Devotion renunciation and aversion are differentiated by the direction of emotion
Hare Krishna. Today morning, we are discussing on the characteristics of Bhagavad Gita. On this trial, such a devotee, ghrutva api indriya iradhaan, although they may accept the objects and senses, they may engage with those objects, yona dveshti na vishnu, they do not delight in them, nor are they averse to them.
They see it as, all are vishnurmaya nirampasyam, and such are the bhagavata, the Brahman devotees. So, essentially, what this verse implies is that the bhagavata uttama, the topmost devotees, are emotionally invested in Krishna, and they are not emotionally invested in devotees. So, I will focus today's class on the difference between aversion, renunciation and devotion.
Aversion, renunciation and devotion, the difference between them is based on the direction of our emotion. Where is our emotion directed? So, devotion, let's start from the top, and we'll return to the top at the end. Devotion obviously means that our emotion is invested in Krishna.
We are attracted to Krishna, we love Krishna, and we experience emotions in relationship with Krishna. We are at our core, conscious beings, and to be conscious means to have emotions. And these emotions cannot be wished away.
But in the healthy state, our emotions are invested in Krishna. And because Krishna is all-attractive, Krishna is all-loving, so, the emotional investment in Krishna gives us unlimited returns. Unlimited returns, they are unlimited not just in quantity, but also in duration.
For those who invest their heart in Krishna, they get everlasting fulfilment. Not just everlasting fulfilment, but ever-increasing everlasting fulfilment. It's unlimited in duration, unlimited in quantity.
So, everlasting, everlasting, ever-increasing fulfilment is the characteristic or is the return of investing our emotions in Krishna. And that is the purpose and perfection of our life. That is what we aspire for when we practise bhakti.
Now too, if we have some money, and if we have invested it in some company, some share, where we are just getting losses, where the company's shares are going down, the company is getting bankrupt, and as soon as we realise that, what will we do? We'll withdraw the money. So, like that, when we understand that material things are temporary, that material things will eventually lead to misery, that the more we become emotionally invested in material things, the more, in the long run, we will simply get misery. Actually, when we are emotionally invested in material things, in the long run, we get misery, and in the short run, we get anxiety.
So, because there is always uncertainty, what will happen, what will happen? Maybe I'll get something, maybe I'll not get something. There is a little pleasure, but there is considerable anxiety. And eventually, there is misery.
So, when one understands that, okay, this is a bad investment, then what will that person do? Take out, withdraw the money. Now, when somebody withdraws money from a company which is bad, then what happens is, there is still that initial feeling, no, this was a bad investment, I lost so much money. So, sometimes such people who have lost money, they start telling everyone, no, this company is very bad, don't invest here, don't invest here, don't invest here.
And basically, they are focused on the efforts. So, like that, initially, when we start practising our bhakti, and we start understanding, oh, no, this world is not good, that attachment tends obviously to misery. Then we try to disinvest ourselves from the sense of bliss.
And to some extent, at that time, we go through a phase of aversion, wherein our focus is, no, this is so bad, this is so bad, this is so bad. Okay, yes, that's one level. But after we have disinvested the money, we have to invest the money somewhere else.
And disinvesting the money alone is not enough. It has to be reinvested somewhere else. So, when we disinvest the money, but we are still invested in that company emotionally.
Yes, oh, this company is so bad, this company is so bad, this company is so bad. So, that phase, when actually we have withdrawn ourselves from the sense of bliss physically, but we are still emotionally invested in a negative sense, that is a stage of aversion. Renunciation means that there is no emotional investment at all.
That we just don't, we just don't care about it. Just like, say, if there is a football match in the British football league between, say, Manchester United and some company, some team, we may not even know their name. And who wins and who loses? For those people who are football fans, that might be like a big thing, this team won, this team lost.
But for somebody who is not invested in it at all emotionally, they don't care. So, renunciation means there is no emotional investment this way or that way. One is just, in a sense, of course, with respect to sports like this, we were never invested in it.
But with respect to renunciation, it is more like we outgrow the emotional investment. Outgrow means what? Now, a small child, or when we were small children, you know, we might have played with some toys. And those toys might be very weird to us.
Now, when we grow up, say, we go back to our homes, you know, in some cupboard, we find our childhood toys are there. Now, there might be some little emotion that you might feel. So, we are not going to sit and start playing with those toys.
Why? Because we have outgrown. We have outgrown the phase when we were emotionally involved with those toys. So, in a sense, renunciation is when we… So, renunciation is a situation when we emotionally outgrow the thing in which we were emotionally invested on it.
So, sometimes, we don't outgrow emotionally. We are still emotionally invested, but we stay away from those objects because we have had some bad experience. So, at such a time, what has happened is that because we have not emotionally grown up, we are actually… we are not out of the… the emotional gravity of those objects.
