Dasha Mula Tattva 8 – Maya binds us not as prisoners but as puppets

We are discussing now the text number 5 here, which is the sixth tattva so as per the swarupa what is their constitutional position? it was discussed in the previous text that they are marginal, so they they can fall into maya, they are mayadhi, the lord is mayadhis. Swarupa arthair hi naan, being when they lose their swarupa, when they fall from their constitutional position, nijya sukha paran krishna vimukhaan.

Nijya sukha paran means they seek their pleasure in external things, not in krishna, whose part they are, but in other things. krishna vimukhaan, they turn away from krishna, harer maya dandyaan, then maya dandyaan, they receive punishment from maya, harer maya dandyaan, gun nigad jali kalayati, how does maya bind? Through the jala, through the trap or the net of the moles. Tathaas thoolair lingail dvih minhaavar nai, so the soul gets bodies, there is gross body and a subtle body and with this body is, slow down, klesha nirakair, klesha nirakair is, that they suffer, klesha nirakair rather, they suffer various kinds of kleshas, which even, maha karmala nir, narti patitaan swarga nirayau, nirayau is hell, swarga is heaven and they go by their karma to various places.

So essentially this verse is talking about the soul's entrapment in samsara chakra and how this begins with the soul's seeking pleasure separate from the absolute truth. The Vedic conception of the universe is much more subtler and sophisticated than both the Judeo-Christian, the Abrahamic conception of the universe as well as the modern scientific conception of the universe. The scientific conception of the universe operates on the premise that in the universe there is nothing operating apart from fundamental particles functioning according to impersonal laws.

So, how is the moon moving in its orbit? It's because of the force of gravity. Now this is true at one level, but it is not the complete truth. It's like if somebody was playing billiards and then with the billiard stick one ball was hit, that ball went and hit a group of other balls and one ball went into the hole.

Now we could say that why did that ball go into the hole? Because this stick hit this ball at this particular force because of which a motion was set off and then that motion propelled the ball into the hole. That's true. It's a correct explanation.

It is not a complete explanation. Explaining how the billiards ball went into the hole in terms of the laws of physics is correct, but it is not complete because it does not take into account that the motion was initiated by the skill of the billiards player. So, similarly the modern view of the cosmos is completely depersonalised and mechanised where all personal influences are removed and the universe is treated more or less like a machine.

Now in this mechanised vision of the universe, not only is there no room for any kind of higher beings, but even our own very existence. Now why should humans also exist at all? Why should any life exist at all on this planet? This itself becomes reduced to a miracle because from the point of view of pure evolution, pure evolution and chance, nothing should exist. Not even life should exist here.

So, basically the explanatory value of the scientific worldview of the cosmos in terms of explaining the totality of the cosmos is limited. It is very limited. It can explain certain phenomena in the universe with remarkable precision, but it cannot explain the totality of the universe because modern scientific knowledge is largely in Rajoguna.

Francis Bacon was one of the pioneers of modern scientific world. He said his idea was knowledge is power and his definition of knowledge was a radical revision from the earlier conception of knowledge which came from Socrates and Plato who said that knowledge is virtue. As Krishna defines in the Bhagavad Gita in 13.8 to 12, he said that knowledge is defined in terms of qualities.

So, knowledge was traditionally, whether in the east or the west, understood in terms of virtues, but when knowledge is redefined in terms of power, so that is considered knowledge which enables one to control things. Now, once we have that focus of the knowledge, that purpose of the knowledge, then when we are looking at the universe with the purpose of trying to understand how to control it, then that which cannot be controlled doesn't fit into the worldview at all. So, expecting to discover any higher beings than us through a frame of reference that is focused on controlling things is like expecting to see a colour picture on a black and white TV.

It is just not going to work. The structure itself rules out the possibility. It is not that colour images are not possible, but a black and white TV makes it impossible for colour images to be seen.

Similarly, Rajoguna, which is knowledge in Rajoguna, which starts with the goal of controlling things, that cannot reveal to us that which is going to control us. That will just be ruled out. So, science also, when it observes nature, just nature is so complex, science zeroes down on certain phenomena to observe.

