Dealing with old age – individual and social responsibility – 3.30.15
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna So, I have mixed feelings to be back here after a long time. I am grateful to have this opportunity to be amongst all of you who have nourished me from my early days of spiritual life. And some of the call of service required me to go elsewhere.
I am happy to be here answering and trying to sell whatever small that I can. So, generally I am giving not a series of classes, just one class. So, I try to focus on three main questions.
What is the section doing in the Bhagavatam? What is that particular verse doing in that section? And what the relevance of that verse is for our life? So, this particular section, the first question is What is this section doing in the Bhagavatam? The Bhagavatam is centered around Jantar and everything in the Bhagavatam is building towards the Ashwagandha. Now, the Bhagavatam utilizes this word as a meditational tool for approaching the world beyond and approaching the Lord who is in that world beyond. And for this meditational tool, there are basically three main meditations.
The second canto, the third canto and the fifth canto. The second canto offers the Vinatarupa, the universal form as the meditational tool for going beyond this world. Why? Because we may say I am not the body, I am the soul.
But still, we have to live in the body. And I may say I belong to the spiritual world. But for the rest of this life, and depending on how we become purified, maybe for some future lives, we have to live in this world.
So, how do we live in this world and still think of the world beyond? One way is that we just withdraw from the world and just think of something beyond the world. But that is not something which we can do constantly. So, the idea in the Bhagavatam is we look at the world and connect this world with the other world.
So, the second canto offers the Virata Rupa. Now, the difference between the Virata Rupa in the Bhagavatam and the Vishwa Rupa in the Bhagavad Gita is that the Virata Rupa is a conceptualization whereas the Vishwa Rupa is a revelation. Conceptualization means that Kalpita that is said that this is imagined.
The universal form is imagined. Okay, these are the heads. These are the rivers are the blood vessels or the plants are the hair on the body.
The eyes are the sun and the moon. So, the Bhagavad Gita says it is Kalpita. And that is why we will see that the Vishwa Rupa or the terms are interchangeably used but the concept is different.
The Virata Rupa when it is described we will see that it comes in the 8th canto prayers by the Deliverance of the Supreme Lord. It comes even in the 10th canto Akrura's prayer in the Bhagavad Gita. It comes repeatedly and in different places different correlations are made.
That means sometimes it says the hands are this and sometimes the hands are said to be something else. So, why? Because the primary point is not a one-to-one correlation. The primary point is a conceptual tool.
So, while we look at this world how can we connect the bigness of this world with the bigness of God? That's why that chapter which describes the Virata Rupa is called as the first step in God realization. That we see big things in this world and generally tend to be impressed. So, look at the big things in the world and we see how big God is.
So, this is the conceptualization. Now the conceptualization means that there is no we know there is in the Vaikuntha Loka there is a Loka for Vishnu, for Narayan, for Hari, for Narasimha for so many other forms. But there is no Virata Rupa Loka in the spiritual world.
The Virata Rupa is primarily conceptualization. The Vishwa Rupa on the other hand which is described in the 11th chapter is not a conceptualization. It's a revelation.
Conceptualization means bottom up. The seeker here tries to think and tries to think what is the Vishwa Rupa like? Whereas, revelation means it is shown. So, Arjuna is saying I see this, I see this, I see this.
So, he is not visualizing actually he is seeing. So, in that sense the Vishwa Rupa is a top down revelation. The Virata Rupa is a bottom up conceptualization.
So, that is one way in which we can connect this world with God by concealing how the greatness of this world reflects the greatness of God. The third canto which is the section we are discussing this section starts more or less from the 20th chapter and goes to the end of the canto here this is Sankhya. The Sankhya is one of the six systems of philosophy that evolved in the Indian tradition.
In India broadly nine systems of philosophy evolved. So, six are called as orthodox and three are called as heterodox. In Sanskrit it is astik and nastik.
So, orthodoxy and heterodoxy was determined based on whether those systems of philosophy accepted the authority of the Vedas or not. So, if they accepted the authority of the Vedas they were called as orthodox. So, now Sankhya is one of these six systems.
Generally they are coupled together. So, there is I won't go into all the philosophies here but there is Nyaya Vaisheshika there is Sankhya Yoga and there is Uttar Bhimamsa and Vedanta. So, Sankhya Yoga are coupled together because Sankhya is more of how we view the outer world and Yoga is about how we discipline the inner world and for disciplining the inner world the outer world's world view is also taken from Sankhya.