It's like, say, the earth has a gravity and an object that has gone out of the earth's gravity, it will not be pulled down. So, but when we have not yet attained the phase of renunciation and we have not even understood what is happening emotionally inside us, like, oh, this is bad, I don't want to be involved in it. But what has happened is there is… because the emotion was still involved, earlier there was attachment, now there is aversion.
So, basically, both attachment and aversion to sense objects indicate that we are still in the emotional gravity full of those sense objects. We have not outgrown them. Although, physically, we may have… we have distanced ourselves from it.
Now, in the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks, what is the difference between vairagya and adhyaga? Actually, there are multiple terms over there. There is… there is the renounced order, which is an external order, which some people express. There is renunciation, which is such as being emotionally uninvolved in certain sense… in certain sense objects.
But there is also aversion. So, aversion basically means that a person is emotionally still invested. But they are negatively invested.
When there is attachment, you know, we feel this person will give me so much pleasure or this thing will give me so much pleasure. And we are eager to interact with that object. When we are averse, we are between this person, this object will cause so much trouble.
So, I want to stay away from it. But still, there is a lot of emotion involved in it. There is a lot of emotion involved.
Say, if this is the home of a person, this is the office of a person, and in between there is a bar, and that person was an alcoholic. He is a recovery alcoholic. Now, for a person who is never an alcoholic, they just pass by the bar without even thinking about it.
There is no emotional involvement there. Either this way or that way. Say, if that person is emotionally involved, is attached, then they say, oh, let me go and take a drink.
That is attachment. But, if that person is trying to recover and still there is a lot of fear, oh, this alcohol will cause me so much trouble. Then again, when they pass by, they feel that this alcohol is so dangerous, this is so bad.
Now, caution, caution is one thing, aversion is another thing. In caution, we are concerned about protecting ourselves from danger. In aversion, we are focused on denigrating the other things.
So, all of us may have particular sense objects, particular material objects that may trigger us. And, if they trigger certain desires within us, it is our responsibility to be cautious. But, being cautious does not mean that we demonise those objects themselves.
And, especially the demonization becomes very detrimental when we are dealing with people. Now, in relationships, we start demonising the other person because we are right now averse to them. Then, we, as I said earlier, we become impersonal.
So, impersonal means we don't treat the other person as a person, we treat the other person as an object. Now, objectification can happen in both ways. Even when people are attached to someone, at that time also, often, if the attachment is too disproportionate, they treat the other person as an object to be used for their enjoyment.
And, even when there is aversion, they treat the other person as an object, you know, this person is so bad, I just want to avoid this person. So, Krishna is very categorical when he says that Kama, selfish desire, it doesn't reside in the sense objects. It is Indriyani Manobuddhi Raksha Vishwanam.
The Kama, selfish desire, resides in our own senses, mind and intellect. It doesn't reside in the sense objects. So, yes, the sense objects may be triggered.
They are not the causes. The trigger means something, just like in a gun there is a trigger, the trigger is pressed, the bullet goes out and it may shoot. But the trigger, pressing the trigger will wound someone only when there is a bullet inside.
There is no bullet inside, it will not harm anyone. So, like that, yes, certain perception of certain object may trigger certain desires, but those desires get triggered because the bullet is there inside. The bullet is Kama, that is there within our own senses, our own mind, our intellect.
So, we can't demonise other people even if they trigger attachment or aversion. So, attachment or aversion, all these are basically a result of demons. So now, the renunciation is meant to be like a transition between aversion and devotion.
We want to become emotionally invested in Krishna and we want to become emotionally disinvested from the world. And in the internal stage, we may stay away from the sense objects while practising the process of bhakti by which our emotions become invested in Krishna, by which we become emotionally connected with Krishna. But if we are not careful, we end up equating aversion with renunciation.
We think, oh no, the sense object, I am staying away from the sense object, therefore I am renounced and because I am renounced, therefore I am a great devotee. But, aversion, renunciation and devotion are three very distinct things. So, aversion, aversion comes up in another way in today's world.
Today's culture is characterised by aversion to commitment. Aversion to commitment. Now people, now the Bhagavatam talks about how one should not be attached to one's son.
But Kali Yuga, people are not attached to their sons. People don't even form their families. You know, more than according to the surveys in America, between 30 to 50% of children who are born, are born to single parent families.
Most of them are mothers, some of them are single mother, some of them are single father. So, the family is not formed of them. So, now this is not renunciation.
This is actually an aversion to commitment. And as I said, renunciation means there is no emotional involvement. You know, one has understood that the sense of this will not lead to pleasure.
