Dealing with Attachments 2 ways Hanuman simhika lankini || Chaitanya Charan || 5.5.24

Is quite bold to write and draw certain things. Now, I thought about three broad points.

The main topic I want to discuss is about how to deal with attachments. And we will be focussing on Hanuman's journey to Lanka, and what we can learn from that. So, in general, I will take it in three parts.

I have been taking this as a three-part series over various sessions. So, basically, in many ways, the Ramayan is not just the itihas, it is the topo itihas, but itihas is actually – okay, let me start with the three parts I have been taking. I will be taking about the approach that we are going to talk about today.

Then we will talk about the two of the obstacles that he faced. Does anyone know there are four obstacles that Hanuman faced on his way to Lanka? Anyone know the obstacles? Sorry? Yeah? Mainaka mountain was the first one. Surasa, Lankini and one more was Silvika.

Yes, thank you. So, we will be discussing about Silvika and Lankini and what they represent and how the way Hanuman dealt with them can help us deal with the things that hold us back in our lives. So, the approach to the Ramayana is basically the Ramayana is Itihas.

But Itihas is not the same as history. Many people think of Itihas as history. Well, it is true.

But here I am using the word history in the sense of the modern way it is used. Often, modern study of history is primarily focused on dates and events. Or rather, you could say dates and figures.

Events are essential to history. But Itihas is focused more on values and principles. That the Puranas and the Itihas and Ramayana and the Mahabharata they may also have numbers.

But that is not the primary focus. The primary focus is we don't study the past just to get information. We want to study the past to inspire transformation.

There is a contemporary historian he said that the main thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. What I meant there is that humanity is vulnerable to the same pitfalls, weaknesses, vices, again and again. But now one reason for that is we are all vulnerable but one reason why we don't learn is often the focus is too much on information and not so much on values and principles that can be learned.

So in the approach to scripture which the tradition uses then they are putting the main thing is the wisdom, it's not just the information. So people ask okay when exactly was the Ramayana written, when exactly was the Mahabharata written, when exactly did the events happen? These are important questions and research can answer those questions but there are two One is putting a date on wisdom. This is where it happened.

That is important but much more important is going on a date with wisdom. Going on a date with wisdom means you will fall in love with the wisdom, you will learn the wisdom and apply that wisdom in your life. search for facts and figures, that's not primarily about it.

There is the question who is Ravana? That's an important question but even more important question is what is Ravana? Ravana represents a mentality and that mentality is present within us even now and it is that mentality that we need to learn how to purify ourselves. So the values and principles are much more important than the specific details. The specific details are undoubtedly important but the values are even more important.

So we will be focussing on this approach. This is the whole session in itself, I won't go into it but the Ramayan can be approached at four different levels. We can approach it at a literal level, we can approach it at an ethical level, we can approach it at an allegorical level, we can approach it at an emotional level.

At a literal level a person just focusses on the story, entertaining story. But the story is spoiled for you. So the ethical level is where we look at lessons, we look at the characters, what choices they made and we try to learn.

What is the, what is it, in this situation this person chose this action, what action would I have chosen? Why did they choose this? How can I learn from it? So the literal level the primary focus is entertainment. At the ethical level the primary focus is guidance for decision making. At the allegorical level, now the scriptures themselves are not allegory, allegory is basically a story told to teach some values.

So the scriptures are not allegorical, they may contain some allegories but there are some things in the scripture which represent something else. Like I said, Ravan represents the selfish lust, the lust that refuses the boundaries. So at the allegorical level we get intellectual illuminations, we get deeper understanding of the truths of life.

At the devotional level there is ecstasy, that a person is in ecstasy, in ecstasy, he is in ecstasy, he is in ecstasy. We heard from various sources that Ravan's team will be somewhere in the south. Therefore, we decided that in the third party going south would be the people who had stuck with him, whom he trusted and Jambavan and Hanuman led two such people.

So, both of them he put in the party going southwards. Now, on top of that, whenever somebody is in a leadership position, they always have to do a balancing act. So, Angad was a young prince.

Now, he, Subri also wanted to build a good relationship with him. Angad was a little suspicious. He said, Subri, you caused the death of my father and I have some tensions.

He wanted to give him some leadership position. But then, he was also young and inexperienced. So, what Subri did was, he made Angad the leader of the group in which Hanuman and Jambavan went.

