Damodara lila analysis – Going beyond cultural conceptions to spiritual revelation
Look at the voice now. Today is the first month of Damodar, and Devi sang the Damodar Ashtakam, which we sang just now. Now the Damodar Ashtakam reflects on the pastime of Krishna, which was performed in His childhood.
This is described in this verse also, in the first two lines, namāmiśvaraṁ sac-cid-ānanda-rūpaṁ la-sat-kuṇḍalaṁ go-kule-vraja-mānaṁ yaśodābhiyo-lūka-lād-dhāvamānaṁ parāmṛṣṭi-muktiṁ tato-jīta-gopīyā So that Supreme Lord, namāmi, I offer obeisances to Him, īśvaraṁ, He is the Supreme Controller and He has sac-cid-ānanda, the eternal blissful cognisant form, but He has now assumed the form of a small child. la-sat-kuṇḍalaṁ go-kule-vraja-mānaṁ In the effulgent abode of Gokula, He has beautiful earrings and what is He doing? yaśodābhiyo-lūka-lād-dhāvamānaṁ He is running away in fear from Mother Yaśodā dhāvamānaṁ and not only is He running away but parāmṛṣṭi-muktiṁ Yaśodā ran faster than Him and atyantato-dhūtya-gopīyā, that Gopi, she caught Him. And then the next line, next verse describes that, what does Krishna do when He is caught? Like a child who is caught after doing some mischief, he starts crying, rudantam mohur-netra-yugmam-rujantam So rudantam is crying, mohur profusely is crying, rudantam mohur-netra-yugmam With His two eyes, tears are coming out and kārambhoja, His two lotus hands, yugmena-sātāṅkane He is rubbing His eyes and looking up, looking down, looking up in terror, what is my mother going to do now? muhishvāsa-kampa, His chest is going up and down because of His fear, His breath is coming out, He has just been running away and also He is fearful so His breath is coming out fast, tri-rekhāṅga-kanta, so on His neck three lines are formed as His chest is going up and down Traditionally three lines are formed over here, the three grooves are considered a sign of beauty sthita-graivam dāmodaram, that Lord, dāmodara, He is bound, sthita-graivam dāmodaram bhakti-baddham He is bound not by the rope of Mother Yashoda, He is bound by her devotion So the spiritual world, especially the abode of Krishna, there Krishna actually does not delight in His Godhood, that I am God, I am supreme and all of you bow down to me, that is not His mood taddhi eṣitaṁ keśu bhaktaiḥ jītattvam punhā prema-tastam śatā-vṛttimandhey And in the next verse He says that He wants to demonstrate to those who think that oh we should revere God for His greatness, He says that He is one over that by those who are infused with devotion for Him.
There is God's greatness and there is God's sweetness. All the world's religions talk about God's greatness and knowing about it is important. Knowing God's greatness brings submission and knowing God's sweetness brings affection and both when they are together then devotion becomes a transformational emotion, it doesn't just remain a sentiment.
So we need to know about God's greatness that is there in all traditions and in the Bhagavad Gita also Krishna's Vishwaroopa is revealed where His greatness comes out but in the spiritual world especially in His own abode Krishna just wants the reciprocation of love and in Goloka Vrindavan Krishna doesn't reign supreme in Goloka Vrindavan love reigns supreme and whatever is required for love that is done over there. So Aishwarya shithila prema na aishwarya bhujaya. In the Chaitanya Charita Amavatar it is said that if we are too aware of a person's greatness then we cannot feel unrestricted affection.
Oh this person is so great, am I doing the right thing? You know if we love someone we just go and hug some person but if that person is say the prime minister of the country you may wonder should I go and hug or should I not hug. So that awareness of greatness checks the flow of the spontaneous flow of affection. So for these devotees in Vrindavan Krishna doesn't want this.
So for them they know that Krishna is God but that is never at the forefront of their awareness. At the forefront of their awareness is Krishna is our lovable cowherd boy. So Yashodamayi she doesn't think that Krishna is God.
She thinks Krishna is my child and if I don't discipline him he will become mischievous. So the Vrajavasis often tell beautiful elaborations of all the pastimes. So in the nectar of devotion it is said that there is shastra pramana and there is loka pramana.