Therefore, I will not get involved. Aversion to commitment means that, you know, there are so many sense objects that I can enjoy that I want to keep all doors open. Whichever object I want to enjoy, I will enjoy.
If I commit myself to one sense object, to one relationship, then what happens? Other doors I have to close down. So, I am not, people are not ready to do that. And actually people who come from a culture that is averse to commitment and then they are told about renunciation.
They simply, they just rationalise their aversion to commitment as renunciation. But there is no renunciation actually there. And aversion to commitment when it is made into renunciation, then simply there is still the emotional investment that is there.
And people are not actually growing spiritually. Because growing spiritually means our emotions have to be directed towards this. So, when there is aversion to commitment, one is looking down at the world with derision.
So bad, so bad, so bad. They are so attached, so this, so that. But actually what we need is renunciation, which renunciation is meant to help us look up undistractedly towards Krishna.
But if that renunciation makes us look down scornfully at the world, this person is so attached, that person is so attached, that person is so attached, then that renunciation can become an obstacle in our devotion. Because that renunciation is simply is not increasing our Krishna consciousness. Now here there is a very subtle but important point to recognise.
That renunciation can come from multiple causes. The Bhagavatam tells us one cause of renunciation. Vasudeve bhagvati bhakti yoga prayojita jane artyasu vairagyam jnanam cheda hetu.
That when we practise bhakti wholeheartedly, that practise of bhakti, the Bhagavatam uses a vivid vivid metaphor over here, that Vasudeva is like the lord, the masculine, bhakti is the feminine. So when the masculine and the feminine come together, then there is procreation, children are born. So in the Puranas this metaphor is given, that jnan and vairagya are the children of the union of bhakti daily with Bhagavan.
So like that, when in our heart with bhakti we connect with Krishna, then jnana and vairagya result, that we become knowledgeable and we become renowned. We know, we understand the nature of this world, we understand the nature of Krishna. And this world, actually things are temporary, they will lead to misery.
Krishna is all-attractive, he is the source of happiness. And then vairagya, we become indifferent to the world. However, not all renunciation is the result of the practise of bhakti.
Even in material life, we will see that some people may be materialistic, but then they are renounced. Now one of the greatest paradoxes, irony of the 20th century was that Hitler was a pure vegetarian. You know, the person who killed millions of people never killed animals with flesh.
Animals, never ate animal flesh. So, in a culture where people were so attached to meat, he was detached. He had that renunciation.
But that renunciation had, did not come from any spiritual consciousness. So, now where does renunciation come from? One source is by the practise of bhakti. But another is also by one's past karma.
We know that there are six opulences of Krishna. There is wealth, fame, strength, knowledge, duty and renunciation. So, now say somebody is very good looking.
Somebody has good looks. Now somebody has a lot of wealth. Now why do they have this duty or that wealth? We understand that is a result of past karma.
Now, it is easy to understand just because somebody is good looking or somebody is wealthy, we won't think that they are spiritually advanced. But, actually jnana and vairagya, knowledge and renunciation, these are often seen as signs of spiritual advancement. Somebody may have knowledge and renunciation simply as a result of their past karma.
Now, these opulences can be used in Krishna's service. If somebody has wealth, then they don't have to worry so much about earning money. They have some security and they can use that wealth as a resource for serving Krishna.
Similarly, somebody has knowledge. Somebody has intellectual capacity to memorise, to see, to analyse. That can be used in Krishna's service.
But, there may be atheistic people who may also be very intellectual. So, they are using their atheism for going away from God, for taking people away from God. So, knowledge is also, knowledge is a resource which comes to us from past karma.
And it can be used to go closer to Krishna. It can be used to go away from Krishna. Similarly, renunciation is also a gift coming from past karma.
Now, if somebody has renunciation coming from past karma, it can be a very powerful tool for serving Krishna in this life. But, the presence of renunciation itself does not indicate spiritual advancement. And conversely, the absence of renunciation does not necessarily mean the absence of spiritual seriousness.
Because somebody by their past life karma, they may have very little renunciation in this life. And somebody by their past life karma may have lot of renunciation in this life. And this person with little renunciation from the external practise point of view, they may be here.
Somebody with a lot of renunciation from past life karma, externally they may be here. But, you know, this person is sincerely trying to serve Krishna. When they are struggling with their senses, they are begging Krishna, please help me.
And they are actually more connected with Krishna. But this person who is over here, they are practising externally higher standards. But they are looking down at others.
So, they are not very connected with Krishna. So, therefore, when renunciation is no indicator of spiritual advancement. Now, here, it is very important that we always adopt in our bhakti, the attitude that is unapproved.
Whichever attitude is favourable for our bhakti, we should adopt that. Now, if somebody is very renounced, we shouldn't go and tell them, no, your renunciation is simply because of past karma. We have no bhakti.