And then, they all went southwards. Now, in many places, there is an appointed leader and then there is a natural leader who emerges. There is often, there is authority by position and there is authority by character.

Somebody will be appointed a leader and yes, there will be some respect. But some people just by their character, by their behaviour, they have influence without position. And that's how Hanuman emerges as a natural leader.

So, even before Jambavan reminded Hanuman of his powers, Hanuman was the person who, when they went deep into the cave of Swayamprabha, there Hanuman got them out of it. Hanuman resolved a potential conflict with some party. Hanuman was actually becoming a leader.

But then he comes into his own after Jambavan reminds him. So, see, most people feel that if only I had more abilities, I can do so much more in life. If I were a better seeker, if I had a better manager, if I had a sharper memory, if I had better looks, if I had more education.

Somehow, if people valued me more, then I can do so much more. So, what happens is, we all want growth in our life. And we all feel that if I have more ability, if ability is more, my growth will be more.

That is true. But what is equally, if not more important, is maturity. And maturity means the ability to use our ability.

It can be many different things, but the ability to use our ability. So, you remember, Hanuman, as a child, had been cursed. He had many great powers, but he had been mischievous.

So, he had been cursed that he forgot all his powers. And now he had been reminded of those powers. So, he had been cursed to forget his powers because he was misusing those powers.

He had just been too mischievous. But Hanuman, in his journey to Lanka, even before his main mission, he faces various challenges. And those challenges reveal the evolution of his character.

That he has developed the maturity to face challenges. So, when the Mainak Parvat came along, Mainak Parvat offered, please arrest him. He was very respectful and polite.

But he refused. That was the topic I discussed. How to say no politely.

That was the topic I discussed yesterday in the morning. Then, after that, when he faced Surasa. Surasa, she kept opening her mouth.

And Hanuman kept becoming bigger and bigger. Till finally, he became small, went in and came out. So, that was the theme where Hanuman exhibits humility.

Intelligent humility. One characteristic of a leader is the capacity to choose their battles. Just because I have power, doesn't mean I should be fighting every fight.

That there are times when we need to fight. And there is no need to fight at all. So, Hanuman's focus was on pursuing his purpose.

It was not on displaying his prowess. That's why he did not get caught with Surasa. But now, his abilities, his ability to use his ability, we will see how it is shown in the two last obstacles that he faces.

Sindhika and Surasa. Surasa? Yes. So, the both of these represent attachments of different kinds.

Hanuman was speeding through the sky. It was a majestic sight. Even the celestials were watching from behind.

Hanuman had expanded himself to a giant form. And he had actually taken one forceful leap. And the momentum of the leap that was taking him forward.

Some people thought he was like a bird who was flying without wings. But he was not flying. He was propelled by the power of his leap.

And as he was flying, the celestial elements aligned in his favour. The wind god started blowing from behind him. So that he would be getting relief from the heat of the sun.

While also getting a push from behind. Just like when somebody is rowing, the wind is behind them. Above, the sun was pleased.

The sun started becoming softer. So that the heat was not unbearable. And the birds in the sky, they were watching.

What is this being? They have never seen anything like this. Speeding through spectacularly. As Hanuman was going forward, he was focused on one thing.

Getting to Lanka and finding Sita. And as he was moving forward, it was a mighty effort. And he was going with phenomenal speed.

And suddenly, he felt as if he was not moving at all. And he looked around. He was moving and nothing.

He was not moving at all. He looked around, what's happening? He was using all his force. And still he found that he just couldn't move.

So normally, when something happens that is out of the way. See, if I am speaking right now. And suddenly, my audio drops.

The first thing I would look is, has this mic gone off somehow? The second thing I would look of is, has the sound system gone off somehow? Third point I would look is, probably, is the survey organiser telling me to finish the class? So basically, when we are doing something, it doesn't make sense. We start putting things in bigger and bigger circles. A fourth possibility could be, I just lost my voice.

Because I got some attack or something. It's an unlikely explanation. But basically, when something happens, we try to look for bigger and bigger explanations.

We try to put it, not bigger and bigger explanations. We try to put things in bigger context. So if an event happens, we first try to look for the immediate explanation.

Okay, is the mic gone off? Is the sound system itself off? Like that, we look for bigger and bigger explanations. So like that, why am I not moving? He looked around and then he looked down. Finally, when he looked down, he saw there was a demoness over there.

