Chatur Shloki Bhagavatam 01 – Understanding God is all that exists

Bhagavatam class on 3.29.33-34 at ISKCON, Denver

Hare Krishna. I am grateful to be here today.
All of you who have come from anywhere. Last year I had come for a couple of days. And this year I was requested to speak on the Chatur Shloki Bhagavatam.
So I will take two of these verses today. And the next two verses tomorrow. The Chatur Shloki Bhagavatam is the four-verse essence of the Bhagavatam.
As described by Siddhaswami and the subsequent Acharyas. Traditionally, there is, within the broad Vedic tradition, the tendency towards expansion and the tendency towards concentration. That means, if a book is given, the tendency towards expansion manifests in the commentaries that are written on the book.
So, one book, if you consider, say, the Vedanta Sutra. Just take the sutras. Just a small book which you get over in a few pages.
If you take the Bhagavad Gita itself. Now, the Bhagavad Gita actually contains less number of words, originally 700 verses if you consider, than the number of words that are present on two pages of the New York Times. So, the Bhagavad Gita itself is not a very big book.
So there is a tendency towards expansion, where commentaries are written, by which the message that is given is elaborated for the purpose of absorption, for the purpose of relishing it, through deeper understanding and thereby absorption. At the same time, there is also an alternative tendency towards concentration. That means, you can have elaborate commentaries, but it is not possible to remember everything in the commentaries.
Therefore, the tendency is, the acharyas look over the books, the sacred books, and they look at which of the verses of that book convey the essence in a distilled form. And then, when that essence is conveyed, they focus on that essence. So, like in the Bhagavad Gita, 10.8 to 11 is considered the Chatur Shloki Bhagavad Gita.
And similarly, here in the Bhagavatam, 3.29, 33 to 36 is considered the Chatur Shloki Bhagavatam. So the idea is that, if there are just four verses, then we can memorise them, we can repeat them, we can assimilate them better, and we will have a framework for quick recollection and absorption. So there can be absorption through expansion, and there can be absorption through concentration.
The key purpose in both ways is absorption. Now, in this particular verse, Brahmaji is being addressed by the Supreme Lord, and is stated over here that, I alone exist. That in the beginning, I alone existed.
In the present, I alone exist. In the future also, I alone will exist. A grace in the beginning.
So there is the important understanding of the nature of the Absolute Truth, which is foundational to this verse. Now, people move from various levels of understanding. Say there are atheists who say there is no God.
There are polytheists who say there are many Gods. So at the level of polytheism, the idea is, any person who is very powerful is considered to be like God. So atheism, when it says there is no God, implicit in the atheistic worldview is the idea that I am God.
If there is no God, that means I am not accountable to anyone. That means I can do what I want. So from atheism, one moves to polytheism, where there are many Gods.
And then from polytheism, one moves on to monotheism, where there is one God. Now, monotheism is the predominant idea of the Abrahamic religions. The Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity, Islam.
They have the idea that there is one God, and they consider that to be an inviolable central principle of their teachings. And they often cast the Vedic teachings as polytheistic. So you people believe in many Gods.
And sometimes we may try to contrast that by saying, no, actually there are many Gods, but there is only one Supreme God. So the Vedic teachings are, broadly speaking, they are not monotheistic in the same sense as the conception of God in the Abrahamic religions. So now, the impersonalists try to trace this hierarchy upwards, and they say, you evolve from no God to many Gods, to one God, to only God.
So they say, ultimately you realise that only God exists, and nothing else exists. And, now this understanding is not wrong. If it is not understood properly, then it becomes wrong.
Because, when we say there is only God, what does it mean? If it means that there is nothing else existing apart from God, in an absolute sense, then that is wrong. So the monists, they interpret it as saying that, that means that there is only one non-differentiated oneness, and there is nothing else that exists. It is in that sense that there is only God.
But, if we consider the idea that there is only God, in that sense, there is only a non-differentiated oneness, then the question comes up, who is it that is conscious of that non-differentiated oneness? See, normally, whenever there is consciousness, there are three elements. There is the subject, the person who is conscious. There is the object, the person of whom one is conscious.
Say, if I am looking at you, then I am the subject of consciousness, you are the object of consciousness, and linking the two of us is the stream of consciousness. So the stream of consciousness flows from the subject to the object, and that is how the person becomes aware. So the monists hold that pure consciousness means that there is no subject, there is no object, there is only the stream of consciousness.
Only the stream of consciousness that exists, and they call that as non-differentiated oneness. Now, actually, the concept of consciousness itself has no meaning at the very least without a subject of consciousness. Now, consciousness as a stream, it is light as a stream.
Light as a stream, it has to come from some source. So, if we become liberated in the impersonalist conception, and if there is no subject at all, then who is it that becomes liberated? Who is it that experiences the joy of being liberated? So the idea of pure consciousness, meaning only the stream of consciousness, that is self-contradictory. Because consciousness itself requires someone who is conscious, and something that one is conscious of.
So now, absorption, the bhakti tradition talks about absorption. The impersonalists talk about merging. Now, in the idea of merging, there is a fusion of being.
Whereas, in the idea of absorption, there is a joining of hearts. In merging, the fusion of being, the two become one as if the beings, their existence itself becomes one. But in absorption, there is not a merger of being, there is not a fusion of beings.
Rather, there is an intimate linking of hearts. So, the oneness that the Vaishnavas understand is also oneness in the sense that God alone exists. But God is not simply a non-differentiated oneness.
God has his energies. God has his energies. And those energies, there is matter and there is spirit.
