Dealing with Temptation Prayerfully | Bhagavad Gita 3.36-37 | Tirupati | Youth

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Today we will talk about the theme of Vandanam of developing a habit and culture of prayers.

For me, among the various books that are a part of our sacred canon, the Bhagavad Gita is the book that I connect with the most. In fact, many of the verses in the Gita, I feel like they are my personal friends. Of course, Krishna is not in front of the Gita.

And it's like when you have a close friend, you like to spend time with the friend. But then, as you spend time with that friend in different places, different contexts, different situations, you get to know more about that friend. How, you know, when we are happy and how they celebrate, when we are in trouble and how they support.

If we are doing something adventurous, how do they deal with it? So, we come to, when we have a friend, we try to know that friend from different perspectives. And it's always a joy to know. So, I have been studying and approaching the Gita from different perspectives.

Currently, I am working on a book of prayers inspired by the Bhagavad Gita. So, broadly, the Gita can be seen as a philosophical book. And of course, it is a philosophical book.

Not just a matter of seeing it. It is a philosophical book. The Gita can also be seen as a, this is how primarily we approach it, that it is establishing the philosophical foundation for spiritual life and professional consciousness.

Now, many people in India, especially in today's world, see it as a political book. That it is the Hindu counterpart to the Bible and the Quran. By political, I am not using a negative context.

Politics is the art of administration. And it is the book which Hindus identify with. It is also seen as a sacred book.

Sacred book means we put our hand on the Gita and we worship it. Now, Sri Prabhupada presented the Gita as an emotional book. That he explained how the Gita is having a lot of philosophy, but underlining and unifying it is the theme of emotion.

So, building on this theme of Sri Prabhupada, Sri Prabhupada follows, for example, Chakravarthy, Vishwanath Chakra Thakur is a prominent commentator in our tradition. He also gives a very devotional commentary on the Gita. So, Sri Prabhupada follows Vishwanath Chakra Thakur.

So, I am trying to present or I am trying to approach and explore a prayerful approach to the Gita. Now, in the Gita itself, there are prayers in the 11th chapter, 11.36 to 11.46, where Krishna sees the Virat Rupa and offers prayers. In the Amkunda Mala Stotra, there is a verse which seems to be having taken the Gita and transformed into the prayer.

The verse is there, My dear Lord, please deliver me. So, Kulshikar Maharaj is saying, My dear Lord. So, the Lord says, I will deliver you.

So, Kulshikar Maharaj is saying that, My dear Lord, please deliver me. So, the idea that verses, they can convey philosophical truth, but for a devotee, they can be a basis for praying. See, when we go in front of the deities, if we remember the words of the Gita, that this is the same Lord from whose lotus lips, that now he is playing the flute, that same Lord has actually spoken the verses of the Gita.

So, in trying to do this, I have taken the verses of the Gita and presented them as in English poetic form and then tried to compose some prayers based on that. So, we will look at some such prayers today and the way we will do it is, we will recite the verse and then I will read the English translation of the verse, the English poetic rendition of the verse and then we can read the prayer which has been formed by this writing. So, I have formed a prayer which is about 200-250 words.

So, this is, hopefully this book will come out soon and it's a useful book for meditating even when we are doing our chanting. It's just 3-4 minutes, you can read it. I will be sending this daily on my WhatsApp community.

Also, this prayer. So, I will take today this section 336-43. So, the way I am doing it, it's not just offering a prayer.

We are offering a prayer to Krishna but it's also a prayerful study of the Gita's mystery. We try to understand the Gita in the mood of prayer. So, 336-43 is the section in the Gita about self-destructive desire within us.

There is something inside us which strongly works against us. So, let us look at it. Arjuna Vachana So, Arjuna is saying, Athakena, my dear lord, by what? Prayukthoyam.

Is this visible to all of you? Prayukthoyam, I am engaged. Athakena Prayukthoyam. So, Paapam, it was wrong doing.

Charati, it's as in my mood. Purushaha, people are in mood, all of us are in mood like that. Paapam Charati Purushaha.

Anicchan, we don't want to do it. Abhivarshanaya, even though I don't want to do it O Krishna, still I have to do it. Anicchan Abhivarshanaya If I don't want to do it, then how do I end up doing it? Balhadi, I am forced, pulled.

Balhadi Vaniyojitaha I feel as if I am pulled to do it. Balhadi Vaniyojitaha Let us recite it once together now. Not responsibly, but together.

Arjuna said, what is this force that drives us so? Compelling us towards sin and woe. Even unwilling, we are drawn astray. As if seized by power beyond our sway.

This is the plight. When I read the Bhagavad Gita for the first time, this was the verse that spoke to me the most. When I grew up, I was a bit short-tempered.

And I was trying to control my anger. And it was quite difficult. Having a bad temper is a problem.

But I had a second problem. I had a bad temper and I had a good vocabulary. So normally, if somebody has a bad temper, if they just get angry, they just scream and stutter.

People just mutter and stutter in anger. They can't speak anything. Or they just yell incoherently.

But if somebody is angry and they have a good vocabulary, they can just be so sarcastic and cutting. They can cause moods that can last an entire lifetime. So I needed to get a handle on this.