And that demoness was looking up at him. And she was having a smirk on her face. And she had opened her mouth.

And Hanuman realised that she had some mystical powers by which she was holding on to. And he tried his fullest capacity. But he just could not move forward.

As he was watching and wondering, what's happening? Where is this power coming from? And the demoness started bragging. She said, I have a blessing by which anyone who passes by this, I will catch them, I will take away their capacity to move and then I will devour them. Now, Hanuman was concerned.

He was completely paralysed. It seemed all the powers that he had, they were still insufficient. Despite having all the powers, he just tried exerting himself.

There's no way. And then that demoness started pulling him. Now she had caught him, she started pulling him to devour him.

So Hanuman suddenly changed act. One of the names in the prayers of Hanuman is Buddhimannam Varishnam. Most diligent.

So when sometimes we are facing a problem and there's no solution, we just keep beating against the same thing again and again and again. Now I changed act, what can I do different? So he preempted her. She was trying to pull him down and she was expecting that he will fight.

And he had to exert a lot of force. But what happened, he himself used all his energy to rush downwards. Now she was using her mystical powers to prevent him from getting up.

But what he did was, he just raced downwards. And he raced downwards so fast that before she could understand what's happening, he had entered into her mouth and right through her mouth he went into her belly. And she had sharp teeth.

But Hanuman just dodged those teeth and went straight inside. And from within, he just used his full power from there. And he just burst out.

And she just, she did not expect this at all. She didn't know what to do. She had mystical powers here.

But instead she was wondering. As he burst through, he came out. He came out and the demons fell back dead.

And he marched ahead. So at one level, this seems to be okay. This seems to be a romantic story.

But it also represents something. I'll come back to what this represents a little later. More in detail.

But there are two different approaches. Later on, when he finally comes to Lanka, what happens is, he meets Lankini. And she says, no everybody can go ahead.

Enter into Lanka without my permission. What does Hanuman do? Hanuman just uses one blow. She falls aside.

And Hanuman bounces ahead. So there, Hanuman doesn't get involved in fighting and beating and trying to destroy her. So basically, our attachments can be of two different kinds broadly.

There are deep-rooted attachments. And there are superficial or circumstantial attachments. Now, the word attachment, before we talk.

So, basically, silmika represents deep-rooted attachments. And Lankini represents these more superficial attachments. Now, before we move forward, let's try to understand what attachment means.

It can mean many different things. At a simple level, it means things that hold us back. Attachment means things that hold us back.

That we all are trying to do certain things in life. But we are often unable to do things. So, Oscar Wilde is a British playwright.

He said, giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I have done it over a hundred times. So, I gave up smoking, but smoking did give me up.

But other things hold us back. We all may have our attachments. We may have social media attachment, TV attachment, food attachment.

Nowadays, there is alcoholism, there is shopaholism. Shopping, shop, shop, shop, shop, till you drop. Bit like that.

So, we all have different kinds of attachments. And these hold us back. We want to go in particular directions, we want to do particular things.

But we are unable to do those things. Whether it is in our material life or our spiritual life. When we want to progress, attachments can hold us back.

So, what are the ways to deal with attachments? So, basically… Let's start with Nandini. What did Hanuman do? Just knock on the side. So, for us, many of the things that we may be attached to.

If we just make some external changes. We just get the temptations, the obstacles out of the way. We change our lifestyle and things change.

There are many desires that pop up. Many cravings that are highly circumstantial. Say for example, if this is my office.

And this is my home. And say… If along the way… There is a bath. And suppose somebody is a recovery alchemist.

Then, every time they pass by the bath, they get the urge. Let's go and drink. And now, when this happens… They will have to resist that temptation.

Generally, what happens? When we come close to a tempting object. Say, this is the conditioned soul. And this is a tempting object.

Then… Many tempting objects… They pull us downwards. They have almost like a gravity pull. Just as… If I consider this phone.

If I let go of this phone. I won't. If I let go of this phone, what is going to happen? This fall.

Why? Because there is gravity. Now that's just to be expected. That is, it's unpleasant if the phone falls.

But, it is not unexpected. That's what is going to happen. So like that, we all have… Certain objects that we have indulged in in the past.

When you indulge in those objects, naturally… Whenever we come in the vicinity of those objects. Then they will have a pull on us. And they will pull us downwards.

Pull us towards them. At such times… What we need to do is… Just create a distance. So create some kind of barrier.