Now, originally these six systems of philosophy were progressive just like we may have different, we may have first hand, second hand, third hand, fourth hand they are progressive. So, originally these six systems of philosophy were progressive but subsequently every school of philosophy started asserting its own autonomy and then what was progressive became competitive and that's why we see in the Vedanta Sutra Baldevindya Goswami's Govinda Vashishtha Mantra actually devotes a good amount of energy refuting Sankhya. He shows how Sankhya is a wrong philosophy.
Now, if Sankhya is a wrong philosophy now, if it is based on the Vedas how can it be wrong? It is wrong in the sense that the Sankhya philosophers claim that their philosophy is based on the Vedas but they distort the meaning of the Vedas. So, the accurate conclusion of the Vedas is Vedanta. So, Vedanta Sutra is essentially what? That how the other five systems of philosophy are not correct but Vedanta is the correct.
And there were three heterodox systems of philosophy that developed. Buddhism, Jainism and Shabadism. And these three were also refuted in the Vedanta Sutra especially in the commentaries by the Acharyas.
Now, one approach to the worldly systems of thought is rejection. Another approach is connection. So, the Bhagavatam offers that approach.
This section is called often we refer to it as Sankhya but technically it is called as Bhagavad Sankhya. Because Sankhya as it has evolved today as it is known for the last millennia or more it is thought of as an atheistic philosophy. It has been understood in the history that if you go to schools or if you go to atheistic philosophy departments and study Sankhya there is Eshwar Krishna who is a prominent proponent of Sankhya.
And he even studied Sankhya as an atheistic philosophy. It doesn't bring God into the picture at all. So, that is an incorrect understanding about Sankhya as originally meant.
So, the connection of Sankhya with Bhagavan is revealed in the Bhagavatam. That's why it is called as Bhagavata Sankhya. So, Prabhupada writes in this in one of the purports in his Bhagavata Sankhya section that there is a great potential for a search on because by this we can show how the world is actually connected with God.
So, both these approaches are valid depending on timely circumstances. So, in the Vedanta Sutra and in his commentary Govinda Bhashya, Bandeditya Rishi has a particular purpose. That purpose is to show the philosophical supremacy of Vedanta.
And for that, he adopts the approach of confrontation. And he defeats Sankhya. But in the Bhagavatam, the Parikshit Maharaj is on his death bed.
There is no bed actually. He is on a death seat we can say. He is on his death seat.
And he is not really interested in an intricate philosophical debate. He is primarily interested in meditating on the Supreme Lord. And Shri Dev Goswami as an expert teacher, expert speaker, orients his presentation accordingly.
And that's why rather than rejecting Sankhya, he shows how Sankhya is connected to Bhagavata. And that is Bhagavat Sankhya. So, that Bhagavat Sankhya is the special revelation of the Bhagavatam.
Of course, the most special revelation of the Bhagavatam is Krishnastha Bhagavan as we read in the Tenth Canto. Sweetness of Krishna. But along with that, another revelation is the Bhagavatam.
The concept of Bhagavat Sankhya. How we can analyze this world and show that this world is connected with God. Actually, Prabhupada also adopted a similar approach to science.
Sometimes, as devotees, we may initially, we may get some some egoistic kick Hey, all scientists are from this, rascals, this, that, that, that. And that is what Prabhupada has said. But that is on a particular occasion.
At other occasion, there is one very significant version of Prabhupada. Prabhupada says, the scientists' spirit of wanting to know more. We are only against their denial of God.
So, this is Sankhya. Are we against Sankhya per se? No. We have nothing to do with Sankhya.
We are interested in Krishna. If Sankhya takes people away from Krishna, we are against Sankhya. But if Sankhya can be used to connect us with Krishna, use that.
As Shuddha Goswami demonstrates in the film. Same with science also. That, if science takes people away from God, we counter it.
But when science can be used to take people towards God, we should use it. So now, the whole section of Sankhya is for what? Which is there in the third canto. It is to enable us to see how we can connect this world with God.
And by observing the things and events in this world, how we can meditate on God. The third section which offers this is the fifth canto of cosmology. That is the around 16th to 25th chapters.