So, in Sanskrit, these three kinds of existences are sometimes referred to through the alliterative jodh. So there is jagat, there is jiva, and there is jagdish. So jagat is the word, matter.
Jiva is the soul. And jagdish is the Supreme Lord. Now, the impersonalist idea is that when one becomes liberated, when we say God alone exists, that means jagat and jiva, they are seen as illusion and only jagdish exists.
And that jagdish is simply the non-differentiated flow of consciousness, stream of consciousness. But the Vaishnava understanding is that jagdish, that God, that Absolute Truth, is having energies. And jagat and jiva, they are energies of the Absolute.
So, this point will be further elaborated in the next verse, which I’ll come to in a few minutes. But in this understanding, we are also one with God. In what sense are we one with God? Prabhupada, in the Aishopanishad, ekat tvam rupashyati, there’s a verse which states that.
And in that purpose, Prabhupada gives oneness in multiple senses. He says, not in the sense of merger of beings. He gives the example of how in a nation, if say one country is attacked by another country, say if America is subject to terrorist attacks from the Middle East, or say currently India has been attacked by Pakistan, so then the whole nation gets united.
So, they are united, not that all the citizens of the country become one in being, but they are united in interest. They are united in purpose. So, when we understand that our purpose is the same as the purpose of the Lord, nade viduhu svartha gatim hi vishnu, durashayaye bahirarthamayi na.
Prahlad Maharaj was speaking to Hrani Kashi, who says that ignorant people don’t understand that one’s svartha gati, svartha, one’s own true interest, enlightened self-interest is in Vishnu. It is in satisfying Vishnu. So, as long as one doesn’t understand that, one is an illusion.
So, there is only God in the sense that God exists and the other living beings that exist, they are not separate from God. So here, Brahmaji is being told, I existed in the beginning, I exist now, I exist in the future. And there is the A word, I certainly or I only.
It can refer to both ways. So, now, I certainly existed in the past, I certainly will exist in the future, I certainly exist now. Now, we’ll take both these meanings, certainly and only, and we’ll see how to understand them.
Now, if we take, I certainly existed in the past, I certainly will exist in the future. This implies that God, as Jagdish, is not just non-differentiated consciousness, non-differentiated oneness. Because, see here, the Supreme Lord is coming in front of, in front of Brahma, and he is stating that I exist now.
So, the impersonalist idea is that God is actually impersonal, but he takes a personal form for the sake of descending in this world. But when it is said, I certainly exist in the past, I certainly will exist in the future. That means God’s personality is not temporal.
It is eternal. And Krishna talks about this right in the beginning of his instruction in the Bhagavad Gita in 2.12, he says, नत्वेवाहं जाधनासं नत्वम्नेमें जनाधिपहान चैवन भविष्यामा सर्वेवयमतःपरं He says, I, you and all these kings, we exist in the past, we exist now, and we will exist in the future. So if we take, अहम् एवासं एवागरे If we take एवा to mean certainly, then that means this actually proves that God exists eternally as a person.
The absolute truth is eternally a person. Now if we take it to mean only, I only existed in the past, I only exist now, I only will exist in the future. So if एवा means only, then still the question arises, what does it mean? Because clearly, there is that I only, the Supreme Lord is saying I only, but He is speaking to Brahma.
So if He is speaking to Brahma, means at that point He is also acknowledging the existence of Brahma. He is not telling Brahma that you are an illusion. If something is an illusion, we just extinguish it.
No, He is instructing the other person. So that means, when He is saying I only exist now, then what is that? Does that mean that Brahma doesn’t exist? No, if Brahma’s existence itself is an illusion, then the point of giving instruction to an illusion is not required at all. You know, if somebody is having a hallucination, sometimes people get drunk, or sometimes people, because of sickness they get a hallucination.
Now, if you want to get rid of the hallucination, we don’t talk with the hallucination. We don’t instruct the hallucination to go away. But the very fact that Brahma is being instructed, that means His existence is also real.
His existence is also real. And that means, when He says I only exist, this does not mean that Brahma doesn’t exist. And Jiva Goswami has written an elaborate commentary on this section of the Bhagavatam.
Jiva Goswami, in His Sandarbhas, He takes the most important sections of the Bhagavatam. And He analyses them very systematically, very diligently analyses them to explain their essential meaning. And He takes this verse and He says, the I only here means that the I is inclusive, not exclusive.
The I exclusive means I and none of you. I only will go there. I only will go to Vrindavan.
That means I alone and none of you will go there. So that’s I in the exclusive sense. But when the Supreme Lord is using the I, He is using it in an inclusive sense.
Inclusive sense means I includes all living beings. Now this is also the result of enlightenment as talked about in the Bhagavad Gita. In Bhagavad Gita we often quote the verse tad viddhi panpad dhena pariprashnena sevaya upadekshanti te jnanam jnanis tapva darshanah That we go to a spiritual master and we learn from the spiritual master.
Significantly, this verse actually doesn’t talk about one spiritual master. It is talking in plural. It says that tad viddhi panpad pariprashnena upadekshanti te jnanam jnaninas.
Jnaninas is plural, not jnani. So it is not that we have one spiritual master. We have one initiating spiritual master.
But we have many gurus from whom we learn. And the Bhagavad Gita is urging us to learn from all our gurus. Ashiksha gurus, Niksha gurus, everyone.