No, we should always be respectful to others. And if we are struggling with our senses, we shouldn't rationalise and say that, oh, it's because I don't have renunciation from past karma, therefore, I am struggling. And this is the way I am.
No, we should always try to move up from wherever we are. But, the point which I am centrally making over here is, when we make renunciation the primary marker of spiritual advancement, then we miss the mark of spiritual advancement. When we make renunciation as the marker of our spiritual advancement, this is what, this is so renounced, I am so renounced, therefore, I am so devoted.
But then we miss the mark of spiritual advancement. Mark is the target, that is Krishna. We are not thinking of Krishna.
This can happen both ways. Now, if we are up here or if we are down here. If we are up here, thinking, oh, I am so renounced, but it's because of renunciation, I am looking down at others and thinking, oh, they are so fallen, they are so attached.
Then, by defining my spiritual advancement in terms of my renunciation, I am actually missing the mark of Krishna, because I am not connected to Krishna, I am not focussing on Krishna. Similarly, somebody who is over here and they are constantly comparing with the person who is up here and they are saying, this person is so advanced, I am good for nothing, I am useless, I am hopeless, I just cannot practise bhakti, I am so fallen. Self-pity is not humility.
Humility is Krishna-centred. Self-pity is self-centred. So, if I am just self-centred, feeling sorry for myself, then I am not really being Krishna conscious.
It's not humility. So, actually, yes, if I am down here and I shouldn't pretend that I am up there, I am down here, but okay, wherever I am, I will serve Krishna from where I am. It's not that just because I am here, I am hopeless.
I can, from here also, I can move onwards. So, when we make renunciation the definer, the marker of our spiritual advancement, irrespective of whether we are renounced or we are not renounced, we actually miss the mark of Krishna. So then, we have to simply focus on connecting with Krishna.
If we don't connect with Krishna, then wherever we are, we are going to agonise or we are going to regret. We are going to stay there itself or we will go down from there. And for connecting with Krishna, whatever renunciation we have, we use it.
And some of us may have more renunciation than others, we can use that more renunciation and move closer to Krishna. So, some of us may have less renunciation, we may, that's okay, we use it in Krishna's place. You know, say for example, some devotees might just be able to get along with four or five hours of sleep.
Some devotees may need seven, eight hours of sleep. Now, you know, how much we sleep is not as important as what we do when we are awake. Yeah, if somebody can sleep less and do more service, that's great.
But if somebody is sleeping less and then most of the day they are just in a daze, not alert, not Krishna conscious or, you know, even if they are alert, they are just very self-congratulatory, I sleep so less. Well, that isn't okay. Some people's world needs more sleep, some people's world needs less sleep.
That is not very important. If we can do it less sleep, we can serve more. But the important thing is what are we doing when we are awake? Are we connecting with Krishna? That is what is centrally important.
So, Vishnur Maya is a question. To see that ultimately the material energy, here the point is, it is not just Maya, it is Vishnur Maya. That, Mamma Maya, Krishna says.
To see it as his Maya. So, spiritual knowledge is not a, spiritual vision is not meant for denying our experience of reality. It is meant for deepening our experience of reality.
Now, denying our experience means, I eat some food and it tastes good. It doesn't taste good. When it tastes good, how can I say it doesn't taste good? But, when something tastes good, if you go to somebody's house for prasad, they would have their own vocabulary.
That whenever you say something is nice, nice is equal to more. If something is nice, I want to serve more. Yes, it's nice.
Now, what happens is, the mistake is, when something tastes good, you don't have to deny that it tastes good. But the illusion is to think because it tastes good, if I take more and more, I will get more and more pleasure. And this is the source of pleasure which I should seek in my life.
That it is the source of pleasure, that is true. So, the illusion in material life is not to think that the sense objects are sources of pleasure. Yes, the sense objects, whichever they may be, there is some music that is sweet, there are some objects that taste good, there are some forms that are attractive.
They are attractive, the senses. But, to think that they will make us happy, they will give us a little pleasure. To think that they will make us happy, that is the illusion.
It is not that spiritual knowledge means we have to deny what we are experiencing with our senses. If something tastes good, it does taste good. It is not that, you have to say, it doesn't taste good.
But, Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, in 10.41 that, Krishna says, whatever is attractive in this world manifests a spark of my splendour. So, now, previously, in 10.8, Krishna has said that everything comes from him. Everything comes from him.
And now, why is he here in 10.41 saying specially that, the attractiveness of attractive objects comes from me. If everything comes from Krishna, then obviously attractive objects come from Krishna and the attractiveness of attractive objects also comes from Krishna. What is the need to specially say it over here? The point of the whole analysis in the Bhagavad Gita, if it is 10.8 also, those who understand that Krishna is the source of everything, what happens to them? That when we understand that everything comes from me, those who understand this, what happens? They become devoted to me.