Shastra pramana is that which we learn from shastra. Loka pramana is that which we learn from those who are devoted to shastra. The devotee community they also reveal certain things.
So it is described what is Yashodamayi thinking? That when Krishna is stealing butter and then he's claiming that I'm not sold on butter and he's running away, she's chasing him, catching him, she's threatening him with a stick I'll beat you and then she punishes him by tying him up. So what is she thinking? She is thinking like all mothers think. She says that now if my child becomes mischievous like this and if then his reputation spreads that he's such a mischievous child then when he grows up he will have a bad reputation.
Then who will marry him? So she is thinking about Krishna's future. I've nipped this in the bud. So his mischievous mentality if it spreads about it is bad for him for the future.
So she thinks if I don't feed Krishna he will starve, he will become weak, he may even die. If I don't discipline him he will become an unruly child. So she thinks of Krishna as her own child and Krishna is won over by that mood of devotion.
So he cannot be bound by any physical rope. We know in the Mahabharata there's a past time when Duryodhana who was an evil prince wanted to arrest Krishna. He got a huge number of troops and with all of them they came to arrest Krishna and Krishna just expanded himself to a gigantic form and he just fell back seeing the sheer size and effulgence of his form.
Here also Krishna does something mystical that he tries to tie him up but the rope always feels short, falls short, falls short. She keeps adding more and more rope, more and more rope, more and more rope and it's never enough. And finally all of Vrindavan comes over there and all the gopis they see this they're also having fun.
They give their own ropes also. They take this rope, add it. She's adding the rope and nothing is happening.
Finally Radharani comes there. Now Radha at that time she's a small girl, Krishna is a small boy, Radha is a small girl and if nothing else works then Radha gives her ribbon and when her ribbon is added then Krishna becomes tied. So he's conquered, he is caught by the love of Yashoda and then he's tied by the love of Yashoda and Radha combined together.
That's why although Radharani is not directly present in the past time. In the last line we have, I offer my obeisances to that Radharani who is the beloved of Krishna and I offer my obeisances to that Krishna who performs unlimited such pastimes. Now this pastime is celebrated by devotees especially to demonstrate the supremacy of devotion even to the supreme.
The supreme is supreme but the supreme is conquered by devotion. That lord who is known as Ajita who can never be conquered, he is conquered by devotion. So for us as devotees we need faith in the process of Bhakti.
There is general faith in the existence of God which is important for people to be theistic otherwise they become atheistic. Now the process of Bhakti Yoga requires much more than that general faith in the existence of God. We want to access God, we want to connect with God, we want to attain God and for us as devotees we need not just the general faith in the existence of God but we also need faith in the process of Bhakti as a means to purify us, as a means to raise our consciousness, as a means to attain Krishna and these two are significantly different although they are related but they are different.
The difference is that when we are having faith in God we may understand God as the supreme controller, the supreme proprietor, the supreme basically and we may have different conceptions of him. Some conception may be that he is a caretaker, he is a stern father, he is the punisher of the evil, he is the rewarder of the good, he's like a judge. There can be various different conceptions of God and accordingly we may worship him with those conceptions but when the person, when we are focussing on God with these conceptions he is a lot of things but he is not the goal of our life.
He is a means to other goals in our life. I want prosperity, I want fame, I want wealth so for those things I need to please God which is also a good consciousness. Krishna also says this is this is this people large-hearted but at least they're thinking about God but at this case they have faith from in God and they're worshipping him so that he will provide them something.
This is a very preliminary level of bhakti. In terms of bhakti as is explained in our tradition this is actually not bhakti. Bhakti is means by which we develop our love for Krishna and we attain Krishna.
So for that, for developing faith in bhakti which centres on Krishna as our We need to understand Krishna's self-existence separate from his role in this world as our maintainer, as our protector. He's definitely relating with us that way but God also has his self-existence and what happens in Goloka Vrindavan is revealing Krishna's self-existence. Now what he does in the spiritual world with his devotees and that is the thrust of those who have made Krishna their guru.
So yes we all want love in this world and it is revealed how the love between Krishna and his devotees is the supreme exchange of love and it is that love that will fulfil the human heart's longing for love. So the shifting from God as a object of veneration to the object of our life, to the purpose of our life, that requires understanding God's self-existence and that requires understanding the process of bhakti yoga in a different way, not as a general worship but as a means of spiritual purification. So to the extent we understand both Krishna's greatness and sweetness, to that extent we become inspired to practise bhakti yoga and connect with him.