I was wondering, what is it that impels me like that? So this verse spoke to me a lot. Do we have a second mic? Which one is? Yeah, you can pass it on to the front. All of you can read a little bit passages.

So you can read the first one, paragraph. My merciful Lord, many are the moments in my life where I am forced to acknowledge that there is some force beyond me, mighty and malevolent that takes control of my life. Yes.

So, you know, spiritual growth is not just about chanting or praying to Krishna. It's there. It's also about becoming more self-observant.

So we all experience this as if, what Krishna says, something is controlling us. And it is dragging us. It is making us speak things we don't want to speak.

It is making us do things that we don't want to do. And these can be humbling and scaring moments. So there are many moments that come in our life like this.

This is the mighty and malevolent force. Yes. Everybody can read one more sentence.

First one. Whoever would like to read the compulsion. Yes.

We may want to be kind. And there are times when we end up becoming cruel. There are times when we want to be self-controlled and we just become completely indulgent.

So duty strike is not just that I am. I am different from who I am normally. I am opposite of who I am normally.

I had a friend in my childhood whose father was an alcoholic. And whenever I would meet that friend, I would meet his father. His father seemed like a nice, normal person.

But then he would say that the moment he gets a bottle of alcohol in his hand, he becomes a different person. So in that case, okay, we could see there is some external cause. But is it that a bottle of alcohol is a magical power when it changes a person? No, it's not like that.

But it is. It changes. So what exactly is happening over here? Now, on one side, what we are trying to understand here is that our existence is caught on one side sitting here, tiny beings.

And there is one mighty force. This is a force that is against us. Now, of course, this is inside us, but I am depicting us.

There is some force that is against us. And we could say, this is the force of maya, this is the force of other traditions, called shaitan, demon, whatever you want to use. But this is the force of Krishna.

Now the thing is, we may or may not acknowledge the existence of Krishna. We can deny the existence of Krishna, but we can't deny the existence of maya. Isn't it? That means, I may not believe in God, but even people who are atheistic or materialistic, they experience, sometimes I do things, which I don't want to do.

So that is the point being made over here now. There are times, Let's go back. Who would like to read this? There are times when I act as if I don't care for you, for your existence, for your will, for your pleasure.

So I don't care for God. That is often, we do think like that sometimes. But then the problem is, I had a girl, when I was introduced to bhakti, I started sharing bhakti with everyone else, all my relatives.

Yeah, I believe in God. He is happy there, I am happy there. So, the idea is that, I don't care for God.

Bharat, go ahead. Existence and prominence of your divinity, I cannot deny the existence and malevolence of it, of this destructive force. Yeah, malevolence is the tendency to harm.

So there is some force, in psychology, they say that, it's almost like, one person has many personalities, and sometimes some people have strict personality disorder, where it's very prominent. But the idea is, that inside us, there are multiple, there is something which is different from us, something beyond us. Each tradition has its own tradition, like a good dog, bad dog.

But you know, we talk about the dog, it might seem like a small thing, but this thing is like a very big thing inside us. So, we cannot deny that there is something like this. So, the key thing over here is, when Arjuna is saying, by what am I impelled to do this? So this question itself, shows a certain level of insight.

Like sometimes, if we are talking with someone, we have to share spirituality with them. The kind of question they ask, also shows their level. If somebody asks, okay, what is the proof for the existence of God? That's one level of question.

Somebody is in the city, what is the exact difference between Advaita Vedanta and Dvaita Vedanta? And that shows that person already knows something. For most people, you know, Advaita Vedanta and Dvaita Vedanta, what do the words mean only? That's the first question for them. And even if there is something, why does the difference between them matter at all? So, see here, we all do things that we don't want to do.

But for most of us, what happens when we do things we don't want to do? There are two reactions. One is, I want to go this way, but, I end up going this way. So, when we end up doing the opposite of what we want to do, so when this happens, it is we who are going to make sense.

Why? For ourselves and for others. So one is, that we go to the one extreme of justifying. It's not a bad thing.

It is like, some people say that, actually, I am well resolved. I am not going to do this, this, this. I don't spend so much time.

I spend a lot of time on TV. I am going to decrease the time I spend on social media. And you spend that time, okay, cutting my lesson.

What happens? I change my mind. Well, did you change your mind? Or did your mind change you? So the thing is, sometimes we justify. And that's not healthy.

But the other extreme is, it's not a bad thing. It's okay. It's the right thing.

And sometimes, we just beat ourselves. I am such a terrible person. I am such a fool.

I am worthless. Now neither of these, it's like, I am not wrong. And, I am hopelessly wrong.

It's like, these two extremes are there. I am not wrong. And, I am hopelessly wrong.

That, among alcoholics, one of my friends was a part of alcoholics. Among them, there is a joke. Sometimes, they try to give up alcohol.

And they say, I successfully gave up. What did you give up? You see, the person is still drinking. I said, how did you successfully give up? I gave up the attempt to give up.

So, the idea here is, that, we go to these two extremes. That I am, I am not wrong, or I am hopelessly wrong. But, what we need to understand is, there is something else.

That, makes me do it. Something else. That is the cause, of my wrongdoing.

So, this is not to just say, I am not responsible. When somebody tries alcohol, drinks alcohol and drives truck, and the police catches them, they say, you know, there is something else that is making me do it. Well, the police would say, but you are doing it still.