So, to emphasise this point of the source and the redirection, if you understand that everything comes from the source, then whatever is the source, we should redirect towards the source. Our attraction should be redirected towards the source. So, that point which Krishna has told as a result in 10.8, he emphasises, he goes into further detail and tells the process by which it can happen in 10.41. He says that among all the things that have come out, are there in this world, it's not that everything we are attracted to.
It's not that everything we are emotionally invested in. There are many things, you know, we go along the road, we go to a room, we may not even notice many things. But there are some things which we are attracted to.
Whatever we are attracted to, that is what we get emotionally invested in. As Krishna is telling us that the attractiveness of attractive objects is a spark of infinite. Now, if it is a spark, that means that attractiveness is real.
That means, it is really attractive. But the point is, it is a spark. Now, if we are lost on a dark night and we see a spark of light somewhere, that spark is attractive.
But that spark, how much of a path is it going to illuminate? If it is cold, how much warmth is it going to provide? Now, okay, that spark is here. Maybe there is a full fire somewhere. The proper flame somewhere.
Let me find out where that is. Let me go there. So, like that, what Krishna is saying is that the attractiveness of the attractive objects of this world, that is a spark of His attractiveness.
So, then the spark should become the pointer to the whole. So, if these objects are so attractive, how much attractive Krishna was? Unfortunately, for most of us, the spark, instead of becoming the pointer to the whole, the spark becomes the competitor to the whole. We think the spark itself will give me the pleasure.
Now, when the spark becomes the competitor to the whole, instead of the pointer to the whole, then, at that stage, we need renunciation. No, no, I won't be involved in this. This is not going to give me pleasure.
So, eventually, so the point of this world thing, Vishnur Mayam is a very dumb question. What this means is, okay, these things are attractive. And we are not meant to deny that they are attractive.
Spiritual knowledge is not meant for denying our experience of reality, but deepening our experience. Yes, this is attractive, but to where does this attractiveness coming from? This attractiveness is coming from Krishna. So, I was in American University recently, and one student asked a question, you know, if the attractive objects of this world are also made by God, then why can't we enjoy the Lord? Their attractiveness is also coming from God.
He said, yes, their attractiveness is coming from God, but is it taking us towards God? That is the question. Everything comes from Krishna, but everything doesn't take us to Krishna. So, we have to focus on those manifestations of Krishna's attractiveness that take us towards Krishna.
So, for example, you know, let's consider knowledge. So, there may be an atheist who is intellectually brilliant. Now, and there may be a devotee who is intellectually brilliant.
Now, the atheist intellectual brilliance also comes from Krishna. The devotee's intellectual brilliance also comes from Krishna. But the atheist intellectual brilliance, when we say it comes from Krishna, what does it mean? It means that by their past karma, they have got their intellectual capacity.
Ultimately, it has come from Krishna only. But that, if we read the books of those atheists, if we hear their arguments, now, if we are not that intellectual, then we'll get impressed by them. We'll get bowled over.
I never thought like this. See, ultimately, logic or argumentation is a skill. It's a skill and it's like, say, somebody is a brilliant sword fighter.
Now, if that person is a brilliant sword fighter, somebody else is an ordinary sword fighter, they go and fight. In one moment, their sword is flying away and that enemy's sword is at their neck. Now, just because somebody is a brilliant sword fighter does not necessarily mean that they are a virtuous person or they are on the side of the law.
They can be law breakers also. So, like that, logic is simply like a skill. Just like sword fighting is a physical skill, logic is an intellectual skill.
Argumentation is an intellectual skill. Sometimes, an atheist may be better at logical argumentation than your devotees. It's a skill which can be developed and if you are not developed it well enough, sometimes, an atheist's argument may seem so brilliant.
No, I never thought like this. What he says makes sense. Now, it makes sense only as long as you don't hear the counter arguments.
When you hear the devotees' counter arguments, this doesn't make sense. So, what happens? That atheist's intellectual brilliance also comes from Krishna, but it won't take us towards Krishna. But a devotee's intellectual brilliance, it comes from Krishna and it takes us towards Krishna.
A devotee, let's consider singing ability. A devotee may sing very beautifully and there may be a mundane singer who may sing a romantic, erotic song also with a very beautiful voice. Now, both singing abilities come from Krishna.
And we are not meant to deny this person not a good singer. As far as singing ability is concerned, he is a very good singer. But, their singing ability won't take us towards Krishna.
It will take us away from Krishna. Therefore, we don't stay away from that. So, that means that when there is aversion, then we are still emotionally invested.