So create some kind of barrier. So… In 3.41 he says… That we need to regulate our senses. Create some barriers or boundaries… Between us and those tempting objects.

So, if somebody is a recovering alcoholic… And they pass by a bar… Then everyday when they pass by the bar… The temptation will come. They have to fight with the temptation. So what happens is… They have to create some distance.

If they don't create that distance… Then there will be no bar for them to go to the bar. Isn't it? So what they have to do is… Maybe… You cannot push the bar aside literally. That is not practically possible.

But maybe you will find another way. Maybe a little more troublesome. But I'll find a way.

So, for many temptations… Basically, out of sight is out of mind. So, there are superficial desires we have like that. It's only when we come to those desires… That we get caught in them.

So, Hanuman's approach with Lankini was… Just push her out of the way. So, if we just create a distance… We create a barrier or boundary… Then that goes away. And out of sight is out of mind.

So, one of the approaches we use in Bhakti is… Keep yourself busy. So, basically… We cannot get things out of sight completely. But we don't have to leave our sight unmonitored.

If we are busy… Say, if we are going on a crowded road… Even if there is a bar on the side of the road… We won't even have time to notice it… Because we are navigating the traffic. Isn't it? So, if we keep ourselves busy… So, we keep ourselves busy and engaged… Then that itself protects us. But… There are some attachments… Which seem to be so strong… That this approach just doesn't work.

Sometimes something goes out of sight… It seems to rise more in the mind. Like there is a separation… Makes the heart grow fonder. Isn't it? It's like sometimes we abstain from something… Say, okay, I am not going to watch this TV show.

I am not going to eat this food. I am not going to go to this. And it seems that desire seems to become stronger and stronger.

And it becomes so strong… It's almost as if we feel paralysed. I can't do anything at all. I need this.

I have to get this. I cannot be without this. So, that's the other kind of attachment.

That's what Simbika represents. Sometimes, some attachments… Actually, Simbika was already out of sight. So, basically… To take this a little more complicated… I make it complicated.

I make it simpler. So, there is a soul. Then there is the… Then there is the mind.

Then there is the body. And all of these together… Is the conditioned soul. And say, here in the outer world… There are some tempting objects.

So, basically… Sometimes… When the desires come up within us… Some desires… They primarily come from outside. This is something… See, that's nice. I want to have it.

But there are some other desires… Which are already stored inside us as… Impressions. So, these impressions in Sanskrit… Are called as Samskar. Now, Samskar… You can put this in English as… Some scar.

Everybody has some or the other scar to their side. And what happens is… When these Samskars are there inside us… Then the desires seem to rise from inside… Even if there is no object. Like sometimes somebody sees a bar… And they go and drink there.

But sometimes some people… They are talking with their boss in the office… And suddenly their boss pours things into a bottle of alcohol. In their mind's eye. And they say, I have to go and drink.

So, sometimes there are attachments inside us. And then the impressions… The Samskaras that are inside us… They pull us in the outside direction. So, when this is happening… At that time… Just… We knock the temptation out of our way.

That approach doesn't work. Because the temptation… The impression is still there inside us. So, at that time what did Hanuman do? He went straight inside.

Straight inside means… That… We have to go inwards. If you consider… There is the… Surface. If you consider the self… The self is multilevel.

At the self, surface level… There is some unhealthy craving. Say, somebody has a craving to… To drink a lot. Somebody has a craving to shop a lot.

Some people just have a craving to hoard a lot of things. To splurge. So, everybody has different kinds of cravings, urges.

So, now when this happens… They just don't do it. It's a waste of money. It's a waste of time.

We may understand it, but still it keeps happening. So, what is going on over here is… Often… Every unhealthy craving… It arises… Within… From some… Healthy need. There is a healthy need… Which becomes distorted… As an unhealthy craving.

So, we need to go inwards… To understand what a healthy need is. So, what Hanuman did was… He went inside Surasa. Surasa? No, Sindhika.

He went inside Sindhika… And from there he dealt with it. So, what does this mean? I'll take two examples. And then we'll open for question and answers.

So, consider… Suppose somebody is an alcoholic. Now, some people… Maybe drink alcohol… Because they are primarily social drinkers. That means… Maybe everybody in their social circle drinks.

They go to office, they go to college. They all want to be a cool person. Many of the things which we do to be cool… Make us a fool.