And so the next verse, which we often don’t quote so much, describes the result of acquiring knowledge from the from the spiritual masters. From the seers of the truth. 4.35 is yajnatvānapunarmoham evam yāsisi pāṇḍava yena bhÅ«tāṇyaÅ›eṣāṇidraká¹£asyātmanyathomai So he says yajnatvā of knowing this, napunarmoham you will never again fall in illusion.
evam yāsisi pāṇḍava O Pāṇḍava, Arjuna, as you have fallen in illusion now, you will not fall in illusion. yena bhūtāṇyaśeṣāṇidrakṣasyātmanyathomai yena bhūtāṇyaśeṣāṇidrakṣasyātmanyathomai By which all living beings drakṣasyātmanyathomai you will be able to see them as ātmaniathomai He says they are in me and they are mine. ātmani and mine So Now Krishna uses the word ātmā Now in the Bhagavad Gita the word ātmā prominently refers to the soul.
But the word ātmā etymologically means essence. So the word ātmā can refer to the soul but many times in the Vedānta Sūtra ātmā refers to the Supreme Lord. You will see the context.
In the Bhāgavatam also there is a verse ātmāvāsyamdaṁ sarvam yatkiñca jagatyāṁ jagatena tyaktena bhuñjītā mādhava-dhākṣa-siddhanam Exactly the same as the Īśopanishad except that in the beginning ātmāvāsyam It comes in the teachings of Swayambhuva Manu in the 8th Canto of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. So ātmanyathomai They are all situated in the Absolute Truth in the Supreme ātmā and they are situated in me and they are mine. So what does this mean? That means that the Absolute Truth.
When we become enlightened we understand that we are all connected with the Absolute Truth. That we are not separate. That we have an eternal relationship with the Absolute Truth.
And Krishna is that they are mine. They all belong to me. So the ahaṁ is in an inclusive sense over here.
I’ll talk about this inclusive sense again. But let’s look at another section in the Bhāgavatam which illustrates this. In the 7th Canto there is a description of the past time of Prahlad and HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu.
So Hiraṇyakaśipu asked Prahlad What did you learn in school? What was the best thing that you learned? So does anyone know what Prahlad replies? Sorry, not that version. Later on that happens. But later when all his attempts to kill Prahlad are thwarted at that time Hiraṇyakaśipu asks Prahlad Now from where are you getting the strength? He said even the Devatas they tremble if I just lift my eyebrows.
And you are fearless. What is the source of your strength? Now what is the answer of Prahlad? Does anyone remember? Yeah. Yeah.
So now the source of my strength is the source of your strength. At one level this might seem to be like a very cheeky answer. Instead of giving a straight answer, he says in fact he goes further.
He says the source of my strength is the same as the source of your strength and the source of Brahma’s strength also. Like he is the source of the strength of everyone. So now this is not a cheeky answer.
This is a philosophically deep answer. The point immediately after that in the next verse he tells HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu that don’t think that if you become enlightened you will understand that you have no enemies. Vishnu is not your enemy.
Your only enemy is your uncontrolled and misguided mind. And you need to control that. Then you will become happy.
So what does this mean? He is trying to convey to HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu that don’t think that God is, that you are a competitor to God or God is a competitor to you. Sometimes we have this idea that there is a hierarchy of beings. We are human beings over here.
There are devatas above us. There are maybe the primal devatas and above them there is Vishnu. There is the Supreme Lord.
Now in one sense this understanding of the hierarchy of beings is okay. But actually in another sense the God exists in a different category entirely. Now God God’s existence is not like your existence or my existence.
His existence is the existence that makes all existence possible. God’s existence is the existence that makes all existence possible. That means God is not just the best of all beings.
He is the basis of all being. He is the basis of all being. … … … Krishna’s saying in 10.13 in the Bhagavad Gita that nothing could exist without Him.
Absolutely nothing can exist without Him. So he says that means God is not that, if you think that God is just the best of all beings then we may have the idea that okay if I become better then I will also become God. If there are tennis players, somebody is ranked number 1, somebody is ranked number 2, somebody is ranked number 3. Those who are ranked 2, 3, 4, if they perform better, then they can become number 1. So this is the idea of a hierarchy of being in which God is the best of all beings.
Now God is the best of all beings, that’s true, but He is not just that. He exists outside the hierarchy. He is the basis of all beings.
Without Him, nothing could exist. And this is the sense of God as inclusive. God is the existence who makes all existence possible.
Without Him, nothing can exist. And with this, we can understand the significance of the next verse. The next verse is So it says, that if one, If something seems meaningful, something seems attractive, but one does not see any connection of that with ātmā, here the word ātmā refers to the Absolute Truth.
If one does not see its connection with the Absolute Truth, tam vidyātmanomāyā, no doubt to be māyā. Ithābhāso ithādhamā, this is, one might see some flashes of light or just some images in the dark, but they don’t really exist. So now here, it’s important to understand what is māyā.
So it’s interesting that the word māyā, I’ll analyse this at three levels, at the level of illusion, at the level of illusory energy, and at the level of disconnection. Now the word māyā, in general sense, it is translated as illusion. So for example, if I see a mirage, it appears to me as if water is there, but water is not there.
So that is illusion. Now this is illusion in perception. I’m seeing something that doesn’t exist to me.
I’m seeing something that is illusion in perception. Then, the Bhāgavatam is not talking about māyā in that sense. So for example, we see attractive objects in this world.
We see so many things which promise pleasure. Now what is māyā? Is it that the things don’t exist? The things do exist. So in that sense, when you talk about māyā, it is not seeing something that doesn’t exist.
A mirage is, I see something that doesn’t exist. There’s no water over there, but I see it as existing. So it is not exactly like that.
It is illusion in conception. Illusion in conception means that we see that thing as attractive, independent of God. So yes, there are beautiful things in this world.
There are attractive things in this world. There’s no denying that there are attractive things. But to see their attractiveness separate from God, that is illusion.
