Cricket Mania A Bhagavad-gita perspective; Seeing Kishna everywhere as his vibhuti; Wellington 2022

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Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Lecture Summary

Discover how to balance spiritual consciousness with daily distractions, modern entertainment like cricket, and worldly responsibilities using timeless teachings from the Bhagavad Gita.

Key Insights from the Discourse

• Understanding Krishna as the Ultimate Yogi: In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks how to constantly remember Krishna while navigating material existence. Krishna responds as the ultimate Yogi, seeking a deeper connection with us amidst our daily lives.
• Detached Work Over Renunciation: Rather than forcing complete withdrawal or acting out of mere attachment, Krishna recommends detached work—fulfilling one’s duties responsibly while offering the results to a higher purpose.
• Immersive vs. Inclusive Bhakti: Spiritual practice requires a balance between immersive bhakti (dedicating private time to chanting and meditation) and inclusive bhakti (transforming daily responsibilities, work, and family care into acts of service).
• The Concept of Vibhuti (Divine Opulence): Everything attractive in the world—including exceptional talents, beauty, and even massive cultural phenomena like cricket—reflects a spark of Krishna’s splendor, pointing our attention back to the source.
• Shifting Perception from Condemnation to Compassion: Intense worldly obsessions, such as sports mania, often stem from a deep inner emptiness. Instead of harsh condemnation, a devotee can view these distractions with compassion and use them as inspiration to share deeper spiritual fulfillment.

Full Transcription

Om Jnana Kriya Jnana Yasya Jnana Jnana Shalakaya Shakshu Duryodhana Kena Satsvamayi Sri Gurudev Namaha Namo Bhishma Padaya Krishna Krishnaya Mukhale Sri Nirmalai Bhaktivedanta Swami Nithyanande Namaste Saraswati Devi Gauravani Pracharini Nirmalai Vishwajuniawadi Pashyakya Deshakarini Jai Shri Krishna Chaitanya Pradodhuri Dhyananda Sriraiyai Radha Radha Srivasa Vishwamitra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Thank you very much for coming today So, today I’ll discuss about how to be Krishna conscious while facing the various tempting or attractive things in the world So, to put it simplified I’ll talk about Cricket and Bhagavad Gita So, in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna asks an interesting question We’ll start with this How many chapters are there in the Gita? How many questions are there in the Gita? 12, ok It’s actually 17 So Let’s look at this question We would recite it multiple times but let’s recite it together once Katham Vidyam Aham Yogim Tvam Sada Parichintayan Keshu Keshuch Bhaveshu Chintyosi Bhagavanmaya So, Arjuna is asking here Katham Vidyam Can you tell me? Vidya means knowledge but Vidya also means to know So, here Vidya is being used more as a verb rather than as a noun Katham Vidyam Aham Yogim Tvam Sada Parichintayan How can I remember you always? And specifically Keshu Keshuch Bhaveshu So, Bhava means material existence over here Like in Sanskrit, like in any other language sometimes the same words can have multiple meanings So, for example if we consider in English the word run has is said to have a maximum of 580 meanings So, I am going for a run My washing machine has stopped running Who is running for the President’s post now? I am running because that person is running for the President’s post That person ran away from the country So, the same word can have many different meanings we can say Because my car is not running, I have to be running now So, generally we look at the context and then we understand which meaning is to be applied where So, now in English there are many words which have many meanings But run is the only word which has more than 500 meanings But in Sanskrit there are more than 500 words which have more than 500 meanings So, this adds to the richness of the language and it allows the possibility for poetry for literary devices, for figures of speech for beauty and artistry in the language to come up when there is a lot of subtlety and complexity to language But then simultaneously it can also lead to ambiguity Ambiguity means confusion So, now in the words which we discussed there is the word Yogi Now what does the word Yogi mean normally? Sorry? Sorry? Yogi Simply means practitioner of Yoga Yes So, practitioner of Yoga But interestingly in this verse Katham Vidyam Aham Yogim Tom Sada Parijant Yogi is being referred to Krishna Now Krishna is Yogeshwar He is Yogiraj Why would Krishna be considered to be Yogi? Katham Vidyam Aham Yogim Tom Sada Parijant How can I remember you always? So, to understand this we have to look at the secondary meaning of words Generally, we hear a sentence and it doesn’t make sense Then you say, okay, which meaning? If a mother tells a child, don’t hit the bat with your bat Hit the ball with your bat Now what does it mean? Don’t hit the bat with your bat So, bat refers to an insect that hangs upside down Don’t hit the bat with your bat The bat is used to hit the ball So, we look at the context and we understand the meaning So, Yogi if you see, what it refers to is that generally Yoga means connection and what we normally think is that say we are here and say Krishna is here and Yoga means we are trying to connect with Krishna but actually the Gita reveals that even Krishna is trying to connect with us and in fact Krishna is trying much more to connect with us than we are trying to connect with him So, here when he is using the word Yogi he is saying Krishna, you are telling me to remember you constantly That is one of the consistent messages of the Gita that try to remember Krishna constantly Just before this, the Chatur Shloki Gita has been there In the Chatur Shloki Gita also Krishna begins with Machchitta Madgata Prana Bodhayanta Parasparam So, Machchitta Madgata Prana comes in So, he is to always remember me So, Arjuna is asking Krishna that if you are telling me to remember you are you doing anything to make it easy for me to remember you So, I am trying to connect with you are you also trying to connect with me So, Katham Vidyam Aham Yogi He is referring to Krishna as a Yogi You want me to be a Yogi, you want me to seek a connection with you but are you also seeking connection with me are you making it easy for me to connect with you Katham Vidyam Aham Yogi Twam Sada Parichintayan for me to be able to remember you constantly as you have asked me to do Keshu Keshucha Bhaveshu So, the word Bhav again, I was talking about the same thing that words can have many different meanings Generally, Bhav means emotion like we have Bhava Bhakti but Bhava also means nature that they will attain my nature and in this particular case Bhava refers to material existence or material nature So, sometimes we have to look at context to know what the word means So, Keshu Keshucha Bhaveshu Chintyosi Bhagwanmaya He is asking specifically in material existence how can I remember you when I am encountering the material world at that time how can I be remembering you because in one sense Krishna seems to have given two opposing directives to Arjuna and that is what has confused him to some extent in fact that is a consistent confusion for Arjuna because on one side Krishna is telling Arjuna let’s begin with the beginning and then we will see how Arjuna’s confusion continues but due to different reasons see Arjuna is caught between basically two choices he says fight or what is the other sorry ok go to the forest renounce or basically don’t fight but we can take it beyond a specific context so we can say work or renounce this is these two options and remember yesterday I talked about this if he is working he is doing Kshatriya Dharma and if he is renouncing he will do his Kula Dharma because at least he will not be fighting against his own Kula so he is thinking these are the two options for him now what happens is Arjuna is thinking he has these two options so work or renounce