This would have been so pleasurable, but now it is so miserable. But, when there is devotion, then what happens? We see everything in connection with Krishna. Vishnur Maya becomes Krishna.
This person has this attractiveness that is by the arrangement of Lord Krishna. But, I have to see whether it is going to take me towards Krishna or it is going to take me away from Krishna. And, to the extent we understand this, that actually, everything comes from Krishna, but, in that sense, this is Vishnu Maya.
Vishnu Maya doesn't mean that it is false. Maya is also Krishna's energy. And, Krishna's energy means that whatever she is providing in this world, from the point of view of this world, the objects are real.
Their attractiveness is real. But, the attractiveness of these objects is real, but it won't take us towards reality. It will take us away from reality.
It will take us deeper into illusion. So, in a sense, at the same class, another student asked a question that, you know, if God is only, God wants us to do good things, then why are the good choices so few and why are the bad choices so many? So, I said, yes, that's how it always is in any multiple choice exam. In a multiple choice exam, five options, four are wrong.
Only one is right. Now, if the answer had to be given simply based on guesswork, then the probability of getting it right would only be 40%. And, the student could maybe sue the teacher.
You know, you gave me only 20% probability of passing and now you put 40% as a mark of pass. How can I pass? But, the answers are not to be selected based on guesswork. Teacher has thought and the student is expected to have learned.
So, yes, there are many many kinds of this in this world. The wrong options are many in this world because this world is a reflection of our desires. Because people in this world are generally materialistic, therefore, there are many materialistic options.
We also have some spiritual information. So, there are spiritual options also available. But, it is up to us to choose.
So, as we start practising bhakti diligently, we need to move away from the phase of aversion. As long as we are in the phase of aversion, then we cannot become emotionally invested in Krishna because we are still emotionally invested in that person. But, it is easy to understand that attachment can be a distraction on the spiritual path.
If you are attached to someone, you are always thinking about that person. And then, that attachment becomes a distraction. So, attachment we understand as a temptation.
But, aversion is also a temptation. Because, aversion can also be a distraction. That means, Raga, Dvesha, Jumukh Sai.
Become free from Raga, become free from Dvesha. Yes, in life, some people may have hurt us. Some people may have dealt kindly with us.
Some people may have hurt us. But, we understand that whatever, whoever has done, ultimately part of this world is temporary. We have gone through so many lives.
In our past lives, we may have hurt others. Others may have hurt us. It's all over.
The amount of how much people can hurt us or how much people can help us, as compared to the depth of our relationship with Krishna, as compared to the depth of emotions that we can get in a relationship with Krishna, it just doesn't matter. Like, say, we are on this path. We are here.
And here, at the end of the path, we are going to get a five crore treasure. And then, while we are going along the way, we find our five rupee note. And we go to catch it and it flies away.
And then we scale up to it. It flies further away. We keep scaling up to it.
And then, instead of going towards the path of five crore, we are chasing that five rupee note and we go far away. That is how Raga can take us away from the path of Krishna. Indriyas ki indriyas karate, Raga dvesha vyavastho.
Payor namah pari panthi nao. Pari panthi nao. These are pari panthi nao.
Baldev Dev Singh commentary explains that pari panthi nao means they are thieves on the path. That pantha is path and thieves on the path. That they are thieves who steal away our consciousness.
So, attachment can steal away our consciousness. But suppose, you know, I am going along this path and suddenly a thief comes and takes a five rupee note from my pocket. And starts running away.
And I say, I want to catch this thief. And I start running. And I am running away.
And the thief keeps running away. And I keep running away. And then, what happens? I go far away from the path because I lost the five rupees.
And okay, if you are going to get five crore rupees, don't bother about the five rupee note. Just don't bother. So, like that, na praharishe priyam praapya nodhvijet praapya chaapiyam dhira buddhir asamudho brahma vid brahmanistha Whether we get pleasure, we don't become elated.
Whether we get misery, we don't get irritated. Just brahma vid brahmanistha. Stay situated in the path of brahman.
Stay situated in the path of spiritual growth. Sometimes people may be kind to us. And their kindness may, sometimes people may be gentle, may be loving.
And that, if it allures us from the path towards Krishna, we see that as a temptation. Sometimes people may hurt us terribly. And when they hurt us, at that time, I have to get back at this person.
I have to get back at this person. Life is not meant for getting back at others. It is meant for getting back to Krishna.
Life is meant for getting back to Krishna. Yes, somebody has hurt me, but I don't have to neglect the purpose of my life to go towards Krishna, just to get even with that person. Just move on with life.
So, I'll conclude with one metaphor here. Aversion basically means that we are still emotionally invested, but not in the sense that this person is going to give me pleasure, but in the sense that this person is going to cause me trouble, and I have to get back at him. So, when there is devotion, so it's like the metaphor again, suppose there is false currency.