And those phenomena it may observe with mind-boggling precision. Just like if you are a doctor and you do an X-ray of a person, the X-ray will reveal certain details about that person's physical structure, maybe the heart or whatever, with remarkable precision. But what can the X-ray tell you about the personality of that person? Zero.

Isn't it? So, the X-ray is designed to give enormous details about some things, but other things are completely left out. So, the scientific vision of the universe is like that. Now, when we look at the Abrahamic conception of the universe, they basically have, largely speaking, there is this world, then there is the kingdom of God, which usually they conflate with heaven.

They conflate means to mix two distinct categories together. And then there is hell, and there are, in between heaven and earth, there are certain kinds of angels and various other beings. So, within their conception, hell is forever.

That is the idea that this life is all that you have, and if we don't turn and accept Jesus as our saviour, we will go to hell forever. So, now this makes God appear to be a very unmerciful living being. That God gives us one chance and after that he sends to hell forever.

So, the Vedic understanding is that hell is, although the conception of hell is mentioned even in the Vedic literature, that is a very different conception. Because hell is not forever. The whole universe is like a university.

And hell is just one classroom within the university. It's a strict classroom, relatively a stricter classroom than other classrooms, but still it's a classroom. And hell is not meant to punish us forever, rather hell is meant to save us from suffering forever.

Because the suffering that we experience in hell acts as a shock treatment to rectify our mentality of wanting to live separate from God. And thus it saves us from suffering ultimately. So, it is not God who sentences us to suffering, it is our own misuse of free will that sentences us to suffering.

And God by his grace gives us many opportunities in this world as well as the next world to be saved from suffering. Now here, the point that is made is, nijya-sukha-paran krishna-vimukhan. The famous verse from Chaitanya Charita Amrit says that, krishna-bahirmukha-jiva-bhogavancha-kare, nikata-stha-maya-tare, jhapatiya-dhare.

So, there are, there is a three-stage causal sequence in this verse. First is krishna-bahirmukha. The soul turns away from Krishna.

And then, we all have an innate tendency to seek pleasure. We have to seek pleasure somewhere. We cannot live without pleasure.

When we don't get it in Krishna, we will look for it somewhere else. jiva-bhogavancha-kare. So, when we look for pleasure in something other than Krishna, then what happens? Nikata-stha-maya-tare, jhapatiya-dhare.

Maya is right next to us, she pounces on us, she catches us. That means, we are forced to act as we choose to desire. We are forced to act as we choose to desire.

We have free will, but our free will is to choose how we desire. Once we desire something, then we come under the control of that force. Just like if somebody is in an ocean, and if there is a wave moving in this particular direction, if you study the ocean, then you know in the ocean there are different currents going in different directions.

One current may be going here, one current may be going here, one current may be going here. Now, as soon as one places oneself in a particular current, afterwards that person will be just pushed in that direction. Once we have situated ourselves in a current, then it is almost impossible to resist because the waves will push us in that direction.

We have a choice which current to situate ourselves in. If we situate ourselves in a current which is taking us towards the coast, we will go towards the coast. If we place ourselves in a current which takes us away from the coast, deeper into the ocean, we will go deeper into the ocean.

So, like that there are currents of consciousness going within our consciousness. And whichever desire we situate ourselves in, that will be pushed in that direction. So, we are forced to act as we choose to desire.

Once we desire something, after that things almost go out of our control. To give another example to illustrate this point, most of you know about a chariot body metaphor. So, now there are these five horses.

Now, when a horse catches sight, he thinks there is a vegetable over there, I want to eat it. And the horse starts moving in that direction. Initially, when the horse is moving in that direction, if the charioteer is alert and pulls the horse back, it will come under control.

But once the horse starts running and gets momentum in that direction, then as the horse starts running faster and faster and faster, the charioteer will find it more and more difficult to control it. And the more momentum the horse gets, the more difficult it is to control. Similarly, the best time to win the battle against temptation is before it begins.

The best time to win the battle against temptation is before it begins. That means, don't indulge in the desire itself. Avoid the desire itself.

If you avoid the desire, then you can win it much more easily. The more we cultivate the desire, it can after that be won also, but it's much more difficult. So, the earlier, the better.

You can avoid it. And here, it says maya dandyan. So, maya is not cruel.

The Bhagavatam refers to maya as Vaishnavi Janamohini. Maya is also a devotee. She is Vaishnavi.

