Change your picture of the world and of God from low resolution to high resolution
Hare Krishna. Thank you very much for coming today evening.
And I will speak on the Bhagavad Gita, 11th chapter. I will speak on the theme of how God acts in the world. So, most of…if this is not going to work, if you don't have insurance, if things are going to fall apart, then you have to pray to God.
The idea is as long as things work in our life, we don't really think about the nature of ultimate reality. And of course, the ultimate reality, the highest manifestation is the divine, is God, is Krishna. So, when we operate with this low resolution picture of things, then we most of the times don't think about God.
And in fact, if we consider the various species in the world, the animals don't even have the capacity to think about God. Their vision and their comprehension are all entirely functional. Biologically speaking, animals are driven primarily by survival and reproduction.
The drives by which they function. And we could have something more pain avoidance, pleasure seeking, but it's primarily survival and reproduction. And the Vedic scriptures talk about this as Ahara Nidra Bhai Maitreya.
For survival, we need food, we need defence, we need rest. And for reproduction, we need some partner, some mate. So, these are the primary things by which the primary functions, activities that animals do.
And they have a functional vision of things. Now, a low resolution vision is not necessarily unintelligent. Even a low resolution vision requires intelligence.
So, for a bird, it has to build a nest. It requires intelligence to build a nest. But it won't ask the question, okay, where did these straws ultimately come from? What is the purpose of life? So, when we have a low resolution vision of things, we don't think about the ultimate reality.
See, when life, we think of life as, oh, I want to achieve this, I want to gain this, I want to enjoy this, I want to read this, I want to watch this, and all that is, all that may give some pleasure, but what is it ultimately meant for? As long as life offers us the routine pleasures, then they deaden us to the need for enquiry and enquiry. And thus, we end up, as long as things are working in our lives, you see, what is the need for an ultimate reality? And traditionally, human life was considered in a dharmic context to be driven by four drives. Dharma, artha, kama, and moksha.
So, dharma is not just religion, it is actually harmonious living. It is, religion is a way by which we live in harmony with reality. And when there is harmonious living, then there is artha, it's prosperity.
When we, say, for example, if we are working at a job, if we do our duty, then we get paid. So, dharma leads to artha. Artha leads to kama.
Kama is not just lust, kama is basically fulfilment of desires. So, when we do dharma, we get artha, we get resources, we get prosperity, with that we can fulfil our desires. And this is what most people live for.
But after some time, most people don't get artha and can't fulfil their kama. And they're striving more and more and more for that. When can I get more wealth? How can I fulfil more of my desires? But after some time, some people start realising that life is frustrating not just because I don't get artha and kama, but because even getting artha and kama doesn't bring fulfilment.
And even if I get wealth, and even if I fulfil my desires, it's a big irony in life, that fulfilling our desires doesn't bring fulfilment to our heart. Like, I fulfil this desire, then hundred other desires come up. I fulfil those desires, then thousand other desires come up.
So, it doesn't bring fulfilment. That is when a person starts seeking moksha. Is there something higher than this? Is there something more to life? So, the pursuit of artha and kama, that is what today's society is what we call the rat race.
And there's one big problem with the rat race. Many, but the one big problem is that even if you win the rat race, you still remain a rat. Nothing essentially changes in life.
Our desires don't change. Most people are concerned with increasing the standard of living. It's fine, but more important is to raise our standard of longing.
What is it that we seek in our life? What is it that we live for? So, even with respect to life, if we consider dharma, artha, kama, moksha. Now, in the western world especially, there is artha, to a good extent. And people have the resources to fulfil their desires.
So, what has happened? There is only artha and kama and dharma and moksha are forgotten. People feel there is no need for any religion and what ultimate liberation? With all this liberation, we don't get any spiritual liberation, we will get technological liberation. We develop technology and then we will be free from all limitations.
So, the idea here is that we function with a low resolution picture of the world. And this low resolution picture of the world, as long as the world provides us abundant resources for fulfilling our desires, we don't think beyond the world. We don't think about any reality bigger than or beyond the world.
And that's why while there is atheism, there is also another ideology, which is called apatheism. I once gave a class in London, I was supposed to give a class on does God exist? So, then the organisers over there told me, change this topic. This is an interesting question.
