they Kshatriyas so we have to understand that what is goodness for a Kshatriya will be different from what is goodness for a Brahmana in 18.42 and 43 in 18.42 Krishna says that Kshama-forgiveness Kshama-peacefulness that is the characteristic of Brahmana but then for a Kshatriya the characteristic is yudhe chaapya palayami that is, if there is conflict, the Kshatriya does not run away from the conflict he is ready to fight fearlessly about it so these two are opposite qualities one is to say, ok conflict, forget it get over with it if there is a conflict, fight it out so for a Kshatriya the psychology is different for a Brahmana the psychology is different Brahmanas are usually not managers so at an individual level if somebody is wrong with me, I may be ready to forgive them but at an institutional level if I am managing an institution and somebody has done something wrong I have to see if the forgiveness is the best policy justice might be the policy that is required social order has to be maintained so therefore I would say that even technically speaking so for a Kshatriya the mode of goodness does not necessarily mean spending hours and hours studying Shastra for a Kshatriya, the mode of goodness would mean they are going to do their fighting they are going to do their ruling but when saintly people come they will sit and hear but it is not that they are going to go and live in a forest and hear 24 hours and listen so that means my understanding would be that goodness will also be different a Kshatriya will follow scriptural guidelines and that is their goodness but it is not that a Kshatriya will have to become like a Brahmana to be in goodness so in Devi Varanashram when we say that we do everything for Krishna that simply means that according to our particular psychophysical nature we regulate ourselves as per scripture and then we work accordingly Thank you I would like to make one statement who we are in Krishna's birth what we become in our birth in that context you said dynamic understanding of bhakti so just I want to know what is dynamic understanding and static understanding ok what is dynamic understanding of bhakti and what is static understanding of bhakti static would mean stereotyped these activities are bhakti do this, do this, do this that is bhakti you are doing anything else, you are in maya so for example when Prabhupada was in Vrindavan many people of his age would come to Vrindavan to retire and people were very surprised Swamiji if he has come to Vrindavan why is he leaving Vrindavan again and again some of them were thinking is he so attached he has so many jobs, he has business, he has a job, family come to Vrindavan, just stay in Vrindavan but his understanding of bhakti was not just come and stay in Vrindavan his understanding was take Vrindavan all over the world so Prabhupada never left Vrindavan when he came to America Prabhupada carried Vrindavan with him wherever he went so dynamic understanding of bhakti means that we see the ways in which we can serve Krishna can be many and we find out in the particular situation what is the best way I can serve Krishna what is the way this person is here from where they are what is the path to Krishna for them so another is that person is over here, this is the path to Krishna come here and start walking along this path that is one way of practising bhakti give the example at one time devotees were staying in a place it was like a duplex building one side the devotees were staying and other side an old woman was staying and the devotees were doing loud kirtans and they were hippy background so the old woman was quite annoyed with them and she complained to local authorities and then local authorities were troubling the devotees so they came and told Prabhupada Prabhupada came to their place and naturally as devotees sometimes we are very simplistic in living Prabhupada, this old woman is a demon she is troubling us so much anybody who is interfering with devotees they are demons so then Prabhupada had gone for a morning walk when he came back from morning walk instead of going to their side of the apartment Prabhupada went to that old woman's side and she came out and Prabhupada talked with her almost 15-20 minutes Prabhupada was talking with her at a simply typical old people talk how is your health, where are your children where are your grandchildren, what are they doing and the devotees were waiting and Prabhupada will talk about Krishna tell her to chant Hare Krishna and Prabhupada did not do that at all and he just left and there is a big question mark on all the devotees faces and Prabhupada just looked at them sometimes old people get lonely and that's why they become irritable so Prabhupada rather than seeing her complaining he just saw that there is a human need for company, she was lonely and then Prabhupada left and then that old lady she came and told the devotees you are swami you are such a nice person and then she stopped complaining to the authorities so Prabhupada brought her closer to Krishna without speaking one word about Krishna so it is not that static understanding of bhakti means you are an old person you are about to die before you die become a devotee and chant Hare Krishna otherwise you are going to get a terrible destination in your life static understanding of bhakti means we have certain formulas which we just repeat everywhere as soon as I see anyone just repeat this like you have some some there are these customer care phone numbers when you call them immediately a programme starts welcome one of our attendants will come very soon and we speak very politely but it is a standard programme which goes for everyone so like