So, in one sense, we are responsible. No doubt. But the point is, we have to deal with the problem.

It is important to understand, that this is me, and there is something different from me. Then the question is, how do I get rid of that something? We don't want to beat ourselves up. I am hopeless, I am worthless, I am useless, I will never change.

There is something inside me, which has caught a grip of me. And now, I have to break that grip. So, that question, what is it that impels me to do wrong? So, understanding, that there is something beyond me.

This itself is a beginning of wisdom. So, we may not accept that there is a God. But you can say, we may deny there is a God, but we cannot deny there is something like a devil.

Because, due to something, we act like devils at times. I am not using the word devil in a positive way, which is a daredevil. It is just an image.

Daredevil means somebody who is very courageous, sometimes foolishly courageous. But devil is something like a terrible person. So, there is something else beyond me that is the cause.

therefore, now, what we have done is, the whole verse is talking about what is it, Krishna, that impels me to do wrong. This is the place where the fire comes up. Please, O Lord, bless me so that I can become more conscious of this invisible danger.

Let me… So, invisible danger. Suppose we are walking on a road and there is water over there. We will be careful.

But, if the floor is such that the water is not visible, and then we slip, then we know now, if we know in advance if the colour of the water and the colour of the floor merges over here, then it is not visible. So, we have to be more careful. Who slipped and fell like this because of not seeing properly? So, if there is invisible danger or there is visible danger, then we are actually more vulnerable.

So, we need to become more conscious. Let me be out of necessity for survival and protection to become ever more conscious of you, who alone are my ultimate protector from this inner danger. Yes, this inner danger.

So, in one sense, the more we become aware of the power of Maya, the more we become aware of our need for Krishna. So, it's like if I recognise what a serious disease I have, then I recognise the need for a doctor. So, for many people, there are many different ways in which people come to Krishna, and we often talk about Artha, Jijnas and Artharthi.

So, among them, the Artha, among the distressed category that people come, many of them are people who are say, who are afflicted by their own minds. They have very strong self-destructive drives. And there are these people who talk about Alcoholics Anonymous.

When I talk with these people, they may not accept the idea of Krishna as God. But even their bare connection with God, you see, they have a really earnest connection because they realise that there is a deadly force that can take my life and ruin my life. Therefore, they have this idea that the higher power as I conceive it.

So, they may not accept the scriptural revelation of Krishna. But still, the understanding that there is a higher power, and I need to connect with that. That understanding is very important.

And if you can get that understanding, so, Artho, the distress you come to Krishna, the distress can be external distress. Oh, this person is troubling me. I lost my job.

I have got some sickness. They can be diagnosed with Artho. But nowadays, many of the people who are coming to Krishna, Artho is because there is something inside me which is my enemy.

And only you can save me from it or not. So, they have this 12 steps. So, how you recover.

So, first is that there is a higher power that has gripped my life. And therefore, I need some other higher power to release me from its grip. So, we could say that there is there is the power of Maya.

And there is the power of Krishna. Now, it's possible that we have realised the power of Maya or not realised. That means that as well as the power of Krishna, we have realised it or we have not realised it.

So, now, a devotee needs to be best situated here. We realise the power of Maya. And it's extremely dangerous.

But along with that, what we have to do? We also have faith in the power of Krishna. So, the power of Maya, when we realise it, we become careful. The power of Krishna, when we realise it, we become purposeful.

Careful means there is a danger. I don't want to get caught in this danger. Purposeful means I need to have a purpose of holding on to Krishna all the time.

That I need to stay connected with Krishna. I need to not forget Krishna. So, a devotee needs to be careful and purposeful.

Now, if somebody knows only the power of Krishna, power of Maya and not the power of Krishna, then the person becomes hopeless. What happens over here is that there is something which is out, something inside me which is destroying me. I just can't do anything about it.

What do I do? I see myself doing terrible things and I can't do anything about it at all. It's a very difficult situation to be in. Now, if somebody has not realised the power of Maya and has not realised the power of Krishna also, that person is really naïve.

Naïve means very ignorant. Like what you say is ignorant in a harmful sense. They are very vulnerable because they have not realised the power of Maya.

Everything is fine. I drink, I enjoy life. Who cares for God? It lies on people.

They say that… There is one American, there is one European thinker, he said that giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I have done it over a hundred times. So, what happened over here? I can give it up, but you give it up, it doesn't give you up.

It catches you again. So, the person remains very nonchalant about it. So, that person is very vulnerable.

It is a big danger. Now, if somebody has realised the power of Krishna, but has not realised the power of Maya. Now, this is good.

They have realised the power of Krishna, that is good. Now, if somebody is a pure devotee for them, Maya has no power at all over them. But that does not mean that they have not realised the power of Krishna.

Because it is Maya. They have transcended the power of Maya. Prabhupada says that Shukadeva Goswami was unaffected.

You know, in the first canto it is described he saw some woman bathing. And he saw them, he was not affected by it. But he says there, he a self-realised soul is always careful to not get entangled by Maya.

So, if somebody has realised the power of Krishna, has not realised the power of Maya, you know, they are in one sense, they have they can be secure. Because they have realised the power of Krishna, they are secure. But they can still be, they can be secure, but they can also be reckless.