She is also a devotee of Krishna. But what is her service to Krishna? Janamohini. Her service to Krishna is to keep the living beings in illusion.

And it keeps the living beings in illusion because they want to be in illusion. They want to enjoy separate from God. So, the world has two purposes.

First is experimentation and the second is rectification. Experimentation means when the soul wants to enjoy separate from Krishna, the world offers various forums, various opportunities, various facilities for experimenting with various ways of enjoying separate from Krishna. And once the soul decides that okay, I have had enough.

This is not going to make me happy. So, Prabhupada gives one lecture in Rathyatra in America. So, he says, many hippies had come for his programme.

So, he says you hippies, you are not much appreciated in your America because they say all of you are frustrated people. But he says I appreciate you. He said human life is meant to be frustrated.

He said human life is meant to be frustrated. He says it is the Vedanta Sutra says that actually human life is meant for Athato Brahma Jijnasa. But when will one enquire about spirituality when one is frustrated with materialism.

So, this is quite a brilliant interpretation of commentary on Vedanta Athato Brahma Jijnasa that Prabhupada gives. So, frustration is not a bad thing if it leads to the redirection of our consciousness. And so, the purpose of Maya when she frustrates us is what? To make us ultimately turn towards Krishna.

So, there is experimentation. And when there is frustration in the experimentation soul starts thinking what should I do, what should I do? And the soul enquires seriously. Then the soul comes towards Krishna.

And then the same world becomes the facility for rectification. Because the same body which induces so many sensual desires and takes us away from Krishna that same body is also necessary for us to serve Krishna. Now at one level we may say the body is Vyadhi Mandiram.

It is a place where there are so many diseases. But at the same time it is the same body that is the Dharmasadhanam. Shariram Dharmasadhanam.

We cannot practise Dharma without having the body. So, twice in the Bhagavatam, first in the section on Bali Maharaj and second time in the section of Vasudeva and… of Vasudeva and Devaki Kamsa interaction. Twice the same thing Bhagavatam says that Dharma is the fruit of the tree.

But the fruit cannot come in a tree if the tree is not living. Similarly, one cannot get the fruit of Dharma if the body is not living. So, one needs to preserve one's body.

And preserve is not just in terms of survival, it is in terms of health. We have to keep the body nourished, healthy so that we can use the body for getting the fruit of Dharma. Ultimately we can get liberation from material existence.

So, Maya is not cruel in giving us punishment. Rather, her purpose is experimentation and rectification. Now, this energy, Maya is made up of three modes.

Guna, Nigara, Jalai, Kalayati. So, Jalai is a net. Now, sometimes we may feel… we say that we are all bound in material existence.

Now, what is this bonding? I can go here, I can go there, I can go wherever I want. Where exactly is the bondage? See, there are two different kinds of bondages. First is, if a prisoner is in a jail and there are shackles or there are fetters.

Shackles are the iron bonds that are used for the hands. Fetters are the ones usually used for the legs. So, there, that is the bondage which makes a person motionless.

But there is another kind of bondage, say, if there is a puppet and the puppet is tied to ropes. So, the puppet keeps moving but still the puppet is bound. So, our bondage is not like the bondage of a prisoner's shackles.

Our bondage is like that of a puppeteer's strings. So, normal bondage would keep us motionless. Maya's bondage keeps us restless.

So, Maya's bondage makes us run here and there, get this, get that. As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, जिवेरे लालसा ये इती उती दाना है. Run here and there, get this, get that, get that.

And run here. So, this is a bondage which may not seem like bondage. It seems like, it seems like I am free.

I am going here, I am going there. Nowadays, there are many people who are becoming addicts all over the world. Literally millions and millions of people are addicts.

And addiction can be from mild form, like somebody, the dangers from the addiction, say, like alcoholism or drug addiction or whatever. But there are other forms which do not seem like addiction. There is a form of addiction called shopaholism.

Shopaholism. That means people have a compulsive urge to shop. They just can't stop shopping.

Even if they have no money left, they will borrow, they will incur debts, but they will shop. Say, shop till you drop. And people get addicted like this.

They are just in the spell of things. They don't know what to do, how to get free from this. So, I am working on a book on Krishna Consciousness as a therapy for addicts.