So, there is false currency. Now, in the false currency, you know, if we look at the front side of the note, okay, you know, this particular symbol of the country or whatever, this is false. And therefore, we understand that this note is false.
But then, we throw away the note. But then we look at the back side. In the back side, you know, this looks like a real note.
Maybe it is real, you know. Maybe I should pick up and check. I should not have thrown away a real note.
So, what happens? Attachment is like we are looking at one side of the fake note. Aversion is looking at the other side of the fake note. But in both cases, we are still invested in the note.
So, aversion is the stage when we have given up the note, but we are still invested in it. Renunciation is when we have given up the note, but we have not got anything else. Devotion is when we have got the real note.
So, the whole process of bhakti is as we want to get the real note of absorption in Krishna. And renunciation is an aid for absorption in Krishna. But aversion is an impediment for absorption in Krishna.
And then, the verse says here, na dveshti. Do not be averse. Do not be reserved.
Na rishyati. Don't be attached also. Just focus on connecting with Krishna.
And one who can do that, that is a bhagavato samah. That person is a topmost devotee. Such verses we can see as both descriptive and prescriptive.
Descriptive means they are describing the topmost devotee. But you can see this also that they are prescriptive for me. If I can develop this disposition, then I can also advance towards the level of becoming a devotee like this.
So, I will summarise what I spoke. I spoke about the difference between devotion, renunciation and aversion. Devotion means we are absorbed in Krishna.
We are emotionally connected and fulfilled in Krishna. When we are emotionally invested in Krishna, we get everlasting, ever-increasing returns of joy. When we are emotionally invested in this world, in worldly objects, in the short run, we get the return of anxiety.
In the long run, we get the return of misery. In between, there are little spikes of pleasure. So, we need to disinvest from the world.
But after disinvesting from the worldly objects, sometimes we may still be filled with anger, aversion, resentment and we still keep thinking bad about that object, bad about that person, bad about whatever it is from which we are disinvesting. So, we are at the same level of advancement. We are at the same level of consciousness.
Renunciation means there is no emotional involvement. Just like a person who has never drunk, there is no emotional involvement when passing through a bar. A person who has never got involved in soccer league, there is no emotional investment if a particular team loses or wins.
For us, we were already emotionally invested in many objects. So, for us, it's like we have to outgrow that emotional investment. That means we, just like a child, as a child, we may be playing toys, but now we have outgrown those emotions.
So, we outgrow by practising bhakti, by intellectual and devotional maturation. We outgrow our worldly attachments. And today the culture characterises the aversion to commitment.
So, people are not even attached to their families. And not because they are renounced. Renunciation means, please understand, sense objects won't make me happy.
But they are averse to commitment because they want to keep all doors open to all sense objects. And aversion to commitment, and then it leads to social havoc because there is no responsibility for taking care of children, the single parent family and whole generations can get quiet because of that. So, there is a responsibility required and in the process of bhakti, we move towards devotion by gradually investing our emotions into bhakti.
And while our emotions are invested in this world, how do we see this object? Vishnumaya. Our spiritual knowledge is not meant to deny our experience of reality. It is to deepen our experience.
Say something looks attractive, we don't have to say it is not attractive. But rather we don't have to succumb to the illusion that this attractiveness is the source of ultimate pleasure and this is my goal of life. Rather we say this is a spark.
And I need to move from the spark to the whole. If the spark becomes a competitor to the whole, then we stay in illusion. If the spark becomes a pointer to the whole, then even that spark can take us towards Krishna.
If we make renunciation as the mark of our spiritual advancement, then we miss the mark of spiritual advancement, that is Krishna. If we are renounced, we become proud. If we are not renounced, we feel self-pity.
And renunciation can come from bhakti but renunciation can also come from past karma. So whatever renunciation we have, we see it as a resource for serving Krishna. And we use it as much as we can.
Our renunciation will grow. But the more important thing is wherever we are, we connect. And by that steady connection with Krishna, now we may find certain objects attractive, then we can't blame those objects because they are simply triggers.
The desires are there in our own consciousness. So we may keep ourselves away from those objects. That is caution.
Caution means we are centred on our protection. Aversion means there is condemnation of that object. We avoid that, we protect ourselves and move steadily towards Krishna.
And everything attractive comes from Krishna but everything attractive doesn't take us towards Krishna. So we select those attractive manifestations in this world, say intellectual brilliance, singing ability or whatever, which helps inspire this move towards Krishna. And that way we can channel our tendency to become attracted in a way that we can become attracted to Krishna.
By investing our emotion in Krishna, we can gradually become absorbed in Krishna and then we can give up this fake coin of worldly attachment or aversion and we can get the real coin of spiritual emotion in relationship with Krishna. Thank you very much. Is there one question anyone has? Yes sir.