but Krishna tells Arjuna that actually you don’t have two options you have four options what are the four options he says there can be attached work then there can be detached work then there can be artificial renunciation and then what will be the last one real renunciation is it so we could go into the verses of the Gita wherever these particular options come up but broadly speaking he talks about these four options now based on your understanding of the Gita which of the options does Krishna not recommend ok let’s start attached work no now you don’t need spiritual knowledge you need common sense only for this artificial renunciation among the remaining two so ok both of them Krishna recommends no then which one ok how many say detached work ok how many say real renunciation I was doing this exercise one person didn’t raise any hand at all why I am renounced from both options so basically Krishna says this is good but this is better he says in the 5th chapter both are good but this is better for multiple reasons because Krishna wants Arjuna to do his responsibility in the world Krishna wants Arjuna to establish Dharma in the world Krishna wants Arjuna to set an example for society many reasons but detached work is what he is recommending now to expand this further Krishna talks about this detached work also at multiple levels so we could say that both of you know that there are broadly four paths that Krishna talks about in the Gita which are the four paths among these four levels where will Karma Yoga fall Karma Yoga detached work Karma Yoga which are the other paths Jnana Yoga where will it fall if somebody actually practising Jnana Yoga then it’s a real renunciation then Dhyana Yoga again real renunciation Bhakti Yoga out of syllabus yeah it is actually detached work I’ll explain how so Krishna says this renunciation is good Jnana Yoga, Dhyana Yoga renunciation is good but if you see in the 6th chapter he talks about Dhyana Yoga but in 6th chapter he concludes with all the yogis the best is one who is devoted to me and in that way he says Dhyana Yoga culminates in Bhakti Yoga so Dhyana Yoga culminates in Bhakti Yoga and similarly so he says let me explain this detached work it can be done at various levels it starts from Karma Yoga and it can go to Bhakti Yoga so a person can do detached work at all these levels in Karma Yoga a person is simply detached from the results of the work now what they are offering that work to that may vary so somebody may just be charitable, they earn a lot of money but they don’t use it for their own pleasure they give it to humanitarian causes they use it for some nationalistic causes so that’s not exactly Karma Yoga but it is in that direction that is that they are connecting with something higher and Bhakti Yoga is they are offering it to the Supreme Lord so why is Bhakti Yoga considered higher? is it just because we are practising Bhakti Yoga so we think Bhakti Yoga is highest? it is not like that it is in detached work it is ok I am detached from the fruits of the work actually when you say detached work it is not the precise language we are not detached from the work we are detached from the results of the work and not detached from the results of the work doesn’t mean we don’t care for the results rather we work carefully, we work responsibly but once the results come we don’t use the results for our own enjoyment we use the results for a higher cause so what makes us higher is that from Karma Yoga to Bhakti Yoga in all of these we are offering the result for some higher cause for some higher purpose but in Bhakti Yoga we offer the results to the highest cause Krishna is the well-wisher of everyone if somebody is detached and they are offering their results to their community or then a country, that is good but I may love my country and that means I hate any country that opposes my country so it is not completely selfless it is not the highest level of selflessness so Bhakti Yoga is the highest because we offer the results to the highest cause so here, now what Krishna says is you can practise Gyan Yoga, you can practise Dhyan Yoga but he says eventually all of them will culminate in Bhakti Yoga so Krishna talks about how Karma Yoga leads to Bhakti Yoga that is basically you can say this is a journey from chapters 1 to 5 then how Dhyan Yoga culminates in Bhakti Yoga that is basically chapter 6 and then how Gyan Yoga culminates in Bhakti Yoga, that is chapter 13 to 18 so in this way what Krishna says is all other paths culminate in Bhakti now when Krishna is saying this he doesn’t anywhere condemn any of these paths that’s important, Krishna values those paths so some people say that Bhagavad Gita teaches different paths for different people well, yes and no the Gita appreciates whichever path somebody is following if they are pursuing something higher than worldly pleasures that is noble Krishna says, it’s good at the same time, the Gita very categorically recommends a particular path it’s very categorical so we can say the Gita is inclusive but not inconclusive it is inclusive that means it includes people who are following different paths but just because it includes people who are following different paths doesn’t mean that it rejects the idea of one path being the best or one path being recommended the Gita has its flow and it has its conclusion so it is both inclusive and conclusive not inconclusive so now, continuing this theme what Krishna is doing is, Arjuna is thinking that you have two options, work or fight sorry, work or renounce Krishna says you can work with renunciation, that is detached work and detached work can be, just we are detached from the fruits or we are offering the fruits too so how does one offer the fruits to Krishna? so there is the well known verse 8.7, anyone remember what is this? Sasmad Sarveshu Kaleshu Mam Anusmara Yudhyacha now this verse is like a is a very direct instruction see, all the verses in the Gita are not instructive some are simply descriptive for example, that verse is a description that the soul remains the same while the body changes now some verses which are instructive are especially important like even in the class, there may be many points discussed but maybe in the class there is a call for action this is what we should do so that is especially important, isn’t it? so now this instruction seems to be at one level having two contradictory components to it what is the next line of this one? Sasmad Sarveshu Kaleshu so Anusmara so Mam Anusmara and the other part is Yudhyacha so Yudhya, fight so remember me and fight now how exactly is this to be done? if you read the Mahabharata, it is not that when Arjuna is shooting arrows Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare he is not chanting while shooting arrows what is he doing? and Krishna is telling remember me and fight what does he want us to do actually? is it that we have to become some kind of split personality? half of us is remembering Krishna, half of us is actually working doing our duty well, it is first of all very difficult and suppose we had a heart attack and we had to do a heart surgery and there is a doctor who happened to be a devotee now would we want the doctor to chant Hare Krishna while doing surgery? or actually do the surgery attentively what do you think? unless you are frustrated with life so now what we would want is they do their job well, isn’t it? so our devotion or our remembrance of Krishna is not meant to detract us from our dedication to our work Arjuna was completely dedicated to his work when he was working, he was working whole heartedly when he was fighting, he was completely fixed on fighting so then how are these two possible together? remember me and fight and Krishna is also saying it is not that you are remembering sometime and fight the remaining time so he is saying always do both the things so here we need to understand you may wonder where is cricket now it is going to come but I will tell you why cricket can come in the Bhagavad Gita so for that you need to remember Gita first then you will