If God exists, so what? The idea is, okay, God exists, God doesn't exist, how does that make any difference for me? So, when we have a functional vision of looking at things, then, the idea is in my low resolution picture of the world, how does God matter? God doesn't matter at all. So, when we have this low resolution picture and somehow, the more material facilities we have, the more life seems to be going the way we want it to go. The more we lose impetus to get a high resolution picture.
I hope this low resolution and high resolution are clear. Low resolution is just a generic picture. High resolution is clearly, deeply, incisively.
So, a low resolution picture is, okay, I achieve money, I get this job, I get this relationship, I get this house, I get this, I'll be happy. That's a low resolution picture. We don't need to question it because everybody else is doing it and even if I do it, I'll become happy.
So, in this low resolution picture, how do we see God or how does God matter at all? So, the idea is the Bhagavad Gita's 11th chapter, as I said, I'll speak on that. The Bhagavad Gita's 11th chapter is where Krishna displays the universal form. And in this universal form, what is He displaying? He is displaying how the whole universe is contained within Him.
नान्तं नमद्यं अपुनस्तवादिं परशामि विष्वेष्वरविष्वरोप Arjuna says, I'm seeing this magnificent form. There is no beginning, no middle, no end. It is, it is, I understand, a universal form.
And I offer obeisances to you who are Vishweshwar. You are the lord of the universe. You are displaying this form.
So, all of us, there are times in our life when we are jolted out of the low resolution picture. Say, right, say, now, of course, you have a small community here. But, now, most of you know each other.
But suppose you went for a big programme somewhere and you didn't know the people next to you. Now, if you were interested in the clarus, you wouldn't really, you might just look at the other person, greet them, nod at them and you would focus on their talk. But suppose the person sitting next to you suddenly, now all of you are sitting here and all of you are reasonably confident that the person sitting next to you isn't going to suddenly turn at you and slap you in the face.
Now, hypothetically you might say, that's possible. Now, if somebody suddenly slapped you, then from a low resolution picture, another person attending the class to a higher resolution, who are you? What are you doing? Isn't it? So, when things suddenly stop happening the way we want them to happen, when somebody doesn't behave the way we want them to behave, that we expect them to behave, that's when we shift from a low resolution picture to a higher resolution picture. So, similarly, when our life seems to suddenly be upended, things just seem to go wrong, that's when we get jolted out of our low resolution picture of life and suddenly, what's going on? What is going on? What's this? I remember one of my earliest memories of God was that some of you may notice I need crutches for walking.
So, when I was one, I got polio. So, my parents dutifully took me to a doctor and gave the vaccine. But somehow, the doctor messed up the dosage of the vaccine.
And the vaccine, instead of preventing polio, gave me polio. And I noticed that I couldn't walk or run like my other kids. So, sometimes my relatives would come and meet my parents and they would talk and I would overhear.
And, you know, we all were from a pious Brahmin family, so we had an altar at our home. And we would go and also as a child, I was taught to go and bow before God. But I didn't think much.
My first memory is that one of my relatives and my mother were discussing. And my mother was saying, since my early childhood, I was good at studies. So, my mother said that what God has taken away from him in physical ability, God has given him in intellectual ability.
So, when I heard that, for the first time I am thinking, who is this being God, who has absolute power to take anything and give anything. So, he is going normally through life. It is a charm.
And sometimes when things don't go the way they are supposed to go, that's when what is going on. So, Krishna also says that one of the categories of people who come to him, four categories. Which are the four categories? Especially in Kaliyuga, there are four categories.
Those who are distressed, those who are distressed, those who are distressed and those who are distressed. Krishna gives four categories. But in today's world, if somebody is inquisitive, they will just google something up.
They will not come to God for it. If somebody is needing money, they will just go and take a loan from a bank. They will not come to God.
So, it is distress and especially one of the biggest distresses that brings people to God today is emotional distress. Psychological distress. That's what.
So, people who are distressed. There is a New York Times article that how Christianity, especially Evangelical Christianity has rebranded God. Traditionally God was seen as a cosmic supplier.
That's why we have the prayer Oh Father, thou art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread.