So, they can be secure or reckless, depends on if they realise the power of Krishna and stay with Krishna, that is good. But what happens is, because they have not realised the power of Maya, what is the big deal? Now, they may become reckless. They may rush into danger, which is not healthy.

So, we all need to recognise that nobody is completely free from the temptations of the world. So, if we think, I know these temptations are never going to affect me. But they may affect me.

So, this is how we recognise that Krishna, my dear Lord, I need you, my Lord. So, to feel the need for Krishna is extremely important. So, let us recite this verse once again.

I'll recite this in English first, then we'll recite the Sanskrit once again. This realisation that I need Krishna because there is something deadly which is catching hold of me and I need to break free from it. What is this force that drives us so, compelling us towards sin and war, even unwillingly we are drawn astray as if seized by power beyond our city.

Let's recite this together. So, my dear Lord, please help me to become conscious of the power of maya and how vulnerable I am to it. And please, dear Lord, help me to become conscious of you who alone can protect me from deadly forces of evolution.

Any questions or comments to do? Okay. I have a question. Like these three are understandable but the fourth one How do you like it? One, two, three, four.

He was saying that they are secure and they will not continuously be aware of the power of maya because they are not being vulnerable to that. But how can they be reckless? Reckless means, the pure devotees we say, they are like beyond us, maya only. So, I am not saying that you are affected.

I am using the word realised. See, I am saying not realised. I am not saying not affected.

Not realised means they don't know it already. Right. Some people have this idea.

You should try out everything in your life. You should try out. You try out alcohol also.

You try out drugs also. Unless you experience it, how do you know what it is? You try it out. Try out eating stool also.

No. It's not that you have to experience everything in life. No.

We have intelligence to know what to experience. So, the idea is that some people may just be oblivious to the power of maya. Now, for example, there is somebody who has never taken drugs.

Now, how addictive drugs can be? They may have no idea about it. So, in America, there is this whole unfortunately, the pharma industry has become very commercialised. They call it Big Pharma.

So, many of the pain medications that are given to people when they have surgery, the pain medications are designed to be addictive. So, what happens is, they are drugs. And they are meant to help a person cope with the pain after surgery.

Especially if somebody has thigh surgery. It's very painful. They are prescription drugs.

But then you take those drugs, you take them and take them and become dependent on it. So, the person goes inside a hospital. I met one boy, an Indian boy, very intelligent boy, in Columbus.

He said that, he went to America in the first year. He was involved in a car crash. So, he went to the hospital with a fractured leg.

But he came out with an addictive drug. So, now, there are many people who, when they have, now what happens is, the doctors, now they also become a little more cautious. But often, these addictive pain medications are much cheaper than non-addictive pain medication.

So, somebody might say, I'll take it now and give it up afterwards. But it will be very difficult to give it up. So, nowadays, people are cautious.

What pain medication am I taking? Is it going to be addictive? So, that's why somebody may not be aware of their power. And they may get trapped by that power. So, that's the situation I'm talking about.

That's why they might be a little reckless in that sense. Like what we say, fools rush in, when angels fear to tread. Namaste.

Questioner- How do you like to measure this maya that is coming in all parts? You know, the connection between maya and mayawadis is quite interesting, isn't it? So, I would say this whole thing is about the material world and dealing with worldly desires only. So, I don't think mayawadis would specifically fall in any of this, because we are talking more about people who are caught between maya and Krishna. Now, mayawadis, what their idea is, they understand this world is maya, but they say even Krishna's form is maya.

So, in many ways, actually mayawadis would fall in the same category as devotees. But the thing is, mayawadis also, they are very serious in recognising the power of maya. Many of them, at least in principle, they tried to be strict sannyasis, strictly denounce the word.

And many of them, initially they practise bhakti also, or they recommend the practise of maya. Because they say, bhakti is the easiest way to come out of the lower modes. But then they say, after you practise bhakti, when you become more spiritually advanced, then you will realise that Bhagawan and bhakta are one and the same.

So, in that sense, for them, Krishna is like a useful fiction. Krishna is also maya. But there is harmful maya and there is helpful maya.

So, the sense objects of this world are harmful maya, harmful illusion. But the idea of God, Saguna Brahma, as they call it, that is a helpful illusion. So, they say, use the helpful illusion to get rid of the harmful illusion.

But after that, even the helpful illusion is also an illusion. And you have to get rid of that also. Okay? Yeah.

Yes, please. You mentioned that how we may deny the existence of Krishna, but we cannot deny. We experience the presence of maya, the force which is impelling us to do something which we do not want.

So, all of us are getting that force. We are struggling to overcome it. And as you mentioned, the power of Krishna has to be realised.

Then we can, but in general, Krishna can come out. We would like to elaborate on that, how we can realise that power of Krishna. Because this is very easy to understand, because I am experiencing it.

But that Krishna power is going to help me to come out of it. So, what steps I can take and how do I do that? Yes, good question. So, broadly speaking, two things happen for us.

That when we start practising bhakti, so you could say bhakti practise, which is essentially we are accessing the power of Krishna through bhakti practise. And say we have our conditionings. Conditionings are basically the areas where maya is pulling us.