remember cricket so the idea is that what Krishna says is that when we are functioning in the world when he talks about remembrance what does remembrance mean? remembrance itself can mean many different things say for example if somebody asks you what is the square of 25? now those of us who some of us say 625, ok you may remember some of us if I ask you square of 23 that will be a little more difficult is it factual remembrance? how many forests are there in Vrindavan? what is the name of Krishna’s 12 Sakhis? or this Sakas or that Sakas what does remembrance of Krishna mean? are we talking about factual remembrance? remembering facts and figures sometimes there may be academic scholars who may know more facts and figures about Krishna than we do so is it factual remembrance that there may be scholars who may remember know more about Krishna than what we do but they may not even have faith in Krishna’s existence historically or to speak of Krishna’s transcendence as God so or is it like conceptual remembrance conceptual remembrance means if you know sometimes somebody asks us a question and then we don’t know the answer and then we ask somebody the answer and they give answer and we like the answer, yeah this is a very good explanation but then next time somebody asks a question yeah you know I knew the answer but I don’t remember the answer so we have forgotten the concept, so it is conceptual remembrance well no, we may forget concepts also when Krishna is talking about remembrance it is personal remembrance personal remembrance means remembrance of the person Krishna and of our relationship with that person generally when we love someone then we remember that person now remembering means we may also remember certain practical details about that person say we may remember something important about them but say if you consider a child say consider the mother and the doctor who is treating the child the doctor may know about RBC count, WBC count platelet count in the child much better than the mother but who loves the child better is the mother so when we are talking about remembrance here it is not some factual remembrance it is not even verbal remembrance, it is not just utterance of the holy name one devotee once asked me if remembrance is all that is important then what can we do we can just enjoy material throughout our life and then when you had enough then you can take a gun out of your pocket and put it on your head Hare Krishna, repress the bullet and at the end of our life if we remember Krishna we attain Krishna will that happen? no, because we can’t trick Krishna the point of remembrance is this remembrance indicates that Krishna is the foremost object of love for us so that’s why I say personal remembrance so normally how does it work when there is love then naturally there is remembrance of the person when we love someone we naturally remember that person but because Krishna is the all attractive supreme his remembrance will also bring love for us so the idea is that we all have an eternal relationship with Krishna we are like iron filings, Krishna is like the magnet and currently there is rust around us that’s why we are not attracted to Krishna normally iron filings you remove the rust by some other means and then bring it close to the magnet and then they will become attracted but for us the way to remove the iron filings the way to remove the impurities is just by bringing ourselves closer to Krishna so the remembrance that we talk about is an expression of love or it’s not an expression of love it is an expression of the desire for love we want to love Krishna and that is why we want to remember him so that’s why this cannot be a matter of trick so now if parents go for work say both the parents are working they go to their offices, jobs, workplaces and the child is in school now the parents are busy working but still at the back of their mind the child is there ok at this time the child will be taking lunch now the child will be in the bus and the child will be coming home and will be there to take the child at home so that is there Vishwanath Chakraborty gives the example suppose a householder has to go away from their home for working to earn a living and they are far away from their family but they are thinking of their family, I am far away over here why? because I want to take care of my family to support my family financially that’s why I am here so here when we talk about remembrance the personal remembrance is in one sense in terms of it’s remember our purpose it means to remember our purpose say ok a businessman may be dealing with all kinds of difficult people but when we are dealing with difficult people I could just, this person is so disagreeable I can just yell at this person and get him to get lost but no it is through people like this, through customers like this that I am earning my livelihood and I need to earn my livelihood so that I can take care of my family therefore I will be polite with this person so when we talk about remembrance, remembrance is in terms of the purpose why am I doing something and that purpose may not always be in the forefront of our consciousness it may be in the background but it is there, it is not so much like a splitting of our consciousness see we human beings itself we are capable of being aware of multiple things at the same time sometimes being aware of multiple things can be distracting but sometimes it can just be a matter of training if somebody is well trained in something, say somebody comes to a house they are doing some house inspection then they may be talking with the owners of the people residing in the house but they are also looking at how is the fire hazard situation, how is the electricity acquiring what is all this, if somebody has come to inspect the house is child proofed they are trained, so they can observe things so similarly what Krishna is telling here is when we talk about remembrance, its remembrance is in terms of the purpose the purpose is we want to serve Krishna whatever we are doing is for the service of Krishna so when Arjuna is fighting on the battlefield he is fighting wholeheartedly but at the back of his mind he remembers that this is for the purpose of serving Krishna at this war I am fighting for serving Krishna so that’s why at the end of the Gita Krishna says Arjuna says he is not saying I am a Kshatriya and therefore I will fight he is saying I am fighting because I am your devotee I want to do your will and that is why I am fighting so now with this understanding that there is for us the more we have love for Krishna the easier it will be for us to connect with Krishna wherever we are its like if the parents have gone for work to their workplace my child will like this toy they are doing their work lets get this toy for my child so what happens is they are connecting whatever they see with their object of love so like that a devotee connects even when a devotee is functioning in the world a devotee is able to connect everything with Krishna so now how does Krishna tell Arjuna to reconcile so there is if we consider this to be our consciousness there is our consciousness we could say its the action that we are doing its focused on that but a part of our consciousness is focused on the purpose of the action so we could say that the action and the purpose of the action both are important for us I am doing this job, I am trying to do this job well, that is the action I am dealing with customers, I am doing customer support but why am I doing this? That is for my family so when you say yudhya cha yudhya cha is the action for Arjuna the purpose of the action is to I am doing this for Krishna, I am remembering Krishna and that is why I am doing it so now generally when we start a new action what happens is if you are speaking for the first time in public then the action is what dominates the consciousness so the action is what is here should we try some other? internet? and the purpose might be very very small in the background but say after we have spoken maybe 100 classes you have given