I am working with a devotee who is a psychologist. We are working together. So, I was reading an account of an alcoholic.

So, how he got into addiction and how he got out of addiction. So, see, addiction can attack in various ways. So, he wrote that how one night he was sleeping peacefully and suddenly in the middle of the night, he woke up and he felt an irresistible urge to drink.

And then he went to his fridge, he went to his drawer, there was no alcohol with him. So, he went out, he went in his car, and as he was going in his car, his car broke down. He looked, his fuel was off.

So, then he somehow walked along all the way to the nearby shop and found that the specific brand of alcohol that he wanted was not there. So, he had to walk almost half a mile out to another place to get that alcohol. And he went all the way there, finally he got that alcohol and he thought, I will go back to my house and I will drink it there.

He drank a little bit and said, I want to drink it peacefully. And as he was just going along, he slipped and the whole alcohol fell all over his body. And he was lying on the ground and he looked out and there were all these skyscraper buildings all around and he saw everybody else is sleeping.

He said, what am I doing? He said, I am like a sick person lying on the ground when I should have been sleeping peacefully at my home. So, that sort of gave him a realisation that I am really trapped. Otherwise, people think that actually I am enjoying.

I am drinking, I am enjoying. But when he realised how miserable I am, lying on the ground, soaked in alcohol, middle of the night, going everywhere, I could just peacefully sleep. So, we all also can get these sort of moments.

Sometimes when our desires just drag us here and there and make us do terrible things, our predicament may not be so extreme. But we all have our times when our desires drag us here and there. So, if you get this, this is why actually I am trapped.

Actually I am bound and I need to come out. So, often we think that dissatisfaction is caused by frustration of desire. I want something and I don't get it.

That is why I am frustrated. But if you look deeply, dissatisfaction is caused not so much by frustration of desire as it is caused by captivation by desire. It is because I got captivated by desire, that's why I got frustrated like this.

If I had not got captivated by the desire, I would not have suffered like this. So, suffering is caused not just by frustration of desire, it is caused much more by captivation by desire. And even for devotees, there may be times when our desire is frustrated.

We want to serve Krishna in a particular way, we feel that a particular situation, a particular kind of job, a particular kind of career, a particular house in a particular place or whatever. These things may be favourable for our bhakti and we may not get those things. That can cause frustration to a devotee also.

But the extent of frustration that a person gets when a person is captivated by desires, that is far greater. And a devotee is saved from that frustration. prasadhe sarvatam khanam hanirasya upajayate prasannacheta savyashu buddhi pariyam atishtate Krishna says in 2.65 that once the desires we are freed from them, and prasadhe, that is a mercy, if we live a life of disciplined bhakti, then we become free from desires.

When we are free from those desires, selfish desires, self-defeating desires, trivial desires, then what happens? We become free from a lot of misery. hanirasya upajayate, dukha goes away. So, sthulair lingair vibhidhavarani So we have a gross body and we have a subtle body.

And through both of these, we suffer. So actually, at the basic level, when we practise bhakti, bhakti is primarily a process of changing our subtle body. The soul is anyway the same.

The soul is not going to change. And the physical body is what we have. It is not that if I was dark earlier, now I want to become fair because I am a Hare Krishna devotee.

No, that basic complexion, basic frame, that's not going to change. But what changes is the subtle body. Mind, yeah, mind primarily, but the whole subtle body.

So, once the mind changes, the subtle body changes, then we find that our life has changed. So, what causes the… This verse is talking about samsara chakra. Samsara chakra is like a ferris wheel.

For a ferris wheel to move, there has to be some power. Electric power or whatever. That's what will cause the ferris wheel to move.

So, what causes the samsara chakra to move is the power of our misdirected desire. It is our misdirected desire that powers the samsara chakra. And once that misdirected desire is redirected towards Krishna, then the powering of the samsara chakra becomes slower and samsara chakra is no longer powered and still because of its inertia, it may move on for some time.

But the movement will become slower, slower, slower, slower. Ultimately, it will stop. And the soul will be liberated from material existence.

Now, in the process of bhakti, if we do not involve our mind, if we do not focus on Krishna, we get benefit, but that is minimal benefit. We don't get much benefit because the desires have to go somewhere. And if the desires are not being directed towards Krishna, then they will be directed towards bodily things.