Unfortunately. But, see, that's the reason. Now, if they come to a spiritual community… Where nobody drinks.

And… Now, for belonging… To the spiritual community… They don't need to drink. They need to give up drinking. Such people… If their underlying need was mostly a sense of belonging… Then, once they come into a spiritual community… They just give up drinking immediately.

They won't have any struggle about it. But… Somebody else might be an alcoholic… Because they are bored… Because they are insecure… Because… They feel stressed. And this… Alcohol is their coping mechanism.

So, now, what may happen is… If this is their underlying healthy need… Then, even if they come to a spiritual community… Still, there are times when they feel bored. Still, there are times when they feel insecure. As devotees, we come together and say… We find, okay, this person is doing more austerity than me… This person is doing more seva than me… That means, because he is insecure.

Or, sometimes, life is tough. Just because we are practising bhakti… Doesn't mean there are no troubles in our life. So, if that is our coping mechanism… Then, just say, don't drink.

That won't be enough. In the Chandhani Krishna also… It's very important in Chandhani Krishna to practise bhakti. No doubt.

But… That alone may not seem to lead to change. And you may start thinking, what's happening? What's wrong with me? Is it that bhakti doesn't work at all? Bhakti doesn't work for me? Am I peculiarly, uniquely fallen that bhakti doesn't work for me? It's not like that. Now… We need to do some inner work… To understand, what is that inner need? When I am doing this particular activity… Why am I doing this activity? Krishna says… Krishna says, we have to observe ourselves… So that we can elevate ourselves.

So, if I am here… It's like, I can look at myself from above. Almost we can raise ourselves… And during times of… Self-observation, introspection, manda-nirishan… We do some introspection. Observe ourselves.

Okay, when I indulge in this particular thing… What goes on in my mind? What am I thinking? Why am I doing this? So, when we go deeper… And we address that underlying need… Okay, when we find that… You know, I like kirtans. And… When we come to temple, we like kirtans. And that's wonderful.

But when I hear kirtans… I feel very good. I feel very soothing. I feel very comforted.

Then maybe… What I need to do is… Whenever I feel stressed… Whenever I feel insecure… Whenever I feel depressed… Whenever I feel bored… Maybe I should have a kirtan training. Let me start hearing the kirtan. That's why a one-size-fits-all formula… May not work for everyone.

It's just chattering. When you start doing japa… It may help for some people. It helps ultimately for everyone.

But intermediately… It may not help for everyone. Because… For somebody, it might be keepers. For somebody, they might… They might just like, okay, I have my deities.

I start decorating the deities. And I just feel so good about it. And that calms me down.

Somebody has written a book, I start reading the book. Okay, I just go out for a walk. And I pray while I am in nature.

And that helps me calm down. So, what is the healthier way? What is the need? And what is the healthier way I can address that need? So now… At an ultimate level… If we go backwards over here… That a healthy need… There is a need at a psychological level. See, inside us… There is the body.

There is the mind. And ultimately there is soul. At the spiritual level… The healthy need ultimately for all of us is Krishna.

And once we get Krishna… We won't need anything else. But sometimes… The psychological troubles may be so much… That even if Krishna is available… We may not be able to benefit from Krishna. How is that possible? Like sometimes… When a patient has been severely wounded… Then their whole body is in a state of shock.

And if you give them curative medication… Their body is just in such a defensive posture… At first, you have to give them some pain medication… Where the body comes out of a defensive posture. And then the curative medication will come. So like that… Remembrance of Krishna and love for Krishna… Is the ultimate curative medication.

Our deepest need ultimately… Is for Krishna. It is… When we come to Krishna… Just like Hanuman ripped Srimika apart from inside… We can rip all our attachments apart from inside. But Bhakti culture… Bhakti… Is not just about remembrance of Krishna.

Bhakti is about a culture. And the culture… Is also meant… To address various needs. So in the culture, there is music… There is decoration… There are relationships… So whatever is our… Psychological need also… That can also be taken care of… By the Bhakti culture.

So… These deeper needs… Bhakti… Is centred on remembrance of Krishna. And this addresses… Our spiritual need. But the Bhakti culture… Bhakti culture doesn't just mean one thing… We wear a particular kind of dress… Or put on a dila… Those are important things.