and you remember why am I speaking? I am speaking because I want to share Krishna’s message I want to assist in Srila Prabhupada’s movement I want to help people raise their consciousness then gradually what will happen is it is not that we will be inattentive about the action but the action will not be that prominent in our consciousness as the purpose so how does this happen? because we become habituated to the action and we become fixed on the purpose so when that happens we will be doing our action attentively but we will still be remembering why am I doing this action like say a fighter pilot who loves their country and the fighter pilot is fighting a war to defend their country very attentive from where the enemy is attacking how can I dodge, how can I counter attack how can I help my other fighter pilots at the same time that is the time when they are very devoted to their country I am doing this for my country so that is how the purpose and the action can both be integrated so that is why now when we practise Bhakti there are two modes of practising Bhakti Bhakti means remembering Krishna and offering our heart to Krishna so in Bhakti you can say there is immersive Bhakti and there is inclusive Bhakti I could talk about verses which talk about this in the Gita now immersive Bhakti means what? we turn away from the world and we immerse our consciousness in Krishna that is for example when we are doing our sadhana when we are chanting the holy names when we are doing our puja I once saw a photo, multitasking in it was a cartoon basically, multitasking everywhere that was the title and what was it showing? there was a person who was doing Aarti with one hand and looking at their smartphone with another hand so now that is not the kind of multitasking we want to do is it? we are doing Aarti and offering our consciousness fully to Krishna so that is the time for immersive Bhakti but while immersive Bhakti in terms of the importance is very important, in terms of time we can’t be doing it for the major time of our life we can do it for our sadhana time whatever the sadhana time is and after that for the rest of our life we are doing inclusive Bhakti inclusive Bhakti means we are including the world and our responsibility in the world in the domain of our service to Krishna we are taking care of our family, we are doing our job we are doing our social obligations so in one sense we can say immersive Bhakti helps us to transcend the world and inclusive Bhakti helps us to transform the world if you are only doing immersive Bhakti if Prabhupada could have stayed in Vrindavan he would have been chanting Hare Krishna he would have been very elevated consciousness but he would not have been able to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world when Prabhupada decided to come to America he had so many practical challenges he had health challenges, he had financial challenges logistical challenges, where was he going to stay and dealing with all these things to consume his consciousness and he had to be attentive in all these things it’s not that if any mistake was made nobody else was going to fix things for him he had to fix things, he was attentive but it is when we have inclusive Bhakti that’s when our Bhakti can benefit others so both these are required so ideally speaking our immersive Bhakti it is what empowers us to do inclusive Bhakti if we are not internally connected with Krishna by direct focussing on Krishna for some time then we won’t have the inner focus on Krishna when we are actually doing other activities and then we will get consumed by those activities so going back to the earlier point we can say that it is our immersive Bhakti that reinforces our purpose and it is our inclusive Bhakti that enables us to do the action so without immersive Bhakti what will happen is okay I am doing this for Krishna, I am doing this for Krishna I am doing this for my own pleasure suddenly things will change so we need immersive Bhakti so our immersive Bhakti will give us the inner foundation of our consciousness fixed on Krishna by which we can do inclusive Bhakti and when we do inclusive Bhakti when we are able to see that actually I can serve Krishna in the world and by doing my duties, by doing my responsibilities by doing various activities I can actually benefit others also then that will inspire us to do immersive Bhakti more and in this way it will become like a cycle so it is like consider an example of a doctor a doctor has to focus, a medical student has to focus on getting trained properly in medicine and then when they are trained then they go out and they treat people and they treat people and say actually I am able to benefit people then they say okay I really want to learn this medicine stuff better because then I can help people more so like that this immersive and inclusive both go together now for Arjuna on the battlefield which is the form of Bhakti he will have to practise? inclusive yes, now Arjuna is already devoted to Krishna in one sense so that purpose is strong in his consciousness but the battlefield is the arena for inclusive Bhakti now Arjuna is asking Krishna coming back to the starting question of the chapter, he says I will be on the battlefield now, you told me to constantly remember you so how can I remember you when I am looking I am fighting this war and that is where Krishna introduces the concept of Vibhuti now Bhuta is actually a variant of Bhava this Bhuta and Bhava is nothing to this Hindi which is ghost and emotion Bhuta means existence so Vibhuti means special existence so Arjuna is asking how can I remember you when I am looking at the objects of the Bhaveshu and Krishna says he talks about Vibhuti Vibhuti means special existence what does it mean? you can say that there are hundreds of people in the world just assume there are hundreds over there now among them there is one person who is very special just think of the physical height somebody is 7.5 feet tall he is very special so Krishna is telling that among various people in the world there are some which are special and he says see their speciality as coming from me so everything attractive in everyone comes as a spark of Krishna their attractiveness is coming from Krishna so when Arjuna will see on the battlefield Bhishma’s phenomenal archery power or he will see Drona’s expertise when he will see Duryodhana’s fighting expertise he will see all these warriors on the opposite side or his side their extraordinary ability is coming from Krishna because everything attractive comes from Krishna so rather than saying this is just mundane and this person is demoniac maybe they are working for demoniac purposes but their ability is coming from Krishna so why Krishna is focussing on this Vibhuti this special existence because it is special existence that catches our attention see the point was that Krishna is telling Arjuna you have to remember me now when we are functioning in the world we may meet a 100 people but we don’t remember all the 100 people equally somebody is very special, somebody is very good looking somebody is very brilliant, somebody is dressed in a very expensive dress if there is something special about someone then we remember that person so special things catch our attention so what Krishna is saying is the speciality of all things comes from me the speciality of all special people comes from me so Vibhuti means that the special existence which is catching your attention see that speciality is coming from me and in this way you can remember me so say in today’s world speciality is cricket so many people’s mind gets caught with cricket our mind also gets caught with cricket at times so the idea is now we say all cricket is just mundane there is nothing spiritual in it but within its own reference point there are some batsmen who are really great batsmen there are some fielders who are exceptional fielders there are some bowlers who are great bowlers and their ability comes from Krishna their capacity to attract people comes from Krishna sometimes in India cricket is so popular