So I'll give another example to illustrate this point that say we may know some famous person, maybe some sports star, some politician, some movie star and there are people who are fans of that person. They like to know about the person. They like to know which movie has he played, what is going on, how did he perform in the games.
Now this is a very distant relationship. It is a relationship, it is a relationship of admiration and in this case we want that fan, that sports star to perform something. In India, cricketers are worshipped as if they are almost like gods.
There's a West Indian very famous cricketer, Raymond Richards, he said that if reincarnation is true, I would like to be reborn in India because Indians worship their cricketers. So the point is that people have a mode of, they venerate, they may admire their heroes but then they expect them to deliver, they expect them to perform. You know if a cricketer does not perform, when India lost in 2007, I think India lost the World Cup matches very early, didn't qualify.
So actually many of these cricketers' homes were pillaged. You know, some of the homes were ransacked, some of the homes were set on fire and they had to have police security to protect them and eventually they made effigies and they garlanded the effigy with shoes. The same fans who will adore them can completely reject them.
So this same mentality can apply to God also, that when God provides us what we want, oh he's so wonderful and when God doesn't provide us what we want, then we just reject him completely. Not only we reject him but we may even denigrate him. So this is basically where, just as the fans, they provide us entertainment, they provide us enjoyment, we expect God to provide us some things.
So this mentality of worship is at the same level of self-centredness, that you know, what is God providing me? What is the star providing me? So and if that doesn't provide me, what is the use of this star or the use of this God also? Now when we have this self-centred understanding, this is how we all are actually. We are all self-centred and gradually our centre expands and rises from ourselves to Krishna. But initially we are all self-centred.
But while we are this way, we start practising bhakti with our intellectual understanding. So Krishna says in 4.9 in the Gita that So Krishna says that those who understand my pastimes, in truth, they will attain me. If we just have an understanding of his pastime as some entertainment, that is not enough.
We need philosophical understanding. And this Damodarlila pastime is actually extremely sweet if you consider how Krishna becomes bound by his devotees, how God himself gets conquered by the love of his devotees. But if we do not have this intellectual framework for understanding God, so basically there is, we will be self-centred.
So based on our self-understanding, we have certain cultural conceptions. And there is a spiritual revelation that is there in the spiritual world. So now to move from our cultural conceptions to the spiritual revelation, we need some intellectual convictions.
So I spoke this class once to a western audience and one person, new person came to me. He said, you know, how can Yashoda tie up her child and beat him up with a stick? This is abuse. This is child abuse.
Now child abuse is the furthest thing that any devotee of Krishna will ever think about. So actually, from our cultural conception, whatever we may come up with, you know, a mother who ties up a child, who does like that? A mother who threatens a child with a stick, this is not the way parenting is done. And you think that Yashoda is the greatest devotee.
What kind of devotee is this? So what happens is that we all come to Krishna from a particular cultural background. And based on that, we have certain conceptions. And for somebody else, those conceptions may appear utterly alien.
It doesn't make any sense at all. So just like we have an atmosphere on the earth, which is where we are comfortable. Now when we go to some other planet, or we go to some other place where the atmosphere is not convenient, where it is not comfortable for us, then we need some kind of spacesuits.
We need something to act as a buffer between us and the environment over there. And then we can function over there. And in some cases, we may adapt also.
Say if some place is very cold and some places we go to a warmer place. Now initially that warmth may be uncomfortable for us. Over a period of time, we may adapt to it.
And then we can live comfortably. But otherwise, some people, if they move from say a cold place, they are always very cold. And others just move around normally.
But somebody who feels very cold, they always have to have some warm clothes with them and they have to protect themselves. So the point is that when we go from one climate to another climate, that climate is what we are habituated to. So just as the climate is the physical environment in which we function, our culture is our internal environment in which we function.
So most often, unless the climate changes drastically, we don't even notice it. It's only, oh, the temperature has gone down too much, temperature has gone up too much. So it's only when a radical change happens, or somebody else comes from a place where the temperature is very different, then we start talking about the temperature.