So, for many people today, especially in the western world, that prayer has become irrelevant. Most people are not worried about their daily bread. They may be worried about their daily butter.
But not so much about daily bread. So, God, the need of God as a cosmic supplier is not felt. You know, we have welfare states or we have other arrangements.
We will get food. Don't starve. So, God, in the past, starvation was, even now in many parts of the world, but when starvation was a real major concern for people, then the idea of God as a cosmic supplier was very relevant.
But now that idea is not so relevant. So, many Evangelical churches have rebranded God not as a cosmic supplier but as a cosmic therapist. That you go to God and you will have to leave the mind.
Your emotional issues will be healed. Your hurts will go away. And people are glad to know that.
So, the idea is again that things are not going the way we want them to go. At that time, we are forced to look at a high resolution picture. And if we look at even other scriptures, for Arjuna, he had come for a war.
And when he, Arjuna of course loved Krishna and they were, he at one level knew that Krishna is God. But he also knew Krishna as a friend. So, at the start of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna, at least at that point, had a functional vision of Krishna as my charioteer and as my friend.
So, it does, he says, Seinayorubayor Madhye, Rathamsthapayame Achyuta, Yavadeetan Veerikshetham, Yotukamana Vastithan. He says, Please, take my chariot in between the two armies, so that I can see who are the warriors assembled in the opposite side to fight with me. And then, at that time, when he sees how it's his own relatives, his father figures, grandfather figures, and his cousins, they are all assembled to fight.
He says, I don't want to fight like this. I don't want to be a part of this patricide war. I don't want to cause jiblanish here.
If I don't fight, then I'll be killed. My brothers will be killed. So, what do I do? So, when things just take place, he says, things are not going the way I wanted.
That's when he turned toward Krishna. And, he didn't just turn toward Krishna, he submitted to Krishna. He had a high-resolution picture.
Krishna is not just my friend, Krishna is my guide. And he's not just my guide, he's my supreme guide. Krishna is my guru, and not just a guru, he's a Jagadguru.
So, he turned to Krishna one day. And when he had that high-resolution picture of Krishna, then Krishna not only revealed spiritual knowledge to him, but Krishna also revealed his universal form to him. So, for us, when we face difficulties, we can get frustrated.
Why is this happening the way it is? Why is that happening like that? Why is that happening like that? And that's okay. It's understandable to get frustrated at times in life. But, instead of simply getting frustrated, we can see the frustration as an opportunity to get a higher-resolution picture of things.
So, when our computer stops working, we say, I have so many things to do, why is my computer not working? It's understandable. But then, if we were to regularly work with computers, it is good to have at least some knowledge of how computers work. If I just know enough, if I press a key over a keyboard over here, and this gets typed over there, it's good.
But, if we were to regularly work, then we need to know, okay, this is the power supply, this is the motherboard, this is this, this is that. Some knowledge more than a low-resolution picture is useful. So, we may or may not work with computers, but we are constantly working in this world.
And we need more than a functional knowledge of the world. We need a high-resolution picture of the world. And that's why, if you see the 10th and 11th chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, they talk primarily about how to see God in this world.
Unless somebody is very interested in and devoted to God, they don't normally think about God directly. Srila Prabhupada writes in the book, On the Way to Krishna, is all knowledge comes from God, but all knowledge doesn't begin from God, begins with God. That means, whatever knowledge whoever has, it's coming from God.
It is God giving that knowledge to them. But it's not that suddenly one day people wake up and think, oh, I want to think about God today. No.
Our knowledge begins from the world around us. And then we look at the sky and think, oh, where do the skies come from? We look at the nature and beauty and think, oh, where did all this come from? So, our knowledge begins from the world and sometimes from the world, while we have a low resolution picture of the world and we seek a higher resolution picture, that's when we start thinking about God. So, the point I'm making over here is that when frustrations are there in life, often they are impetuses for us to get a higher resolution picture of the world.
And we may or may not work with computers regularly, but we are going to function in the world regularly. And to function in the world regularly and think, don't go our way, the way we plan, the way we desire, at that time, we can get frustrated or we can seek a higher resolution picture of things. Some people believe that there is no higher resolution picture of things at all.