And that is how we will stay trapped. And Kalesha Nikarai, we will get various kinds of Kalesha. But all this can be solved by Svarupa Arthair.

Svarupa, when we understand that my position is to serve Krishna. And whatever situation I am in, I can always serve Krishna. Even if I am in a very difficult situation, I may not be able to serve Krishna in particular ways, but still I can keep serving Krishna.

So, if I am put in a job which is far away from devotee association, then I may not be able to go regularly to temple, I may not be able to regularly go for programmes, but still I can find some service for Krishna or another. So, if we are creative, we will always… Krishna will give us the intelligence. दामि बुद्धि योगंतम् येनमामुपयां दिधे Krishna will give us intelligence about how we can keep serving Him.

So, what we should focus on is, often we let our devotional desires be a function of our circumstances. That means, I can't do this because I don't have the time. I can't do this because I don't have the talent.

I can't do this because I don't have the money. Yes, now these are real problems and we can't deny them. We can't be unrealistic and think that, if I have only 24 hours, I will do more service than what I can do in 24 hours.

But we may not take up more services. But we don't have to let our desires be restricted to our circumstances alone. It is still desire.

If only I had time, I would read Bhagavatam more carefully. If I had time, I would hear this whole series of lectures and understand it properly. If I had just a little bit more capacity, I would learn more kirtans, I would memorise more verses.

Whatever is the service that inspires us the most, we can desire to do that service more and more. All of you know the concept of Manas Puja, where we serve Krishna in the mind. That is usually in the tradition it is talked about in terms of deity worship.

We offer Krishna delicious food, we dress Krishna in very wonderful dresses, even if we don't have the money. But we can use that principle of Manas Puja in whatever service we want to do. And whatever we have a desire to do, even if it is a little desire, we can fan that desire, devotional desire.

That, in the Narag Muni section, the Lord reveals himself first. In the 4th, 5th, 6th chapters, Narag Muni tells the story, he is a Narada boy in his previous life. So, at that time, the Lord reveals and the Lord disappears.

And Narada is anxious. And at that time the Lord says, that I have revealed myself to you once, so that your desire for me will become very strong. And your desire for me will free you from all other desires.

So, that same principle we can also apply in our life. You know, whichever devotional activity in which we have got some special spiritual experiences, the experience of great taste, great strength, great ecstasy, we can long to do those again. And let that desire fill our consciousness.

And let that desire drive away other desires. And in that way, we can move onwards towards Krishna. So, are there any questions? Yes.

And now, we see the basic other part of good desire to fulfil the other sections of the society. And the reaction of that may further on to a relationship. So, what is the chance for growth? Because the reaction is terrible.

And the sensorial chakra is already awakened. There is no chance to stop that chakra. So, if some people do terrible sinful activities, sometimes they do murderous activities, they do it in the name of religion, the reaction for this will be hell.

So, how will they come out of this? Because they are very strongly convinced about what they are doing. They will go on to samsara chakra. Yes.

The first thing about the Bhagavad Gita is that the Bhagavad Gita is very trans-sectarian. It is very universal. It talks about behaviours in terms of generic characteristics.

For example, in the 17th chapter, it is about religion in the three modes. So, we talk about religion in three modes. It's interesting that Krishna talks about faith in Tamoguna, faith in Rajoguna, faith in Sattvaguna.

So, it is not just a particular hardline religion where people are terrorists. Practically every religion there are extremists who may be violent. And they may be in Tamoguna.

So, it is not just our ideological beliefs that determine our destination. It is our functional living that determines our destination. How we are living.

So, I may claim that I believe in God. But if I am living in a murderous way, I am living in a violent way, I am living in an exploitative way, then that is going to bring reactions. That is going to cause depravity.

That is going to bring… So, for example, there are these jihadis. When they conquer a particular area, they kill the men and then they violate the women. And according to some jihadi ideologies, the women whom they violate, they are the gifts for winning the war that Allah has given them.

So, before violating a woman, they pray over the woman. Then they violate her and then they again pray, thanking Allah. So, can you imagine the magnitude of the indoctrination that has gone into their heads? So, where if one's ideology can destroy one's basic human sensitivity, one is causing brutal pain to a defenceless woman, and one is thinking that is a gift from God for me.