Otherwise, the temperature, the climate, they're just a fact of our life. And say somebody who's living in a warm weather, this is normal weather. Somebody who comes from a cold weather, this is so hot.
So now for that person, the feeling of heat is natural, because they are coming from a cold place. So like that, all of us, if we consider that our culture is like the environment in which we inhabit mentally, emotionally, conceptually, then we all find within Krishna Bhakti, certain things which just appeal to us, and certain things just recoil from them. When we recoil for certain things, now what is happening is, there is a spiritual revelation, which manifests in this world.
And when it manifests in this world, based on our cultural conceptions, some things, we just recoil from them. Because we as souls have an eternal relationship with Krishna. But the soul is right now covered over by certain ideas, certain conceptions.
So when this tension happens between the cultural conceptions and the spiritual revelations, then we have to manage that tension. So if somebody tells us, you think Yashodhama is abusing Krishna, you're offensive devotee, you're offensive person, you'll fall down because of this. That's not the point.
For them, that is a concern, because that's where they are coming from. So we often, when we talk with someone with whom we have disagreement, and when they speak, then we often say, no, I now understand where you are coming from. So where you are coming from, this is not physical, okay, which place you are coming from, but it is conceptual, okay, from how you are thinking, where your conceptions are coming from.
Similarly, for all of us, we have our conceptions which come from particular places. And when we practise Krishna Bhakti, some of our conceptions may make the practise of Krishna Bhakti more difficult. Some of them may make it easier.
But the Krishna Bhakti itself is a spiritual revelation, and it has a relationship with our soul. So for example, if somebody is working as a doctor, and they work in America, which is relatively cold, and they go to India. Now, if they go to India, they feel very, very hot over there.
Or somebody from America, India comes to America, they feel very cold over here. But they may need to do certain adaptations. They may necessarily need to wear some warm clothes, or they may, whatever they do.
The point is that what, how they, what kind of cultural adaptation they do is not important. Whether they are able to take care of the patients, the essential point is to treat the person. So if they're able to treat the patients, they're good doctors, irrespective of specifically how they dress themselves.
That is just something which they need, others may not need. So there is a need within the principles of Bhakti for cultural adaptation. So there are three broad aspects.
One is, if something doesn't gel with our culture, cultural conception, we just reject it. This is wrong entirely. So somebody may say, oh, they did, many people, especially in the Western world, their conception of India is, oh, there's a caste system over there, so discriminatory.
How can you support anything which comes from that kind of discriminatory background? The fact is that, yes, the caste system is discriminatory, but the Bhakti tradition is itself a reformed tradition within the Indian tradition itself. Many of the Bhakti saints were from the lower caste, and often they were persecuted. And it was only when their spirituality was shown out that they won over the people.
They won over even the Brahmanas. So yes, the caste system as it exists in recent history was bad. But we cannot just generalise and say everything about India is bad.
The Bhakti tradition is a reformed tradition from within that same tradition. So it's not that only you are going to tell us this is bad. We also know this is bad, and we have worked to change it.
So, when we find something that doesn't agree with our cultural conceptions, and we reject it entirely, that is unreasonable. Now, the other is that, say, going to the example, say, somebody comes from India to America, and they feel very cold over here. Heat makes them just uncomfortable, and they need to adapt.
They need to wear warm clothes. You see, you know, if you tell a doctor, if you have to wear so many warm clothes, that means you are not healthy. How can you treat me? You yourself are so sickly.
You keep getting, you say that you'll get cough, you'll get cold. You are sick. How can you treat me? You reject the doctor.
No, that's not the point. For their body, they need to adapt themselves. And after they adapt themselves, they function well as doctors.
So, there is demand, just doing complete cultural rejection, or demanding complete cultural acceptance. Both are extremes. What is required is that we understand the essential spiritual principles.
So, yes, Mother Yashoda tied up Krishna. Now, I talked with this person afterwards. He told that his mother was a drunkard.
And when she would drink, what she would do is, she was not his mother, actually, his stepmother. And she would actually tie him up in like a cellar or something in a closet. And she would go on and sometimes it would be hours like that.
Now, he was psychologically scarred by that. His feelings, we cannot deny that. But that doesn't mean that his feelings have to be projected on Krishna Leela.