There was an existentialist philosopher, Alvaro Camus, he said that life is suffering. Which is not fair. This is true.
Bhagavad Gita also says that. But he said, life is suffering, therefore the only philosophical question worth asking is whether to commit suicide today or tomorrow. Life is suffering and there is no higher meaning, there is no higher resolution picture.
This is just what life is. That is a very narcissistic way of looking at things. And how do we know for sure there is no higher resolution picture of things? That all advancement of knowledge is by looking at, by looking for a higher resolution picture of things.
That, what do I mean by higher resolution picture? Scientific knowledge comes by looking for a higher resolution picture of things. When I had gone to Cambridge to speak on science and spirituality, at that time, we passed by the tree, same tree where Newton is said to have seen the fruit falling. Now that tree is still being preserved and celebrated as a pilgrimage place for scientists.
And there people go and meditate how brilliant was Newton that he saw just one apple falling. And some people say the apple fell in front of him, some people say the apple fell on him. Very well.
But this is an ordinary event. Now imagine instead of Newton, at that time a monkey was there. And the monkey has seen the fruit, the apple fall.
What would the monkey have done? Figured it had gone its way. Now Newton could also have done this. But he asked a question.
What made this apple fall? And that question, it is brilliant that from that question he came up with a theory of gravity. But simultaneously what is important to understand is that actually he asked that question what makes this apple fall? That means, that question indicates that maybe there is some deeper principle operating over there. And he was looking for a higher resolution picture of the simple act of the falling of apple.
A normal resolution we say, yeah, apples fall. We eat them or sometimes we throw stones at them. We make them fall.
But what makes apples fall? So when we seek a higher resolution picture of things, that's when knowledge advances. Scientific knowledge also is, okay, things are happening this way but what's making it happen this way? We look for a higher resolution picture of things. So that same principle of looking at a higher resolution picture of things, when we apply it to understand the nature of reality, that's when we can perceive God in the world.
And now, so this is, when we try to look at a higher resolution picture of things. So, then the question comes up, okay, some people say that God is the ultimate controller. Okay, God is the ultimate controller, God is the supreme controller.
So then, if we say, we see bad things happen in the world. One of the oldest philosophical questions is, why do bad things happen to good people? Where was I? I think I was in Canada, and one maybe six-year-old boy came to me. He said, why do bad things happen to good people? When somebody asks a question like this, usually you need to know where they are coming from.
So I asked him, what happened? He said, today morning I was eating my milk and biscuit, and my biscuit fell into the milk and dissolved. Why do bad things happen to good people? That was his idea. So now, it would be nice if that were the only bad things that happen when biscuits fall into milk.
But, this is a question which everyone faces. Now when this question comes up, if we say God is the ultimate controller, then the question comes up, is God doing it? Are all the bad things in the world also done by God? What do you think? Say, we have the Ramayana, we have the Mahabharata. In the Ramayana, Ravana abducts Sita.
That's a terrible thing. Now, is actually Ram doing it, or Ravan doing it? It's Ravan doing it. So then, is everything that happens, is it God doing it? If he is not, then how exactly is he the supreme controller? So what are we trying to do over here now is, we are trying to get a high resolution picture of how things happen in the world.
Till now I was talking about how we need a high resolution picture, and often we seek a high resolution picture and things don't go the way we want them to go. So one way is that when bad things happen to good people, that's not how it should happen. So then, what makes bad things happen? So, one low resolution picture is, it's my actions.
I do things and I get the results. But sometimes I do good things and I get bad results. Why does that happen? Another low resolution picture could be that God does everything.
Does God do evil things? That also doesn't make sense. You could say that's a religious vision, but that's also a low resolution vision. You're not really asking harder questions.
So the Bhagavad Gita explains that a high resolution picture of things means that when things happen, there are three factors involved. There is God's will, there is free will, and there is evil. God's will, free will, and evil.
So God's will is supreme. Supreme means God is a supreme controller, but not a soul controller. He is the Parameshwar.
But we are also Ishwar. And He has given all of us free will. And based on our past karma, we have all different areas over which we can use free will.
Here I'll make a certain differentiation between free will and freedom. Everyone has free will. Even prisoners in jail have free will.