It's inhuman. It's a horrendous distortion of mentality. So, that is the extent to which a person can get distorted by ideology.

So, one may just have a lip service to God. But what is one's life? If one is living for such bestial activities, then just overcoating them with God doesn't make any difference in one's life. So, how one lives, that is very important.

So, yes, they will get consequences for their actions. But in due course of time, everybody learns the school of hard knocks. After going down to various levels of suffering, when they evolve again, they will come to some other place and there they will get an opportunity.

Ultimately, even no matter how grievously sinful people may be, Krishna doesn't abandon them. Krishna is always there as a super soul in their hearts. And from there, he helps them.

So, eventually when they want to turn towards him, he will be there to guide. But it also shows that people can become so totally destroyed by their circumstances, their intelligence, their conscience, their sensitivity. Everything can get destroyed.

It's very sad when such things happen. What we can do is, we try to provide, within our circle of influence, we try to share spiritual knowledge, spiritual culture as much as possible. And then, sometimes it is very easy to curse the darkness.

But suppose, you know, just now say, the power in Mumbai goes off. Everywhere there is complete darkness. Now, what will we do? We cannot remove the darkness everywhere.

But just because we can't remove the darkness in all of Mumbai, does that mean we'll all stay in darkness? No, we will turn on our mobile flashlight or we'll get a candle or something like that. So, just because we can't remove the darkness in the world, doesn't mean that we have to live in the dark. So, we should light our own surroundings and we should try to share that light with others as much as possible.

So, in general, we can be aware of the world situation to bring gravity in our spiritual practises. But focussing too much on things which are not in our control can make us feel powerless and can take away our inspiration to do the things which we can do. So, it is far better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

When we practise Bhakti, we want to serve Krishna, but why does our desire get misdirected again and again? Prabhupada asked this question in Nivrindavan. He said, if our purpose is to serve Krishna, why is maya so strong? So, Prabhupada replied, because your purpose is not strong. Your purpose is not strong.

What that means is that there is a default tendency of our mind and that default tendency takes time to be corrected. So, for example, I'll give two examples to illustrate this point. Now, I have a software in my computer which auto-corrects.

Like in Word also you have a software. If you type something wrong in Word, it will correct it. So, when I type Chitananda, the software changes it to Saturday Chitananda.

So, now here the auto-correct is making it incorrect. The auto-correct is meant to make the incorrect correct, but it is making the correct incorrect now. So, now I might type the right thing in, but what will come out is wrong.

So, I type it in, then it gets incorrect and I have to recorrect it at that time. So, like that, this is because there is a default in programming over there. Sat means it should be changed to Saturday.

So, like that, there is a default programming in our mind. Why the programming? Because of in this life samskaras as well as previous life samskaras, our mind by default equates pleasure with sense pleasure. By default, as soon as you think of pleasure, it means sense pleasure.

So, right now I might decide, no, I will focus on serving Krishna and I will seek whatever happiness comes in Bhakti Ola, not seek happiness outside Krishna. But this may last for one day, two days, three days, but afterwards, whenever the need for desire for pleasure arises, the first option that the mind will come with is sense pleasure. And if we are not on guard, we will accept that option.

If we are not on guard, we will accept that option. And that is how we succumb. So, that is why what is required is vigilance.

Vigilance means, okay, this desire has come up, but am I acting on that desire? If we are not vigilant, then that proposal will come in and we will accept the proposal and then we will wonder, why did I do that? But as we keep practising Bhakti, we will see one thing clearly. Even after we engage in sense pleasure, we won't get much pleasure. Now we will feel frustrated, we will feel empty.

Why did I do such a thing? In the past, before we were introduced to Krishna consciousness, we might have got some pleasure there. But now we will not get much pleasure because we have experienced a higher pleasure. So, what we need to do is, break this default wrong assessment of the mind.

So, if we are vigilant, that means, as soon as we actually need pleasure, but the mind directs us towards sense pleasure. So, we have to break this equation of the mind. Mind thinks pleasure means sense pleasure.

That is the default definition which the mind has acquired. But by repeated hearing and by vigilance, we change it. Pleasure means Bhakti.