that it is not just that in this IPL before the tournament there are millions of people who come thousands of people come live for the stadium but even before that when these cricketers come out to practise just to see them practise their stadium is full sometimes you say that what is this? are people mad? what is there to be so attracted to? yes and no they are seeing something attractive in that person and what is that attractiveness? that is a vibhuti of Krishna if a cricketer who has some extraordinary abilities for maybe 10, 15, 20 years that cricketer can attract people so much and that person is just a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness then how much more attractive will Krishna be? so when we see any kind of sports mania cricket mania, we can dismiss it very easily but that is not what we need to do so the concept of vibhuti is where we can actually process the world’s attractive things in a Krishna conscious way so there are two different things over here when we see worldly objects we can see them as temptations or distractors from Krishna and they are definitely this way there are many worldly objects their attractiveness can distract us from Krishna but that is not the only way we can also see them as pointers to Krishna pointers to Krishna means the beauty, the quality, the ability whatever is the attractiveness of this object, this person, this thing that is a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness and therefore if this is so attractive how much more attractive will Krishna be and in that way their attractiveness can point us towards Krishna another way to understand this when Krishna is talking about vibhuti Prabhupada takes this concept of vibhuti so much he says that suppose somebody is a drunkard and they cannot give up drinking he says that if somebody remembers the taste of wine is Krishna then one day that person will become a devotee of Krishna now it is important what Prabhupada says Prabhupada is saying not that by drinking wine you will become a devotee of Krishna what he is saying if you cannot give up drinking wine remember that the taste the taste is actually a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness and by remembering Krishna even in that activity one day you can become a devotee of Krishna so we could say that this vibhuti I started with Krishna talking about this thing about vibhuti I talk about the word yogi how is he trying to extend himself to us so through vibhuti what Krishna is doing is Krishna is enabling us to be conscious of Krishna forget everything else you can remember this one point be conscious of Krishna in the things that make us unconscious of Krishna be conscious of Krishna in the things that make us unconscious of Krishna normally the things that attract us in this world some of us may be attracted to music now we could say that there is a sensuality in that ok there is sensuality but that doesn’t mean that every sensual song is equally good when I was in America I organised a programme I had so many programmes I just didn’t think much about it going for the programme they asked me which college is this? this is the American Institute of Illusion so it was basically the university where people learnt how to make movies so they call it the Institute of Illusion so the point is that actually making illusion is not easy most of the movies that are made in Bollywood or Hollywood they bomb why? because the illusion is not good enough because the illusion becomes boring and people don’t watch it so actually making good illusion requires ability, requires expertise so if there are some objects in this world that are so attractive that they are putting us into illusion now we don’t want to go into that illusion but we can see in their deluding potency the ability of Krishna the potency of Krishna if a movie makes us completely forget everything I don’t know how 3 hours went away while watching this movie I can say one way is I wasted 3 hours well that’s one way of looking at it and sometimes that’s the necessary way of looking at it but another way of looking at it is that means the movie maker was a good movie maker they made such a movie that captivated me completely so similarly as devotees when we look at the attractive objects of this world now we don’t have to deliberately go and look at those objects but we can’t function in the world with closed eyes we will encounter the objects of this world so at that time how do we see in the sense of conceive them how do we understand them it is that we perceive of them as manifesting the attractive potency of Krishna so now see has itself two meanings what can have a difference is I see like two people having a conversation I see your point but that doesn’t mean you see a point hanging in the sky I see your point means I understand what you are saying so when we say how do we see worldly objects that doesn’t mean we have to go and see the objects we say how do we understand the attractiveness of these objects so that means that a devotee can be as I said you can be conscious of Krishna even in the things that make us unconscious of Krishna so for somebody is an alcoholic they may be struggling to give alcohol now they need to see that it is not just alcohol that is tempting them that is a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness now of course that spark is manifesting in a tamasic activity and that will take them away from Krishna but still it is a spark of Krishna so rather than thinking oh I have to give this up we can think that actually I am not giving this up I am connecting with something that is a source of something far better than this so that way let me explain this with an example I will make two points before I conclude one point will be about Karthik more so let’s consider this is an ocean and now this is a path along the ocean and now from the ocean because of the wind one drop has fallen here one drop has fallen here and one drop has fallen here so now just for scale this is a long distance maybe this is miles, many many miles over and say I am over here say there is a person over here who is lost and that person is looking for water and now that person is looking here that person can find the drop of water over here now all drops of water come from the ocean but all drops of water don’t take us towards the ocean isn’t it? if I am attracted to this drop of water then I will go away from the ocean if I am attracted to this drop of water then I will go closer to the ocean so similarly everything attractive comes from Krishna but everything attractive doesn’t take us towards Krishna so Krishna tells Arjuna that every attractive object reflects a spark of my splendour so Bhima’s mace fighting ability comes from Krishna Duryodhana’s mace fighting ability comes from Krishna but Duryodhana’s mace fighting ability is not taking either Duryodhana or anyone else in the world towards Krishna Bhima’s mace fighting ability is taking Bhima towards Krishna and he is helping the world move towards Krishna by establishing the order of the world by establishing dharmic order in the world so what we need to do is for each one of us depending on where we are say if you could say this is Krishna and say this is sattva guna so this is something like knowledge this is wealth and this is say liquor so sattva, rajas, tamas now depending on where we are so when Prabhupada says remember the taste of wine is Krishna so somebody is in that regard in tamo guna they are not able to give it up at least remember that this is coming from Krishna and then gradually that will prompt them to come towards Krishna so based on where we are right now we can we can choose those objects those attractive objects whose attractiveness will take us towards Krishna say we like music now there could be with music and singing there could be mundane sensual songs and the attractiveness of those singers also comes from Krishna but maybe hearing their singing is not going to take us towards Krishna but among devotees there are sometimes very good singers and they are