So, when we are practising Krishna Bhakti, we have to always keep the purpose in mind. The purpose is that we want to go closer to Krishna. We want to remember Krishna.
And Parikshit Maharaj, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, in which this pastime is revealed, is hearing Krishna Leela. His purpose is to fix his mind on Krishna. And the driving principle in Bhakti is, we accept that which is favourable and we avoid that which is unfavourable.
Now, this means that whatever helps us in remembering Krishna, we focus on that. And whatever agitates our mind and obstructs us in the remembrance of Krishna, we avoid that. And Prabhupada applied this even to something as sacred to the tradition as the Rasa Leela.
The Rasa Leela is Krishna's pastimes with the Gopis. And that is considered the highest revelation of spiritual love. Chapters 29 to 33 in the 10th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam describe the Rasa Leela.
And our Acharyas have written many many beautiful books commenting on and elucidating the Rasa Leela. But sometimes because Krishna is a young man, the Gopis are young women, when we hear about their pastimes, our sensual desires may be triggered by that. And so Prabhupada said that if by hearing the Rasa Leela, sensual desires are triggered, then don't hear it.
It means you're not yet pure enough. So don't hear it. Use your common sense.
So with Krishna Leela, you may say, what can be more sacred than Krishna Leela? And how can you say don't hear it? The point is, what is the effect? If it is not helping me remember Krishna, if it is causing me to remember worldly pleasures and is agitating my mind and distracting me from the remembrance of Krishna, then I need to avoid that. Now this avoidance is not with contempt or derision. We say, okay, this is sacred, but I am not at this level ready.
The avoidance can be because of the effect it has on us. Or the avoidance may also be because of its effect which has on others. When Prabhupada came with his disciples to India, and they were doing Hariram Sankirtan on the streets in Kolkata.
So at that time, Kira, you want to take rest? You know, it's not a long night, no need for you to stay here. Sure? No, you're sure? Otherwise if you want to take it, that's perfectly fine. So when the devotees were doing Kirtans, some people started throwing coins at the devotees.
You know, one rupee coin, 50 paisa coins. The devotees didn't know how to react. So in Bengal, often Kirtan mandali, doing Kirtans on the streets, that is considered to be like a beggar's profession.
So you just do Kirtan and people do charity. So I've seen many times in railways also, and the crowd, and sometimes the beggars, they sing some songs. Of course, in the past they would sing religious songs, now they sing movie songs.
But it's like they are entertaining people and then people give them some money. So when the devotees came and told Prabhupada, Prabhupada said, don't do this, let's stop Hariram Sankirtan. We don't want to be lumped with the begging Kirtan parties, Kirtan mandalis.
How can you stop Kirtans? Public Kirtan, that is a central part of our process of bhakti. It is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sang public Kirtans. Why should we not do it? Prabhupada is doing it all over the world.
But there he said the effect is different. The effect is what? The effect is people are lumping us with beggars. And we don't hear lectures from a beggar, isn't it? We want to speak philosophy to them.
We want to understand the principles of bhakti. So avoid this. It's not permanent, but at that time Prabhupada was pragmatic.
So again, the principle of bhakti is universal. The principle of glorifying Krishna by chanting his holy name is also universal. But in that specific cultural context, it had an effect which was undesirable.
And Prabhupada said, stop it for the time being. So that the cultural conceptions, when they don't gel with the spiritual revelation, then we need the intellectual clarification. You know, what is essential? What is peripheral? Prabhupada writes in the 10th chapter in his Parpottu verses 5-6 that there Krishna talks about various things which come from him.
So buddhi, intelligence, Prabhupada defines as to see things in their proper perspective. To see things in their proper perspective. That means to understand that this is more important, this is less important.
This is central, this is peripheral. And once we understand this is central, this is peripheral. So what do we do after that? Then focus on the central.
Focus on the central and avoid the peripheral. Say sometimes when children, they have certain fears. So if they try to swallow a pill, and that pill had got stuck in their throat.
I don't want to take this. Now sometimes the doctor may say, you have to take a pill. But sometimes the doctor may say, okay, we have the same medicine available as a tonic also.
Just take this, drink this. The child is peaceful, he drinks it. So the doctor has to be practical.