So, some conditionings, they go away or they decrease. And some conditionings don't decrease. Now, how more you know conditionings increases, that is also a possibility.

Sometimes we may use bhakti. Say for example, through bhakti, I may become more proud. I know so much.

I am so learned. So many people respect me. It's possible.

But let's put that aside right now. So, now for each one of us, it's a matter of choice. If we look here, we may start thinking that Krishna also just doesn't work.

This will lead us to doubt. This will lead us to confidence or faith. So, just like when we take a treatment from a doctor.

Somebody has a chronic disease. By the treatment, some symptoms may subside. But some symptoms may still remain.

Now, I can look at some symptoms that subside and say this treatment is working. Or I can look at some symptoms that don't subside and say this treatment is not working. So, for all of us, it is, we need to see in which way the habits that I had previously, that I have been able to give up now.

And if we see that, then what will happen by that? We gain the confidence. Okay, yes, this is working. So, for example, some of us might have been eating meat before.

Maybe some of you, most of you might not have been, but some of you might have been eating meat also. But now, say, if you are going in a train or a plane, and a person next to us starts eating meat. Maybe the person next to us is on a phone or a laptop watching some movie.

We might get attracted. What is the movie? What is the something? But if they are eating meat, how many of us can get attracted? At least no one. You know, we don't know if there is a higher taste than Krishna, but we know there is a higher taste than Krishna Prasad.

So, like that, we can look at which conditionings have decreased. And thereby, we can have the faith that the process does work. Now, that's where the power of Krishna is implied.

Now, the power of in some cases where the conditioning has not yet decreased, there can be many reasons. The main reason is that maybe that particular conditioning is more deep-rooted. So, generally we don't decrease.

Why? Broadly, there are two reasons. One is they are internally deep. And second is we are externally exposed.

So, for example, what happens? If it's internally deep, from inside it will keep popping up again and again and again. And that's why it's difficult to give it up. And say, if we stop eating meat after we become one, how many of us are repeatedly exposed to meat? Yes, we say, no, cut off.

It just goes out of our mental map. Not just mental map, our whole sphere of experience, it goes out. So, that's why what happens is that if you consider each sensual desire to be like a fire, we're just stopping the fuel for that fire completely.

But, for example, what happens in lust? We cannot stop that fuelling of the fire. We can try, but just walking in the world with open eyes and we cannot walk with closed eyes. So, what happens is that we just, that craving keeps getting fuelled repeatedly.

And that's why it will take some time. But even those conditionings will decrease with time. Any other questions or comments? Yes, please.

Thank you. Exposure means to be blind and not knowing its own existence. No, it's like, see, the fuel for a particular vasana can come from the karma-indriyas when we indulge in it.

But the fuel can also come from the jnani-indriyas when you just look at it. So, what happens is we may not be indulging in, say, sexual activities right now. But, sexual temptations, we are always being exposed to that.

So, in that sense, some fuel is still coming to it. With respect to meat, for example, there's no fuel coming to it at all. So, that's why what happens is that fire just totally dies out.

But with respect to other things, the fire doesn't die out so quickly. With respect to some conditionings, the fire doesn't die out. That's why it takes more time.

Yes, please. Prabhuji, you mentioned that don't decrease doubt and faith. So, what if the person has more doubt and he's losing the faith? And what is his position and how to overcome that position? Okay.

So, there are two different things over here. One is that doubt and faith at one level are a matter of choice. In the world, the world is designed in such a way that if somebody wants to have doubts, somebody wants to deny the existence of God, the world will provide them the safety for that.

That is just the way the world is designed. When Abhimanyu was killed on the 13th day of the Kurukshetra war, in the next 14th day, Arjuna resorted to Jaidrath and Duryodhana reached the entire Kaurava army to stop Arjuna. And Arjuna just broke through the entire army and Duryodhana started the day confident that today the war is going to end.

But by half an hour or 45 minutes away from the sunset, Arjuna had broken through the entire Kaurava army and was just very close to Jaidrath. And Bhima had followed him and by that one day Bhima had killed 25 of Duryodhana's brothers. So, Duryodhana was devastated.

He was thinking that I think my whole army will be defeated in one day. He was losing hope. Bhima and Duryodhana and Bhishma had a complex relationship.

Although Duryodhana practically never listened to Bhishma, Bhishma never lost hope in Duryodhana. Like Vidura just gave up on Duryodhana and left him. But Bhishma never gave up.

So Bhishma repeatedly would tell him that Krishna is God and you cannot win against Krishna. So those words of Bhishma rang in Duryodhana's mind. Maybe Krishna is really God.

And if Krishna is God then what hope is there for me to fight against God? But then he said if Krishna is God then Krishna loves Arjuna and Arjuna loves Bhimanyu and I was able to kill a Bhimanyu. And because I was able to kill a Bhimanyu therefore Krishna cannot be God. Therefore I will win.

I will stop Arjuna. So he made one last gesture. He brought eight warriors to attack Arjuna's army.

That's when Krishna had to intervene and use his chakra to cover himself and pray. But the point is that in this world if somebody wants evidence to deny the existence of God they can choose that. So at one level faith is a matter of choice.