And if we look at those chapters, there is really not much geographical or cosmological description in terms of analytical detail. The primary focus of even those 10 chapters, roughly whatever is there, never happened. I was also part of cosmology.
So, we did the research. Actually, majority of verses in the cosmology section are also what? In this planet, the people are worshipped in this particular form. They are not.
In this planet, they are worshipped in this form only. So now, exactly where this planet is, how it is situated, that is not important for you guys. What is important is, wherever you go, everybody is a dharmic person.
So you should also be dharmic. And if you look at, generally, there is Upakrama Upasamhara Abhyasato Apurvata Aparanam that if you want to understand, this is called Takpare Linga. Takpare Linga means, if you want to understand the meaning, Takpare is meaning.
Linga is the symbol or the symptom. How can we know what is the meaning of a particular section? So it says, there are five things we can look at. Upakrama Upasamhara Upakrama means, what comes in the beginning.
Upasamhara means, what comes in the end. Abhyasato, what is repeated again and again. Apurvata, what is told, which is not told anywhere else.
Falam, what is the phalashruti that is given. So if you want to understand, what is the essential meaning of the book, so what is the point I started with? How does it start? How does the lecture end? What is the point that is repeated again and again? What is the special thing that I heard, which I have not heard anywhere else? And what is the practical call for action? Falashruti. So these are the five things.
Upakrama Upasamhara Abhyasato Apurvata So now if you look at the third character also, Upakrama Upasamhara we will see that in the beginning the Bhagavatam states that by this analysis our mind will become fixed on the Supreme Lord. By this analysis the purpose of this analysis is is bhagavata chintam is meditation on the Supreme Lord. So the purpose of the whole Sankhya section of the Bhagavatam is to help us meditate on the Supreme Lord while observing the world around us.
And in fact this is actually the second biggest philosophical section in the Bhagavatam. The biggest philosophical section is of course the Uddhavita. And this is the second biggest single philosophical discussion that happens.
Now moving forward to this particular verse. The first question was what is this section doing in the Bhagavatam? This section is helping us to see this world and connect this world with the Supreme Lord Now if you go to the next part the next question is what is this verse doing in this section? So this verse is actually describing the miseries of old age. This chapter is entitled as description of adverse fruitive activities.
So essentially after analyzing the material world into its positive elements which happened in the previous chapters of analysis for taking the mind from this world to God is here. So what is that mode of analysis? We look at this world and instead of looking at it with rose tinted glasses now we look at it with reality glasses. In general the mind internally and the culture externally they tend to glamorize the world.
They tend to romanticize the world. Oh there is so much pleasure here. There is so much pleasure there.
You just do that and you will be so happy. There is so much enjoyment everywhere. So one approach basically there are three broad approaches to the world.
One is the approach of the path of karma that is to romanticize the world. The path of Jnana so if you consider a pendulum one extreme of the pendulum is to romanticize the world. So the movie description will be romanticize romance.
So romanticize means romance is specific to the material world but romanticize basically means to depend in a very positive, pleasant, enjoyable way something. So that is romanticization of the world is what is done in the path of karma. And the other extreme of the pendulum is demonization of the world.
This world is a place of illusion. It is a place of entanglement. It is a place of misery.
And you just have to stay away from this world. So in the Maharashtra Pradaya the example is given that the pleasures of this world enjoying the pleasures of this world is like a frog who is being tormented by the heat of the sun. That frog goes and fights shit in the fangs of a snake.
The frog gets shade from the sun but what kind of shade is that? It is going to cause disaster. Destruction. So actually the pleasures of this world are the sources of protunation.
And it will bring misery. It will bring misery. These are just sample examples.
Now if you see the Bhagavad Gita offers a little philosophy. But the point is there can be this whole very negative attitude towards the world when you demonize the whole world. This whole world is simply a place of misery.
And you just have to get out of this. That is actually the path of Jnana. The intermediate is neither to romanticize the world nor to demonize the world but to utilize the world.
And utilizing the world is the path of Bhakti. So the Bhakti Marga doesn't say that all this world itself is enjoyed. You just chant Hare Krishna everything will become happy in this world.
No, it doesn't say that. But it doesn't say also that everybody has to renounce the world. Everybody has to go live in a forest or live in a palm tree.