What works for the patient? So if the same medicine is available as a tonic, why not? The point is that the child takes the medicine. The point is, at that time when the child is sick and needs to take medicine, the child's fear of pills is not what has to be dealt with. The child's fear of pills may also need to be dealt with, but later.
At that point, focus on simply giving the child medicine. So our cultural conceptions may also need to be addressed. But there is a time to address them.
And the important thing is that the cultural conceptions, we don't allow them to come in the practise of bhakti. We don't let them stop us in appreciating the spiritual revelations, be they of Krishna's specific pastimes or be they of the general principles of bhakti. And when we talk about, I'll conclude with one point, you can have some questions, that I talk about bhakti yoga as a process and God as the object of the process.
So when we understand Krishna as the goal of our life, then we can start practising bhakti wholeheartedly. Now sometimes some people may see Krishna also as a cultural concept. You know, Krishna is a Hindu God.
Krishna is a product of the Hindu cultural imagination or whatever. Some people, especially in the West, they are strongly against deity worship. I was in one city and there, a Christian pastor, he came to meet me.
He had received a Bhagavad Gita on the streets by some devotee. And he initially, he said, no, no. But so many people gave him Bhagavad Gita and so many of his people, so many of the people who were talking, they said, hey, some of these Hare Krishna's gave us Bhagavad Gita.
He said, let me find out what the Bhagavad Gita says. So he started studying the Bhagavad Gita to refute it. When he read it, he started, okay, he understood some of it, some part he didn't understand.
So he said that, I want to understand more contemporarily what this is all about. So for that, he started looking on the net and he found my Gita Daily blog. And he started reading that.
So when I came that city, he came to meet me. And then he was telling me, so he said that he liked, he said, more than 95% of what you write in the Gita Daily, I agree with it. Because you talk about the principles of, they talk about principles of serving God, loving God, worshipping God, which is similar.
So, but he told me something very striking. He said, first time when I came to Hare Krishna temple and I saw the deities, the first thought that came in my mind is, these should be destroyed. These should be destroyed.
Now why is that? Because in the Abrahamic religion, there's a strong mandate against worshipping graven images. And the idolatry is considered to be a great sin. And time and time again in the Old Testament, whenever kings conquer a kingdom, the first thing they do is, they go and destroy the idols.
And their idea, they come from a, they were thinking, why do you want to destroy the deities? What is this? So for them, we are worshipping God in our way, you worship God in your own way. Why do you have to destroy this? But for them, it is not just you worshipping God in your own way. For them, the idea is that God is beyond any depiction.
And when anything is depicted, and a depiction is made, even if you say that this depiction is representing God, what happens is people, they just get attached to the depiction and they forget the one who is being depicted. And in this way, they say any depiction of God ends up becoming a competitor to God. The worship that is meant for God goes to the depiction.
And then the depiction becomes a competitor of God. And their idea is, all depictions of God are inspired by the Satan. They are inspired by the Satan, just as Satan takes people away from God.
So all depictions of God are inspired by Satan to take the worship that is meant for God away from God. So they actually think that when they destroy the depictions of God, they are destroying the work of Satan. And they are ensuring the glory of God by that, by destroying those who take away the worship of God from God, they feel that we are restoring God to his position.
Now for one who has no conception of anything like this, this is outrageous. How can you think about destroying the deities? But they come from a completely different cultural conception. So for those who come from such a cultural background, we may decide that deity worship need not be emphasised so much.
There are principles which are universal. Say for example, kirtan, music, everyone likes that. There are other principles that are universal.
The philosophy of how we are not the body but the soul, how our heart longs for love, and we are all meant to love an eternal object. Many of the principles of bhakti are universal. And if that is what attracts people, we focus on those.
And those which are going to set people off, then we downplay them. We don't say that their deity is not to be worshipped, but that may not be central in our presentation. So the important thing is, we have to fix our mind in Krishna, and we have to help others fix their mind in Krishna.
If something within the spiritual revelation makes people averse to Krishna, then we don't think about that. And we don't think about that means what? We don't highlight it to them. We make sure that we help them appreciate Krishna bhakti in a way in which they can connect.
And once they start connecting, Krishna says that we experience the higher taste. And once we experience the higher, then we ourselves start relishing Krishna bhakti. Then the conviction becomes good.