Bhakti culture essentially means… It's a… It's a… It's an encompassing… Way of living. So… It's an encompassing way of living. So in the Bhakti culture… One important point is… We need to have close friends… With whom we can open our heart.

And then… If something is burdening our heart… We talk with them. We share our heart. And then whatever is burdening us… That burden goes away.

So… Various needs… Can be addressed within the Bhakti culture. When that happens… Then we find that gradually… For Hanuman… It happened in one moment… That he just broke the… Stomach of Simrika… And he came out. In our case, it may take some time.

But if we keep addressing… The deeper needs… The surface desires… Will gradually start becoming weaker. And in that way… Whatever it is that is holding us back… We can… Get rid of it. So for us… The most important thing is… In our focus… It's not what holds us back.

Sometimes we become too obsessed… Oh, you know, I'm not able to give this up. I'm not able to give that up. But… Focus should be us.

What we can hold on to. So what negative… Holds us back. But rather, what positive we can hold on to.

Okay, when I'm very distressed… Maybe I cannot chat. Maybe I can recite some verses. Maybe I can give some classes.

Maybe I can do some puja. Maybe I can do some seva. So what positive can I hold on to? This essentially is… What Krishna recommends… Param drishtva nivartate.

The higher taste comes… When we hold on… To the positive, higher reality. And when this happens… Krishna says… That is when nivartate. We become peaceful.

We become joyful. So I'll summarise… What I discussed today. I talked about… Overcoming attachments… Based on the Ramayan.

And I talked about… Three main points. First point was… The approach… That we have to give to the topic. We discussed how… Putting a date on history.

You should not get too caught in the facts… And in the numbers and figures. It's not… Date on… Date on wisdom. Date on wisdom.

That's not as important as… Going on a date with wisdom. We want to fall in love with the wisdom. And the Lord has given us the wisdom.

And I discussed four approaches. What are the four approaches? Literal… Ethical… Allegorical… And devotional. So we took the ethical, allegorical approach.

And then discussed… The two attachments. So one was… What does she represent? Attachments that are… Superficial. So superficial or circumstantial.

So what is the way to deal with them? Yes, just put a distance. Create a distance. Get them out of the way.

So out of sight leads to out of mind. For many of our attachments we'll find… This will work. But for some, it will not work.

And that is represented by… Symbica. So here what happens is… Whenever there is an unhealthy craving… What we need to do is… Go deeper. Inward to look at… What is the healthy or natural need underlying? That need could be psychological… That could be spiritual.

So when we go deeper and address that need… So once that underlying need is addressed… Then… This is more like an outside-in approach. That… We just change the outside… And the inside agitation goes away. But this is more of an inside-out approach.

Both approaches are required. So inside-out approach means what we do is… We find out a healthier way… To address our needs. So find out within bhakti… A focus… It needed be on negative… That holds on to us.

We will be too conscious of this… Oh I am not able to give this up… I am not able to do that… But we focus more on positive… That we can hold on to. So find out that positive… And by that each one of us… Can find a way… To stay connected… And to keep growing… In our lives. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much… For the wonderful insight… From Rahman. And I will take the floor… For any questions and answers… In the class. Yes.