No, wherever we are we can practice Krishna. Sthane sthita shuddhi vatam tari kumanam sthane sthita wherever we are sitting. So utilize the world.
That's why now we'll see the significant paradox. This section describes the miseries of old age. And how when a person becomes old the person will be diseased will be unable to eat will be unable to digest will be unable to live a dignified life others will treat him just like a dog this griha paal this same metaphor was used by Bhima or rather by Vidura to talk about how Bhima is treating Dhritarashtra in the first canto.
And that has joyed Dhritarashtra out of his comfort zone and to incite him to renounce the world. So this is one aspect how the world how especially for old people it's so miserable. But we will see that Vedic culture although it acknowledges it will acknowledge it unsentimentally but it does not it also creates systems for minimizing it.
In the Vedic culture five groups of people are to be protected. So children women Brahmanas cows and the elderly people. So that is also a principle.
We have to always remember that things need to be balanced. Now in the fourth canto we see when Pruthu Maharaj was the king and at that time there was a devastating famine in the kingdom. So the people came to him and citizens came and said just as a forest fire may burn the forest similarly our Jatra Agni or Apradeepta Agni our Jatra Agni is burning the swamp with it.
So now at that time it was not that Pruthu Maharaj said that good now you are setting the realization of this Dukkha and Jatra. No he did not do that. What did he do? He actually adopted proactive measures to deal with the problem.
So this is a very important principle that when we are in a movement now our movement is ultimately transcendental but while being transcendental we have to function in this world. And when there are practical problems the managers and the counsellors cannot just say Chandrayani Krishna problem is over. Yes that is an important part.
We cannot just say that material solutions will work but we cannot neglect material solutions also. If somebody is sick we can't say just Chandrayani Krishna everything will be alright. No the person has to take medicine.
Why? Because when we are in the material world we have to do certain material duties also. In the Bhagavatam this pessimistic attitude if it is taken too much excessively I will talk about why this attitude comes later but I am talking from a broad social perspective. If this pessimistic attitude that this world is a place of misery itself if we adopt it indiscriminately then all initiative and determination in this world gets lost.
We see that when Draupadi is dishonoured the Pandavas don't tell her it is all your own bad karma that caused this. No they take measures to counter that. Why? Because when something goes wrong what is important is not what the karma is.
What is even more important is what the dharma is. Karma means whatever karmic reaction may have come to somebody is fine. But what is the dharma of the person? The dharma of a king is to protect the citizens as to humanity.
The dharma of the husband is to protect the birth as the Pandavas did. So actually speaking similarly in the case of old people it is the dharma of the society at large to take care of the old people. But if that is the case then why is this whole point told? Why is Bhagavatam saying that old age is such a time of misery? That is for the individual.
That is for the individual to not just stay stuck at the material life. For example Draupadi can say I am suffering because of my past karma. But those who are meant to be her protectors they have to ensure that she is protected.
Similarly an elderly person when the inevitable miseries of the body come then at that time the elderly person can meditate how actually this body is eventually going to cause more misery and going to destroy. So I must raise my consciousness. I must raise my consciousness like this.
But how can I do that? For that I could find out how I can practice yoga. But those who are around that person they also have to administer to the material needs of that person. And that way when the material needs are taken care of then the person can focus on restoration.
The Prabhupada when he was building the Mayapur project at that time he told his disciples we can just chant Hare Krishna and Mayapur and be happy. But people are to come here we want people from all over the world to come and we need to provide these good facilities. Now over a period of time the other way that it can happen is we can try to ruthlessly suppress the body.
I sleep only for 2-3 hours at night, I do this fasting, I do this, I do that and we think that is the sign of spiritual advancement. How much I have conquered our body. Yes, we do have to control our body, but conquering our body in and of itself is not a sign of spiritual advancement.
You know how much we have devoted to Krishna, that is the sign of spiritual advancement. Just a few days ago, Bhakti Krishna was asking me about my health, then I was asking about his health. So he said, after 50, if you can wake up on any day without pain, that means you are dead.
How does it mean? Actually, when we wake up with the body, there will be some pain. You know, only time we will wake up without pain is when we have come out of the body. So, actually, there will be pain as we grow older and then as we realize that the body itself is a tool and the tool needs to be used in a regulated way.