also singing about Krishna their singing ability also comes from Krishna but that singing ability is going to increase our remembrance of Krishna so those drops of water will take us towards the ocean so our idea is not to reject everything attractive in the world in the world we appreciate that everything attractive comes from Krishna but we focus on those attractive objects that take us towards Krishna and that way we can stay steady on our progress towards Krishna consciousness so now if we consider cricket now specifically you know for most people everybody looks for some excitement in life and what happens is if life is not distressing then it is boring real life is not always very exciting it can be very troubling at times but if not troubling then it is just flat and monotonous and boring and then what happens is people look for some escape say this is our ordinary material reality as I said this on an average tends to be boring sometimes exciting sometimes distressing but on average it is just monotonous it is just boring above this is spiritual reality which is exciting there it is so joyful that every talk is a song every walk is a dance now most people do not know about spiritual reality this is too close so then what happens is because material reality is boring so we try to create some kind of virtual reality and where we try to have something exciting so this could be sports this could be movies this could be video games this could be any form of recreation and that way we try to get a break ideally speaking we should raise our consciousness here and that is where we can get real excitement which is enduring but either this is too far away for us or some people this is too far out they don’t even believe it is there so too far away or too far out and either way people say that I am not interested in this or I can’t turn towards this so then we turn over here now this is not a bad thing Krishna also says recreation is ok but yukta ahara viharasya regulated some amount of entertainment is fine as a break but nowadays entertainment people people don’t watch TV as a break from life they see life as a break from watching TV oh I have to do this job I have to get this done I have to get that done let me come back and finish let me watch TV now so for many people it is like that I saw a cartoon which said that one person is telling another person yesterday my wifi broke down my wifi went down so I spent some time with my family they seem like nice people so it is like for people their real life is not real for them their virtual life is more real so rather than taking a break from real life or from material life we can say which is presently our real life to virtualize a temporary break for rejuvenation we try to make that our real life and that is problematic so that obsession is problematic now what happens is when that is all that we are doing we could say that this is going towards spiritual growth this is like the curative medicine so this way is the curative medicine and this is pain medicine pain killing medicine now sometimes when a person is very sick and they are really in pain you can have some pain medication but if they are taking only pain medication and they are not taking any curative medicine then there are two problems they are not going to get cured also their disease is going to get worse and when their disease gets worse what happens is they need more pain medication they need more and more intense pain medication and that is what we are seeing happening in the entertainment industry see in the past there was test cricket now for most sports players test cricket is like a test of patience you know 5 days you play and no other game is played for 5 days in the past chess matches sometimes went on for days but now they have time limit on that so now test cricket it is not enough of a pain medication we want a break from life’s boredom but this break itself is boring so what do you do from that we increased the dose of the pain killer what did we have? one day then we had T20 as far as India is concerned there are two main pain killers one was cricket and the other was Bollywood so then finally Bollywood and T20 got married and they had a child who was that? IPL so so IPL is like double or triple dose of pain killer you have high action, you have all these Bollywood stars you have sports superstars so at one level you can see the action is becoming more and more but what it indicates is that people’s life is so boring that they desperately need some break they desperately need some entertainment so that indicates the emptiness of people’s lives so rather than condemning, why are you so mad for cricket or we ourselves may feel that I am also attracted to cricket rather than thinking that I should not be attracted, why am I attracted no, attraction to sports is not a sinful activity it is just a distracting activity but why are we distracted? because what we are doing in our life is either not meaningful or we are not realising how it is meaningful either what we are doing is itself unfulfilling or maybe it is fulfilling but we are not intellectually understood how it is important, how it is fulfilling so that’s why we need to address the core so for us to see in a Krishna conscious perspective the sports mania I am not using it in a negative sense people are mad after it right now that’s because their life is so empty and they so desperately need a break from it that they are ready to do anything for it so anything means that people spend a fortune for just watching one cricket match in the previous world cup was in England I think so some of the devotees his friend went from India to England and at that time the tickets for the semifinal and final were something like 1000-1500 pounds one ticket you can go to America and come back once or twice so it was huge why are people spending that? because that is the level of emptiness in their life and when we see this actually for us by sharing Krishna consciousness there is an opportunity to truly fill that emptiness so we see even people’s cricket obsession not just simply as how attached they are, how much maya they are how deluded they are rather we see that how empty their life is without Krishna that they are going to such extremes to try to fill their life with this so every obsession seeing every obsession in the world can actually increase a devotee’s compassion and that is the key thing when we see the worldly obsessions now we can see the worldly obsessions in others again I am using see in the second sense, understand don’t see it, because we might get obsessed by it it’s very easy as soon as we contemplate after all Krishna’s energy is manifesting over there so it can attract us so when we see this worldly obsession we could just call it as maya and our attitude would be condemnation it’s so much maya that’s what we may think but a healthier attitude is compassion because there is so much emptiness without Krishna and when we have this attitude then every obsession that is there we see in the world that can actually inspire us to both deepen our Krishna bhakti and to share Krishna bhakti with others Bhaktivinoda Thakur would say that when I see how hard materialistic people work for their sensual pleasures I feel inspired to work just as hard for Krishna’s service Jeeva Goswami prays Bhaktivinoda Thakur also prays one of his songs that the way a materialistic person is attracted to a sensual object my dear lord let my heart be attracted towards you so as a devotee we can see this with compassion and then seeing others material obsessions can actually enhance our Krishna consciousness and can enhance our our desire to share Krishna consciousness with others in this way a devotee’s vision can be Krishna conscious with everything in this world including the things that can take people’s mind away from Krishna so I’ll summarise I talked today about this 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita so I saw that Arjuna is asking this question how can I remember you so we discussed how words have different