Choice of what? Choice of evidence. What evidence am I going to focus on? I can focus on the evidence which seems to suggest that there is no divine principle, there is no higher order and there is evidence necessary. So at the level of pure logic no.

Atheism can be defeated but it is not a knockout case. Somebody can make a case for atheism also. So at one level it's a matter of choice.

What evidence am I focussing on? And then the second is a matter of culture. Now you could say culture is also a matter of choice but culture is more of unconscious choices. When something is the culture our culture is when we see devotees we offer obeisances.

Now isn't that something we consciously do that or we say Hare Krishna or we say Prabhu. It becomes a habit. So it's a choice but it's almost an unconscious choice.

So faith also resides from the culture. So if we are living with devotees we are associating closely with devotees then we will see that others have more difficulty than what I have. And still they are persisting in the practise of bhakti.

Therefore, let me also persist. Let me also move on. So there are many ways so culture it is almost like through osmosis.

Osmosis is like a automatic almost passage of water. So there is an osmosis of faith that happens through culture. Just when you come in the temple when you come in the association of devotees you can hear classes and there are very faith boosting points that you get in the classes.

But even if there are no life changing points in a particular class just the act of coming together and hearing, learning praying to Krishna, chanting that itself leads to an osmosis of faith. So we have to see what is lacking. That is it that I am fixating on the evidence that is against Krishna too much or is it that I am not in support of culture.

And through that gradually faith can be developed. Okay. Any other questions? So I will explain a couple of points then we can stop.

Maybe we will just look at the next verse. I will take some points from the next verse. Protect me from the desire that makes me reject the boundaries that protect me.

So I will explain what this means. We will add it. When Krishna says that desire is a problem what is the kind of desire that is a problem? We all know this verse.

So let us recite it together. It is desire that turns into so Arjuna asks what is it that impels you to do wrong and Krishna is replying. It is desire that turns into a relentless rage born of passion and sees Dharma's boundaries as an age all devouring, shamelessly sinful, a fearless foe to beware know it as the enemy lurking everywhere.

Know it as the enemy lurking everywhere. So Krishna says later It doesn't say Kama itself is a problem. Dharma is the Kama Moksha.

Kama is one of the Pumasharthas. But here Krishna says Kama with Kurunta. The idea is that desire within boundaries is not the enemy but the desire that rejects boundaries.

So it is very cool. My dear lord there exists inside me an enemy that wants to destroy me from within. Identifying this enemy correctly is essential if I am to survive and thrive.

So, let's say I have a close friend, Kashmir. Kashmir has dramatically changed in the last few years. Now, if the Indian government had decided all of Kashmir is our enemy we just bomb and you destroy all of Kashmir.

That won't work, isn't it? We want Kashmir to be a part of India. But we don't want it to be like the Kaparistan of India. We don't want it to be the graveyard.

So, in Kashmir there are some people who are against. Maybe many people against. But there are many people who support you.

And there are many people neutralised. So, identifying the enemy itself is very important. Either we think all Kashmiris are wonderful or all Kashmiris are dreadful.

That won't work. So, yeah, go ahead. Identifying the enemy is very important.

Sometimes, I mistake this inner enemy to be desire itself and attempt to annihilate all desire. That is like trying to destroy every single citizen of a country just because some terrorists have come from that country. To give up, to destroy desire itself, that is impossible.

Because to destroy desire, to want to destroy desire is also desire only. So, you can never be completely free from desire. Isn't it? Yeah.

Go ahead. Other times? Other times, I greatly conform every desire inside me, thinking that they are all my desires. That is like embracing everyone in a hostile country as if they were my closest friends.

Yeah. So, now, you think all desire is bad or all desire that comes inside me is my desire. No.

That desire may be inside me but that desire is not my desire. Inside me, there are conditionings and those conditionings they give rise to desires. And you could say it is like there is a default programme in our phone and because of that programme, some notifications come on.

And those notifications are not what I have set up. Maybe I don't have full control over the phone so I cannot remove those notifications. So, like that, not every desire that comes up within me is my desire.

So, it's like you can go to the extremes. One is, if you can say desire management, you can say at one extreme, all desire is bad. Another extreme is all desire is good.

Good means it should be fulfilled. It's my desire. I should be fulfilling it.

So, every desire is an enemy, every desire is a friend. But both are extreme approaches. So, what do you mind doing? You, my lord, help me decide what exactly is my enemy.

It is not desire per se but desire that rages against the boundaries of dharma. Yes. So, the desire for food is not an enemy.

But, when for getting food, we start eating non-vegetarian food or we start eating food that is too unhealthy for us, then that can be a problem. Just like there are alcoholics, there are also foodaholics. This is people who just can't stop eating.

There is foodaholics, they have unhealthy relationship with food. It can be two extremes. One is where they eat too much.

The other is where they eat too little. Eating too little often happens with women, especially our girls. I don't know if you call it.

It's just extremes are there. So, it is desire that does not want to stay within boundaries. It is desire that resents the boundaries of basic morality, human decency, and spiritually informed relationality.

So, the boundaries can come in various ways in life. There are some basic moral boundaries. There are boundaries that come from society.

That is a decent way to do it. Even in ordinary society, where male-female may interact quite freely, still there also the idea of somebody starts staring at someone, that's considered impolite. Oggling it is pachipolis.