So, often as we grow older, when the passion goes down, we realize that I cannot suppress the body too much. Of course, that doesn't mean I indulge in the body, but I have to handle the body in a regulated way. So, the earlier we learn the lesson, the better it is because when the body stays as a useful tool for us to serve the world, then we can use the body to serve So, body to serve So, if we focus only on the individual matter and if somebody is sick, we will say, oh, now you are realizing how the body is.
We will be horribly unsympathetic. We will be horribly unsympathetic. Tomorrow I will be speaking on the difference between sentimentality and sensitivity.
We should not be sentimental, but we have to be sensitive. So, the point here is that if we focus only on the individual dharma to the exclusion of the social dharma. Social dharma means when we talk about society, we are talking about the community of devotees.
We who are there in the community, what we should do? So, we have to offer support, offer encouragement, offer whatever facilities possible. Now, for example, devotees have created hospices in the land. Actually, hospices are hospitals where people who are suffering from any curable disease, they can live their last days.
So, Giriraj Maharaj, pioneer, both of them together, they built a very beautiful hospice in Vrindavan. And the whole purpose is what? We say that in the last days of our life, we should stay in Vrindavan and we should meditate on Krishna. Yes, but if the basic facilities are not there, then it becomes very difficult to meditate on Krishna.
So, providing the basic facilities. Now, actually, hospices are quite common in the west, but they're not so common in India. There are only a few hospices that were there in India and it's like a pioneering step forward.
So, the idea is, we provide support systems for people so that they can practice. So, now, Giriraj Manoj wrote a book about his experiences with the hospice and he describes three different categories of people who have actually benefited from the hospice. One is, of course, devotees, who went there and left their bodies in very gracious and devotional touching circumstances.
Maharaj asked me to edit his book. So, basically, after Maharaj wrote all the stories, we categorized the stories that way. So, the second is, devotees' relatives, like Brahmachari's parents or other devotees' relatives.
So, they were very profoundly, they were very sick and then they went there. They offered all the facilities and they were able to live their last days in a very peaceful, sanctified way and then they departed. So, Acharya Kutu's father, he was also very sick in the last days and at that time, one hospital team invited his father to come there and Acharya Kutu's brother is also a doctor but he said, as a doctor, I have not seen such patient-friendly facilities in any hospital in India.
So, he was very profoundly moved by that and the point is that, his father was not a devotee but while he was there, the sannyasis came and met him and offered his permission and prayers and spoke Krishna Katha to him and he was, the relative, the non-relative said that actually he ought to speak of the spiritual stories even materially he was much more comfortable there than what he might have been in the medical hospital elsewhere. So, this is an example of how providing proper medical facilities enables people to focus on the spiritual and that is also the necessity of a moment for which he is ultimately going to help people on the spiritual. And then, the third is local Brajwasis, who were not really very favorable to his call or devoted to Krishna directly because Vrindavan, when you use the word Brajwasis, actually, people were born in Vrindavan Brajwasis but there are many people who have emigrated from elsewhere also because of the commercial boom that has happened in Vrindavan because of the tourists coming there.
So, many people were not able to do this. So, even such people, when they were very sick and they had no other shelter, the government asked hospice, you can take them and the hospice took them in and then they were also able to leave their body in a very graceful, devotional way. So, here, there is this point which Prabhupada makes, that actually to leave one's body all alone, away from one's family members, with no one knowing, that is considered to be a success.
Now, that seems quite a radical difference from what we would think of as normally proper way to depart. What we think of as glorious departures, Devotees are around doing kirtan, there is a picture of Devotees Of course, even after all that it is still painful, but still, there is the abundance which is facilitated to transcend it all, through the devotional stimuli that are around. Why is Prabhupada saying something like this? Devotees go away from the family and die alone in the forest.
You have to understand in the spiritual path, there are different definitions of success for different levels of people. So, for example, for Dhritarashtra who had offended the devotees, for him to depart in a devotional way and attain a devotional destination was going to be extremely difficult. So, for him to adopt the dhyana way is also good.
So, we see that there is always for scripture there is a substance and there is a context. Substance means what is the essential message and the context is the place where the message is given. If you see the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavatam, we can see a direct contrast between them.