But do they have freedom? No. So freedom is the capacity to exercise free will freely. The capacity over which we can exercise our free will.
Maybe a prisoner in a cell can only walk, move within the area of the cell. They don't have much freedom to move. So the prisoner is put in that situation of restricted movement because of say past misuse of their free will.
So everybody has free will, but not everybody has the same degree of freedom. So for example, if I get angry, I might yell at someone. But if the President of America gets angry, he might just press a few buttons and the whole country might explode into a nuclear war.
So what has happened is, for the President of America, the area over which they have power is much bigger. So this is in Sanskrit called as Kshetra. Kshetra is the sphere of control.
So we all by our past karma have been given a certain amount of Kshetra. Certain area of control. And what we do within that area of control is up to us.
God doesn't intervene in it. God is still the supreme controller because we won't have that sphere of control forever. We'll have it for a few years.
And even that sphere of control is never unlimited. Say somebody is a dictator. Somebody is a tyrant.
They might just destroy and kill and pillage. But they can do it for a few years. Now why can they do it for a few years? Because that's the time when they have been given by their karma that sphere of control for that much time.
So when things happen at one level, God's will is the ultimate cause. But it's also free will that is the cause. And what is done by people by their free will cannot be ascribed to God's will.
If I do something wrong, I can't say that I did wrong and it's God who is doing it. No, it's not God doing it. It's I who is doing it.
Then what is this third thing I said? God's will, free will and evil. Now evil in the Abrahamic religions is personified as Satan. So now Satan or the devil or Shaitan or whatever be the tradition that they use.
But the idea in the Bhakti tradition is there is no specifically evil being who is prompting us towards bad things. There is Maya, but Maya is more of a stern teacher. She is not evil.
I was in Australia and somebody asked a question that if God wants us to do good things, God wants us to make good choices, then why are the bad options so many and the good options so few? My answer, that's how it is in every multiple choice exam. Five options, four of them are wrong. Now, the student could sue the teacher.
He said, you have four wrong options, the probability of my choosing wrong is 80%. How can I get 40% and pass? You are to be blamed for it. No, but the student's choice is not based on probability.
The student's choice is meant to be based on education. So, Maya is like the examiner. Maya gives us many wrong options, but Maya is not evil.
The teacher is not evil. The teacher wants to test the student so that the student can get elevated to a higher state. So, evil is simply in the Dharmic traditional understanding, evil is basically the impressions that are stored in our mind, which become very strong by repeated indulgence.
It's like, say, if you consider some impurity, like lust or anger or greed or envy. Now, I have a question for all of you. Is lust or greed or anger or whatever, let's consider anger, is anger a desire or a thing? Hold on, let's forget anger.
Is anger an emotion or an object? Emotion. Okay, agree? Now, let's consider, say, desire, maybe it could be lust, it could be craving, somebody is addicted. Now, is addiction a desire or is it a thing? It's a desire? But is that all it is? It's definitely a desire.
Imagine if two people are staying in one place and both of them go, say, two students, they go for school over here and one of them has never taken any drugs and in between there is a drug joint somewhere. So, now, the other one has taken drugs several times, he is almost hooked to it. So, now, when both of them pass by, the first student may not even notice that there is a drug joint over there.
The other student, let's go and take it. Now, at one level, it's a desire, but it's not just a desire. There is an impression stored over there, because of which the desire comes again and again.
So, it's like, say, if you use a computer browser, now, suppose somebody has visited a particular website, say, maybe, Bollywood.com. They have visited that many times. Everybody knows Bollywood? Bollywood is the Indian movie industry. If you don't know, you have not missed anything.
Bollywood is the Indian counterpart of Hollywood. So, we are in California, so I am sure nobody can be that transcendental to not know Hollywood. So, anyway, somebody has visited Bollywood repeatedly, Bollywood.com repeatedly.
And then they come for a spiritual talk like this and they come to know about Bhagavad Gita. And they say, hey, what is Bhagavad Gita? I want to know about it. And they go into their browser and they type B. And what happens? Bollywood comes up.
Now, they didn't want to go to Bollywood. They wanted to go to Bhagavad Gita. But what has happened? Their past choices are stored as platforms of the internet.