So this illusion, when we see something as attractive separate from Krishna, then that makes us pursue that object separate from Krishna. And when we pursue that object separate from Krishna, then we become karmically bound. So the mistake in the illusion, what is illusion? Illusion is to see things as separate from God.
The things do exist. So for example, wealth, it does exist. If somebody says money is māyā.
Now what do we mean by saying money is māyā? Now money really exists, currency exists, coins exist, credit card exists. So what is māyā? It is not that money doesn’t exist. The māyā is the notion that money alone can make me happy.
If I see money as separate from Krishna, I see Lakshmi as separate from Narayan, then that same money causes me misery. When Ravana has abducted Sita, and after that, Vibhishan is trying to persuade Ravana, don’t antagonise Rama, give Sita back to him. So at that time, while persuading Ravana, Vibhishan uses an analogy, which at first hearing can seem very jarring.
He says, Sita is like a venomous snake. Sita is like a venomous snake. Her eyelashes are like her fangs.
Her smile is like the poison. And this poison has entered into your heart. Get it out of your bloodstream before it kills you.
How can you say that? The goddess of fortune, she is like a serpent. Or her smile is like poison. She is the goddess of fortune.
But the point is, Ravana is seeing the goddess of fortune separate from Rama. And therefore, the same person who is the goddess of fortune is going to become for him the agent of misfortune. So to see something separated from the Supreme Lord, that is Maya.
Now Sita is not Maya. Sita is herself, she exists, and she exists as a goddess of fortune, but for Ravana, the illusion is that Sita’s beauty is also real. She is really beautiful.
But the effect of that beauty on him is dangerous. And that dangerous effect is happening because he is seeing it separate from the Supreme Lord. When one sees something as meaningful, but sees it separate from the absolute truth, that is Maya.
So now, within the Indian tradition, there are three broad paths. There’s the path of karma, there’s the path of jnana, and there’s the path of bhakti. Now actually, all these three see the world and see God.
Atheism was never mainstream in the Vedic tradition. Of course, Jains and Buddhists were atheists. But they were atheists in a sense of more of rejecting the Vedic tradition than in propagating atheism.
The point I’m making is that when we see the disconnectedness of things from God, so at that time, we go under illusion. So there is the illusory energy. So I was talking about three conceptions of Maya.
One is illusion and perception. Now we put a stick in water and the stick appears twisted. That is illusion.
At one level that can also be called as Maya. But in a philosophical sense, Maya is when we see something as attractive without seeing its connection in question. Now in a personal sense, the third sense, Maya is also the energy of the Lord.
So there is also a person who is Maya Devi. And that person Maya Devi, it is by her influence that we see things separate from Krishna. Now in the Maya as an agency, what does she do? Her purpose is to check whether we have understood what is the reality.
So it is not that she wants to take us away from Krishna. Now Prabhupada was once asked, if our purpose is to serve Krishna, why is Maya so strong? If you want to be a devotee, if you want to chant Hare Krishna, but still we are allured by this, allured by that. If our purpose is to serve Krishna, why is Maya so strong? And Prabhupada immediately replies, because your purpose is not strong.
That means, what does it mean your purpose is not strong? I was in Melbourne last year, so after one class, one devotee asked, you know, if God wants us to do good and not bad, then why is it that they have given so many bad options? Wrong choices are so many in this world. So if God has given us, God wants us to do the right, why has he given so many wrong choices? So I answered, no, that is how it always is in any multiple choice exam. In any multiple choice exam, the wrong choices are always more than the right choices.
So now the correct choice does not depend on the sheer number of the choices. The correct choice, making the correct choice is not a matter of probability. So it is not that, you know, because there are 25 wrong choices, then the probability of my making the wrong choice increases, and there are only two choices, then the probability of my making the wrong choice decreases.
We may say that in terms of probability. But you know, Krishna does not leave our destiny to probability. Krishna does not leave our destiny to chance.
He gives us knowledge. So just as a teacher teaches the subject, and after teaching the subject, then the multiple choices are given to evaluate whether the student has realised the subject. So the correct choice depends not on probability.
It depends on assimilation of the subject. It depends on the gravity with which the student has studied the subject and understood the subject. So similarly, yes, there can be many, many wrong choices in this world, and the right choices may be very few.
But it is not a matter of probability, making the right choice. It is a matter of fidelity, being faithful, being understanding and internalising. So if we internalise that Krishna is the only reality, then no matter how many alluring options come, we will choose Krishna.
So maya is like the teacher who gives the wrong options. But the teacher’s purpose is not to fail the student. The teacher’s purpose is to promote the student to a higher level in the study.
Similarly, maya’s purpose is not to trap us in illusion. Maya’s purpose is to actually elevate us. In the Bhagavatam, it is said, Vaishnavi janmohini.
That maya is said to be Vaishnavi. She is a devotee of the Lord. Just like we have Vaishnava, we have Vaishnavi.
And this janmohini. But what is her service as a Vaishnavi? It is to delude the people. Now why delude the people? The point of deluding the people is not to delude them.
Rather the point is to make them realise the futility of delusions and then turn towards reality. So when we understand this, it’s not that when a person goes beyond maya, there is illusion in perception and there is illusion in conception. So now it is not that when a person becomes purified, when a person becomes liberated, when a person becomes free from maya, it is not that illusion and perception will go away.
You know, if a stick is in water, even if it is a pure devotee, even for a pure devotee, the stick will appear twisted. Refraction is the effect that will happen on their eyes also. But they have knowledge.
So they will understand, okay, this is just an appearance, it’s not reality. So now what happens for a pure devotee is that the illusion in conception is no longer there. That means a pure devotee does not see anything separate from Krishna.