The Bhagavad Gita is a very world affirming book. The Bhagavatam on the other hand is a very world rejecting book. What do you mean by world affirming? From literal context only we see Arjuna wanted to renounce the world, Krishna said don't renounce, fight, do your work.
And again and again the emphasis on Kali Yoga. If you look at the full Bhagavad Gita, there is practically no verse which talks about renouncing the world in a positive way. You will not find any verse practically.
You will find some verses before that or after that, you will find that but it is not required. Better you do Kali Yoga. Why? Actually renunciation is connected to Karma Sri Bhagavad Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita is spoken in a battlefield where Arjuna is expected to do his duty. He is expected to do his So externally it may seem that the Bhagavad Gita is a world affirming book. But it is not exactly world affirming.
It is a devotion emphasizing book. And devotion requires action in the world. In contrast if you look at the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavad Gita is spoken to a person who is about to die.
His death is inevitable. And for such a person the more person is disconnected with the world, the less the person is distracted by the world, the better it is. And that's why the Bhagavad Gita's context is what? That actually this world is a place of entanglement, place of misery.
Now both Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavad Gita say that this world is a place of misery. But Bhagavad Gita is still engaged in this world. Bhagavad Gita says reject the world.
Why? Because that's what the context is called. Now again the point is if you just look at the context, if you look at Uddhav Gita, which is the last philosophical instruction given by Krishna before he departed from the world, there also Jnana is very much glorified. In fact Krishnaji is commenting to the 11th canto that the point of the Uddhav Gita is that one should renounce the world.
Why? Because it's an additional context. Krishna is going to depart from the world and Krishna wants Uddhav also to be distanced from the world. So what Krishnaji is saying is that the message of the Uddhav Gita is to renounce the world.
And for renouncing the world, after renouncing or for renouncing, the best method is Bhakti. But if you cannot practice Bhakti, practice Gyaan but renounce the world. So again the point is what? The point is you have to look at the context.
So depending on the context, we have to decide what is the best thing to do. Now we see, Prabhupada was Swami where ministers in the government and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him renounce the world and Prabhupada he was just like an unknown Swami in America spreading a cult that was unheard of in America and Prabhupada told his followers start a political party. Why this contrast? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said I will not even meet Pratap Mudra.
If Pratap Mudra comes to meet me still I will not meet him. Prabhupada was in America and cancelled his world tour to come to India to meet Indira Gandhi. Now Indira Gandhi was not only a king she was a woman.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said don't associate with kings and don't associate with women. So why did Prabhupada do like this? So there is always a core substance that is consistent but the context determines how that substance will be applied. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's focus was primarily on establishing Gaudiya Vishnu as a way of life and as a school of thought.
Subsequent generations would establish it as a social process. And because that was the focus just to establish it as a way of life for And that's why basically Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not disrupt even the social order. The Jagannath Pujaris and Pandavas they said the Blekas cannot enter.
No problem you can't enter. I will take prasad for rest. And even the immediate Goswamis also adopted Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's view.
That's why the Goswamis did not take sanyas. Because traditionally sanyas is given to those who are Brahmins or at least those who are Brijas. Because Bhupendranath had converted to Islam and of course they again took Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but the caste conscious orthodoxy of Vrindavan considered them following.
And their taking sanyas would have been very controversial. So although Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sanyas, Bhupendranath did not take sanyas. They took Babaji and similarly Bhupendranath did not initiate disciples except for Jiva Swami.
And that's why we see that actually initiation was done by other people like Raghunanda Swami and others who were accepted as Brahminical authorities. But as you know Swamiji did not do that. But Narottam Das Baba Thakur was a non-Brahmana not only did he give initiation he gave initiation even to Brahmins.
But so because by that time the social context had changed and it was accepted. So similarly depending on the social context how things need to be applied will vary. So in the same Sampradaya Jatan Mahaprabhu will say I will not meet the king.
And in the same Sampradaya Sri Prabhupada will go out of his way to meet the head of the state. Why? Because how best can Krishna consciousness be propagated? Prabhupada felt that India still has a large reservoir of spiritual culture and the state resources can be used to protect and preserve state resources. So in the Mahaprabhu will meet the head of the state.
So in the same Sampradaya Sri Prabhupada will say I will not go out of my to meet the So the same Sampradaya Sri Prabhupada will go out of his way to the head of the state. So in the same Sampradaya Sri Prabhupada will of his head state. So the same Sampradaya Sri Prabhupada go out of his head of the state.