And they come. So, at one time, Bollywood was simply a choice that they made. They had to go to Bollywood.com. But if they keep making that choice repeatedly, then it gets stored in the preferences of their computer, of their device.
And then it comes up as an auto-computer. So, similarly, lust, anger, greed, envy, these are at one level, desires or emotions that we feel. But that's not all they are.
If somebody repeatedly indulges in lust, suppose somebody repeatedly takes drugs, then that becomes stored as an impression in their mind that keeps coming back, keeps coming back. So, addiction means it's not just a stored preference, it's like a default page. So, as soon as you click a browser, whatever be the link you have pressed, the first default page opens.
So, like that, people who are addicted, from the moment they wake up to the moment they sleep, they go, I want to get a shot. I want to take some drugs. So, evil is basically I talk about these three factors which make things happen.
God's will, free will and evil. So, evil is basically the repeated unwanted things that people have done which make the repetition of that unwanted action almost like a default action. Somebody who has taken drugs repeatedly, they don't even think should I take it or should I not take it.
Just take it. Because they are so overwhelmed, their impression becomes so strong. So, when things don't go in our life the way we want them to go, at that time, we are forced to get this high resolution nature.
And we pray to God for help and sometimes it's in God help, sometimes it's in God doesn't help. So, what's going on? So, actually, God is always our well-wisher. Krishna says, He is the well-wisher of everyone.
But the way He does good for us is that He helps us to use our free will properly. And the use of our free will is to counter evil. Evil is not just some dark terrorist or some abuser or whatever.
Evil is the dark tendencies within us. And God helps those who help themselves also. What that means? God's will is omnipotent.
But for God's will to help us, we have to use our free will in a way that we resist evil. Not that we succumb to evil. And for doing this, this is where bhakti is extremely important.
What bhakti does is, bhakti is the process of aligning our free will with God. So, we can ourselves fight against evil. We might have certain unwanted habits and we say, I want to give this up, I want to give this up.
And it's good to try to give it up. But no matter how many times you try to give it up, it's not easy to give it up. If it's we, free will against evil, it's tough.
It's like we are in an ocean and waves are coming and we are trying to stop the waves. Sometimes the wave is small, we may not stop the wave but we can at least stop ourselves from being swept away by the wave. But sometimes the wave is huge, no matter how much we try, we can't stop, we get swept away.
But if we can hold on to an anchor, that anchor will stabilise us. The waves will hit us but the waves won't sweep us away. So, our free will fighting against evil is, sometimes it succeeds, many other times it may not succeed.
But bhakti is the process not primarily of fighting against evil but of aligning free will with God's will. And when we align our free will with God's will, then we get empowered by God. And when we are empowered by God, then we can resist evil.
Internally and possibly externally also. And gradually we can bring good into our life and good into our world. We can purify ourselves, we can connect with Krishna and ultimately we can by the connection with Krishna experience life's highest happiness.
That is what the Bhagavad Gita calls us to do. We may not be interested in God per se but we are interested in how we act in the world. Do we fulfil our potentials? Do we act in a way that is good for us or that is bad for us? And if we are acting in a way that is bad for us, how can we stop that? So, even for functioning in the world, better.
Devotion to God is very important. That's how the Bhagavad Gita concludes. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … stick Krishna together, then even the impossible becomes possible, then victory is guaranteed.
And that applies not just for Krishna and Arjuna in the battlefield of Purushetra, it applies for us also in our inner war against our impurity. If we align with Krishna, then we can overcome the evil within us and we can become better and we can make our world better. So, I summarise what I spoke today and then if you have any questions you can discuss.
I spoke on this topic of understanding how God acts in the world. I started by how we often have a low resolution picture of things. That we don't think of a phone except as a device to send messages or take calls.
Till the phone stops working. Same with computers, same with people. Your transactional view of people.
Only when the person doesn't do what we want them to do, what's good to do? So, just as we are forced by things not working to get a high resolution picture of things, to understand them in their complexity, same with life at large, same with the world at large. As long as we have certain desires and things are going more or less according to our desires, we don't think about the nature of ultimate reality. So, animals never think about the ultimate reality.