Human decency is there. And beyond that, once we get spiritually wise, then we understand that this may be enjoyable for the right now, but it's not for the wrong time. So, the problem is not desire itself.

There are some desires which are ready to stay within boundaries. Some desire will just go completely out of boundaries. I may not always be able to free myself from this destructive desire inside me.

But let me hold on, so that I can at least recognise it as destructive. Bless me with intelligence so that I can see as a warning sign. Any desire that pushes against our will breaks down the boundaries that are meant to be protected.

Yes. So, what happens is, we all have certain boundaries in our life. And, so for the boundaries, even if we, you see, we all get angry at times.

But if in a cultural society, no matter how angry we get, we won't use swear words. You know, we won't use obscene language. So, that's the boundary.

Somebody says, what's wrong with it? Well, wrong is that, you know, we're just letting our tongue go wild. There are boundaries. And boundaries are meant to protect.

See, even in materialistic society also, somebody may commonly use swear words. But then they don't use swear words in front of children. The idea is that, I don't want my child to start speaking in this way.

Hey, parents speak some swear words. That's one thing. But, you know, four, five, six-year-old child starts speaking that.

That's just nasty. So, everybody has some boundaries. But if somebody rejects the principle of boundaries itself, that, that is very dangerous.

There's one philosopher in the West, we'll call him philosopher. He said, it is forbidden to forbid. It is forbidden to forbid.

That, you know, you should not forbid anything. But what is he saying? It sounds very impressive. But he's already forbidding something, isn't he? So, he himself rejects all.

There should not be any restriction to anything. But nobody can function like that in life. So, the desire that rejects boundaries, the karma that comes with cruelty.

Cruelty is, I have this desire. Karma is, I have this desire. Cruelty is, who says I can't fulfil it? You know, I will get rid of that person.

I will get rid of that situation. I will get rid of that culture. So, karma issue, cruelty issue.

So, at least recognise that desire as destructive. That desire is not something which is at all healthy. Yeah.

By studying your message and living in the community of those who respect the boundaries you recommended, bless me, O Lord, with the strength to uphold the boundaries that will protect me from my inner destroyer. So, in many ways, the respect for boundaries comes by association with those who have respect for boundaries. Like say, somebody grows in a culture where you don't really respect others.

You know, somebody goes in a school where they don't respect each other at all. They not only make you use names for teachers behind their back, behind names, but in front of the teacher also they are very disrespectful. But then they come to a school, a better school, where teachers are respected.

Then what happens is this person may still be disrespectful to the teacher but when they see him, everybody else is respecting the teacher. Then what happens? They start disrespecting the teachers. So, a lecture, if we are, we may have certain desires that which are unhealthy.

But, if we cannot establish boundaries ourselves for those things, then we try to place ourselves in a culture where those boundaries are respected. Then what happens? By that the boundaries come automatically. We also start respecting the boundaries.

Say for example, Indians go to America. In America, they will never do any litter. You know, you open the car and throw the garbage out.

But in America, when they come to India, they start doing the same thing. Because the boundaries are not respected here. So, what happens is we also start respecting the boundaries.

But, if we are in a culture where boundaries are respected, then we also learn to respect those boundaries. And that's how we will be protected. So, the great moha that like Maya attacks us in two ways.

Maya, there are two-step attacks. Sometimes, like one punch may not be enough to knock out a person. But first punch, followed by second punch, the person gets knocked out.

So, what happens is the first punch is that sense objects, they are immensely enjoyable. There may be some enjoyment in it. But, Maya makes us believe this is so enjoyable that I want this right now.

I can't be without it. And then, the second punch is that the boundaries that are there in seeking sense objects. The boundaries are just old-fashioned.

They are irrational. Basically, the second punch of Maya is that they bad-mouth the boundaries. This is old-fashioned.

This is irrational. This is primitive. And, there is a way by which we reject boundaries.

And so, both of them happen. Because the desire becomes strong and the boundary becomes weak. Like a child will always want to play.

And the parents want children to play. But, the parents don't want the child to go out on the streets and play where there are cars going by. This is our home.

We have a courtyard over here. You can be in the courtyard. And, at the end of the courtyard, there will be a fence.

So, now, on one side, the child has the desire to go out of the courtyard. And, the second is, say, somehow somebody helps the child or whatever, the boundaries are weak. The child will break the boundaries.

And, that is dangerous. So, in that sense, the child wanting to play is not the problem. The child wanting to go in a dangerous place and play, that is the problem.

So, this is the two-step attack of Maya. And, even if we cannot prevent the first step, the temptation comes up. But, there has to be intelligence within boundaries.

Then, we will stay safe. So, any questions about this? Let's recite this verse once again. So, it is desire that turns into a relentless rage.

Born with passion, it sees Dharma's boundaries as a cage. All-devouring, shieldlessly sinful, a fearsome foe to beware. No aid, as envy lurking everywhere.

Let's recite the verse once again. Shri Bhagavan Mahamacharya Kameshya Krodhahesha Rajoguna Samundala Mahasanoha Atma Vidyalaya So, my dear Lord, please bless me so that I can respect the boundaries that are meant to protect me. And, therefore, I can stay protected and safe in this world of Maya.