So in the same Sampradaya Sri the of the head of the So in the same Sampradaya Prabhupada go out of his head So in the same Sampradaya Sri Prabhupada will go out of his head of the state. So in same Sampradaya of his head of the So in the Sampradaya Sri Prabhupada go out of his of the So in the same of the state. So in the same Sampradaya Prabhupada So in the same Sampradaya Prabhupada go out of the state.
So in or any other big kind of problem, business is about to collapse or big crisis is there then the parents will not talk anything to the child. They will let the child go and sleep or go somewhere to play and then the parents will discuss. It's a great issue but the child is very small.
So, at that point the appropriate thing for love to do is it is love that hides. Don't argue that. But as the child grows up, as the child can take up responsibility then that love that hides will actually show the growth of that child.
At that time what do the parents do? The father may call the son and say, No, we have this problem in this business. Can you do this together? So then what happens? That is the love that hides. Now you have to take up responsibility and taking up responsibility means that you do this business to be a part of the solution to the problem.
So initially when we come to the movement, often we have the love that hides. We get the love that hides. No, chanting is very nice, dancing is very nice and taking prasad is very nice.
So many wonderful things to do. But then as we start practicing bhakti seriously, we realize that all the three kinds of pressure that are there in the out world, they are inside this column. There are conflicts between devotees, our body and mind, and yes, environmental problems are there.
So then what happens? That is actually a time for us to have love that guides. That means rather than imagining that within Krishna Consciousness I will have a problem-free life, rather we try to become more Krishna Conscious. And then we will realize how Krishna Consciousness helps us to rise above the problems.
How absorption in Krishna enables us to tolerate and transcend the problem. And that is the love that guides. So rather than saying that I don't get this, I don't get this, we focus on how can I best serve Krishna.
And if I serve Krishna best, according to my capacity, I will grow. I will grow in my faith that Krishna does this, Krishna does that. I will grow in my realization that even if the world does not notice what I am doing, if I am engaged in Krishna's service, I get a higher satisfaction.
I get a higher satisfaction. And I have become purified, I am moving towards Krishna. And in that way, once we get that, that realization, that realization that whatever happens at an institutional level, social level, global level, at an individual level, Krishna Bhakti always works.
It always works means what? Not that whatever service I do, I get a successful result. But if I try to absorb myself in Krishna, then I do get a higher absorption, which enables me to go beyond problems. And once we get that connection, then we can just march ahead throughout our life.
And ultimately attain Krishna as a twin brother. So I'll summarize. I started by talking about what is the section doing in the Bhagavad Gita? It is offering us a meditational tune for connecting this world with God.
So rather than rejecting the world, we look at the world and we relate on to God. Then we discussed about what is this particular verse doing in the Bhagavad Gita, in this particular section? It is talking about how in this world, especially as we grow old, this body is going to let us down. And if we continue to trust the body, we will be disappointed.
So we need to learn to use the body to trust Krishna, to direct our trust towards Krishna. We discussed about romanticizing, demonizing and utilizing. And then lastly we discussed about individual dharma and social dharma.
How the two can be reconciled. So yes, this world is a place of misery. But that does not mean that we let everything stay miserable.
Or that does not mean that we make everything miserable. Rather, we try to make things as good as is possible. We discussed Dhamara's example, Pandava's example.
The idea is, we, at a social, institutional level, try to provide people as many facilities as possible so that we can practice Krishna Consciousness nicely. And on the other hand, at an individual level, rather than expecting or demanding or depending on facilities, we focus on trying to use what we have to advance in our Krishna Consciousness. And when we try to absorb ourselves in Krishna Consciousness, in this way, with whatever facilities we have, we realize that actually Krishna Consciousness works.
By absorbing myself in Krishna, I can rise above problems. I can tolerate and transcend those problems. And that way, we can rise above the issues where we have a love that hides to the love that guides.
The love that guides, oh, Jaya Jaya Krishna, everything will become nice. But the love that guides, Jaya Jaya Krishna, and whatever problems will be there, they will be there. But we will rise above those problems.
And by this combination of individual dharma and social dharma, there can be an emergent growth of Krishna Consciousness internally within our heart and externally within the heart. Thank you very much. Jaya Krishna.