So whenever they see anything, they see it always as connected to Krishna. That is actually enlightenment. Now when Srila Prabhupada came to America for the first time, he came with the Boston Fire, and there he composed the song, And what does he say? Now, my dear lord, you must have some purpose for which you have brought me here.
Otherwise, why have you brought me to this terrible place? Now Prabhupada may well be the first Indian in world history who came to America and called America a terrible place. Isn’t it? Now most Indians think, oh, America is a wonderful place. In fact, many times people who come to America, after they come to America, they want all their relatives also to come to America.
Now I’ll get my brother, my sister, everybody they want to come to America. So it’s like a pure devotee goes to spiritual world, they want everyone to come to the spiritual world. It’s like that.
So around 20 years ago when I gave my GRE, I was just a student at that time, so I was supposed to come to America. But I took up bhakti, so I didn’t come. So now last year when I came first time to America, and went back to India, at that time my relatives told me, now your life has become successful.
You have gone to America and come back. So that is the idea of people, oh, America is such a great thing. I am not intending to demean America anyway over here.
My point is that they just see it in material terms. Prabhupada did not see it that way. Prabhupada saw, why is it a terrible place? He says, He says, they are covered by the moulds of passion and ignorance.
And because of that, they cannot appreciate Vasudeva Katha. They will not be able to appreciate Krishna Katha. So Prabhupada saw, Prabhupada noticed the material comfort that were there.
Prabhupada did not neglect that. But Prabhupada focused on the fact that there is a disconnection from Krishna. So a pure devotee’s perfection is that they see everything connected with Krishna.
And to the extent we start seeing everything connected with Krishna, to that extent, we will also be able to stay peaceful in life. Basically, I will conclude with this one point that our peace is disturbed by two things. By the perception of problems and by the perception of pleasures.
We are living in life, and we say, hey, this problem is going to come, this problem is going to become so big, so big, so big. And then we get disturbed. Or, sometimes we are going through life peacefully, and suddenly we see something.
Hey, there is so much, this might give me so much pleasure. I can get a new car. I can have a new relationship.
I can have a big house. I can have a better job. Whatever, so many allurements come up.
And that steals away our peace. Hey, no, why am I not getting it? Why should I not get it? So now, if we have an integrated vision of Krishna, then we see that even when some pleasure allures us, that pleasure, yes, it’s not that there is no pleasure over there. There is pleasure, but the pleasure is very small.
The illusion is not about the existence of pleasure. The illusion is about the quantity of pleasure. You know, Prahlad Maharaj, in the words of the 7th canto, in the 9th chapter, he says, So he says, Dad, oh Narasimhadev, you are asking me to ask for some benediction.
But what benediction can I ask you in this world? He says, all the pleasure here is Mrigatrishnirupa. It’s like a mirage. So mirage might seem that there is no pleasure.
But the same verse in the last line he says, Madhulavai means, it’s a small drop of honey, small drop of nectar. So now a drop of, so is the pleasure in this world like a small drop or is it like a mirage? So actually, there is pleasure in this world. Now what is the mirage is to think that the pleasure is immense.
See, many times the mind gets excited because it feels, if I don’t, there is so much pleasure over there. If I don’t get it, what will happen? I will miss out on pleasure. But many times if you look back at our life, there are so many things we are excited about and we get the pleasure and when we get it, we get the pleasure.
But how long does the pleasure last? It is for some time and then afterwards it just disappears. And this is something actually even materialistic people appreciate. Yesterday I was in a college programme in Denver University and there was one boy was speaking that he said, I just got a new iPhone, iPhone 7S has come.
So I got that and you know it felt great for how long? For two, three days. After it just becomes a thing to be used. So even materialistic people recognise that the sheen of, sheen in the surface cover of material things, the attractiveness remains only short-lived.
But they think, okay, this has gone, now let me get the other thing. That will give me pleasure. Other thing will give me pleasure.
So there is pleasure in this world, but it is very tiny. The illusion is to think that it is a great pleasure. So now if we understand that this drop of pleasure is actually coming from Krishna who is the ocean of pleasure and I am moving towards that ocean.
So then the promise of pleasure will not allure us. Because if I absorb myself in Krishna, then I can get that ocean. I am not in the ocean right now, but I can still get some drops of that ocean.
I can get some experience of that ocean. So when we see that as separated from Krishna, the pleasure separated from Krishna, we get agitated in terms of thinking that I am missing something and I must get it. But if I understand, okay, there is this pleasure, but this pleasure is just a drop of the pleasure of Krishna Bhakti.
If I focus on it, I can get higher pleasure. So then we will not get agitated. So this integrated vision that God alone exists and I am a part of God meant to enjoy a connection with Him, that can save us from being from being distracted by pleasure and similarly, distracted by trouble.
We often think in terms of binary logic, you know, digital. Either things are in control or things are out of control. So if things are in control, I feel peaceful.
If things are out of control, I get very worried. But actually, things that are not in control does not necessarily mean they are out of control. Because even things that are not in my control are still in Krishna’s control.
So Krishna has a plan. So if I think of this problem as just a problem that is coming upon me, then I will get agitated. But if I see, okay, this problem is there, but Krishna is still in control, then the problem will not agitate me so much.
Just like if I am going on a dark road and I see some hefty looking thug along with some thug-like person, I might get a little fearful. But if behind them I see a bigger, well-built police person, then I will not feel fearful. So like that, when we see problems in this world, if we become problem conscious, then we become agitated.