So, I will summarise what I discussed from Kamesh. Talked about four main points. On page 336, we talked about first how these four parts, the power of Maya, the power of Maya and the power of Krishna, whether we have realised it or not.

This is the safest situation to be in. So, now, we discussed here that even if we don't realise the power of our situation, there is a second point. We are here and we may or may not realise the power of Krishna.

We may not realise it. But the power of some beverage force that we all realise is something that makes me go against me. So, from there, we can move forward.

If there is a power out to destroy me, is there a power out there to protect me also? Can I take shelter of that power? So, when we discussed how our faith comes by looking at what evidence faith is a matter of choice and it's a matter of cultivation, algebra. What is a matter of unconscious choices? And the choice is whether we look at the conditionings that are it is with our conditionings are the conditionings decreasing? Then the faith increases. The conditionings are not decreasing.

Then what happens is our faith does not increase. So, that lets it out. Ultimately, it's a matter of choice for us.

Then I talked about desire management. So, give up all desire. That is impossible.

And then give in to all desire. Whatever desire comes in, I know it. But instead, it's more a matter of select desire.

So, then, lastly, I discussed about how there is two-step attack of maya. First is, desire becomes stronger. I want to enjoy it.

And then, the second step of maya is maya makes the boundaries weaker. It makes the boundaries weaker. How? By making us feel they are irrational, they are old-fashioned, they are unnecessary, they are depriving us of pleasure.

So, by staying in the association of those who respect boundaries, we can also have respect for boundaries. That's how we can stay safe. Thank you very much.

Yes, sir. Regarding these boundaries, one may be staying at certain boundaries, but later on, he finds difficulty staying in that boundaries. And staying on different plane, he might change his boundaries.

Like, boundaries for each person might be different. So, now he might be practising 16-rounder or 400 principles, being with all this. Then, after some time, he might say, Prabhu, let me switch to 8-round boundary.

And let me compromise the principles. And I will definitely bound myself to this boundary. And he might shift his boundaries.

So, if that is okay, and how he can again come back? Yeah. Ultimately, every individual has to decide what is the sustainable way we can practise bhakti. Often, we talk about practising bhakti seriously.

And that is true. We all practise bhakti seriously. But we also want to practise bhakti sustainably.

So, is the level of seriousness sustainable? And some particular level of seriousness may not be sustainable for some people. And you have to accept that. If you look at Srila Prabhupada's times also, in Srila Prabhupada's times, there were his, Srila Prabhupada's followers were there.

There were his full-time disciples. You know, they just gave up everything. Prabhupada told them to go and just left their home and went to a different country to preach.

But Srila Prabhupada also had life-members. Life-members, they didn't really follow any boundaries in one sense of 16-round rules. Most of them were in India.

So, the foreign individuals were part of their culture only. But Prabhupada accepted them also. I mean, in today's world, most of our devotees are congregation devotees.

They are definitely much more serious than life-members. But they are not full-time devotees. So, what will be the boundaries for them? That is going to vary.

If somebody is going to be a full-time devotee of Brahmacharya, different temple may expect different boundaries for Brahmacharyas. So, each person, each leader may decide that those who are working with me need to live with these boundaries. And each individual will eventually decide, you know, what kind of boundaries can I live with? So, that is the intelligence which each person has to have.

And, it's like we wander. It's like one side is serious, the other side is sustainable. So, it's sustainable, but not serious.

That's not good. So, what is the level that is serious and sustainable? That's what each one of us has to find a way to do. So, we go through different phases in our life also.

And in some phases, a person may feel that, you know, now I want to focus on my career, now I want to focus on this particular aspect of my life. And then, later on, they may focus on some other aspect of life. So, ideally speaking, if we have matured devotee guides, then they will ensure that a person does not in the name of sustainability become completely unserious.

If you are going from this point to this point, that's okay. But make sure that this is Krishna Consciousness. We talk about Krishna Conscious boundaries.

There have to be some that are non-negotiable. There are some may be negotiable, but now if we treat everything as negotiable, then we'll have no Krishna Consciousness. If we treat everything as non-negotiable, we'll have more in Krishna Consciousness.

So, we have to find out how best to function. My question is that sometimes when we have boundaries, we feel we are suffocated. Whatever we want to do, there will be desires coming inside.

So, how we can overcome those suffocations and feel that boundaries are safe and we are feeling happy instead of suffocation? So, how we can overcome that kind of suffocation? Will you be there for tomorrow's class? Yes. If you don't come in that time, because it will take a long time to answer the question. My throat, I don't think I can speak much more now.

Any short question? You had a question? So, we'll discuss this question. Thank you very much. Shreemad Bhagwat Gita Ki Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna. So, we have many many more things to actually meditate on and actually think about the differentiation and clarity in our minds. Analyst is one who has opened so many words which are inside and clarity that has brought about.

Very grateful for Pramod's presentation. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the biggest attention. I don't know.

Soon tomorrow, we have some two classes. We go and pray. As Gauri is speaking, we pray to Maharaj and Gauri ji that we get better throat of Gauri ji so that we get more association and we will get much more knowledge from his presentations.

Thank you. Krishna. Krishna.

Hare Hare. Hare Rama. Hare Rama.

Rama Rama. Hare Hare.