Oh, if this kind of taste is available over here, if this kind of joy is available over here, there's something special. Then we become more open-minded. Then we can say that whatever cultural conceptions were obstructing us, we learn how to navigate.
So sometimes we may just adapt those cultural conceptions, like say deity worship. Many people who actually earlier rejected deities, they started worshipping them. So we might adapt some of them.
Some of them we might adopt directly. Some of them we may adapt. Yes, it's like some doctors may, if they come to America they may still need to wear warm clothes.
That's fine. But they continue doing their medical work. So when a patient sees that I'm cured, it doesn't matter to them what the doctor, how the doctor is dressed.
Doctor's particular vulnerabilities don't matter. So sometimes some things we need to adapt. Prabhupada was very practical in the sense that when he started practising Krishna bhakti, he wrote his books in English.
And first of all he came to the West. He wrote his books in English. He had a presentation of bhakti that was universal.
So in this way, Prabhupada himself adapted, adopted many things as they were. He adapted some things according to circumstances. In this way, he helped everyone to come close to Krishna.
So I'll summarise. I spoke today about the cultural conception and spiritual revelations based on the Damodar Leela. So I heard this Damodar Leela, Mother Yashoda ties Krishna and Krishna becomes fearful of what she will do.
So he's tied because he is conquered by her love. He's caught by her love and he's conquered by her love as well as Radharani's love. Radharani gives her ribbon and then he becomes tied.
Now this may to some people seem as a how can a mother threaten to beat her child with a stick or tie him up like this. This is parental abuse somebody may say. But actually what is happening, the cultural conception is what is biassing us.
So there is a spiritual revelation and there is a cultural conception which we have. So our culture is like our climate. We don't notice it till it changes radically.
Or if somebody comes from a place where the climate is different, then they notice it and they tell us. So we all have a particular culture which shapes our conceptions. And the first level is that how can God be tied up at all? Nobody may think like that.
So we talk that how in the spiritual world Krishna does not delight in his Godhood. He delights simply in the reciprocation of love. God does not reign supreme.
Love reigns supreme in the spiritual world. And Krishna subordinates his Godhood so that the devotees can reciprocate love. So as long as we think of God as a protector and the provider, then we have a more self-centred conception.
That faith in God as our protector and provider is good. But we need faith in the process of bhakti as a means to attain God. And that means God becomes our goal.
So for that, we understand God's greatness which brings submission and God's sweetness which brings affection. And during this course, when we are trying to advance towards Krishna, at that time when we are practising bhakti, certain aspects of bhakti may gel with us, certain may not. So if we keep the driving purpose, that is fix the mind on Krishna in the forefront of our consciousness, then we will be able to avoid the unfavourable and accept the favourable.
So Prabhupada told, don't hear Graspila if it agitates your mind. Prabhupada told the devotees in Bengal, don't perform Haryana Sankirtan because people are lumping us with beggars. So we look at the fruit, is the desired fruit coming.
A doctor who comes from one environment to another may have to adapt from warm to cold weather, may have to wear warm clothes. The point is the doctor, what the doctor is wearing is not as important as whether the doctor is treating the patient or not. So if we focus on that essence, then we will be able to know what to adopt, what to adapt.
And intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective, to know what is essential, what is peripheral, to focus on the essential and to adjust the peripheral. And to move from the cultural conception to appreciation of the spiritual revelation, we need intellectual clarification. What is important, what is central, what is peripheral? And this intellectual clarification, if we focus on the essence, then we get purified, we get the taste of bhakti.
And then the cultural conceptions will no longer jar us. So some people feel recoiled by the idea of deity worship. That's because in their conception the deity is not God, it is a competitor to God.
So then deity worship may need to be downplayed in the initial presentations to them, so that they don't become averse. And gradually as they start tasting the sweetness of Krishna bhakti through chanting, through understanding the philosophy, then they will become more open to deity worship also. So by expertly using the intelligence or intellectual clarification to prevent people from the extremes of either total cultural rejection or total cultural acceptance, we make sure that they spiritually connected.
We stay spiritually connected, they spiritually stay spiritually connected. That way they can all come closer and closer to Krishna. And we all can also come closer and help them also to come closer.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. So any questions or comments?