So is there a difference between being emotionally invested in Krishna and being emotionally invested in services connected with Krishna and activities? We have to see phallelu parichayati. What is the result on our consciousness? See our services are our primary and our essential connection with Krishna. But there is also the form and there is a substance.
Sometimes a service which is meant to connect us with Krishna, that may cause us so much stress that it may disconnect us from Krishna. So, I'll give both examples for this. When the land dealings were going on, one time Tamal Krishna Maharaj came to Prabhupada and said, Prabhupada, these land dealings are causing me so much anxiety that they are disturbing my japa.
Prabhupada replied, they are disturbing my japa also. And then Prabhupada told him, your anxiety for service to Krishna is in Krishna. So, we are not meant for simply living just… Bhakti is not just about being joyful in Krishna.
Bhakti is about the relationship with Krishna. And relationship means you take responsibility. Yashodamayi is not just happy.
You know, when Krishna has gone to the forest and he is not coming back on time, you show me the anxiety. When is Krishna going to come? Krishna is not coming. So, in the relationship with Krishna, actually the ultimate happiness is the absorption in Krishna.
So, when the absorption in Krishna sometimes can be like sweet nectar, absorption in Krishna can sometimes be like bitter nectar. It's nectar. It's nectar for the soul.
But sometimes it can taste bitter. So, when the gopis are separated from Krishna, externally they are not happy. They are crying.
But internally, because they are intensely remembering Krishna, they are happy. Of course, this is a very advanced stage. But I am saying, even in the advanced stage, it is not that everybody is always happy in the external sense of them.
They are happy because they are internally absorbed in Krishna. But externally they go through a whole panorama of emotions. So, in our case also, when we take up a responsibility in service to Krishna, that responsibility will deepen the relationship with Krishna.
And that deepened relationship is what will evoke our spiritual motions. So, we definitely need to take up responsibility. And even if that brings anxiety, you know that anxiety will also purify us.
At the same time, we also need to know what is our capacity. So, just like, say, I am lifting weight. If I can lift up 10 kg weight and I lift up, I go to gym and lift up 1 kg weight every day.
That is not going to lead to much exercise or muscle build. I have to lift up 10 kg, 11 kg, maybe 12 kg. Then gradually my muscles will improve.
If I lift up 25 kg, I just crumble. So, like that, we have to know what is our capacity to take up anxiety. And we can take up that much or a little more.
And how do we know what is our capacity? When we start doing services, every service will cause some anxiety. But, if anxiety is a constant state of mind we are in because of a service. Everybody, whichever service we are doing, we all face challenges in that service.
But there are some challenges which we like to face. And some challenges, we just just they just scare us. We just, you know, we will run away from it.
That is actually in the broad principle of Varanashram, is that this world is filled with problems, but Varanashram's expertise is that it allocates people the problems they like to face. So, Brahmins like to study. So, then they are given intellectual challenges.
Vaishyas like to earn money. They are given money raising challenges. So, like that we need to find out what is it that will inspire us, trigger us.
It makes us feel inspired to take up a challenge. In the initial days of our life, in the initial days of our spiritual life, we just do whatever services we are told. But as we are doing our services, we keep observing.
And we find this is what I am comfortable with. So, guna-karma-dubhagasya. Now, guna and karma, broadly it can be classified as, guna means we feel internally comfortable doing it.
Karma means we are externally competent at doing it. So, when we find that, okay this service, I feel comfortable doing it, I am competent doing it. Then gradually we can gravitate towards that.
And then in that service, also sometimes we feel it is too much. But overall, in those challenges, in that service, not just particular service, but in that area, whatever is our talent, god-given ability, there we feel stimulated. See, some challenges make us feel stimulated, some challenges make us feel burdened.
So, we have to gradually gravitate towards those challenges which make us feel stimulated. But that will take time. You know, the mind is so cunning that whenever we are doing any service, the mind will say, if we leave it to the mind to decide what is my nature, the mind will simply say, whatever you are doing now, that is not your nature.
And that is how it will keep us miserable. So, we won't discover our nature just by giving up whatever service I am doing and taking up another service. Actually, to discover our nature also requires at least some level of support.
So, we just do whatever services we are told to do. We become, practise sadhana bhakti, we become purified and gradually we can gravitate towards that. So, while we are doing whatever services we are doing, we can do them to the capacity that it causes some anxiety, but not unbearable anxiety.
If we are feeling too much stretched and constantly stretched, then we can talk with our senior devotees and maybe adjust our service so that we will be, we will be stimulated, but not burdened. Does that answer your question? Thank you very much. Shri Prabhupada ki, gauravat vindaki, daigauru.