that we may think as soon as I see someone press one button and a programme starts this is what I have to speak about but no, we have to see what is that person where is that person and how can I help this person come closer to Krishna so we think where they are and from there what is the path to Krishna there is a dynamic understanding of bhakti and similarly for us also we could have a static understanding of bhakti that ok I am going to the temple, I am going here, I am going there that is a static understanding of bhakti but dynamic understanding of bhakti could be that ok whatever situation I am in how can I remember Krishna so I was in America recently this happened last year actually last year I had gone to America so I was at the airport and while I was at the airport I had to catch a connecting flight and go elsewhere and there I had an important programme so I was just caught in preparing for that programme and then when I got into the security clearance they took my bags and crutches and I was in a wheelchair I went across and suddenly a huge alarm and before I could understand what was happening there were six security American security pointing their guns at me and one of them came and said that actually in your crutches we found we have got a high explosive alert so we will have to separately frisk you and initially I was just annoyed you know I had to catch the flight I was going to get late but then very serious looking people came with the guns pointed at me I started to become alarmed and they pick up the gun pick up the crutches we will have to break this crutch and I said if you break the crutch how will I walk that is not our problem then I started getting a little alarmed and then I have this I like the Bhagavad Gita so I often recite the Bhagavad Gita in my mind so at that time I just happened to be reciting the 18th chapter so I try to recite one chapter of the Gita everyday as much as possible so then at that time somehow I happened that verse 18.61 came in my mind Ishwara Sarva Bhutana Vrindeshe Arjuna Tishtati Brahmayan Sarva Bhutani Yantra Arudhani Mayaya Krishna says that I am guiding the wanderings of all the humans as that verse I just started reciting that verse and then it struck me I have travelled to so many places, gone through so many planes there are so many things which could have gone wrong at all those times Krishna has guided me through all of those back when I was soul and I have gone through so many bodies when I leave one body and go to another body I don't even know where I am going Krishna has guided me through that also so Krishna will guide me now also I just thought like that Tamevasharanam Gaccha I just felt so peaceful Krishna, whatever is your plan I surrender to you, please guide me I started feeling alarm, I started feeling certain level of calmness and at that time another security officer came over what is going on here and he said you know we found a high alert high alert, high exposure alert in his crutch so then he looked at me I looked at him, I will take care of it so now this person who told me that's not my problem, now this is very uncharacteristic, Americans are very polite people, they are not very personal, they don't want to have personal close relationship, they are very polite in general so maybe this person was in a bad mood for some reason, then another person said look at my crutches and he said, he looked at it and he said can we open this yeah yeah, I was so caught in the thoughts at that time I didn't strive, even if you want to see what is inside you don't have to break it, you can just open it so then they opened it and then he said after opening he started poking a pin inside like a prod here and he started pulling something out pulling something out, something came out some dark looking brown substance he said what is this I said what does it look like, it looks like mud he said that's what it is, mud he said what is it doing there he said that's the crutch, it got caught in the mud got caught in it, they pulled it out pulled it out and they took it in the security alert, boom, immediately the alarm came, ok, so he said this is simply dirt, is there anything in it, no it is dirt what is there in it, then he just took the crutches and he said go and clean it afterwards so what had happened, before I had gone to America, I had gone to Vrindavan and when I had gone to Vrindavan I had gone to the banks of Jamuna and Jamuna is very highly polluted so the sedimentation of the soil on the banks of Jamuna, that is also polluted, so what had happened for my crutches the rubber padding that is at the bottom, it had come off and the Jamuna dust had gone into the crutches and that had sounded the high explosive alert so I was thinking yes Vrindavan, the dust of Vrindavan Raje Raje is the ultimate explosive so it can explode all our attachments ultimately, so why I give this example, static understanding of bhakti is ok I have to go there and I have to do that programme and I just want to get over this flight, let's go through clearly, as quickly as possible but then, when I remembered at that time the words it's not that there I have to go and clarify Krishna Krishna will be acting here also so this whole incident I got many realisations I got a experience memorable experience, so dynamic understanding means rather than just seeing that experience resentfully, why is this getting delayed ok what is Krishna's plan over here so that way if we have the dynamic understanding, then we will see Krishna acting in various walks of our life not just in those walks of our life which we externally define as devotional so I think we should stop here so thank you very much.