They just go according to their instincts for reproduction and survival. Humans can also do that, but humans can do more. And there are four purusharthas traditionally considered in the harmony called dharma, artha, kaam, moksha.
And their idea is that, that gradually by living harmoniously, by getting the resources and fulfilling our desires, we start realising that fulfilling desires isn't your fulfilment. And then we start looking for liberation. Looking for a higher level solution to life's problems.
And it can happen two ways. We fulfil our desires and we find that it's not fulfilling. The other is, we try to fulfil our desires and we just can't fulfil our desires.
Both ways, when the normal way we are functioning stops, that's when we start thinking what is going on. So, knowledge doesn't begin from God. Knowledge begins from the world and we try to look at a higher picture of the world when things don't work in the world.
Now, somebody might say there is no higher resolution picture of the world. But all knowledge advances by seeking a higher resolution picture. Science advances because scientists see natural phenomena, nutrients, all the food fall in.
Thought maybe there is something more going on out there. What makes these things work? So, similarly, when things function in the world, what makes things happen, the way they do. So, then we, when things don't, we are jolted in our life.
It's like if somebody slaps us right now. Who are you? What are you doing? So, like that sometimes life slaps us. And we say, what's going on in my life? So, at that time when we start understanding the nature of reality.
And then we talked about three factors that shape actions in the world. What are three factors? God's will, free will and evil. So, God's will is the ultimate.
But we all have been given free will and we have certain freedom over which we can exercise the free will. That depends on, the magnitude of that freedom depends on our past karma. And within that what we do is up to us.
Or other people do is up to them. And sometimes they can abuse their free will. And if they repeatedly abuse their free will, then the impressions that get stored within them, they are called as evil.
And evil makes them act in evil ways even unthinkingly, shamelessly. So, if we are to change ourselves, we are to create a better future for ourselves, that means we need to use our free will, not just to overcome evil, but our free will to harmonise with God's will. Then, we won't be just like trying to stop waves on our own but we will be holding on to an anchor by which we won't get swept away by the waves.
And by the process of bhakti, when we align with God's will, then God empowers us to do many things which we ourselves may not be able to do. And God can help us to become, to make ourselves better and to make our world better. Sometimes the world's frustrations might make us quit, just like Arjuna quit at the start of the Gita.
But hearing the Gita's wisdom inspired Arjuna and it can inspire us too. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Any questions or comments? I guess, based upon karma and the desires of God, and according to those, we get the bottom. So, that's actually part of the Guran, right? It's part of the Guran. Okay? So, your past karma, that is why, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, because your karma is going to decide what body you become.
Yeah, that's a good point. Now see, our past karma decides our body and our body to largely shapes our reality. Yes, that's true.
There are two different things over here. One is, our past can explain our emotions, but our past doesn't excuse our actions. There is a difference between the two.
We are products of our past, but we are not prisoners of our past. So, broadly speaking, you could say that there are multiple factors which shape our actions. Our past is one of them.
So, some people are just born, even among, if somebody has many children, each child is different. Some babies, when they are, when they cry, it's like they are going to bring the whole house down. It's like that.
Some babies, even when they are in the crib, they are thinking, when I am going to take over the house. So, each child is different. So, our past definitely affects us.
But along with the past, other factors are also there. There is our upbringing. Our upbringing can either reinforce our past or it can minimise the effect of our past.
But beyond that, there is an association that we have. Our upbringing is also one. It's something, now the past and upbringing can't change.
But our association can change. And then, beyond association, there are three. Sometimes some people might mean bad association, but still they can choose to act in that way.
And beyond it all is grace, is krupa. So, you know, Prabhupada would say that the purpose of the Krishna consciousness movement is to make unfortunate people fortunate. What he meant is that people who might have had negative karma, people who might have had negative upbringing, if we can give them positive association, then we can change the trajectory of their lives.
Yes, otherwise it's difficult to come out of the trap. Bad karma puts us in bad situations and bad situations further trigger bad karma. And that's how it becomes a trap.
But if we can have the intercessionary grace of Krishna coming to his devotees through good association, then we can save from that. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay.
Yeah. So, he says you have to pay the karma. And will our past be minimised by association? Well, see, the word karma is multivalent.