But if we stay Krishna conscious, the problem doesn’t go away, but the problem’s domination of us, it decreases. It is said that when we come to Krishna also, if we are too problem conscious, then we can’t get the shelter of Krishna. Because we are chanting Krishna’s name, we are taking darshan of Krishna, but we are not connecting with Krishna.
Then what happens? We are only focussing on the problem, and the problem appears to overwhelm us. So that’s why it is said, don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big God is.
So God is bigger than the biggest problem that can be there in this world. And if we with the mind start saying, this is such a big problem, how will we solve, how will we solve? No, Krishna is much bigger. If I just keep serving Krishna, Krishna will guide me about how to deal with this problem.
And therefore, let me stay focused on Krishna. In the same words when Prabhupada said, अच्छे किच्चु काजे तबे एई अनुमाने My dear Lord, you must have some purpose for me. Here he uses a very significant word, अनुमाने.
अनुमाने means, अनुमान means we could say guesswork, guessing. Normally we think guessing, and Prabhupada said, don’t speculate. But Prabhupada is himself saying, I am doing अनुमान.
My अनुमान is, If I serve Krishna, you must have some purpose for me. That means, now we should not speculate about the philosophy. But in terms of practically living in this world, there are often situations when we may not know what to do.
Should I do this or should I do that? We can have moments of indecision in our life. Now, if indecision leads to feelings of isolation. See there is indecision and there is isolation.
Indecision means I don’t know what to do. Isolation means I am all alone in this big bad world. What should I do? So, indecision is natural in this world.
Because often perplexities come. And even if Prabhupada is a pure devotee, when he came to America, it was not that he knew everything. Okay, I am going to come to the street and I am going to meet this person and this person is going to become a devotee.
No, Prabhupada was also trying different strategies. Some of them worked, some of them didn’t work. So, Prabhupada said, Krishna, you must have some purpose for me.
So, Prabhupada has that confidence. So, he may not have any complete clarity of what I am going to do, but he has complete determination, complete conviction that I am going to serve Krishna and Krishna will make arrangements. So, like that, if we let ourselves feel isolated by problems, Oh, this big problem is there, I am all alone, struggling with it, then we will become discouraged.
But if you understand the big problem is there, but Krishna is still there with me in my heart. And Krishna is still in control. And Krishna will help me out of the problem.
Just let me keep serving. Then even problems, so that means we see anything as meaningful separate from Krishna means, we don’t see pleasures as meaningful and we also don’t see problems as meaningful. We see the problem is also under the jurisdiction of Krishna.
And Krishna will, in his own plan, deal with the problem, guide us to deal with the problem. So, faith means that we keep serving Krishna no matter what happens. Sometimes if you want to go along the road, the whole road is lit, we can move along.
But sometimes, we just have a torchlight. Torchlight, you know, I can see only one step ahead. But if one step ahead, I can take one step ahead and then the step ahead of me becomes lit by the torchlight.
And I move forward. And I move forward. Sometimes, life becomes like that.
There is no clear lit road ahead for us. What should I be doing? But if we just focus on, if I think what should I be doing in my life, that becomes a very big question. And trying to answer that can paralyse us.
But if you just think, how can I serve Krishna now? That’s like, focus on the torchlight. The torchlight. Okay, I can do this thing now.
And if we keep doing like that, then the darkness that is there in life, that will dissipate in due course of time. And again, our life journey’s path will become well lit. So, we don’t see problems as separate from Krishna, having some formidable, life-threatening existence.
No, their existence also is a wallet to Krishna. And by staying fixed in our relationship with Krishna, of service to him, we’ll be able to go through whatever problems life sends our way. So, I’ll summarise.
I’ll explain how in the Vedic tradition, there is, for the purpose of absorption, the tendency towards expansion, where the same verses, commentaries are written on them, important books. And there is concentration. So, expansion is to relish more and more.
Whereas, concentration is to select verses that have, that give the essence, and that is for recollection, that is for memorisation. And that is for condensed recollection at a glance. And the Bhagavatam Chaturthi, we discussed the first verse, it talks about how I alone existed, I alone exist, I alone will exist in future.
So, we discussed the impersonal conception of oneness, is that there is just a stream of consciousness, no subject, no object. But consciousness has no meaning without somebody to be conscious of, and someone to be conscious of. And the Lord himself is acknowledging such duality, when he says that, I am instructing, I alone exist, he is saying, but he is instructing someone else.
The person to whom he is instructing also exists. So, we discussed the two ways of understanding Eva, I certainly and I alone. And I certainly means, it is actually a reputation of impersonalism, because God in his personal form existed in the past and he will exist in the future.
And I only, when he says, it is not I in the exclusive sense, it is I in the inclusive sense, that God is inherently connected with his creation. So, jiva, jagat and jagdish, they are all one composite whole. So, the absolute truth is God with his energies.
And the illusion is not that jiva and jagat themselves are illusion. Rather, to see jiva and jagat as separate from the supreme, that is illusion. So, God is not just the best of all beings.
He is the basis of all beings. He is the existence without whom no existence would be possible. And that is why, when we see anything as meaningful, as separate from the God, from the absolute truth, that is maya.
We discussed illusion at three levels. Illusion in perception, to see something that does not exist like a mirage. Illusion in conception, to see something separate from its reality, at the illusory energy.
These three meanings of the word maya, which could be broadly used. So, maya in a philosophical sense refers to, to see things separate from Krishna. And the illusory energy maya, she gives us this sort of vision of things separate from Krishna to test how much we have understood that Krishna is the only substantial reality.
And the illusory options in this world are not meant to delude us. They are meant to promote us. Just like the multiple choice, wrong option in the multiple choice paper.