Pleasure means serving Krishna. Once we change this definition of the mind, then we will be able to not be so internally troubled. We won't be so internally vulnerable.

Till that happens, one thing is vigilance. We need to be on the guard. But another thing we can also do is, try to not keep temptations readily accessible to us.

What happens? Because it is difficult to be on guard all the time. Sometimes there might be a lapse. So, one of the things which the alcoholics are told, if they are recovering alcoholics, they say don't go to bars.

Don't keep any alcohol in your house. And even if you have to meet your friends, don't meet them in a place where they are going to drink alcohol. So, keep temptation away.

Keep temptation away. Or if you can't keep temptation away, create some obstacles between yourself and the temptation. So, what happens? Now, we can always remove the obstacle.

But removing takes time. And during that time, our intelligence will come back. So, what happens is, if the temptation is very easily available, then it becomes difficult to resist it.

Because just a moment or two, the desire comes and readily the intelligence is available. So, we have to be careful. We have to create a certain level of distance.

And what the specific temptation may be, and how we can keep a distance, that will vary according to person to person. We have to find out what is our weakness, and how to check with it. How to check it.

So, for example, nowadays, through the internet, there are so many nasty sites available. So, we can have an internet filter on our cell phone or on our computer. Have restricted access.

Nowadays, most of us, it will be difficult to work in a city and function without net access. Some of us might be able to work also. But even if we can't work, we don't have to have complete access.

And there are many softwares available which can provide filters, free filters, or little amount you pay. Now, you can always remove the filter. But it takes time.

And that is a good protection. So, firstly, we need to know that it's not that just because we are falling for some bad activities, we should not beat ourselves down thinking I am a very sinful person, I am a useless person, I cannot practise bhakti. No, we should know that it's just the mind misdirecting us because of its default tendencies.

So, we need to become more and more vigilant at one level. And re-educate the mind. Change the mind's definition.

But because that is going to take time, and because we can't always be expected to be so vigilant, we also need to create some obstacles between us and the sense pleasure. So, for example, if somebody has a tendency to over-eat, then they say, now-a-days, obesity is a big problem for almost everyone, for most people. So, then what they say is, don't keep fatty foods readily available for you.

If you want to keep foods, keep but keep healthy foods with you. Keep some fruits, keep something like that which are not going to be fatty. So, the simple thing, this is an experiment done in Google, that they had, in their canteen, they had these chocolates and other such sweets.

And they decided, earlier those chocolates were in transparent containers. And they just decided to put a wrapper which would make it non-transparent. And just by doing that, in three months, the chocolate consumption of the Google employees decreased by almost 35%.

Because when you see it, the desire comes in, and you know, they have money also, just purchase it and eat it. But just put a simple barrier around it. Don't see it, it will decrease significantly.

Does it answer your question? Yes. Thank you. Yes, you had a question? Who, in the times, it so happens that we have lots of desires, in the spiritual life, to do something for Krishna, and we become very much confused, in order to close those desires.

Desires in sense, we have many options to serve Krishna. And, we become so much confused that, which way to go. This pain, that pain, and, so, how can we know that, what way Krishna wants us, in which desire we are, we should choose, how to serve Krishna, in a better way.

Sometimes in spiritual life, we may have so many ways, so many desires, so many ways about how to serve Krishna, how can we decide, which is the way Krishna wants us to serve. Broadly speaking, there are two main things. There is guidance, from outside, and introspection from inside.

So, in general, bhakti means, Krishna says, worship him, worship Krishna, with your work. So, we have to find out, whatever is our nature, and serve Krishna, according to that nature. Nature means, it doesn't necessarily have to be, Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, that sort of nature, but just, what are our talents, what are our qualities, what are our interests, we serve Krishna accordingly.

So, in the early stages of our spiritual life, when we come, we just do whatever, our senior devotees tell us to do. And that is good, because that teaches us, the basic principle of subordination, of obedience, and it gives us an exposure, to bhakti in general. But over a period of time, we will ourselves, find that we gravitate, towards certain services.

We like certain things. So, while we are doing, what we are told to do, we should also be observing, what am I good at? So, just like, suppose, there is a cricket team, and a person first joins a cricket team, you know, that person is just happy to be in the cricket team. Now, whether I am an opener, I am a middle-order batsman, or a bottom-order batsman, I am just happy to be in the team.