That means the word karma can mean many different things. In this context, we can say the past karma can refer, see, karma can refer to action. Do your karma properly.
Karma can also refer to reaction. We all have to suffer our karma. Karma can also refer to the system of action-reaction.
Nobody can escape the law of karma. So, the word karma has different meanings. And what are we referring to that we have to carefully understand? See, every action has two reactions.
One is you could say physical, the other is psychological. Just like a person who takes drugs. They may have some drugs and they may have bad physical reaction.
I just met one lady. She had a son, brilliant son, 700 score like in GRE or something like that, in SAT. And he got frustrated and took a heroin overdose.
And after that he lost everything. He lost his intelligence, he lost his capacity for mobility. And last 15 years he is bedridden.
His mother was a big executive. And she has to leave her job to be a full time caretaker. See, it's terrible sometimes the way things work out.
So, the point I am making here is that we do certain actions. Now, those actions produce some external reactions. That is in this case, the drugs, the heroin product, a terrible reaction physically.
But even if such physical reactions don't happen, there is an internal consequence. Internal reaction is the desire to do that becomes stronger. If you do one thing, the desire to do that becomes stronger.
So, now when we are talking about karma, we are talking about these two different aspects. In the external consequences of our karma, we could say they are large, they may be unavoidable. That means if I have done some action, I will get some reaction.
But the internal consequences, that is if I have done something, then I feel impelled to do it again and again and again and again. That internal consequence can be checked. That internal consequence can be cured.
So, sometimes when we are practising bhakti, if we expect by bhakti that the external consequences will change, that may sometimes happen, that may sometimes may not happen. But if we focus on the practise of bhakti, the internal consequences can definitely be changed. In that sense, aham tvam sarva-papriyo moksheshya.
I will free you from all sinful reactions. Now, Krishna says that I will free you from all sinful reactions. But then in the same Kurukshetra war, after that, which happens after the Bhagavad Gita is spoken, Arjuna's son Abhimanyu dies.
So, then, why did that happen? Krishna has not fulfilled his promise. Krishna's promise is ultimately that you will attain me. And if any sinful reaction is going to stop you from attaining me, I will protect you from it.
But the world is what it is. Even everybody, even their devotees, they are going to grow old, they are going to get diseased, they are going to die. So, it is Krishna's primary promise is that he will protect us from our internal karmic reactions.
Now, the external karmic reactions, sometimes we will protect them, sometimes maybe… Sometimes, protecting people from the consequences of their actions is the worst thing we can do for them. Like somebody is just squandering money in gambling. And then their parents just cover up for it.
Okay, you lost this money, I will pay for it. Now, what will happen? Their gambling addiction will increase. And eventually, if their parents are no longer there, then because of their gambling, they might be jailed, they might be killed.
So, if their parents say, no, you gambled, now you have to pay for it. You work for it. You say what you want.
And when the consequences hit, we learn from it. So, Krishna may not always protect us from the external results of our karma, but the internal results he will always protect. Yeah, that desire will be cleansed of that desire.
Thank you. Yeah, one last question? Okay, yeah. How do we anchor, align our favour with God's will? See, broadly we can say that, consider two circles.
A circle of things we like to do, a circle of things that are good for us. Like these two circles will be identical, life will be so nice. Isn't it? But these two circles are not necessarily entirely non-intersect.
So, find out where the two intersect. What is it that we like to do and what is it that is also good for us? So, if we like music and then we have spiritual music. So, spiritual things are good for us, musicals we don't like.
Then we connect with spiritual music more. So, if we find something, the intersection of those two circles, that can become our anchor very easily. If it's something simply which we like to do.
When we are agitated, we may not, things which we like to do may not be good for us. And sometimes things which are simply good for us, if we are told to do them. But if we don't like them, then it becomes too much of hostility.
We feel I can't do this. So, we may have to do those things also. But especially when we are agitated, we can't start doing those things.
So, we need to be in the intersection. So, there we can find our anchor. And from that anchor when we connect with it, we develop our relationship with Krishna by that.
If it is for Krishna, then gradually other things also become more easy to do. So, thank you very much. Krishna Bhagavad Gita ki, Krishna Prabhupada ki,.