meanings and Krishna is called Yogi because Krishna is asking Arjuna you want me to remember you but how are you helping me to remember you how are you trying to connect with me and then in that connection we discussed how we went back to the flow of the Gita in this material world how can I remember you so why this question in material world because Arjuna was in the very heart of the material world about to fight a war and that time his dilemma was should I fight or not fight should I work or renounce Krishna told him there are four options for you that is attached work, detached work, artificial renunciation and real renunciation so Krishna says attached work and artificial renunciation are not to be done now real renunciation is good but for you detached work is better and in detached work it can range from Karma Yoga to Bhakti Yoga and then Krishna talks about how all the other Yogas are good but they all culminate in Bhakti Yoga the Gita is inclusive but not inconclusive and then when you talk about Bhakti Yoga there seems to be a conflict in the direct instruction Ma Manusmara would mean turning away from the world Yudhya Chaya means turning towards the world so how do we combine these two so for this we discussed what does remembrance mean it is not just factual remembrance or conceptual remembrance it is a personal remembrance, it is a remembrance of our relationship and of our responsibility in that relationship our purpose in that relationship just like a parent may remember their child even if the parent is at their job and the child is somewhere away at school so normally it is love that leads to this remembrance but in the case of Krishna remembrance, consciously cultivated remembrance can also lead to love so when we say remember it is more of remembrance with the intention for love, with the desire to develop that love for Krishna so when we remember a person naturally we remember our responsibility in relationship with that person so then in that connection we discussed that as Arjuna is a devotee Arjuna has to do his service to Krishna, that is fighting so there is the action and the purpose of the action so the purpose may be in the background action is in the foreground but as we become habituated to the action and as we become devoted to the purpose then what happens, initially the action may be prominent in our consciousness but eventually the purpose becomes prominent in our consciousness and then after that so for this to happen we talked about how bhakti is both immersive and inclusive immersive means turn away from the world and focus exclusively on Krishna like through our sadhana inclusive means do our various sevas in the world so we need a harmonious blend of both immersive bhakti enables us to transcend the world to connect with Krishna in our heart and inclusive bhakti enables us to transform the world to share Krishna with others, to inspire others to connect with Krishna and then while we are functioning in the world what do we do, how do we remember Krishna at that time so while we are functioning in the world we may encounter hundreds of stimuli but some stimuli catch our attention those are the vibhuti, the special existence somebody who is specially attractive very tall, very powerful, very good looking very brilliant, whatever that’s what attracts our attention so we see their special ability as coming from Krishna so the attractive objects of this world we can see them as temptations as something that takes me away from Krishna but we can also see them as having their attractiveness has come from Krishna how much will be Krishna more attractive so here when we see these objects it means not focussing our vision on them but gaining comprehension about them, like I see your point so we can become conscious of Krishna even things that make us unconscious of Krishna for that I took the example of the ocean water coming from the ocean so everything attractive comes from Krishna but everything attractive doesn’t take us to Krishna so we acknowledge the attractiveness of Krishna in all objects but we focus on the attractiveness of those objects which can lead us towards Krishna and then in that light we look at entertainment specifically at cricket, so people are mad about cricket why is that, at one level it indicates that within cricket within the ability of cricketers, within the excitement of cricket there is the opulence of Krishna that is manifesting and that is why people are attracted towards it so what is happening is that we talk about three levels, there is the ordinary level of reality which is boring, spiritual level which is exciting but for most people spiritual reality is either too far away or too far out and therefore too far out is unbelievable, so then they turn towards the virtual reality and they try to escape into that, so as a recreation as a break from life, recreation is ok but when recreation becomes more important than real life then that is a high distortion of one’s life so when this is happening, it’s like a person takes a painkiller so much that they forget to take the medicine completely and that is damaging, we talked about how when this happens, people need more and more severe doses of painkillers and that’s what is happening with entertainment now it has become more and more passionate more and more Rajasic and Tamasic so when we see people obsessed with entertainment we can simply say how attached they are and how much they are in Maya or if we feel we are still attached to it we may think why am I still attached to this rock but we can see this, this is actually the power of Krishna’s attractiveness and why are they attracted to this thing and not towards Krishna because their life is so empty without Krishna that any drop of water, they are ready to give up everything for it so rather than see it with condemnation we can see it with compassion and thus we can be inspired to both practise immersive bhakti ourselves so that our heart can be filled with Krishna and then practise inclusive bhakti and share Krishna with others thank you very much Hare Krishna are there any questions or comments there is nothing loud in the number it’s just the name but it’s fully personal good question so Ajamil’s chanting of the holy names how did that work well first of all is Ajamil’s chanting did not take him back to Godhead it only saved him from hell which is not a small thing but it is not the same thing as going back to Godhead so see love cannot if you want to go to Krishna we have to have some love for Krishna without that we cannot go to Krishna now if I love cricket and somehow I chant Krishna’s name at the time of death I go to Krishna but the spiritual world is asking what is the cricket score is it it spiritual world is not a place going to spiritual world is not a matter of geographical relocation it’s a matter of redirection of our heart without that we cannot attain Krishna but Krishna’s name is so potent that even an indirectly chanted name can save us from sinful reactions that’s the first point secondly that is an exception it is not that it is see in general scripture uses extreme examples so even extreme examples can be of both kinds this is the 6th cantonment of Bhagavatam it is a positive example of mercy that one utterance of the holy name and there is so much deliverance then there is a negative extreme example little attraction to a deer and that is also not a Rajasic or Tamasic attraction he actually saved that deer and he wanted to put in that deer but because of that he had to take another life so many times scriptures give extreme examples to emphasise the standard principle the purpose is to emphasise standard principle so what is the standard principle standard principle is we need to remember Krishna regularly Parikshit Maharaj hearing Ajamil past time doesn’t say hey if Ajamil just chanted once and that was enough for him why do I have to hear 7 days of your Bhagavatam just shut up you know when that Akshaka comes I will chant Krishna he doesn’t think that if one unintentional chanting of the holy name benefited