They are meant to help the student get promoted if they are studying. So, the right choice does not depend on probability. It depends on internalisation of knowledge.
And similarly, if we study the philosophy of bhakti, if we practise bhakti, we can convince that Krishna is the substantive principle. And then we won’t get distracted by maya. Maya distractions come in two forms.
One is the promise of pleasure and the fear of trouble. The promise of pleasure, if we see that, okay, there is pleasure. The illusion is in thinking there is a lot of pleasure.
There is only a small drop of pleasure. You see, there is this drop, but Krishna bhakti will offer me the ocean of pleasure. Therefore, I won’t get agitated by this drop.
And similarly, when problems come, the things may not be in my control, but that does not mean they are out of control. They are still in Krishna’s control. So, if we see the thief alone and don’t see the police person behind, we will get fearful.
Like if we become problem conscious but not Krishna conscious, then we will become fearful. But even when there are problems and we don’t know what to do, if we focus on Krishna and think ultimately whatever happens, I have to serve Krishna. So, how can I serve him right now? And we take one step forward, one step forward.
Like a torch, when that servant attitude will become like a torch which will show us one step forward, one step forward, one step forward. And by that, ultimately our life’s journey, the path will become clear. The darkness of doubts and confusion that will get dissipated and we will move onwards steadily towards Krishna.
Thank you very much. Are there any comments or questions? Yes, please. Thank you very much.
I’ve noticed that after some time and how people create service, there’s a tendency, it seems to, after a while, to focus on, like you said, to be problem conscious, to focus on the things that are going wrong in the world in the way that it is that’s happening in Krishna. It’s the ultimate goal to everything in this world. And in that way, you know, we need to be in a state of justification and apologies in the past and in the future that, you know, things are going wrong in the world.
Things are going wrong socially. Things are going wrong psychologically in the world. And less and less, we need to talk about it.
And less and less, we need to connect with these problems. If we don’t want to connect with them, then we have to fight for service. So, my question is, how do I understand how that happens? Is that a way away from the actual essence of what it is to connect yourself to things and help other people understand? And is this tendency to become, let’s say, if it’s driven by things and what it is, I believe, and this is kind of the name of the fall of Hans Joseph, okay.
So, sometimes after practising bhakti for some time, maybe a few years or a few decades, some devotees try to gravitate towards focussing on the world’s problems, socially, political, psychological, and tackling them rather than connecting with Krishna and connecting others with Krishna or even connecting these problems with Krishna. Krishna Katha, we start having political Katha. So why does this happen and what can be done about it? If, say, people are focussing more on the mode of goodness.
There are different ways of practising Krishna consciousness. If you see in the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about multiple levels. 12.8 he says, just think of me constantly.
If you can’t think of me, 12.9 he says, practise the rules of sadhana bhakti. 12.10 he says, if you can’t do that, work for me. 12.11 he says, if you can’t even do that, then just work for some selfless cause.
Give the fruits of your work to some good cause. So sometimes we think of Krishna consciousness also in terms of digital logic. If you are doing this, you are Krishna conscious.
It’s like one circle. If you are inside this, you are Krishna conscious. If you are outside the circle, you are not Krishna conscious.
And that is one way of looking at Krishna. But another alternative way is that we could see Krishna consciousness as a circle of, as a, as a, as something which is multiple circles of expanding radii. Something like a pyramid.
So, where, as we come down, down, down, the pyramid becomes much longer in circumference. At the top it is very small. So like that, the effect, the Krishna, the spiritualization of society that Srila Prabhupada wanted, that can happen at multiple levels.
It is not that everybody needs to become, or everybody will become a member of the Hare Krishna movement wearing a hoti kurta, or a sari and a tilak. That’s one way it can happen. But that’s not necessarily the only way.
And ultimately, we want to spiritualise society. So, if somebody is, after many years of practise, they start feeling that I want to focus on a particular issue. And they go deep in that issue.
Now, it is possible for us that we may not see the Krishna connection of what they are doing. But, once one goes deep into issue, then one actually has to learn many subtleties over it. And once one starts learning the subtleties, the intricacies, to become, if you want to become specialised in any field.
You see, when Prarayan, Bhaktivinoda Thakur said that I look forward to the day when the high court judges will be wearing tilak. Now, how is this going to happen? There can be many ways. One way could be that we have Krishna conscious government and the Krishna conscious government appoints devotees as judges.
That can happen, but it doesn’t seem to be near conceivable future. They are a small number, right? Another way it could very well happen is that devotees themselves become so competent in their respective professions that so devotee becomes a judge and such a competent judge that the government or the ruling, head of state or ruling authorities, they appoint devotees as judges because of their competence, because of their character. Now, if somebody has to develop that level of competence and character, then they have to be in the mode of goodness and they have to be diligent in their work.
Now, when Arjuna, when he was learning his archery, he completely gave himself to that. Now, he did not know that in the future there is going to be a dharma yuddha where I am going to use this archery for Krishna’s service. He understood that I am doing this for the cause of dharma but when he was doing it, he was lost in it, completely absorbed in it.
So, the absorption in a particular field of studying is often necessary for a depth. So, just like when we talk about scientific outreach, if somebody wants to do scientific outreach can also be at various levels. So, Prabhupada wanted, there is a statement in Sadaput Prabhu’s scrapbook about what all Prabhupada wanted D.I. to do.
So, he said, Bhaktivinoda should do outreach to scientists, should do outreach to students, should do outreach to general people and should do outreach to devotees, to train them to become scientific preachers. So, now, the way we will speak to scientists will be different from the way we will speak to students because their level of technical knowledge is different. So, somebody has to speak to scientists, they have to really become a serious scientist.