Hi Krishna… Prabhu… I follow… This person's name is Robert Green… And he gives this podcast… On powers from the secular world… He talks about how… Especially in the workplace… How you can make your adversaries your allies… By not giving them a good leap… Instead of crying… Or instantly responding to everything… If I react this way… He will create more conflict… Versus if I react this way… I turn this adversary into an ally… That reminds me of when Hanuman… Does something very opposite… To what was expected… He just goes deeper… Instead of trying to go in the opposite way… So can you talk about… How that can be used… As a way… To get out of tricky situations… Perhaps at the workplace… See… Basically… Whenever… We face… An obstacle… There are… Two ways… It depends on two unhealthy ways of responding… It's blame others… This person is like this… The job itself is like this… These people are like this… This country is like this… Blame others… But the other extreme is also… Blame ourselves… That… I am worthless… We start beating ourselves up… That is also not healthy… In between… Is something else… It's like… Taking responsibility… Taking responsibility means… That basically… This is the situation I am in… And the whole philosophy of karma… Is actually about… Assuring us… That our actions matter… Karma is not so much about… Past centred… I don't know… You have done all these things… That's not the point of karma… The point of karma is… Our actions matter… And therefore let us choose wisely… Our past actions matter… And they may constrain us in some ways now… But our present actions matter… And by those… We can lessen some of the constraints… That have come from our past… So we can increase those constraints… So taking responsibility could mean… It's more like a… Objective analysis… Krishna says… So… First of all… There is observation… What exactly is happening… Is this happening to me alone… Is this happening to everyone here… So… We observe… And then… After that there is evaluation… Many times what happens is… Rajoguna and Tamoguna… There is evaluation… Especially in Tamoguna… There is evaluation before observations… That means what… Oh this is a terrible person… I am a terrible person… My destiny is wrong… Now… First observe… What actually happened… And try to find out a rational cause… For understanding this… And then try to evaluate… So this is basically… Satoguna functioning… Blaming others is Rajoguna… Blaming ourselves is Tamoguna… I am putting it in broad and simple terms… But basically… We take responsibility… I am in this situation… What has put me in this situation… And what can I do about it… So observe and evaluate… And then we can find it… Sometimes it may be that… I have done some mess… And because of this problem… It could also be the other person is the problem… And we have to decide… Can we talk with them… Do we talk to their authorities… Or this is not changeable… Do I live with this… Do I move somewhere else… There are various approaches that can be taken… But it is first observation then evaluation… But what our mind does is… It jumps to an evaluation without adequate observation… And that is what is… Impulsive behaviour… So observation to evaluation… This is reflective…this is thoughtful… But evaluation… Before observation… So this is where… It becomes impulsive… And the impulsive can over time… End up becoming destructive also… Ok… That is what we want to avoid… Thank you… So there was a side that… The nature of the pendulum… Will be going back and forth… Right… And the main thing is that… In the middle we find the humility… That we are something… Not that we can put the God on the edge… Or have any security… So to actually come to the force of the gravity… Can we always situate in the… Level of humility… Because the nature will be always dwelling… And if it is… How to come back to the humility level… Considering… Because if we are extreme on the ego… Then difficult to come to the power of humility… And if we are extremely on the insecurity… How we can actually… Drag ourselves to the level of humility… That is a struggle… Yes… So yesterday I talked about the power of humility… When I mentioned that… When we think of ego and humility as opposites… But actually the opposite of ego is insecurity… Ego is I can do everything… Humility is I am something… I am a part of God… And I can play some parts… I can't do everything… But I can do some things… So generally speaking… Yes… We will move in different directions… But over a period of time… If we observe… This is the tendency I go more towards… Some people gravitate more towards ego… Some people will gravitate… For example… Going back to the previous diagram… Those with ego will keep blaming others… Those with insecurity issues… Will keep beating themselves up… So once we observe… This is my tendency… Then we can create mechanisms… For dealing with those tendencies… For example… We could write down some quotes… Or write down some good thoughts… Keep them with ourselves… And by that we can bring ourselves… Towards the same goal… Once to be forewarned… Is to be forearmed… So the tendencies themselves may not change… But our capacity… To deal with those tendencies… Will change… So tendencies will also change… But it will take time… Inside us there is our buddhi… There is our intelligence… And there is our mind… So quite often… Both of these are there… But you could say that… Intelligence is small… And the mind is quite big… Especially in the areas where we are attached… The emotions are very strong… And the reason is very weak… So this is where… We have… Attached… We have certain tendencies… So now… To get the mind to shrink in size is difficult… So often the first step… Out of here is… That we can strengthen our intelligence… Our mind may not immediately become weaker… Because those impressions are there… So… What will happen by this is… Even if the tendency comes… We may sway in that direction… But we won't stay… In that direction for that long… So we may stray away… But we won't stay away… We will come back fast… And over a period of time… As the intelligence becomes stronger… And the tendency between the mind becomes weaker… Then from there… We can come to a level where… The intelligence becomes stronger… And the mind becomes weaker… So we can't… That's why I said… Focus on what we can hold on to… Not what holds on to us… So say wisdom… Insights…inspiration… Those are things which we can hold on to… And by that we can nourish our intelligence… So focus on… Strengthening our intelligence… This is much more possible for us… And the weakening of the mind… That will take its own time… It takes time… We cannot force that process… So often instead of strengthening our intelligence… We focus on… Trying to weaken the mind… And with the mind we can be weaker… And we beat ourselves up with guilt… And that creates further problems… So thank you very much… Please talk… Hare Krishna… So we are running out of time… Prabhuji is around… So you can ask personal questions…