Ajamil so much and if we regularly do our chanting trying to remember Krishna won’t Krishna be merciful to us so they emphasise the standard principle that is the purpose of extreme principles the purpose is not to standardise the extreme standardise the extreme example it is not that everybody can commit sinful activities throughout their life and they will chant the holy name and they will be saved from Yama Dutas that is not the teaching of the Bhagavatam so both ways the positive and negative examples the extreme examples are given for what to emphasise the standard principle this principle can be extended by Krishna’s mercy to such an extent but that standard principle can apply to everyone it will surely apply to us so that is the broad understanding of that any other question correct correct so if I consider over here see when we are doing the work in general if I am moving in this direction it is goals they do many things they bring focus they bring energy so goals are very important focus in terms of attention energy in terms of action we need goals to work and Arjuna set goals every day in the Kurukshetra war most famously on the 14th day after the 13th night when Abhimanyu was killed what was the goal that Arjuna set I will bring down Jayadat before the sunset next day now Krishna did not say to Arjuna why not because there is a difference there is a difference between goals and results what is the difference goals are what we set before we do the action and results are what if I have completed the action and this is where the action was done now the action is done and after the action is done sometime in the future I will get the result like I gave an exam I don’t know that so when Krishna is saying this is a key point goals are not the same as results goals come before the action and results come after the action so when Krishna is saying don’t be attached to the it’s phala, it is not daya phala is fruit or result so before we do an action we do it wholeheartedly we try to do it as well as we can suppose after this programme there is prasad don’t suppose prasad is there but those who have cooked that prasad if they are detached from the quality of the prasad we won’t be detached from expressing our annoyance so if you are doing something for Krishna we want to do it well so we want to do it well, no doubt about it but after we have done our part we understand that the results are not in my control the results are determined by factors beyond me also I am a factor, if you look at the four parts of that verse why? because you are not don’t think of yourself as the sole cause of producing the results certainly we are one factor but we are not the sole factor so we have to do our part when phala comes karma plus daiva plus kala leads to phala karma is our duty daiva is destiny kala kala this is duration the three d’s they lead to the desired result so what Krishna is essentially saying is that we have to do this wholeheartedly so to do our duty we need to set goals wholeheartedly but after we have done our duty the desired result is not in our hands destiny plays a role, duration plays a role results may come but not immediately so at that time we need to be detached why detached? because there are other duties to be done at that time so if a student is given one exam and then maybe the result is going to come after one month a student shouldn’t just be constantly ok what will happen after one month use that one month well, do something else so we have many duties to do after one duty is done then we let go of it so we do our part as well as possible in getting the results but we understand that the results are not caused by us alone so that’s why it is not just it is our duty is important and we have to do it but because it is a philosophical understanding that I alone don’t produce the results and that is why I am not attached to the results attached in the sense here is fixated on the results and I don’t think of anything other than the work itself and if we were not to care for the results at all then why would we do the work only, isn’t it? Krishna is saying so don’t do the don’t be attached to not being their duty that’s the way to understand this so followers in terms of results, no but in terms of goals, yes, goals are very important Prabhupada would now book the student marathon is coming next month, Prabhupada would set goals, isn’t it? and that’s what inspired devotees to do service thank you last question if a mother is taking care of her child how can you what would detached work mean in that sense it certainly doesn’t mean not caring for the child it doesn’t mean not caring what the child does but it means cognising I would say 2-3 things we had a session on parenting were you there for that session? but it means one thing is we need to be detached from our expectation of how our child should be because a child is an individual in their own right and every child is a soul the soul brings certain impressions from their previous life and we can’t remake our child in our image a child has an individuality which may be different from who we are so there are certain things some behaviour is unacceptable and that we have to curb if the child is rude or arrogant or irresponsible, that needs to be corrected if the child has some interest different from what we would like them to have their interests are natural, we accept them so detached means that we don’t expect too much we don’t expect the child to just become we can’t remake the child in our image so in general in any relationship there are 2 things there is accepting the other person and there is expecting from the other person both are there now we could say in a parental relationship generally we expect the child to do this, do this, do that but detached means sometimes they may just not be able to do what we expect them to do that’s not their nature, that’s not their ability, that’s not their interest they need to accept that so accepting the individuality of the child accepting the limitations of the child that is a detachment so in that sense detachment is not absence of emotion detachment is absence of control by emotions so this is a very important point when you say detached detachment in bhakti bhakti is essentially about emotions it is not absence of emotions absence of emotions means I don’t just care for that person, it is not this what is it? It is absence of remember of control by emotions control by emotions means how can you do like this you did like this, get lost we become angry, we feel hurt, we feel irritated we feel betrayed and then those emotions alone determine the relationship so we could say that Dhritarashtra was very attached to Duryodhana and that attachment is also the opposite of detachment even in the attached case he was controlled by his emotions he couldn’t do anything that would displease Duryodhana and that’s why Duryodhana manipulated and played him like a fiddle and Duryodhana’s evil nature was facilitated and fuelled by Dhritarashtra so for us both in our relationships we consider we don’t want detachment we don’t want attachment what we want is engagement engagement means we engage with the other person as they are and as they can be attached means we just focus on pleasing that person and that is not what the parents definitely want to take care of the children a part of that is pleasing the children also but a parent, if the child says morning, afternoon the only meal I will take is chocolates the parents can’t please the child by giving chocolates as the main meal all the time isn’t it? so we cannot be attached like that to the child but we cannot be detached and say I don’t care for you detached in this case means that we are not controlled by emotions so engagement here means accept the child as the child is right now and expect the child to become better but there are some things in which that expectation will be fulfilled so we are ready to accept that, that is detachment so detachment is not absence of emotion it is absence of control by emotions so thank you very much.