It is not that all the time they are going to talk about Krishna. In their paper, they will talk completely in scientific language. So, we should think that just because somebody has gone deep into a particular field, that means they are straying away from Bhakti.
It is best that we don’t judge that. Now, what should not happen is that if some devotee feels inspired to go deep into a particular field, then they start discussing that with others who are not interested in that field. And they start this is the thing which you should do.
There is a direct mission of Bhakti which is very important and most devotees will focus on the direct mission of Bhakti, practising Krishna Consciousness themselves and sharing Krishna Consciousness directly with others. It is not necessary that all devotees have to do this. Some devotees may become specialised in particular fields.
Somebody becomes specialised in astrology. If they become specialised in astrology, quite often they may read more books of astrology than they would read direct Shastra. Somebody can get lost in it.
But that’s what is required if they want to become a specialised astrologer. So now, astrology itself, it can be connected with Krishna. But there are astrologers who are atheistic also.
Ayurveda is from the body of Vedic knowledge. But there are Ayurvedic doctors who are atheists also. So, Maya is Maya.
You know, somebody can go into astrology and go into Maya. If they go deep into astrology and get disconnected from Krishna. Somebody can go into social, today’s politics and they can go deep into Maya and they can go deep into it and they can go into Maya.
But, you know, we shouldn’t have the default assumption that somebody is going to astrology, that means they are in the Vedic field. Somebody is going into politics, that means they are going into Maya. No, it is the intent that is important.
And in the past, in the first generation largely, the whole mode of Krishna consciousness was isolation. That means, you know, this is the big bad world out there and this is the devotee community. This is the safe place and we will come and stay here and we want everyone to come and stay.
That was the primary mode of outreach. And at that time, everybody also lived in the temple. In fact, for many people it was, you know, you couldn’t live outside the temple and be in bhakti.
To go out of the temple means to go into Maya. So, the transcendental was reduced to the geographic. Inside the temple means you are in Krishna, outside the temple means you are in Maya.
But now, our movement’s outreach is not through isolation so much as through penetration. Now, our movement has become primarily a congregation-based movement now. And devotees are penetrating the mainstream world and there they are creating oasis.
There they are creating places where people can practise bhakti. So, when somebody has to penetrate into a particular field, they have to go deep into that field. And others should know, why are they doing like this? Because sometimes over a period of years, people may understand this is what my interest is.
This is where my inspiration is. This is what I want to do in my life. If somebody gets a very deep calling like that from within, then that’s what they will do.
That’s not necessarily deviation from Krishna bhakti. If their intent is to spiritualise the whole thing, then that is not deviation. But we may not be able to see Krishna in that.
So now, the question is, when one definition of success is made into the only definition of success? That means, if somebody is asking, book distribution means? If you are doing book distribution, then you are doing service. If you are not doing book distribution, you are not doing any service at all. No, book distribution is a very important service.
There are so many other services also. So, if somebody minimises book distribution, that is wrong. But if somebody makes book distribution the only thing, that is also wrong.
So like that, some devotees may go deep into certain fields. If that is their inspiration, that is fine. But if they start imposing it on others, so if they are specialising particular field, somebody goes into academics, somebody goes into politics, somebody goes into critical theology or whatever, they will go deep and that’s fine and that’s what their interest is.
But if they start bringing that into the mainstream Krishna consciousness movement, and the mainstream Krishna consciousness movement instead of discussing Krishna Katha, they start discussing politics Katha, then that is not good. But if somebody is going deep into that field with the intention of trying to spiritualise that field, that’s perfectly fine. But that has to be done carefully.
Usually, this kind of penetration into a particular field needs to be done under the guidance of senior devotees, some senior who are wise and realised, so that they can make sure that people don’t go too much, too off track. But this whole idea of penetration to the world, that is one very important way in which our movement will grow. So, if we are going to a scientific conference and then we are discussing about how say, universe came about, then we can’t just tell them, chant Hare Krishna again.
They have to talk in their language and talk in their language means we have to learn their language. We have to study for hours or even years, decades. So, that’s fine.
So, if somebody is able to see Krishna in a particular field and is trying to spiritualise that field, that’s okay. But if others, they don’t have that much interest, they don’t have that much inspiration, they don’t have that much realisation of Krishna’s presence in that field, others may not be able to see that. So, devotees need to be given room to practise what they are doing.
But devotees also, those who are given that room, they shouldn’t impose that on others and make everyone else do the same things. So, the core practises of bhakti is what our movement should be primarily doing. And along with that, individual devotees according to their inspiration may diversify into other fields where they become both specialised in that field and also bring Krishna into that field.
Does that answer your question? Yes. Yes. Yes.
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See, sometimes devotees start campaigning against certain problems of this world. Say genetically modified crops or say political instability or whatever. And they focus on solving those.
Yes. See, it is much easier to fight against something than to fight for something. Why is it easier? Because it is much easier to fight against something than to fight for something.
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Yes. Yes. people will practise bhakti at different levels.
And we can’t force people to rise from this level to that level. But what we should do is people should not be confused about what is at what level. So from the transcendental perspective, the directly devotional activities are better than the indirectly devotional activities.
If somebody is not at a level where they feel inspired for directly devotional activities, that is not necessarily a, we don’t have to make a value judgement about them and say that you are not a serious devotee. No, we can’t, people cannot be forced to do something which they don’t feel inspired to. But it should be clear what is a directly devotional activity and what is an indirectly devotional activity.
Or what is a less devotional activity. And then if people feel inspired to practise at this level, this level, this level, it’s up to them. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
Thank you very much.