But if that person is to stay in the team, that person has to, over a period of time, get a clear role, and make a, and make a tangible contribution. Okay, are you going to be an all-rounder? Are you going to be a, a finisher? You know, you come in the final over, then just hit some shots, or are you going to be a fast bowler, or whatever. And now, that is something, which some people can use guidance.

But then, that person also has to feel inspiration. Yes, I want to become a fast bowler. So, I want to become a, I want to become so and so, I want to become so and so.

So now, this is something which, nobody else can tell. Sometimes, we may, we may be, we may be introduced by certain senior devotees, and we may feel that, oh, I want to become like that devotee. But then, it is not necessary that the devotees have introduced us, we are going to have the same talent that they have.

We are going to have the same interest that we have. We are always grateful to them, but we cannot always become like them. So, over a period of time, we observe ourselves and see, what are the services that we feel inspired to do? What are the talents that we have? And it takes time.

So, that is why we, in general, should be open to services, but we cannot expect to be able to decide. Some of us may have some special talents, by which we might be able to decide very soon. But for many of us, it may take some time.

And it may not be just one or two, just one talent alone. We may be doing 2-3 different services also. So, if we have 3-4 different options, we may decide, okay, I will do this for 3-4 months, then I will try this for 3-4 months, I will try this for 3-4 months.

And, if we are making any major decisions in our life, it is good to write, to keep a journal during that period. I will keep a journal, okay, how was I feeling when I was doing this? Did I feel satisfied? Did I feel too agitated, too restless? Sometimes when we go for a yatra, we take photos. We want to keep those memories.

So, a journal is like a snapshot of our mind. Now, what were our feelings? So, if, for example, now, I feel very inspired to distribute books. But is it because the devotees around me are distributing books, so that's why I want to distribute books? Or is it, I am internally motivated by that? So, then, if, if I feel inspired about books distribution now, if I feel inspired after 1 month, if I feel inspired after 3 months also, and when I look back at what was the inspiration for me 3 months ago, and what is my inspiration now? If it has only increased, I have got more reasons why I should be doing distribution, then that way I can understand this is what I should be doing.

But our thoughts may change. We feel, okay, this is good, but then, I feel I can do some other things also. So, one thing is that the mind, if we leave ourselves to the mind, the mind will make us feel every service is good, except the service you are doing now.

So, the mind will that way make us want to not do any service. That's why we can't just take a service and give it up, take a service and give it up. We should make some commitment and stick to a service, even if we don't like it, for a certain amount of time.

Let's say a few months. So, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, whatever. And experience.

It takes time. And also, if we do our sadhana nicely, Krishna says, Krishna also uses intelligence by which we can come to Him. So, we consult senior devotees and they also observe certain things in us.

They say, you should do these things. You can, others can do other things. You can do this.

So, now, in general, in this sort of things, unless something is directly coming from a spiritual master, and even spiritual masters nowadays don't give direct instructions. You can do this, you can do that. But, we can always have a discussion with our spiritual guides.

They will say, you can do this service. Or, if you feel very inspired to do a particular service, you can also tell, I feel inspired to do this service. Because, ultimately, our spiritual guides, even if they have specific projects, and they would like help in those projects, but, ultimately, they want us to be happily engaged in service, happily engaged in bhakti.

And, if we are in an incompatible situation, if we are in a service which we are not very good at, we don't feel comfortable doing it, we don't feel happy doing it, then, all that will happen is, they will have to keep pushing us again and again. Do this, do this, do this, do this. And then, that becomes tiresome.

If we want to become steady in bhakti, we have to discover a service which we can do lifelong without anyone pushing us. Of course, we will not be in that situation. There will be others who will be there to inspire us.

There will always be reciprocation and inspiration. But, eventually, we have to come to a level of self-motivation in our bhakti. Devotee association is essential, it is a vital indispensable inspiration.

But, devotee association cannot also help us without some self-motivation. So, that's why we can take guidance, also do introspection, and experience services, note down our experiences, and eventually arrive at a decision. This takes time, but if we keep doing it patiently, we will eventually learn what is the service that we can best do.

Does this answer your question? So, thank you very much. Shri Prabhupada Kheer.